🩸 Gothic + Atmospheric
🖤 LGBTQ+ Rep
🩸 Ominous Tone 
🖤 Immersive 
🩸 Cat + Mouse Horror Dynamic 

This one wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was amazing. It's a quick and immersive read, and I could not put it down.

Marion, our FMC, is tired of working herself to the bone in what is essentially the slums. After seeing an ad in the newspaper, she offers herself up as a bloodmaid, who will bleed for the rich and elite in exchange for comfort, security, and the promise of a better future... once her service is complete. 

Alexis Henderson has this remarkable ability to not only write an engaging story but write that story while taking direct aim at issues like classism, racism and gender inequality. This book delivers so well by comparing the rich and elite to.... bloodsucking vampires. 

Marion's relationship with Lisavet, the countess of the House of Hunger, is such an amazing representation of exploitative "love." The Rulers of the Houses rely on these bloodmaids but ultimately have the power to discard them as needed while retaining their seat of power. 

I would have liked to see a little bit more worldbuilding and more explanation of the Houses themselves, but overall, I thought that this was really well done and thought-provoking.

~ 

𝓜𝔂 𝓶𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓲𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓼𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪 𝓰𝓲𝓻𝓵 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓫𝓮. 𝓘’𝓶 𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓻.
•
𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀, 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓰𝓲𝓻𝓵, 𝓶𝔂 𝓯𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓲𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓮𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓪𝓴, 𝔂𝓸𝓾’𝓵𝓵 𝓷𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓰𝓸 𝓱𝓾𝓷𝓰𝓻𝔂. 𝓘 𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓽 𝓪 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓲𝓻𝓮𝓼 𝓪 𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯 . . . 𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰. 𝓞𝓷𝓮 𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓸𝓫𝓳𝓮𝓬𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓱𝓾𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾. 𝓑𝓮𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾, 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂’𝓵𝓵 𝓭𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓫𝓾𝓽𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮𝓼. 𝓘𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝔂𝓸𝓾, 𝓜𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓷, 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓶𝓮, 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓬𝓾𝓽 𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼𝓽, 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓽 𝓬𝓪𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓷 𝓫𝓮𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓻𝓲𝓫𝓼, 𝓬𝓾𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓲𝓽𝓼 𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯𝓯𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓭 𝓲𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮. 𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓲𝓽.