Dracula in Love by Karen Essex

July 12, 2011 (Paperback) by Doubleday

Paperback, 372 Pages 

Review/Finished Copy

From the shadowy banks of the river Thames to the wild and windswept Yorkshire coast, Dracula’s eternal muse, Mina Murray, vividly recounts the intimate details of what really transpired between her and the Count the joys and terrors of a passionate affair that has linked them through the centuries, and her rebellion against her own frightening preternatural powers.
Mina’s version of this gothic vampire tale is a visceral journey into Victorian England’s dimly lit bedrooms, mist-filled cemeteries, and asylum chambers, revealing the dark secrets and mysteries locked within. Time falls away as she is swept into a mythical journey far beyond mortal comprehension, where she must finally make the decision she has been avoiding for almost a millennium. Bram Stoker’s classic novel offered one side of the story, in which Mina had no past and bore no responsibility for the unfolding events. Now, for the first time, the truth of Mina’s personal voyage, and of vampirism itself, is revealed. What this flesh and blood woman has to say is more sensual, more devious, and more enthralling than the Victorians could have expressed or perhaps even have imagined.

Review

It’s a dark and dreary Victorian England and Mina Murray, a beautiful and quiet girl seems to have a knack for bringing out the worst in people. Those who mistake her quiet beauty for weakness want to destroy her, ravage her or make her submit as a good girl does. Since childhood Mina has suffered abuses and is haunted by a dark figure in her dreams, as a child she shares those dreams and thoughts with her parents who are equally terrified and disgusted by her. The solution: throw her away. Mina gets sent to an all girls school where life continues normal for a time, until the night she begins sleepwalking again.

Her dark stranger returns once again to haunt her dreams, only this time as a much older Mina, her shadowed man comes to seduce and fill her with unexplainable passions. Unable to fight him or her feelings, Mina finally discovers she is madly in-love with her dream man who is actually Dracula coming to claim his bride. Dripping with mystery and sensuality, Mina slowly pulls back the layers of her mind to discover that she is not the innocent maiden of Dracula’s desire, yet is a part of a story spanning across 700 years of forbidden romance….

I read the original story of Dracula in high school and later watched the popular movie with Gary Oldman (which was excellent) and have always had an idea of what Mina's character was like. Essex’s version brought a whole new dimension to Mina that I liked and disliked at the same time. The dislike and something that I’ve always struggled with regarding Mina, was how mousy she seemed, her female character always seemed to be at war with her physical self. In the beginning Dracula in Love is no different, the story opens with an attempted rape scene and pretty much carries out that weak female vibe until the last half of the book. Mina being the very dominated always taken advantage of woman, was at points very hard to relate to because I wanted her to be stronger, or just make a choice in her life and go with it. As a child she is mistreated and punished, as a young woman she is controlled in every aspect of her life and even on the cusp of adulthood she chooses Jonathan, a mousy man to marry who as well, wants to dominate her. The scariest aspect to Minas story wasn’t Dracula or that the creature in him wanted to devour her soul, it was all the human men in her life and what they were doing to her. The asylum scenes, which were a short part the story, were the most awful things Mina went through and the fact that Jonathan made her go through all those treatments to cure her visions/dreams was the most disturbing.

What I did like though, is that Essex created in that weak character, a perfect scenario for Mina to finally come into her strength, by the time Mina gets to a point to accept Dracula and her life, I was so frustrated with all the men in the novel controlling the story, that I wanted her to just stake them all and move to Africa, where she could live out her days in the hot sun and see elephants or something…. I mean even Dracula dominated Mina from early childhood, always in the shadows watching over her, protecting her only when the point of death or violation was the only outcome, yet always keeping himself distant. He even decided when it was the right time for a passionate relationship. Dracula got on my nerves big time with his let me get you all riled up and then beg for it macho garbage. In that sense, looking at the men this story offered, you could certainly see the feminist mind frame and values being put forth, as not one male character, not even Dracula are strong or redeeming men. At first Dracula seems to be the one who is control, but the twist in this novel will surprise you...as a powerful and convincing woman emerges to outdo them all...

The sex scenes were a bit out of my comfort zone when it comes to reading, yet I couldn’t help but get lost in its intoxication. I think at the end even though Mina and I never connected and I disagreed with so many things her character did, I have a new refreshing take on a much bolder character to coincide with Dracula.

This is defiantly a mood book, one that begs to be read at nighttime, better yet during a storm. As you slip into the pages and grace the halls of Mina's asylum be weary of the haunting fingers that will pull you under. An intriguing, dark Gothic romance.



Rating

Recommended to adult readers. Contains: Violence, attempted rape, sexuality, scary/freighting themes, mild-language, graphic sex scenes, domination, control, murder and legend/folklore.

4/5- Historical-Gothic
Thanks to Publisher and HFVirtualbooktours for review copy