Thank you to Social Butterfly PR and Karina Halle for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.
OH. My. Goodness. This book is…..My goodness. It is spicy, it is sweet, it is heartbreaking, and it is hard to put down. PLEASE heed the content warnings in this book – they are not there just to be there – but if you are ok with everything listed, this book is SO GOOD! I love Dracula retellings, and it has been a minute it feels like since I read a good Dracula adaptation. The fact that this is a spinoff/companion to another one of Karina’s series means I now have other books I can read while I am waiting for book 2, because my GOODNESS THAT ENDING.
While some of the reveals in the book weren’t that surprising to me, that didn’t make it any less impactful. I found myself getting emotional and responding strongly to each thing that was happening, which made it really hard to stop reading & get life things done. I do have to say that both of the main characters did grate on me at times – overall everything seemed very realistic (considering it is fantasy about Dracula). Really enjoyed this book and really looking forward to the next one.
SYNOPSIS:
He’s loved her for lifetimes but this time around she’s his worst enemy. Blood Orange, a wildly addictive, heat-filled dark vampire romance featuring Dracula from New York Times Bestselling author Karina Halle is out now!
Once there was a man who fell deeply in love with a woman he could never have. When their affair was uncovered she was brutally murdered in front of him, and he discovered he was cursed, doomed to live forever as a vampire.
Over the centuries, he found his love again, and lost her again, until he was so broken he gave up on love entirely, sinking into the depths of depravity, losing his humanity. Then one day, she came back into his life. A student of music studying under him at the conservatory in Venice, Italy where he was a professor. But even though he found her beautiful and intriguing, he didn’t recognise his fated mate at all. Because this time she had to hide her true self.
This time she came back as a witch, whose destiny wasn’t to love him…but to kill him.
Blood Orange is a modern-day Dracula retelling about the “real-life” Dracula that inspired Bram Stoker. This is a dark vampire romance with plenty of content warnings and while it is a spinoff of The Dark Eyes Duet, it is a complete standalone novel.
Read today!
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Keep reading for a look inside Blood Orange!
My body wants to bring him to my apartment. I’m craving his touch like nothing else. But I can’t. Not in the state I left it and not with a possible demon still inside. I can only hope it left through the open window; I assume that’s how it got in. But my knowledge of demons doesn’t go very far. I never thought I would have to deal with any of this.
“I have an exam tomorrow,” I suddenly blurt out.
He widens his eyes and nods, taking a step back, though his hand is still firmly holding onto mine. “So you do.” He clears his throat loudly. “I’m guessing you need to study.”
I’d rather study you, I think, but I nod. “Yeah. Thank god I didn’t leave it all to the last minute like I usually do.”
He sucks on his lower lip for a moment and I want nothing more than to kiss him again. “I’m sure you’ll pass,” he says.
“It’s not enough to pass,” I tell him. “I want to get a good grade.”
“I’m sure you’ll get a good grade,” he says in a knowing tone.
“Don’t you dare try to do me any favors,” I warn. “I need to get good grades on my own accord.”
“Help you? Wouldn’t dream of it.” He gives me a convincing smile. “Still, let me finish walking you home. I promise I’ll be out of your hair.”
So we walk hand-in-hand the rest of the way, until we’re standing outside my building.
“I’m going to go upstairs now,” I tell him.
He slides his hand around my lower back, holding me in place, while his other hand cups my jaw. “And I’m going to kiss you again.”
This time the press of his lips is so faint, so light, and yet it makes my knees tremble, my stomach to do summersaults. “Dahlia,” he says, murmuring against my mouth. “I don’t want you to be ashamed of your darkness. I don’t want you to be afraid of it. I am not a delicate man. I am brash, volatile, controlling and demanding and I always, always get what I want. What I want is your darkness to play with mine. I want to make it come so beautifully alive, so that we can revel in it together.”
He presses his lips to mine firmly then pulls away and I feel like I can’t breathe at all as he stares inches from my eyes. “I am choosing you. And if you accept me, there is no turning back.”
I try to swallow. “And what do I get out of it?” I whisper, my voice shaking slightly.
The corner of his mouth lifts in a smirk while his eyes narrow. “You get to feel things you’d only dreamed of feeling. You get to do things you were too afraid of doing. To live in the very darkness you run from. Isn’t that you want most of all? To be so pushed past the point of terror that you no longer fear anything at all?”
Holy shit.
“As I said,” he says gruffly, running his thumb over my lips, “I am not a delicate man. I can be rough. I can cause pain. I may make you hate me sometimes. But I will always be on your side. I will always make you feel chosen.”
I don’t know what the hell I’m agreeing to here but I’m nodding.
Because I have to.
Because I want you.
“Then choose me,” I say softly.
He leans in and kisses me on the cheek. “I already did. First day I laid eyes on you.”
Meet Karina:
Karina Halle is a former travel writer and music journalist and The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestselling author of The Pact, Love, in English, The Artists Trilogy, Dirty Angels and over 20 other wild and romantic reads. She lives on an island off the coast of British Columbia with her husband and her rescue pup, where she drinks a lot of wine, hikes a lot of trails and devours a lot of books.
Halle is represented by the Root Literary and is both self-published and published by
Simon & Schuster and Hachette in North America and in the UK.
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Website: http://authorkarinahalle.com