BOOK FEATURE FRIDAY: Dracula in Love by Karen Essex

 A reimagining of Bram Stoker’s classic, this time seen through the eyes of Mina Harker, DRACULA IN LOVE by Karen Essex brings a dark romance and gothic atmosphere of Anne Rice, the feminist revisionism of The Mists of Avalon, and the erotic, mythic charge of A Discovery of Witches and The Historian.

Dracula in Love

Release Date: February 2026

Genre: Gothic Romance

"Dracula in Love" is a lush, sensual reimagining of Bram Stoker’s classic, told through the eyes of Mina Harker. In Essex’s version, Mina is no passive maiden besieged by darkness, but a woman divided between the life Victorian society demands of her and the dangerous, erotic, supernatural truth awakening inside her.

As Mina is drawn into Dracula’s world, she discovers that desire, memory, and identity are far more complicated than the men around her will admit. The novel transforms the familiar tale of the vampire count into a story of female hunger, forbidden love, and the terrifying cost of self-discovery. At once gothic, romantic, and psychologically intimate, Dracula in Love asks whether the monster is truly the creature in the shadows, or the world that demands women dampen their own power.

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Dracula in Love is perfect for readers who love seductive historical fantasy, dangerous love stories, and classic tales retold from the woman’s point of view.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KAREN ESSEX is a national and international bestselling author whose novels spotlight history’s most fascinating and powerful women—those who shaped empires, commanded art, and seduced the world. The books are embraced by readers who crave both depth and passion in historical fiction.

STAY TUNED FOR HER UPCOMING NOVEL, RUN, DARLING, the untold story of the glamorous Gabor sisters' escape from Nazi occupied Europe to the United States and to celebrity.

Her work includes an acclaimed two volume biographical novel KLEOPATRA: The Early Years, the little known story of the princess’s rise to the throne; & PHARAOH: Book II of Kleopatra, focusing on the queen’s political acumen as well as her romances. LEONARDO'S SWANS, a global bestseller, puts Leonardo da Vinci’s rivalrous female muses at its core, aristocratic women who shaped the art and politics of the Italian Renaissance. The novel won Italy's prestigious Premio Roma for foreign fiction. STEALING ATHENA is a sweeping historical saga from the perspectives of two of history's most fascinating women who played key roles in the building and fate of Athens' greatest monuments. DRACULA IN LOVE retells Bram Stoker’s classic tale from the perspective of Dracula’s obsession, Mina Harker, who surprises readers with her own supernatural lineage.

Also an award-winning journalist & screenwriter, Karen has written for Netflix, James Cameron and Fox Studios, Warner Bros, Sony, Paramount, and Fox TV. She was graduated from Tulane University with a BA in Theater, attended graduate school at Vanderbilt University, and received an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. A New Orleans native, she has also lived in London, Paris, and Los Angeles.

Follow Essex on instagram at @karenessex

BOOK REVIEW: Forgotten Skye by Roz Maclaren

 This book stabbed me in the heart twice. WTF, Maclaren!

Forgotten Skye (The Ruined Skye Book One)

Release Date: July 17, 2026

Genre: YA Dark Fantasy

Featuring

⦁ Dramatic Scottish setting

⦁ Forced proximity

⦁ St@bby FMC

⦁ Only soft for her

⦁ Slow burn

⦁ Enemies to lovers

⦁ Touch him and d!€

⦁ Zero spice / only kissing

She wants to destroy his world. He’s sent to destroy her.

Centuries after a radiation leak on the Isle of Skye wiped out thousands, the mutated survivors developed god-like powers. Led by power-hungry Queen Creyta, they’re determined to drive the few remaining humans to extinction.

Seventeen-year-old Vesper, one of the unmutated, is determined to go down fighting. Prince Hunter, the queen’s ridiculously handsome son, might just be the key to his mother’s undoing. But the closer Vesper gets to Hunter, the more she realizes he’s just as trapped as she is. Now she’s torn between taking down Creyta and protecting the boy she’s grown dangerously close to.

One wrong move and she won’t just lose Hunter. She’ll lose everything. 

REVIEW

I was going into this book with an empty slate, not expecting much really, as if I was challenging the author to entertain me. She did that and more; she wrecked me! It is no surprise that book one in this Ruined Skye Trilogy got picked up by EverNight Teen Publishing. Maclaren writes with a modern passion and fierceness I enjoyed. 

 On the Isle of Skye, we meet Vesper, her grandfather, and her younger sister. Radiation has turned the world to hell, enhancing some and leaving the rest unfazed. Those enhanced call themselves the Raidens, while those not enhanced are called the Blands, and the Raidens, knowing they are superior now, start attacking and killing the lesser, i.e., the Blands. Vesper and what is left of her family are Blands and constantly hunted, but when news arrives that the Raidens are getting closer to their area, Grandpa wants to flee. Vesper does not want to run anymore and decides to stay. 

The Raidens are ruled by Queen Cystera, and her son Hunter is set to be their Blandhunter. Hunter does not like killing, though. So Hunter devises a game of hunting the Blands, and whoever gets the most kills gets their heart's desire, and he hopes his Bland-killing-loving sister may claim to be the Bladehunter, and he can be free. So when they start rounding up Blands to be in this hunting game, Vesper is one of them. Unbeknownst to Vesper, he is the same man who irked her, allured her, and saved her earlier when she was hunting.

Hunter is also allured by Vesper and chooses her as his target to kill, but in truth wants to save her from being killed. All is going well so far in this story; we got conflict with Queen Cystera. I am following along nicely; it's an interesting plot here. The characters are growing on me. Then OH MY GOSH in Chapter 22! I was like, “Oh! No, she didn’t!” I was not sure I could read on! What was the point of the rest of this book? How is it a fricken trilogy?  Wishing for a miracle, I read on only to start to be happy again, and then BAM! another stab and the book ends.

I have never had an author stab me in the heart like that, yet I thoroughly enjoyed it. I love it when an author throws the storytelling manual out the window and goes for the dark, the heartbreaking. I seriously am not sure how this series is going to go on. I will be on board for it, hesitantly. I hope my heart will be healed by the next book.

My Rating 5/5 stars  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Roz MacLaren is a Scottish YA author who lives in the Inner Hebrides with her black and white cat.

Roz wrote her first novel at the age of six. It was terrible and fortunately has never seen the light of day. However, Roz went on to become a professional writer at the age of seventeen and even received a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing. She is always writing at least one novel at any given time – and sometimes she actually finishes them.

Roz has an extensive collection of books, only rivaled by her equally extensive collection of impractical shoes. When not writing, she can be found reading, running or napping. You can keep up with all this excitement by following her on social media.

Visit Roz at rozmaclaren.com. Follow her on Instagram @rozmaclaren