Loved it so much I have this version & the Orbit version now!

This book is a dark religious experience.
A gothic experience of obsession, love, pain & rage because, in the end, how can a book of vampires be anything but this?

One thing for sure that I can say. After reading it here. I needed to buy it. So much emotion were lived in that reading. Pain, sadness, suffering, love, friendship, patience and many more. How well it is writing. I couldn't stop to read until it's was done. Constanta, I could feel all her pain. The words were poetic and the ability of the author to transport through time was beautiful.

You need to read it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I found this book incredibly interesting the author really kept me hooked until the end. very well written I highly recommend.

A fun and Sapphic look at the brides of Dracula.

Constanta is saved from the brink of death and is transformed into a new being -literally. From peasant life to that of an aristocrat, Constanta must choose between the love she shares for her husband and her own freedom. There are secrets, betrayal, love, passion, and obsession. All around a dark and good time.

A huge shout out and thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. It was so good I got a copy for the library and for myself.

The cover and premise had me intrigued immediately, but the first pages gripped me. Almost by the throat. The writing here is so sharp and clever, the atmosphere lavish and creepy, and I really enjoyed that aspect of A Dowry of Blood. The plot is also great, though I felt like it meandered in some places where I would have liked a bit faster pacing. Regardless, I was rooting for Constanta the whole time and really loved her as a narrator of this tale. The family dynamics were also very interesting and sweet. I loved the examination of Dracula and showing the horrors of being his bride. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of S.T. Gibson's work in the future.

I totally agree with reviews recommending this vampire gothic for folks who love atmospheric lyricism. Alas, atmospheric lyricism doesn’t do much for me. Pretty words, so-so storyline. This was REALLY short — I assumed wrongly that this was a full-length novel. Terrific narration, though. Read via Scribd/audio (narrated by Abby Craden).

Disclaimer: While I read an audiobook copy that I borrowed from Scribd, I initially received a free e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Guys..... why is noone saying it as it is? This was <i>baaaaaaaaad</i>.

We're told that this was a Dracula retelling, but there's no sight of Dracula here. Hell, we don't even have the name of the vampire in charge!

There are four characters, I couldn't tell you which one of them was less developed. We know nothing of the world or the surrounding or whatever - no description at all. And yet... Yet, this book pretends to be deep and lyrical.

But it is as dry as a desert.

It didn't make me feel or think anything. I don't even hate it. I'm completely indifferent, but objectively, it was so, SO bad.

I also find it disturbing and disgusting that people who have sex with each other call each other brothers and sisters😬

A Dowry of Blood is a queer polyamorous reimagining of Dracula’s brides. If you, like me, are already intrigued, I recommend reading this without knowing much more about it, as long as you are aware that it depicts unhealthy and abusive relationships and includes descriptions of gore. This is a meditative look at this relationship, so it’s easy for me to give away more than I mean to–the relationship doesn’t even turn into a polycule until about halfway through. In case you need more convincing, though, I will forge on ahead.

This is a M/F/F/M polycule, and each of the four characters are bisexual (or pansexual). We see this relationship through Constanta’s eyes, who was his first bride. She was dying as a casualty on a battlefield when he came in as her savior, turning her and nursing her back to health. She is overwhelmingly in love with him: “And God, how I adored you. It went beyond love, beyond devotion. I wanted to dash myself against your rocks like a wave, obliterate my old self and see what rose shining and new from the sea foam.” She also kills him within the first pages of the book. The rest of the story backtracks to say how we got there.

I should specify that the name Dracula never appears in the book. Constanta is telling this story to him, explaining what brought her to killing him, and she decides that because he took her name away–renaming her Constanta–she would similarly rob him of his name. It feels silly to talk about a book about vampires being a meditation on an abusive relationship, but it really is. Although this is fantastical, her descriptions of how she–and later, the other “brides”–are treated feels all too realistic.

He is patronizing, possessive, at times adoring or absent or cruel. Constanta learns to walk on eggshells, not speaking asking more than two questions in a row. He wants to be her only source of joy: “Vienna made you irritable as much as it made me blossom. I wouldn’t realize until later that you were irritable precisely because I was in bloom, because there were suddenly so many sources of joy in my life apart from your presence.”

Constanta was a devout Christian before being turned, and she still practices her faith, to his disdain. She also hunts despicable people, those that she believes the world will be better off without. She finds monsters who are untouchable and kills them. He believes this is petty, childish. He studies humans from a scientific distance, believing that they are superior to humans. He mocks her concern with human society. After all, they live for centuries, making each plague or war an inconvenience that they travel to escape from, but nothing to take too seriously.

Vague spoilers:

She is unhappy and confused by his mercurial affection, but she’s still captivated by him and relies on him. Their relationship changes when he manipulates her into accepting new “brides,” seemingly becoming bored with just her company. At first, it’s Magdalena: a commanding, powerful woman with political correspondents around the world. She is resentful of him bringing her into their relationship, but she can’t help but fall for Magdalena herself. At first, this arrangement works: Magdalena and Constanta keep each other company in his absences (often in bed), and he is charmed by Magdalena’s energy. Soon, though, his controlling nature saps her of her vitality, and she is left a shadow of the free, vital woman she once was.

Still, they might have continued this way for centuries more, until he adds Alexi to their mix. Alexi is a young man (“no more than nineteen”) who adds fresh life to their home–but Alexi also challenges him and refuses to accept their limitations, leading to constant stand-offs and tension. Constanta could endure her own pain, but she can’t stand to see Magdalena and Alexi suffer.

Although this is a vampire novel, complete with ample sex scenes and gory scenes, it’s just as much about Constanta reflecting on her relationship with this captivating and abusive person. She begins to see it through a different light, and she doesn’t apologize for her actions. She recognizes that they loved each other, but that they couldn’t live this way, and that all three of them were in danger if they let it continue.

If you want a bisexual polyamorous vampire novel that is also thoughtful and atmospheric, definitely pick up A Dowry of Blood.

I hate myself for taking so long until I picked this book up because it was phenomenal.
You can tell that S.T. Gibson is a poetess and her writing skills do shine in this novel. I loved every single that I've read and she knows how to pull the reader in. Of course it's a plus that the characters and the plot are intriguing as well. I loved getting to know all our characters and even though we read the book through the POV of Constanta, I still feel like I got a good understanding of the side characters. I'll make sure to recommend this book to any Dracula fan.
I will definitely look out for more books by this author in the future!

Thank you to NetGalley for an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review
The story of Dracula has been told maybe a million times throughout media and very few I find take a new interesting twist on the story or stories surrounding the idea of Dracula and The Vampire, but this book was so interesting!
The brides of Dracul are something I never see get focused on and this book did a great job of showing them in more complex light and made them full character and more than just an extension to Dracula and his story. This story is described as lyrical and it is a perfect description the lead story is like a beautiful dark tragic song you feel compelled to come back to again and again.

It was such a dark and lush read, but at the same time, it was very lovely. Definitely a great entry to the vampire stories canon.

I really enjoyed this. Dark and lush and lovely.
Thank you very much to Nyx Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book hits like a stake to the heart.

Wow. Wow wow wow. Those who know me know that I have a soft spot for vampire stories, have since childhood, but this isn't a vampire story. Not really. This is a love story, a life story, a survival story. A reclamation story. At its heart, it's a story about abusive relationships, and the complex, tangled, sometimes morbidly beautiful love one can have for their abuser.

We have queer relationships (bisexuality all around!), [mostly] ethical non-monogamy, and vampirism. Be still my heart. Although the book is billed as a queer retelling of the story of Dracula's brides it isn't about Dracula at all - in fact, his name is never mentioned, not once. It's the story of his eldest bride and her fellow brides/siblings, the centuries they spent sleeping alongside a monster, and their quest for emancipation. It's beautifully, lyrically written, but the prose isn't so purple that it detracts from the overall effect. It hooked me in from the first page - I felt the dread and the thrill and the curiosity and it didn't abate until the final page.

(There were a few minor continuity errors - somewhat irritating as they always are to a nitpicky close reader like me, but in this case I loved this book enough that they didn't detract from the overall effect. I'll just say that Machiavelli and the Siege of Vienna were contemporaries.)

This book is gorgeous and heart-rending. I'll be sure to look up Gibson's other work.

This was such a gorgeous re imaging of Dracula. Told through a love letter written by Constanta to her maker after she has murdered him. Dowry of Blood is a dark passionate queer vampire story. The writing is absolutely suburb and the depth of characters is nothing short of exceptional for such a for such a short read. Dowry is essentially a story about toxic relationships and how people survive them. Spanning centuries, it follows Constanta after she is made a vampire and taken as a wife by her maker, eventually more are added to their family and the complex relationships between them is so well explored.

"Even loneliness, hollow and cold, becomes so familiar it starts to feel like a friend."

It was a great read. I enjoyed every bit of it. The writing was exquisite and the story well managed.

4 out of 5 stars

Wow. I love uncommon retellings and I’d never read one about Dracula’s brides before.

A Dowry of Blood is the story of Constanta, a first bride of a vampire man who she never says the name of, but we know who he is. It’s told in her letters to him and is all in second person which makes for an interesting read. She documents all the highs and lows of her relationships including the ones with his newer bride and male consort.

This is a great example of a dark, poly romance, that doesn’t focus on the sexual aspect. While there are more steamy scenes and this is definitely an adult novel, the relationships are given so much emotional depth. Constanta was a great narrator and almost unreliable at times with her emotions being all over the place and just being consumed by her husband. The book did a fantastic job of depicting this abusive relationship and really making you understand Constanta’s mindset the entire time.

I loved the writing in this so much. It was stunning. I wish I could’ve highlighted the entire thing.

I had a hard time with the letter format at first, and while i really liked the main character, i didn’t fully love her like i wish i did. The ending and climax also seemed abrupt and easy to see coming.

Received this copy for review through Netgalley. Thank you!
(triggers at the end)

i am thoroughly speechless with regards to how this book made me feel? how do i explain it?? i think everyone just needs to read this to understand

this is the kind of book you devour instantly, as all the emotions constanta feels will be reflected in your mood throughout the whole story. it's an open letter that she writes to her once love, forever tormentor, explaining how they reached the point in their long lives in which she couldn't take it any longer. it's about her slow progression from idle wife, victim to a monster's clutches, to the emboldened leader she becomes once those she loves are threatened by their husband.

you root for constanta, since by the time the horrific climax reaches, she's shown every aspect to her and her husband's trying lives, and you can't help but empathize with her will for freedom. you come to care for magdalena and alexi as she cares for them, and you want to protect them as fiercely as she does.

i dunno how the author did it, but i was a mess by the end of the book. suddenly i need to read everything they've ever written pls

<b>trigger warnings for
domestic abuse (verbal, emotional, physical), violence, depictions of depression and mania, murder (on-page), confinement</b>

I haven’t read such beautifully written poetic prose in a long time. Taking such a well-known character like Dracula and giving a different perspective doesn’t always work well, but this definitely did. I was very invested in the complicated relationships between the characters, and how they would reach the bloody end that is promised in the beginning. If you like sophisticated vampires you need to give this book a try.

Oh my goodness, why did I wait so long to read this??? But, nevermind that! this book fucking delivers!
I had Expectations, not gonna lie, but they were met and exceeded!

It's a second person story, basically with Constanta recounting her story to her husband (Dracula). So I wasn't sure I'd get into it? I'm usually weirded out by 2nd person, but I think the fact that it was very clear who it was addressed to, made it more like reading an epistolary novel, than something addressed to "me". So it actually worked remarkably well.

It's very much about love - between the different "brides" but also twisted, controlling love, from and for the vampire himself (he's never named I think, but there are hints that he is really the same Dracula as Bram Stoker's). For me this was mainly a beautifully written story about escaping controlling, abusive lovers and getting back control of your life. With added queerness and polyamory (of the non-toxic kind also).

The basic plot is (and you'll know from the start because the heroine comes out and says it on like page 2) "here's how much of a fucking abusive asshole you were, and here's why I killed you" and let me tell ya, I am here for queer revenge plots on abusive men. SO HERE! I'm also here for cheating relationships where the women end up with each other and get their revenge on the man eventually.

You can feel the conflicting feelings of Constanta and her fellow "brides" for the man they love, but who's also hurting them. I've had my fair share of psychological abuse, and I work with victims of coercive control, so it truly hit home for me. And I don't have the words to express how gorgeously written it is!