Categories: Books, Hobby, ReviewsTags: Book review, Bram Stoker, Gothic Horror, Historical Romance, Rhiannon Frater, VampireAuthor: Rhiannon FraterGenres: Gothic Horror, Historical RomanceSeries: Vampire BrideAfter listening to the audiobook version of the first book, I went and downloaded the second audiobook of the series. However, I ended up going for the ebook instead, which, I will tell the reason why later on. Just like the first book, it is a continuation of the diary of Lady Glynis Wright as she embraced her life as the Countess of Dracula. In this second installment of the series, she tells her story as she fights on for her freedom and also save whatever humanity that it left in her. I still like the Bram Stoker, Victorian times vibe of the novel and the fact that the story sets in Buda Hungary in the early 1800. I have to admit that living in Budapest helps me to imagine the old city described in the book. From the very beginning I was much impressed that the author did make effort to make references to something Hungarian – Like the Margit Island and Szilvásgomboc (prune dumpling). Hungarian Parliament The novel introduced us with more characters and a little bit more history of the vampires but I find it nothing much more was added. Also there seemed to be an error in the creation of her progeny, Laura that I cannot shake off. From the first book I understood that to the point of death of the dying person, if he or she drank vampire blood directly from the maker, then only he or she will become one of the undead. But in Laura’s case, Glynis took 3 sips of her blood and Laura died. And yet she became a vampire. Like how?? Glynis even mentioned that her bite only hasten Laura’s death. I don’t describe myself as a stickler for details but for the creation of a character as important as Glynis’s first progeny, I do care for this. I am not much into cruel characters, but throughout the book Vlad did mellowed down a lot of notches. And how he could forgive her and save her after what she did to him showed something that could be called as love. Perhaps I am suffering from the Stockholm syndrome or just like the bad boys gone good type, that after a while I kind of preferred Vlad more to be with Glynis😆. I just don’t like the way how the bad ass, Vlad the Impaler could be reduced to a ‘beggar’ after being rejected by Glynis, right after he saved her ass. It is just a contradiction of what his initial character was depicted in the first book. I managed to finish the book in a couple of days and as to why I had preferred the book instead of the audiobook is the narrator’s style of reading annoyed me. This time the narrator is Rebecca McKernan instead of Carol Hendrickson. I couldn’t finish even the first chapter…
Tag: Bram Stoker
BR: Tale of the Vampire Bride – Rhiannon Frater
Categories: Books, Hobby, Reviews Tags: Book review, Bram Stoker, Gothic Horror, Historical Romance, Rhiannon Frater, Vampire A few days ago I started to listen to the audiobook. This is the first time I have listened to or read one of the books by this author. Now lets see what I think of it, but thread carefully, as there may be a bit of a spoiler ahead. Lady Glynis and her family were invited by the Count Dracula himself to his castle in Transylvania. She was of the age ready to be married and her parents were desperate to find her a husband despite her many protests. So much so, that when Count Dracula extended his invitation to them and had made known of his interest to court Lady Glynis, both the parents were excited to meet him. Little did they know what were in store for them. I have to admit that the Bram Stoker vibe really kept me on the edge of my seat, and it was engaging from the beginning till end. It indeed kept me coming back and wanting to know what is going to happen to Lady Glynis. I read that it was supposed to be a Gothic horror but being a historical romance fan I appreciate that it has a touch of romance in it as well, with not only one but two love interests for Lady Glynis – Vlad Dracula and Father Ignatius. I like that it doesn’t stray away from folklore like many vampire novels do – the vampires in this book can’t walk in broad daylight, nor they sparkle, and they are afraid of crucifixes – The one of a few reasons I never read any of the Twilight series nor watched any of the movies. The author didn’t waste too much time going into details about the architecture and deco. Good Lord, how many a times I had simply skipped through those lines in some other books. But I am glad we are spared of that in this one. A bit of a detail is good, but not too much in my case. Now that what I like about the book is out of the way, I will share my opinion about what I dislike about it. I must say that I do not have many bad things to say about this book considering that I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. But like people, books are not perfect and so here I state what I thought was some of the imperfections I felt. The heroine, Lady Glynis just ‘stomps her foot’ way too may times in this entire book that it got a bit irritating. I want to think that this heroine is a mature and strong woman with a will of her own. But honestly, every time she ‘stomped her foot’ to show her indignance I just felt like slapping her silly. All I could imagine is a spoilt brat. Something about the storyline didn’t make sense to me….