A Dowry of Blood

By: S.T. Gibson

Narrated by: Abby Craden

Length: 5 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

A lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula's brides, A Dowry of Blood is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation.

Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband's 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.

Contains mature themes.

©2021 S. T. Gibson (P)2021 Tantor

A New Favorite

Absolutely incredible from start to finish. I couldn't stop listening. This book encapsulates the pain of surrendering to a toxic, all-consuming, poisonous love so thoroughly, and the recovery from such a love. I adored Constanta from the start, warmed to Magdalena as quickly as she did, and immediately fell in love with Alexei as they both did. The characters are so well-written and compelling, and you can feel the forcefulness with which their husband keeps an iron grip on their lives from their beginnings to his end. The entire book is wonderfully narrated and the narrator does an excellent job conveying the emotions of each scene. Overall, an incredible read.

Victim of the Hype Train

It was an interesting change in perspectives to see a classic vampire story from a bride's perspective, but I expected a lot more insight. I think with a longer book we could have gotten more into her head. There has been so much hype surrounding this, I expected it to blow me away but still an enjoyable read.

Two thumbs up

The narrator captivated me from the first sound! What a wonderful book! An unconventional love story.

Wow

Heartbreaking and deeply enamoring, this book is one of the best of the year for me. The only reason I docked a star is because of the ick I got about the 18 year old heavily featured in the story and how they kept describing him as so young and so childlike, but still doing… things with him. Overall this is a very dark story with a hopeful ending and I very much enjoyed every moment of it.

Stunning

This book is beautiful and such a great listen. Vampires and the struggle to exist in a world where every decision is being made for you. I need everyone to give this a chance!

So good.

I thought it was an absolutely captivating story, and beautifully lyrical. The character had grade depth and I could understand her trauma and character. and LGBTQ rep also!! The narrator was awesome too, and her voice was perfect.

Perfect Voice for an Amazing story

Holy shit. Amazing. Dark. Lyrical. Honestly a modern masterpiece. You won’t regret this one. Anything by ST is worth your time. 5/5 stars. Might be in the top books I read this year.

Amazing!

Loved the book and the Narrator! I haven't listened to something this good in a long time.

amazing

I would give this ten stars if I could based of the performance of the narrator, she’s amazing.

Obsessed!

I am truly obsessed with this book, I could ramble about this book forever, and for it only having been 5 hours of my time to listen to; that is impressive. When I first heard about this book I really thought that the queerness and the polyamory of it is what would draw me in, and while I really like those aspects, what truly kept me there was the nuanced depiction of abuse. As someone who has been in an abusive relationship, It can be disheartening to see abusers portrayed as rather black and white, but this was not the case. All in all this book is fantastic with shades of grey and the ending could not have been better. Honestly, pairing the opening words of this book with the closing words gives me chills! This book is fantastic, nuanced, queer, polyamorous (though the polyamory does not start ethically), and gorgeously written. To anyone who can stomach some graphic scenes and heartbreak I 100% reccomend this book.