A Bargain So Bloody

Kingdom Of Dark Magic 1

De: Vasilisa Drake

Narrado por: Cecily Foster

She’s trapped in a magical prison. To break out, she’ll make a deal with the most dangerous prisoner of them all.

Sentenced for a crime she didn’t commit, Samara is bullied by guards and tormented by the screams of her fellow prisoners. She’s resigned herself to enduring her fifteen-year term… until she learns that the freedom she's been promised is the cruelest lie of all.

Now she's faced with a choice: resign herself to dying in the cold walls of Castle Greymere, or do the unthinkable and escape. But no one leaves Greymere alive. So to break out of the prison? She’ll have to use one of the undead.

Raphael is the worst kind of monster: a vampire with a thirst for blood, the mortal enemy of witches, the same breed that killed her mother. And most importantly, he’s unspeakably powerful, his supernatural strength tamed only by the enchanted cuffs forced on him.

He’s her only chance at a life outside the prison walls.

The deal is simple: Samara unlocks his shackles, and he'll help her escape. But although Raphael agreed to help her leave Greymere, he never promised to let her go…

A Bargain So Bloody is the first book in an exciting new romantasy series, perfect for listeners who love slow burn romance with morally grey heroes who fall first and hard and heroines who find their own strength.

©2025 Late Night Daydreams LLC (P)2025 Late Night Daydreams LLC

Got very irritating toward the end

The mfc got pretty irritating. Despite all the mmc did for her she would always find reasons to decide he wasn’t worthy of being good. Always considering him a monster. To a point that it got eye rolling and I found myself thinking “enough already” I only have about an hour and a half left and I’m getting bored and annoyed not sure if I’ll read the second book when it comes out. Not sure I’ll even finish this one. I think when she decided to betray the mmc and give the book to his foe to “destroy the vampires” is about the time I decided she was a petulant child

Disappointing

I was really hyped up by booktok to read this and parts of it were good. My main issue was the FMC. I understood her horror of vampires and often related but as a drawn out conflict point it got tired and overused.

Kept me on my toes

I loved that some stuff is predictable but the how we get there is not. Cannot wait for the next book

I’m torn…

First- definitely an interesting plot with engaging characters. Unfortunately it seemed lacking in detail. Quite a lot of the plot just skips along to the next scene. They leave somewhere then it’s just 3days later they arrived at their destination or suddenly it’s the next day etc.. It made the story feel like it needed more fleshing out or perhaps a lot of less important connector scenes got edited out. It’s to bad because I did like the story. Just made it feel like the writing wasn’t that great.
Second- The blurb is a bit misleading. That may or may not be a good thing depending on your preference. Very little of the story actually takes place in the prison. *Small Spoiler*: They escape one day after the vampire arrives at the very beginning of the book. There is a lot of abrupt, not jumps, but “now on to the next scene” sorta feel throughout most of the book.
Third- I actually thought the fmc was decently level headed for most of the plot… but then towards the end she just starts being ridiculous. It had the overwhelming feel of forced misunderstanding/conflict/ drama for dramas sake to make a plot point. It bothered me so much I almost DNF.
Fourth- the romance is more a tease of potential that gets snatched away by the stupid conflict/drama that I mentioned. Definitely a slow burn. More a YA story than I would have liked. Hard to say if there will be anything graphic in the next book. But just to be clear (it’s what I would want to know)*Small/Maybe a Spoiler*: There is no sex, one bite, and only 2 kisses.
Fifth- Ends in a cliffhanger, that I thought was a bit stupid. One of those miscommunication drama things that seem so unrealistic. Forced drama to make the plot point work.
Sixth- The entire story is just from the fmc POV. The female narrator did a decent job. I would have liked to hear the MMC POV…
Finally- overall I liked the story concept but found it, and the writing, to YA for me. I can’t really say it’s worth a credit or recommend it…. But, I’m not sure I won’t be buying book 2 just to know what happens!

Entertaining

Mostly entertaining, not a new story line. Narrator did a nice job. Good cliffhanger ending.

Love a good vampire story.

This is a very interesting vampire story. Both the MMC and FMC find themselves in jail. A deal is made, travel ensues and other nefarious acts take place. I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to the next book!

heroine is insufferable.. plot is good.

you would think after being in prison basically her entire life she wouldn't be so immature. Shes a petulant child. whining and clutching her pearls through the whole book...

Me like it excited for next book

Me like very much :3 it was very very good :3 it have very very very very good story :3

More Than A Bargain

I had read several reviews about this series before diving in. Warning me it was enticing. Entreating it was a slow burn, but worth the marks. However, I did not heed the fine print that it was Book 1 in a series that is not finished, and Book 2 is in the ether. Caution: you might just trip over your own bones, blood, and mortality to get to Book 2 when it comes out.... I know I will.

The Narrator: Cecily Foster
I enjoyed the nuances and choices that were made for these characters. The tombre of the male voices-- seamless. The distinction between between the characters--awesome. Not once was I taken out of the story because of confusion as to whom was speaking , nor a choice that did not fit the mood. 10/10 would recommend

Predictable and Bandwagon

The writing is subpar. The FMC is annoyingly weak. The ending predictable. The push and pull between the FMC and MMC didn’t really make sense. Seems like another writer trying to jump on the bandwagon for fantasy novels. Not at all impressed.