I am loving the Of Monsters and Men series by Michelle Griep. Man of Shadow and Mist, book 2 of the series, is an absolute superb read. I loved every single minute of this seriously well-written and highly engaging Historical Romance. I am a super fan of all things from the Romantic period (c. 1798-1837), and Dracula is one such story I adore. I was very excited to see how Griep would play out her homage to Dracula — she did not disappoint. I found this story to be quite clever. I also found it to be excellently suspenseful and quite tense in several places. This story had me running the gamut of emotions: one minute I was thrilled by the budding romance growing between Rosa and James, and the next I wanted to smack some ignorant, ugly, dark-hearted humans. It was great! James is the BEST. What I really like about his character is that his faith is legit. He doesn’t just say he believes in God, he acts on it. My favorite scenes with James are the ones where he instictively wants to give up, blame God, choose the easier path, but then he scolds himself, “NO! I trust God!” These were such encouraging moments for me. I’ve been there. I’ve wanted to give up, too, but I get over myself and say NO. In this, James is an extremely relatable character. Rosa is a great heroine. She is feisty, intelligent, kind, and thoughtful of others. She is not a superstitious woman and refuses to hold any stock in things such as ghosts, vampires, mosters, etc. She is pragmatic (maybe to a fault) and chooses to deal in what she can prove. She is exactly the heroine James needs to remove him from the darkness of his own making; it was so much fun watching her navigate through that task. I really loved the chemistry between Rosa and James. It is electric! I flew through the pages with James and Rosa, and I love their happily ever after. As with all of Griep’s novels, Man of Shadow and Mist deals with quite a few timely themes that definitely get the reader thinking. I particularly appreciate the discussion on humanity and what makes a “good” person capable of grotesque acts. There are a few moments in this story where the supposed good people become the monsters. What I found intriguing is how Griep illustrates mob-mentality. How fickle and brainless a mob can be, how ignorant of actual truth they are, and how dangerous their actions not just towards the target of their rage, but towards innocent bystanders who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. While I got incredibly frustrated by the mobbish aspects of this story, these moments did remind me just how dangerous unchecked emotion can be. They really can turn a good person bad. It pays to take a moment away from a situation and reaccess truth from feeling. This is a great reminder for all of us today.

Man of Shadow and Mist is another home run by Michelle Griep. I loved every minute of this story, and cannot recommend it enough. I implore you to get yourself a copy today. You do not want to miss out on yet another fantastic story by Griep.