Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

Having put Stalking Jack the Ripper on my Best of the Shelf list last year, I was as eager as anyone to get my hands on the sequel. The characters I enjoyed from the first book going after another ancient, blood thirsty monster of history...sign me up! Did the book deliver as well as the first one? Well, let's see for ourselves.

Audrey Rose Wadsworth, fresh of the Ripper case, is on her way to Transylvania with the mysterious Thomas Cresswell. Together, they intend to enter into an academy of forensic sciences to master their skills as investigators. While the prospect of autopsies and forensic science has always been a great delight for Audrey Rose, she enters the program with some trepidation due to a venomous Headmaster, sexist classmates, being pitted against Thomas for a spot in the academy...and several horrific murders taking place in the school. People from the nearby village and even some visitors at the school are being impaled with wooden stakes, attacked by bats, and drained of blood. The village fears the return of Vlad the Impaler, horrific tyrant of old, said to have risen from the dead to devour blood. Audrey Rose and Thomas must get to the bottom of this case, lest their own lives be lost next to this mysterious, bloodthirsty fiend.

As I was a big fan of the first book, I did have some pretty high expectations for this one. In essence, this was everything I was expecting it to be. A whodunnit murder mystery, much like the first, with ties to history and real-life places. Once again, creative liberties were taken with much of the historical facts in order to tell a good story, but I didn't mind them so much this time around. Probably because there weren't as many and, aside from the fact that Bran Castle has never really been a forensic academy, nothing too major was changed. Plus, much like the first, there was a lot of great depictions of gothic architecture and atmosphere that I really appreciated.

Now, most people who have read these books will go on and on about how Thomas is their favorite character and how much they loved him and how charming he is and yada yada yada. Okay, I don't dislike Thomas as a character but...I'm sorry, but his flirting starting to get real annoying. She's obviously trying to go for a will-they-won't-they thing with Audrey Rose and Thomas but his flirting just got super old super fast in this book. Not only was every other thing he said hinting about how badly he wants to get with Audrey Rose but, at times, it just seemed inappropriate. Now, I don't mean inappropriate as in what he said was patriarchy or rude or anything, but that he says stuff after finding a person's dead body or when they are in eminent danger! Time and place, buddy. Time and place.

Another problem I had with this book was that the pacing was much slower than the previous book. I had a hard time finishing it, not because it was poorly written or the characters were unlikable or anything, but because it was drag on and on in certain places. It got the point where I think I zoned out and missed some important details. My only major nitpick about Stalking was that I figured out who was behind everything fairly quickly. This time, I was genuinely surprised....then really confused. Even after the usual "get the villain monologuing to save ourselves" scene we can sometimes get with these stories, I still didn't really get what was going on. We're supposed to be impressed by the intelligence of this character but the way they go about their plan...seriously didn't make a lick of sense. I think it just needed to be thought out a bit better because that was seriously the most flawed part of the book.

Final Verdict
Not as good as the first, but still enjoyable enough. The writing is still good, I still like Audrey Rose, and the mystery was a good one but the conclusion was confusing and didn't make a whole lot of sense, Thomas got annoying, and so I'm going to say to maybe wait for it on paperback.

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Please make sure to Follow Midnight Readings for instant updates. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

If you would like to read my book, Powerless, you can find it at:

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Powerless-Shelley-Miller/dp/1543482546/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519062043&sr=8-1&keywords=powerless+by+shelley+miller

Xlibris: https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001175242

Next Time:  Victorian England needs more superheroes...

The Thirteenth Princess by Nina Clare

Need a book where you can just kind of sit back and enjoy the ride? A book that's not trying to hard or attempting to cash in on popular tropes? It's always nice to find a book such as that and this, I must say, was a refreshing read. Going back to reviewing a fairy tale retelling, and having it actually be a positive experience, was just what the doctor ordered. Let's dive in.

The thirteenth princess of the kingdom of Cataluna has always been looked on like a curse, to the point where she doesn't even have a name other than Princess. Surrounded by her beautiful and talented sisters, Princess dreams of adventure and freedom from the home that looks on her like an unwanted problem. When whispers of rebellion force the princesses' uncle, the current ruler, to find them husbands, Princess isn't so sure at the prospect. With her sisters longing for love, her uncle scheming against them, and a long line of princes arriving from all over the world, Princess must step out of the shadows and be the hero she longs to be.

For a retelling of the story of the Twelve Dancing Princesses, this story takes things to a different level and balances the line of staying true to the story and adding enough details to make it more three-dimensional. It breathes life and personality into the existing characters and creates interesting new ones to build the world and enrich the story. Princess (who could totally be a Time Lord with that name, that would have been awesome) is a fairly spunky character without trying too hard and making her overly tough or willowy. She felt like a real person, the youngest child in a large family with successful siblings...yeah, her feelings in this story are pretty genuine and realistic and I appreciated that about this story.

Now, the story is a fairy tale and it knows it. That being said, we were allowed to have things like magic and faeries and spells, none of which I remember the actual story having. However, it doesn't feel forced given the story and established world that we're given. Even when the characters themselves are surprised that magic exists, the reader isn't. We could sense it from the beginning, because we're reading through the eyes of an intuitive character. The inclusion of a villain character also fits snugly and he had such personality and funny moments that he was probably one of my favorite parts. It kind of made me think that if Disney were to make a movie around the Twelve Dancing Princesses, it might look something like this.

If I had to nitpick, and I do, I will admit that the story does drag at times. Mostly this is due to the fact that the story is trying to establish twelve princesses and give them personalities. Yeah, the title characters of the fairy tale that we're basing this story off of are ironically the Achilles Heel in this story. There's a great deal of time to naming the sisters, naming their hobbies and interests, describing their dresses, meeting their princes, going to their parities, making their rings and on and on and on. I can appreciate it was trying to turn them into characters and not bland or uninteresting but I don't think it worked too well. At the end of the day....there's still twelve of them. I'm just not going to remember each and every one of them. It was a valiant effort, but the sisters probably had a bit too much time devoted to making them stand out.

Final Verdict
It was fun, it was light, it was interesting...yeah, I liked this book. Was it the best book I'd ever read in my life...probably not, but I did appreciate it and what it was going for and trying to do. The protagonist was good, the ideas were clever and I'd say this book is worth your money at your local bookstore!

Have you read the book? What did you think? Comment below and share your thoughts. Please make sure to Follow Midnight Readings for instant updates. Have a book you'd like me to read or would like to make a recommendation? Contact me on goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/65448711-michelle-beer

If you would like to read my book, Powerless, you can find it at:

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Powerless-Shelley-Miller/dp/1543482546/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519062043&sr=8-1&keywords=powerless+by+shelley+miller

Xlibris: https://www.xlibris.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-001175242

Next Time: From the Ripper to the Impaler...this chick has her work cut out for her....