This arc was provided by Nyx Publishing, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

TW: emotional, verbal, and physical intimate partner abuse, gaslighting, domestic violence, sadomasochism, self-harm, depression, mania, blood, body gore, war, plague.

You did not let me keep my name, so I will strip you of yours. In this world, you are what I say you are, and I say you are a ghost, a long night's fever dream that I have finally woken up from. I say you are the smoke-wisp memory of a flame, thawing ice suffering under an early spring sun, a chalk ledger of debts being wiped clean.
I say you do not have a name.

Dare I say this is one of my top favourites of 2021? I think I do.

Firstly, I strongly encourage you to go into this blind as the synopsis perfectly explains what happens in this book. It's not another vampire story, but one of survival and love, especially self-love.

The writing immediately pulled me into Constanta's storytelling, the story of her life. I was immersed in her words and in love with her. I truly felt I was beside her as the story unfolded, as well as the other characters.

A Dowry of Blood is beautifully written, and I wanted to frame each sentence. There's complexity to the relationships and so much depth to the characters' feelings and their struggles. I do wonder at the author's ability to write such an impactful story in only 248 pages. I was in awe at the beginning, middle, and end of the book. Hours later, as I write this review, I still think strongly about the story and I long for more.

This is a story for the strong-hearted, for the romantics, and the grieving ones. I loved it and I hope more people will enjoy this.