The polyamorous relationship was well done, not just in the bedroom, but in their deep connection with each other. A dizzying nightmare of a romance that will leave you aching, angry and ultimately hopeful’ Hannah Whitten, author of For the Wolf You held him by the throat, watching waves of rapture cross his face, while Magdalena and I drank from him. He looked like a lithe young Christ, crucified between two beautiful women with you as his cross.

As this is a dark vampire story, the author has a list of possible triggers at the beginning of the book and on Goodreads (in her review). 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. I will never lift a hand against you, Constanta,” you said quietly. “Never in anger, or in lust.” I can see what she saw in him because I would have folded 🥵💀 I thought it would be a bit spicier than it was, considering most vampire books I’ve read are heavy on the spice. The open-door scenes were pretty brief. A dark seductive tale. . . intermingling love, pain, fear and anger in mesmerizing prose’ Publishers Weekly

A Dowry of Blood is a love story. In fact, I would argue that this book covered many dimensions of love. For example, Constanta's relationship with her husband is one of control, manipulation and despair. Gibson's way of telling its effects on Constansta's mental state is very prominent as the readers can feel her emotional exhaustion/resignation and her anger as their relationship progressed. Moreover, Constansta's relationship with Magdalena (oh Magdalena my love) is remarkably written. The passion, the love, the lust between them was everything I need. Additionally, I love how everyone in this book is just 💖bisexual💖without being vilified.

A delectable jewel of a tale, shimmering with dark, beautiful prose' Tori Bovalino, author of The Devil Makes Three A dizzying nightmare of a romance that will leave you aching, angry and ultimately hopeful."– Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the WolfThis review is definitely going to be controversial I’m sorry I didn’t love it so dont hate me for it i have my reasons 😭😭😭 A Dowry of Blood is a dark and delicious story of Dracula and his first bride, Constanta, spread across centuries. It’s kind of … you know that bit in Interview with a Vampire where Lestat, Louis and Claudia spend, like, two hundred years being a kind of weird asexual/pansexual queer family murder unit? And it’s secretly the best bit of the book, despite the whole queerness/paedophilia conflation thing, while also being glossed over in a few paragraphs? I STILL CANT GET OVER THE FACT THAT HE TOLD THEM ALL THAT THEY WERE LIKE SIBLINGS AND THEY ALL WENT ALONG WITH IT IT WAS WEIRD HE ALWAYS CALLED CONSTANTA HIS WIFE THEN TOLD HER MAGDALENA WAS HER SISTER WHEN THEYR LITERALLY SLEEPING WITH EACH OTHER AND HOW CONSTANTA THOUGHT OF ALEXI AS HER SON BUT SLEPT WITH HIM MAKE IT MAKE SENSE 😭😭😭

Overall it was an excellant book I didn't know I needed until today. I heard that S.T. Gibson has a new book coming out set in the same universe. Safe to say that I am incredibly hyped <3 We reveled in our love of you, of Magdalena, but the affection between us was more mother and son than lovers.” ewww what in the incest but it’s not incest 💀I love epistolary novels, but this one could very well be my favorite. This is a reimagining of dracula, but told from the pov of his first bride who is writing a letter to him about their story, and we learn from the very first letter that she became his downfall. But this is also a story about abusive relationships and how power dynamics, manipulation, gaslighting, are sometimes very difficult to see. We get to see their story unfold from the very first day he made her a vampire under the promise of saving her to the very end where promises of love could no longer be masked as unconditional. Many thanks to Little Brown Book Group and NetGalley for providing me this e-ARC in exchange of my honest review! I have no words. It was utterly gorgeous and I never expected this story to consume me from the very beginning to the end. If you've been considering reading Dowry, I urge you to nab yourself a copy (if you don't have one already) and treat yourself. It's a beautifully queer novel with an important lesson at its dark, beating heart. But a few flourishes and embellishments couldn’t change the fact that the very fabric of our life together was tangled and suffocating. I had given you a thousand second chances, made a thousand concessions. And this wasn’t just about me anymore. It was about Magdalena, and Alexi”