A review by peppermintbat
Princess Dracula by John Patrick Kennedy
2.0
I really wanted to like this more. I love the concept- Dracula's daughter, newly-made vampire, set loose on the world by a fallen angel... But the gratuitous sex scenes were jarring and ill-placed, all the characters besides Ruxandra had absolutely zero development or depth, and Ruxandra herself was rather grating. She spent most of her time crying and eating rabbits. I'm all for creating a multi-dimensional character who grows into her newfound power, but the book was so truncated we really saw very little of that growth. It really feels like more a short prequel than a stand-alone novel.
In addition, you can very much tell this is written by a man. I can promise you that no woman thinks that much about her boobs. For heaven sakes, why are we spending so much time focused on what Ruxandra's nipples feel like? Male writers, when they write from a woman's perspective, always seem to focus so much on their character's breasts, but I can promise you I've never in my life thought about my tits that much, except to be vaguely annoyed when they get in my way. And although I appreciate the attempt made at a queer lady-on-lady sex scene, it felt more like a Penthouse letter written for a 15 year old boy to jerk off to, rather than women making love.
In addition, you can very much tell this is written by a man. I can promise you that no woman thinks that much about her boobs. For heaven sakes, why are we spending so much time focused on what Ruxandra's nipples feel like? Male writers, when they write from a woman's perspective, always seem to focus so much on their character's breasts, but I can promise you I've never in my life thought about my tits that much, except to be vaguely annoyed when they get in my way. And although I appreciate the attempt made at a queer lady-on-lady sex scene, it felt more like a Penthouse letter written for a 15 year old boy to jerk off to, rather than women making love.