'I will render you as you really were, neither cast in pristine stained glass or unholy fire. I will make you into nothing more than a man, tender and brutal in equal measure, and perhaps in doing so I will justify myself to you. To my own haunted conscience.”

A Dowry of Blood is a darkly love letter or confession from Constanta, Dracula’s bride and tells the seductive tale of how she became to be.

My my, what a work of art! That’s just what this book is, both inside and out. Remember, me telling you about the joyeus feeling of reading one paragraph and knowing this is going to be a new favorite. It was about this one. Because these prosaic phrases, from one into another, just felt like a soft caress of the mind.

This book was what I want out of every vampire book, dark, mysterious, gothic, seductive and steamy. But not flashy but respectful and extremely sexy.

Besides that it was beautifully written it also gave a complete new perspective on the the beloved, the lord, the master or Count Dracula - although never named as such. It was almost a humanization of this epic character while on the same time keeping his mystery and danger. And because of these dangers this book came with quite the extensive list of trigger warnings; which I would highly recommend investigating if you want to read this too.

And believe me, if you are a vampire nerd just like me, you need to read this. Because this should be part of the obligatory curriculum for vampire lovers.