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Monday, January 23, 2017

Book Review: Princess Dracula by John Patrick Kennedy




Princess Dracula (Princess Dracula #1) by John Patrick Kennedy
Genre: Adult (Dark Paranormal/Horror)
Date Published: January 17, 2017
Publisher: Kindle Press

All power comes at a price…

Ruxandra learned everything she knows while growing up in a convent. Training to be the perfect nobleman’s wife, she relishes the prospect of a simple life. But everything changes when her father, Vlad Dracula, retrieves her on her eighteenth birthday. Securing her a marriage is the last thing he has in mind…

After he performs a mysterious ritual over her, Ruxandra gains uncontrollable supernatural powers. Alone, terrified, and faced with an unknown future, she is left to forge a new life for herself. There’s only one thing she knows: if she doesn’t learn to control her unnatural instincts, she’ll destroy every last shred of her humanity.

Princess Dracula is the first book in a dark fantasy horror series. If you like crisp writing, emotional gravitas, and intriguing retellings of classic tales, then you’ll love John Patrick Kennedy’s new twist on vampire lore.

Princess Dracula is the first book in the Princess Dracula series by John Patrick Kennedy. This wasn't the book I expected to read. It was everything the blurb said, but my head interpreted and assumed different things from that description. That made it quite interesting though. I went through many levels of like and dislike as I read this story.

The story itself was well told and made this a hard book to put down. Ruxandra was thrust into an impossible situation, and she has nothing to guide her. She doesn't want to become a monster, but the more she tries to control it, the less control she has.. or so it seemed to me. It was a vicious cycle. Her struggle was real, folks.

My gripe would have to be the sexual scenes. With a Dracula story, you need to have some sexual themes going on, but in this case, it seemed like they were more for shock value rather than value towards the plot, and that really disengaged me from the story. I would have enjoyed it more, had some of those moments been left out.

Princess Dracula was dark, horrible, sexual, and tragic- everything you'd expect from a Dracula story plus a few things you might not. The ending could be called a cliffhanger I suppose, but it was more like a teaser for the next book, and that worked on me, because I'm curious to see what will unfold next.

The ARC of Princess Dracula by John Patrick Kennedy was kindly provided to me by the Kindle Scout program for review. The opinions are my own.


author
John Patrick Kennedy has been writing stories ever since he could write.  At first, his imagination was his escape from a difficult childhood, where he never seemed to "fit in."  Other kids taunted him for being different and John began to create worlds in his stories where he could feel safe and secure; stronger and more confident.

When John grew older, he discovered a taste for wanderlust and adventure.  As a young man, he travelled the world with little but what he could carry on his back.  He has climbed Denali, hiked the Amazon, and even spent a year in Japan, teaching English and feeding deer in the famous Nara Park.  His love of Asian history and philosophy has led him to become a master at Jeet Kune Do and a practicing Taoist.

John now divides his time between two homes, one in New York City, the other in London.  He is married with a beautiful little girl who inspires and captivates him.  They share their homes with a loyal, loving, German Shepherd. A man of many interests and talents, John has been a world-ranked tennis pro, even defeating a former Wimbledon champion in a sanctioned ITF tournament...and of course, he remains, and always will be a writer.  All of John's many interests and adventures have inspired his writing.  In addition, his imagination is so vivid and dear, it is almost as if he lives part-time within a third home in his mind, an inner world his readers glimpse when they read his novels.

John writes on a Macbook Pro and finds himself hardly able to go a day without creating something, be it an idea in infancy, or one of the many novels he has going at any time.  He is prolific and some friends say, even manic in the pursuit and perfection of his craft.  He loves to rip wide open his readers' minds, showing them something—a world, a character—they have never read or experienced before.

To learn more about John Patrick Kennedy and his books, visit him website.You can also find him on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.

2 comments :

  1. Lovely cover art. This sounds like it might be a good one for me:)

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    Replies
    1. I know! I love the cover! I hope you do read it. Let me know what you think after. :-)

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