A Dowry of Blood: THE GOTHIC SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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Saint Perpetua's College is isolated and ancient. The girls who study there are close-knit but do they also close ranks to outsiders or will newcomer, Laura, find a new home there? Overall it was an excellant book I didn't know I needed until today. I heard that S.T. Gibson has a new book coming out set in the same universe. Safe to say that I am incredibly hyped <3 I think it is a testament to the author's ability at crafting these aspects that I could have enjoyed reading about them and nothing more, so brilliantly was this academic world created. Pretty soon, however, supernatural entities began to appear and a more gothic focus uncovered. Okay shit I didn’t expect to love this book as much as I did. I’m usually not the biggest fan of reading about vampires, but this is legit one of the most gorgeously written books I’ve ever read. I had to stop and reread certain lines again because I thought they were so beautifully written. Unreliable Narrator: The book is written as a letter that Constanta is writing to her husband, Dracula. The unreliability comes from the fact that she tries to paint him as far more benevolent than he actually is, only to slowly start to discover that he's a depraved monster and sociopath underneath the kind facade he gives out.

Words cannot express how much I adore Constanta, Magdalena, and Alexi, and just how each of their relationships with Dracula are layered and complex. How they learn to lean on and build true bonds with one another that would ultimately be Dracula’s undoing. The fact that this is a novella with such strong character development and relationships is a feat. Serial-Killer Killer: Constanta, upon becoming a vampire, decides to dedicate herself to killing and feeding off the most odious or evil of society. Her victims range from rapists, killers and war profiteers to just general Asshole Victims like people who would spit on a beggar or harass and grab a woman. This book is for you if a dark and lyrical, queer retelling of dracula’s brides but the brides are f/f/m and they fall in love with each other sounds interesting to you. Part love letter and part confession, A Dowry of Blood is an epistolary written by Dracula’s longest bride Constanta detailing her long life and relationship with him. Every detail that led to his murder; every detail that ever slowly pulled the wool from her eyes to show her the truth.I do kind of feel like it was cut short but if i look at it through the lens of horror, it’s a common trend in the horror I’ve read. When I say horror, it's not jumpscare horror in case that's what you were wondering. It's just a little more on the extreme of dark, which is exactly my kind of horror. I still do wish we got more of the trio living their lives together because it would have pushed this to be a new fave. In short, I needed more Alexi. I think because sometimes the language and content felt too indulgent for me. Kind of like a fan fiction of lesbian longing and ecstasy. Gibson has a magnificent prose, everything she writes is evocative, poetic, feral and dense. It's always multilayered, full of lush, tension, brutality and intention.

Really 700 Years Old: Dracula looks like a handsome, romanesque young man, but in reality he's over a thousand years old as vampires can only gain the ability to sire others into other vampires after they reach that age. Story of an old vampire, I won't call him Dracula because he was never given a name throughout the book, and his brides that he takes over the time. Story was told from the perspective of one his bride, Constanta. She started with how she was turned and how it was love, devotion, and adoration for a long time until he decided to take another into his family. His new bride, Magdelena. It was jealousy at first but soon she too come to love Magdelena and life was again roses for sometime until the consequences of having a long life hit Magdelena and to some extent it effected Constanta too but she suppressed it. Soon it was depression, fear, insecurities, and melancholy surrounded the brides. But things hit a low point as Alexi entered the family.

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Laura and Carmilla alternate povs were great to introduce you into their minds and their rivalry. And Carmilla's scenes were extremely uncomfortable, because what she has been through can only end with violence and pain. I just felt like i needed a bit more time in her mind and I would be completely sold to her. Laura is also quiet interesting, because as much as she's the devoted and more diligent student, she's quite affermative with her essence, she's very determined and that was the only kind of sparring partner I would see standing up to Carmilla. It's a little too similar to Dowry of Blood, in many ways, but things that worked there didn't work for me here. For example all secondary characters are so underdeveloped in Malice. It was fine in Dowry, because the characters lived in relative isolation, or travelled often, but we are in a university setting here. There was a lot of telling when it came to interactions with the other students or professors, and a slightly forced sudden friendship with another girl. I loved the gothic and dark academia vibes, and the toxic, hyper-competitive poetry cohort. Laura and Carmilla's blossoming relationship and their bond with the enigmatic Professor De Lafontaine was the highlight of the book. It's intoxicating, steamy, and a little feral. AEIM is a standalone, so you don't have to read its companion novel A Dowry of Blood, but if you have, there's a very fun Easter egg in store for you! I was dumb enough not to notice it a first, but I literally gasped while reading the last chapter. It has vampires, peak fall vibes, raising the dead, a heavy foucs on poetry, and a relationship stoked by obsession and desire. If you like any of these things, this book is for you!

IF WE WERE VILLAINS meets A DOWRY OF BLOOD in this scrumptious sapphic dark academia novel by S.T. Gibson. They'd always been with me, these hungers. As a child I played villain in every game of "capture the princess"…Sensual writing style and manipulation theme is continued through the series, and I liked that. The end was a bit dramatic, but it suited the story well! I am looking forward to the next books in the series! Vampire's Harem: Dracula keeps three vampiric spouses that he sired personally. These are two women named Constanta and Magdalena and a young man named Alexei. You seemed to me a fire burning in the woods. I was drawn in by your enticing, smoky darkness, a darkness that still stirs memories of safety, of autumn, of home.” You came to me when the killing was done, while my last breaths rattled through failing lungs. The drunken singing of the raiders wafted towards me on the breeze as I lay in the blood-streaked mud, too agonized to cry out for help. My throat was hoarse from smoke and screaming, and my body was a tender mass of bruises and shattered bones. I had never felt pain like that in my life, and never would again. I rose on shaky knees into a new life, one of delirium and breathtaking power. Blood, yours and mine, dried into brown flakes on my fingers and mouth.

The author also writes "Magdalena's and I's skirts" more than once which made me cringe for obvious reasons, considering it was most likely intentional. Dracula's immortal harem, which consist of two women named Constanta and Magdalena and a young man named Alexei, are lovers not just with him but with each other. This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. I suppose both are a sort of gentle violence, putting down in ink what scorches the air when spoken aloud.No matter. Nothing else will do. Nothing less than a full account of our life together, from the trembling start all the way to the brutal end. I fear I will go mad if I don’t leave behind some kind of record. If I write it down, I won’t be able to convince myself that none of it happened. I won’t be able to tell myself that you didn’t mean any of it, that it was all just some terrible dream. i also have a few feelings about the main antagonist. i personally think isis had no weight to her as a villain and i kept forgetting of her existence. again, not explored deep enough for me to care. Bait the Dog: Count Dracula seems as first to be a friendly and attentive husband to Constanta, but over the course of the novel she discovers more and more that he's truly an insidious monster that puts on airs. His seemingly kind acts simply mask a monster who's incapable of true love. Love is sacrifice, Professor. Whether it’s you on the butcher’s table or not, someone always bleeds.' S. T. Gibson said:‘I’m absolutely elated to be working with the talented team at Orbit to bring A Dowry of Blood to life on a grand scale. From the first editorial call, I knew that this book had found its perfect home. A Dowry of Blood was my refuge and comfort during a tough period in my life, and Constanta’s story is near and dear to my heart. By writing this book I was able to dive headfirst into themes of love and marriage, abuse and tenderness, and life and death. I hope readers enjoy the chills and thrills of this dark, dramatic story of obsession.’