Name: A Dowry of Blood (+ An Encore of Roses)
Series: Vampire Companion #1
Author: S.T. Gibson
Publisher: Orbit
Format: eBook – Kindle
Genres: Adult, Gothic, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ Romance
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️Explicit Open Door
Rating:
Synopsis: Goodreads
Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things.
Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.
Review:
“If you can still hear me wherever you are, my love, my tormentor, hear this: It was never my intention to murder you. Not in the beginning, anyway.”
I was really excited to get to read A Dowry of Blood as soon as I finished Dracula! All I thought I knew was that it was the Dracula story but told from the point of view of his first bride… And I was wrong. It is told from his bride’s, Constanta’s, point of view but it is not the Bram Stoker Dracula story told again…
This was brilliant. I was concerned at some points I was going to find myself feeling bad for Dracula because at least initially – he and Constanta didn’t seem all that terrible… As the book went on I found that I loved Constanta and wanted nothing but the best for her!! I wanted her to save herself from the awful situation she was in and live happily ever after… but it’s a gothic fiction story so I knew if that was going to happen, then she was going to have to work for it.
I wasn’t able to read anything else once I started A Dowry of Blood, it had me hooked. Similar to the story of Dracula by Bram Stoker, this is written in like a series of letters that didn’t get sent or diary excerpts (if it was said, I don’t remember that detail!) but I loved it. Constanta’s voice was very clear, but shockingly I although thought Magdelana’s and Alexi’s were too! Despite, again, the story being told from one POV and through letters / diary excerpts. The writing was beautiful, and it was fast paced – I absolutely can’t complain there! And there are too many quotes that I wanted to mention that I thought were beautiful!
I wasn’t able to give the book the full 5 stars because there were moments where I was annoyed with the characters and wanted to give up on them (I’m sad to admit, but Constanta did have a habit of annoying me with her passive nature…) and I was uncomfortable with the relationship they all had (sexual but calling each other brother and sister was REALLY hard for me to get past!!). Aside from that, I absolutely recommend A Dowry of Blood for a different version of Dracula! And I understand why people loved this so much.
A small comment on An Encore of Roses – spoilers below for A Dowry of Blood
This is a .5 in S.T. Gibson’s Vampire Companion series but it was included in my version of A Dowry of Blood.
Honestly I could have done without it, as it added to the ick I was getting surrounding the relationship between these guys… However I really loved hearing about the lives they were living away from each other. So in the end I am glad I read it. It wasn’t very long at all so it didn’t take much time to read!
“…if we go on letting him love us, that love is going to kill us.”
Reading With Tyler 
Leave a comment