Book Review and Giveaway: Dracula in Love: Two Winners for this one!

Title: Dracula in Love
Author: Karen Essex
Publisher: Doubleday
Format: Finished Book
ISBN: 978-0385528914
Price: $25.95; Pages: 370
Release Date: August 10, 2010

I have a faint remembrance of reading the original Dracula many years ago. I recall it's told from the perspective of the men in the story, particularly Jonathan Harker, whose fiancee Mina Murray, was the object of Dracula's desire...or something along those lines. In Dracula in Love, Karen Essex takes the story in a new direction. She tells this old classic from the female point of view. It is written in first person from the perspective of Mina. Let's take a look at the blurb on the book.

Reader, you are about to enter a world that exists simultaneous with your own. But be warned: in its realm, there are no rules, and there is certainly no neat formula to become--or to destroy--one who has risen above the human condition...The truth is, we must fear monsters less and be warier of our own kind. (from the books prologue)

London, 1890. Mina Murray, the rosy-cheeked, quintessentially pure Victorian heroine, becomes Count Dracula's object of desire. To preserve her chastity, five male "defenders" rush in to rescue her from the vampire's evil clutches. This is the story we've been told. But now, from Mina's own pen, we discover that the story is vastly different when told from the female point of view...


I found Dracula in Love to be lush and Gothic. It's sensual and erotic, but not in a salacious way. It's a totally absorbing read. The novel is literary in it's sensibilities, but not over the top. I think it's literary prose is part and parcel of the time and place in which it is written, Victorian England, but the flow of the writing is smooth; it's easy to discern and the reader is engrossed in the story from it's first sentence. The language is lovely, even beautiful in parts, but never so gorgeous, that it neglects understanding and comprehension. Let's take a peek at the very first paragraph...

Everyone has a secret life. Perhaps yours is merely a gossamer web of thoughts and fantasies woven in the hidden furrows of your mind. Or furtive deeds performed on the sly or betrayals large and small that, if revealed, would change how you are perceived.

Not only is it a good story, but you will learn so much of how woman were treated during that time in history. That in itself is a horror, vampires or not!  The author gives the reader a real history lesson and the amount of research she did is impressive. I understand she traveled to England and utilized original documents in this regard.

If you'd like the opportunity to acquire this new classic that is sure to be a keeper in your own library, just become a follower if you're not already and answer these questions: Have you read the original Dracula? What is your favorite vampire book? That's it. Don't forget to leave your email in your comment so you may be contacted if you're one of the two winners.

Thanks to Judy and Liz of Doubleday for making the books available. Giveaway is open to residents of the US only, at publisher's request.

Winners will be chosen randomly and the giveaway ends Monday, September 27, 2010

Toodles!