Thank you for the opportunity to provide my honest feedback.

I throughly enjoyed this booked. Really different hearing from the perspective of one of the Brides. The author did not shy away from the complexity of emotions which can be felt in any toxic relationship. I was hooked the whole way through.

Would happily recommend this to friends.

Wow. This book is truly out of this world. I came for the queer retelling of Dracula’s brides (and loved the nice touch of one of them being a man) and stayed for the luscious prose, the intricacies of our main polyamorous relationship, the pretty and ugly sides of history… just, every single aspect that was nailed perfectly. It has some heavy content warnings to be mindful of, but ultimately this was a book about an abusive relationship and the bonds between its survivors as they work towards finding their way out. Dark, powerful, and lyrical, this isn’t a book I’m going to forget any time soon.

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a mediaeval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. However, when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realises that her beloved is capable of terrible things.
Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husbands' dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.

Overall 3.75, it is a short book but woah I really enjoyed it! I was intrigued right from the start and I was just hooked! It felt very fresh to me and I would love to see this as like a TV adaptation (I think it would be amazing!!).

This one gets five stars!
It was such a nice new take on the Dracula story, and it was saphic and full of morally gray characters, and nice character development. It was immersive, fast paced, first person POV, and it reammy made me live through our FMC.
Highly recommend reading this, and I actually wish there was more to this story tbh.

I loved this book, I found the letter format very appealing. I found the characters very interesting and their evolution throughout the relationship is incredible. As is the development of how they interact with each other.
It has the traits I liked about Dracula and adds things that I missed reading that book, like strong female characters.
At first, I would have liked the characters from the original story to be mentioned, but in the end, I think the fact that it doesn't makes it more interesting and that you don't know his identity and the author just leaves clues is also intriguing.

A Dowry of Blood spins a dark tale of manipulation, seclusion and toxicity through the ages.
Constanta, beaten and dying is rescued by a mysterious man promising her a fulfilling life of comfort and revenge. Our main male character is only referred to as ‘You’, my love or my Lord throughout suggesting a domineering man seeking submissives to cater to his every whim.
Constanta, who’s renamed following her vampiric transformation, is traversed across Europe for decades as His wife, living a life of luxury and unlimited bloodshed for their enjoyment. It’s clear she’s created a subdued personality to allow for a more peaceful existence with a violent and unpredictable monster.
Magdalena is introduced and it’s clear Constanta isn’t sure what to feel, that is until He tells her she will be her ‘sister’ (a rather peculiar title for their new sexual partner). She’s well connected, bright and bubbly and once again is torn down into an isolated and meek character who misses her human life.
Our final partner is this foursome is Alexei, almost a child at only 19 years old was a starving actor - literally. He joined them under the promise of fulfilment through food, experience and love and he appears most resilient to the emotional abuse from Him. The three of them slowly become aware of the secrecy and control of their Master and Constanta finds evidence that they were not His first conquests and his answer is they ‘fled or died’. Shocked and disgusted, she continues this lifestyle for decades and decades. It initially appears that Alexei and Constanta have a more mother/son relationship which boils over into an eventual sexual relationship which is also peculiar.
I think the characters were interesting. I wasn’t aware of the retelling of Dracula and his first bride but I found the story to be lacklustre.
They lived in one spot until disease, a misstep or people figured out their existence and then they moved again and started the same cycle. I think there needed to be more fight for freedom, more happy ending and more variety.
The author wrote a great setting that played off the characters really well, but when I reached the ending I felt deflated, like I reached the top of a mountain but the horizon was in a great fog and I couldn’t take advantage of the view.

Oh my students are going to love this! An almost Gothic confessional, this evocative, intense and atmospheric tale is sure to captivate readers from beginning to end.

I loved this confessional style book. It is sensual and yet heart wrenching, exploring toxic relationships and found family. I personally love retellings with interesting takes on perspective, and flipping the script of classic literature. The writing was excellent, and I would happily read anything else from this author. I have reviewed this book twice on my TikTok, both links are below.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me with a free e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I’ve been seeing nothing but great things about this book, and since I’ve been trying to read more things outside of my comfort zone, I decided to give it a go.

This book follows Constanta as she gets turned into a vampire and marries Dracula. As time goes by, two more vampires join their group; first Magdalena, and then Alexi. They all live together and have joint and separate relationships with one another, however, Dracula (who is unnamed in this book) remains in charge. As time goes by, Constanta and the others start to realise how manipulative and dangerous Dracula is . . .

This book wasn’t bad by any means, but I did feel a bit let down by it. I was expecting a much darker story. Don’t get me wrong – there are certainly dark bits, but the plot felt quite flat to me overall. It was a quick read with gorgeous writing that created a very intriguing atmosphere, but I didn’t feel connected to the story or the characters in any way.

I think the main reason for that is that the story felt so surface level to me. We don’t really get to know Constanta or see her relationship with the other vampires develop. The story is told in the second person point of view, as a type of love letter from Constanta to Dracula. While this made for an interesting read, it did also mean that nearly everything that happened over the course of the book was told and not shown.

Overall, this was a good book. It was interesting and well-written, but I wish it explored some of the themes, characters, and relationships more in-depth, and it didn’t blow me away.

An interesting read and an interesting new perspective on Vampire lore, though I think I might have enjoyed it more if I was still a teenager, as this was when I largely read this genre of titles. (and it does seem to be written in a manner that is more attractive to Gen Z).

I would say it's on par to the writings of Anne Rice's Lestat series, in regards to it's prose and references to history and pre-existing lore, Dowry of Blood begins with the nameless 'husband' turning the female lead, Constanta into a Vampire somewhere in Romania, with the implications that the castle they arrive at, is Dracula's by it's moody gothic ramshackle description.

The book itself feels more reminiscent of Carmilla than Dracula, in that the entire book's perspective is from a female vampire who is clearly drawn to women than to the man who turned her, Constanta finds solace with her husbands second 'bride' perhaps due to the fact both are tied to a man who is implied as being abusive and controlling of his spouses (not a total surprise given what time period the story begins at) disliking when they attempt to retain some sense of freedom and agency as opposed to becoming a decorative bauble.

I'll be honest, this was a last minute squeeze into my April reads, heavily influenced by the fact that one of the girls in our Sub Club had picked it up and three of us jumped on it and followed suit. I can confirm it was WORTH IT!! This read was actually my favourite of April!

It was dark, gritty and gothic, it had undertones of cruelty and violence and I just fell in love with Gibson's writing! There are strong character developments and I didn't dislike any character (yes, I'm aware that Drac is depicted as a monster, and rightly so, but he was also very much entrancing and that was the beauty of it!), each addition to the family brought something more, be it soft, sweet, exciting or lustful.

I think the vengeance card is served well here and I loved the polyamorous and sapphic relationships that were fully nurtured throughout. It was honestly such a beautify dark read with everything I didn't know I needed!

The prose was on point and I just couldn't find fault with it, there are numerous quotes that I highlighted, because its just SO well written. I need more Gibson in my life.

For such a short fantasy book this was fantastic. I was so intrigued from the first page. It just hooked me in. The way it was written it felt so real. I felt like I was transported right into the world. Would love to read more by this author!

First of all, thank you Orbit UK and Netgalley for the ARC!

This book makes me feel insane in the best way possible. I had seen people talk about this book when it was still published independently, and had been wondering about reading it since then. When I saw that Orbit UK is publishing it, and also releasing an ARC of it, I knew I just had to give it a try and request.

I don't know what I was expecting. All I knew beforehand was that it was a retelling of Dracula and has a depiction of abuse. When I started this book, the words just flew by. I love how beautiful the writing is, and how it sets the theme and tone of the book perfectly. The writing is lyrical and atmospheric, and I was enthralled through out reading the whole book. The way this book depicted escaping an abusive relationship and the difficulties of leaving one was also really well done. I rooted for Constanta, who is our main narrator in this one as she retells the story of her, Magdalena and Alexi as they were trapped by the main antagonist through manipulation that they thought was love.

I don't think this book will leave my mind for a long time. I will definitely be buying the paperback when it's out because it's gorgeous and I can't wait to reread.

If I had read A Dowry of Blood as a teenager, I probably would have loved it. I had quite high expectations because everyone seemed to love it but unfortunately for me now it was a disappointment. It is supposedly meant to be a Dracula retelling/prequel however there is little to no resemblance, the characterisation was weak and the plot barely there. It’s a great shame because there was a lot of missed potential. I appreciated the representation and some of the prose was beautiful but it wasn't enough for me to enjoy it.

Thank you to Net Galley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a copy in exchange for honest review.

This book is a work of art. It is out of thus world . The words, the st6 and depth of relationships is exquisite.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for my EArch

I just reviewed A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. #ADowryofBlood #NetGalley

4.5*

Gibson had me at "queer retelling of Dracula" and didn't let me go. This story is exquisite, dark and violent, filled with lust and love and pain. Emotive and powerfully driven by Dracula's spouses, Gibson paints a vivid story of love, loss, and the lengths we'd go to for those who mean the most to us.

I highly recommend this celebration of queerness to anyone who wants to view Dracula's story through a fresh and heartwrenching lens.

I would like to thank NetGalley, author S. T. Gibson for this book in exchange of an honest review.

I loved this book from page one.
“I never dreamed it would end like this, my lord”

This book is an open letter from Dracula’s first wife, Costanta, and how he saved and changed her life in a promise of a better one, and turned out to be a foul promise, made of abuse, control and fear.
The narration goes fast, their life goes fast.
Dracula get two more “wives”, Magdalena and Alexi. The abuse continues. He is more abusive, jealous and violent. So they decide to rebel. To get their anger out and be free, but is not easy. It is never.

This is not a romantic love story. This is not just a book about vampires, it is so much more.

The writing is superbe, perfect for this gothic novel.
One of the best reading of the year!

Devoured in 2 days!

I really enjoyed this gothic vampire story, and especially enjoyed that it felt fresh and not a retelling/rehash of the many many vampire stories we have already. Bonus points for the diversity in characters too!

I have to say that I’d have loved more of Constanta’s early vampire life in Romania - I really enjoyed this part of the story but it seemed pretty quick. It would have been interesting to see Constanta’s relationship with the unnamed male vampire when it was just the two of them.

Overall I loved this, and could totally see a TV adaptation being made!

This was the perfect Gothic, sensual book. It's everything I love about the genre in one slim, perfect book. I loved the characters, Constanta's gorgeous writing, the second person was pulled off flawlessly. I loved this.

Holy shit, this book.

In A Dowry of Blood, Constanta takes you on a journey through her life with The Lord (presumably Dracula), who turns her into a vampire after her Romanian village gets attacked and she is left for dead.

It follows her through the centuries she lives with him, finding and turning both Magdalena and Alexei on the way. It shows their relationships with each other and their Lord, and his downfall.

This book is set up as one long, last goodbye from Constanta to her Lord, whose name she will never speak out loud or on paper again. It describes a relationship that turns abusive and the insane amount of gaslighting that Constanta, Magdalena and Alexei experience.

It's female rage written down on paper.

The writing is extremely lyrical and beautiful, but graphic at times. I have never read a poly romance, but this was a lovely introduction. The characters are extremely well-fleshed out, and even if they are undead, they feel incredibly realistic.

I really loved the lore in A Dowry of Blood, how vampires grow more and more into the creatures we know the longer they live. They start out being able to eat food, and they can withstand a bit of light, but after about a century, they are truly creatures of the night dependent on blood.

While the story has a plethora of trigger warnings, which are all relevant and are mentioned on the very first page, I think everyone who is able to should have the experience of reading this work of art.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review