Curse of Dracula

Immortal Soul, Book 2

By: Kathryn Ann Kingsley

Narrated by: Joel Froomkin

Length: 11 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Maxine must decide if she can love a monster...one who leaves nothing in his wake but blood and sorrow.

Maxine Parker expected to lose her life when the Vampire King swept through her city like a plague. She did not expect to lose her heart to him as well. Caught between her desire to protect the living and her love for Dracula, she suddenly finds herself the enemy of the hunters who had once been her allies.

As the Vampire King unleashes his army of the damned and turns Boston into a sea of carnage, she must decide if she can love the monster for what he is or if she must be the one to end his bloody crusade through history once and for all....

©2021 Kathryn Ann Kingsley (P)2021 Podium Audio

Good, but not "man-eating murder circus" good!

Long review incoming! Spoilers: minimal to none.

I felt like these two books were okay, but by no means did they kept me enthralled like the Puppeteer books did. The use of similes was borderline obnoxious, no, I amend that, it was obnoxious. It felt like every other sentence had a comparison to something like the night sky, the stars, literally anything that was similar in any form or fashion.. and it left the writing wanting on some level because it extended the books too much.

I knew it was a slow-burn, but it was so slow that it was boring to me at times. Other times, it picked up and I was intrigued, so that kept me going. The characters were somewhat interesting in certain ways, and I liked that we had the chance to see their unique perspective on things. Ironically enough, Vlad was the least interesting to me, because he fit the Dracula typecast to a T and just continuously whined at Maxine about how he's so bad and horrible and she doesn't truly understand it. It's funny, because he truly cares for her and admires her humanity and empathy, but tries to make her see past it after he uses it makes her fall in love with him. He tried to manipulate her into loving him, then tried to manipulate her into thinking him an unforgivable and irredeemable monster; it didn't make sense to me. He probably could have easily coaxed her to end him, had he treated her with cruelty and shown her the extent of his evil ways in the beginning, but apparently he liked her too much from the start to do that (even though he's treated other women badly that he liked in the past)? His motivations and actions confused me from the start since they never seem to entirely match up.

Maxine and her gifts were unique and thought-provoking, but the shiny new feeling of that was lost on me when she started pitying and excusing men for everything they did. I understood her blaming herself for the stepfather, that kind of abuse worms it's way into your brain and does that to a woman at times, but Alphonso struck her without remorse or reason after she let him stay in her home and called him a friend, and she just accepts it when he starts to treat her like an object to be used. It boggled my mind that she never once thought ill of the man; listen, I understand the empathy gift, but she's supposed to be human, and human rationality loses its power under the weight of heavy emotions all the time, yet not with Maxine! It just wasn't very realistic to me. I tried to acknowledge the historical context, that it was another time period where the patriarchy kept these women placid and content to knit and do other nonsensical tasks all day so they had no real purpose in many respects; but that's negated by Maxine's lifestyle. She's supposedly a strong independent woman that makes her own money, had a good reputation, and didn't abide by the standards of that time due to her unique upbringing with the Roma, so her behavior made even less sense to me wheni considered all of this. She even said herself that there's a difference between understanding and agreeing with someone's actions. She stood up for Vlad with this statement when he basically murdered people, but she failed to mention that giving someone a free pass for their horrible actions because of past suffering they've endured is another thing entirely. And oh boy, does she ever do just that, again and again, with no changes until she sees Alphonso's fate toward the ending of the book. The very end of the book has the only bit of growth that is thrust upon Maxine and Vlad without their consent.

Oddly enough, the secondary characters seem to be the most interesting and have the most growth, namely Bella. Her evolution was stunning to behold because it spits in the face of the "be submissive, understanding, and accepting of anything anyone deals you, because you're a female" mentality that plagued this time period. She could have been the main character with such an interesting story, and her character's shift was everything that I was hoping would happen for Maxine. Bella could have easily had her own spinoff book. She [pretty quickly] gives in to her desire to be the version of herself she never realized she wanted to be, and I loved it, and Mordecai. Their roles and story were part of why I got to the end of this series. They were secondary characters, but their story seemed more intriguing than Maxine and Vlad at many points because Bella and Mordecai made steady progress while the constant back and forth between Maxine and Vlad became exhausting after a while and it felt like we were getting nowhere fast until it all happens at once at the end.

At any rate, the books were entertaining enough, and the first one was free, so I really shouldn't complain as much as I did. I was just expecting that something special I felt with the Puppeteer, and I didn't get it here. I would recommend that you don't set yourself up to failure with this one by expecting the same writer you saw in those books. It's like someone totally different wrote these. I was a little irritated that it was so unbelievably long, yet the book ends so abruptly at the part we're waiting for.. we never get to find out if Vlad changes for Maxine and stops killing innocents or if Maxine grows a backbone and makes him stop. I wish that the rest of the book that felt like it was going around in circles would have been edited down and that the ending had been extended further so we could see the results of the changes Maxine and Vlad went through. Bottom line: it was good enough for me to obtain some enjoyment from it, but I don't think I'd recommend it to a friend.

Best vampire Story

I really enjoyed reading this book and I love how it sheds light to issues about humanity that is important to note even today.

I didn’t care much for the female performance made her sound really old and she’s only 23 I believe.
Other than that amazing story

You’ve done it again, Kathryn Ann Kingsley!

For the first time, since I can’t remember when, I cried at the end of a book. It was such a beautiful, touching ending, and I lay awake at 12:58 AM after having finished it weeping like a baby. I love this author’s stories, Her messages are often about loving the whole of a person, the good, the bad and the ugly. Her characters are so varied and inclusive of every type of humanity. She does not shy away from LGBTQ characters. I enjoyed her Unseelie Prince series so much. I sought out other books by her and discovered the heart of Dracula. What a great read! She always includes just enough spice, as well as a moving love story. As for the narrator Joel Froomkin, he is my auditory comfort food! He adds such depth to a story with his ability to create so many different voices. He’s not afraid to read passionately and enriches the story for it. I give Curse of the vampire five stars!

Super good

It was such a great listen. I wish there was more but the ending is beautiful.

This is a great duet!

I loved both books in this duet. A combination of supernatural "horror" with romance and steam. I loved the character building, the way this was written and just all around.

It is a lovely Dracula retelling, and has many things in it that have been in other Dracula stories, yet it brings new life into the tale as well.

A wonderful story, and I have always been a fan of Kathryn's writing. I need to finish the Harrow Faire series soon as well

Excellent performance

Joel Fromkin did an excellent job with voices, inflection, accents and consistency. He really made the story come alive. I did enjoy the version of Dracula's story and hope there is another book coming soon.

great narrator

I loved it. the narrator did such a great job. He did very well in distinguishing most of the characters. I found that Mordecai and Eddie sounded pretty similar. I am not sure if that was on purpose or not. either way thus audiobook is worth the listen.

THESE BOOKS WERE MY EVERYTHING!

Absolutely enjoyed! The reader was incredible and did an excellent job! So sad they are over with. Absolutely my favorite.

Great Paranormal Romance

I’m not the biggest romance fan, but I felt like this was the perfect mix of vampire/creature fantasy, romance & spice. Great, quick and entertaining take on the legend of Dracula! It didn’t take itself too seriously, which is refreshing. The love story was complex in the best way. Check the content warnings.

Surprisingly emotional, thoroughly entertaining

I was so pleasantly surprised by the conclusion of this two part series. It has so much more emotional depth in comparison to the first. The evolution of Dracula’s character is well executed, and Eddie has a lot more time to shine. Bella’s story was a bit abrupt but still interesting, and Maxine remains a compelling protagonist grappling with her conflicting impression of Dracula. Dracula’s malice is understandable, considering his brutal existence and age. How can something so ancient and abused produce compassion for others? Yet at the same time, naturally compassionate Maxine can hardly brush aside the mass cruelty Dracula regularly unleashes. I wasn’t expecting the ending I got, which was honestly fantastic. The climactic scenes of this were so compelling, and the epilogue produced a wonderful sense of closure. Kathryn Ann Kingsley has a great way of her heroines and villains coming to an ending that does not force sudden complete changes. I loved the ending of her Maze of Shadows series, and this one feels even more satisfying. The narration was brilliant. The story felt that much more charming and alive.

Loved it!

Really really enjoyed this short series, it was so easy to fall in love with the characters

Hot ❤️‍🔥 and complicated

I loved this book so much. I was hesitant about getting it when I saw some of the reviews but I chose to ignore them in the end and I'm so glad I did because it's brilliant. I love a good villain romance with an unredeemable love interest. and the spicy scenes were top tier.

So Gothic

I loved this story, so very gothic and a great take on Dracula. The little quirks of the characters make them very lovable and there's plenty of hilarious dialogue despite the dark story.

Has an amazing narrator too - the array of accents is really impressive and you immediately know which character is speaking as soon as you hear them.

Great performance

Performance was particularly good!! Loved all the different voices for all the various characters, it allowed me to bring it all to life.

Excellent!!

Great story, well written and thankfully not the usual Dracula. Fantastic narration by Joel Froomkin he is definitely going onto my best narrators list.

It's a great duology.

I could not have predicted how this story would progress in a million years. I grabbed it for easy entertainment, just some spicy paranormal romance. What I got really surprised me.
The dilemma, characters. It all moved me deeply.