A review by cozybec
Blood Orange by Karina Halle
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
"The darkness in me calls to the darkness in you."
Centuries ago the man, Valtu Aminoff watched the love of his life, Mina, die. In that very same moment, he succumbed to the long-held tradition of the males in his family becoming vampires. London, 1800 - Valtu finds himself now called Dracula, a vampire of infamy - but then he sees a woman named Lucy in a museum and she looks eerily similar to his first love, Mina. Italy, now - Dahlia Abernathy has been sent to kill the most dangerous vampire in the world, but why is it that she feels drawn to him in ways she's never felt before? Why does it feel like there is history between them when she's certain they've never met?
Turns out the way to slap my reading slump into submission is to serve me up all my favorite tropes on a silver platter. This has, in no semblance of order: fated mates, reincarnation, Dracula retelling, vampires, the spiciest smut I've ever read, a dark and rich world, VAMPIRE POLITICS BABY, neurodivergent rep, queer rep, horrifically gory scenes, and quite possibly my favorite ending I've ever read in a vampire book. She hit different, she's a gem.
I picked Blood Orange up on a whim because I was in such a bad slump that nothing was getting through to me. Even some five star reads just weren't delivering. I've always been an absolute hoe for vampires so I knew this would either make or break me. It did both, in such a wonderful way. I was initially a little hesitant, the first 25% of this book is incredibly slow. Barring the fact that you know a good portion of the plot going into it (if you're familiar with Dracula as Bram Stoker wrote it, if not you'll be surprised!) I think Halle did a wonderful job at establishing the world and it's differences from the source material she was pulling from.
This book deals with a lot in it's pages, we have grief, the loss of a child, spousal loss, aging, war, familial loss, and toxic relationships - and it's all blurred together in a really compelling way. There is something so great about the fact this book embraces it's a vampire novel and then doesn't let that go. There are moments that are spine-tingling dark, horrifically violent and vicious, but there are also so many lighthearted moments I laughed out loud or found my heart being warmed. I really, really adored the way Valtu was written. Every time we got chapters of him reminiscing on his long life, I knew I was in for a treat. Halle has such an incredible voice and it shines absolutely, toeing the line between a man who's lived for hundreds of years between a contemporary voice that would feel more familiar in a romcom. It's great. I loved this, what else can I say?
This book isn't perfect, but at the same time I can't give it less than five stars. It has so many tropes and things that I adore in it, plus some seriously well-informed scenes (content warnings in the beginning were the perfect list of, "this is what you're signing up for" and "but I'm going to let the writing speak for itself"). Like I said, the smut is off the charts, I'm coming away questioning myself a bit but also... My Lord.
If you, like me, have an unhealthy obsession with vampires and also love literature and retellings this is probably going to be for you. Go forth, read this impeccably done smutty Dracula retelling, you won't regret it.
Content warnings: sexual content (multiple scenes, kinks are listed in the beginning of the book*), grief, blood, death, miscarriage (forced)/child death (still birth, mild medical content warning), death of a parent (off page)
*adding a note here: Halle mentions dubcon in the content warnings, the singular scene happens in Valtu's reminiscence and it's more consensual than dubious, there is a similar scene later on which is also more consensual than dubious. They were both done really, really well and toed the line beautifully. Read with care, but as someone who often has this as a hard no, they passed my test.
Centuries ago the man, Valtu Aminoff watched the love of his life, Mina, die. In that very same moment, he succumbed to the long-held tradition of the males in his family becoming vampires. London, 1800 - Valtu finds himself now called Dracula, a vampire of infamy - but then he sees a woman named Lucy in a museum and she looks eerily similar to his first love, Mina. Italy, now - Dahlia Abernathy has been sent to kill the most dangerous vampire in the world, but why is it that she feels drawn to him in ways she's never felt before? Why does it feel like there is history between them when she's certain they've never met?
Turns out the way to slap my reading slump into submission is to serve me up all my favorite tropes on a silver platter. This has, in no semblance of order: fated mates, reincarnation, Dracula retelling, vampires, the spiciest smut I've ever read, a dark and rich world, VAMPIRE POLITICS BABY, neurodivergent rep, queer rep, horrifically gory scenes, and quite possibly my favorite ending I've ever read in a vampire book. She hit different, she's a gem.
I picked Blood Orange up on a whim because I was in such a bad slump that nothing was getting through to me. Even some five star reads just weren't delivering. I've always been an absolute hoe for vampires so I knew this would either make or break me. It did both, in such a wonderful way. I was initially a little hesitant, the first 25% of this book is incredibly slow. Barring the fact that you know a good portion of the plot going into it (if you're familiar with Dracula as Bram Stoker wrote it, if not you'll be surprised!) I think Halle did a wonderful job at establishing the world and it's differences from the source material she was pulling from.
This book deals with a lot in it's pages, we have grief, the loss of a child, spousal loss, aging, war, familial loss, and toxic relationships - and it's all blurred together in a really compelling way. There is something so great about the fact this book embraces it's a vampire novel and then doesn't let that go. There are moments that are spine-tingling dark, horrifically violent and vicious, but there are also so many lighthearted moments I laughed out loud or found my heart being warmed. I really, really adored the way Valtu was written. Every time we got chapters of him reminiscing on his long life, I knew I was in for a treat. Halle has such an incredible voice and it shines absolutely, toeing the line between a man who's lived for hundreds of years between a contemporary voice that would feel more familiar in a romcom. It's great. I loved this, what else can I say?
This book isn't perfect, but at the same time I can't give it less than five stars. It has so many tropes and things that I adore in it, plus some seriously well-informed scenes (content warnings in the beginning were the perfect list of, "this is what you're signing up for" and "but I'm going to let the writing speak for itself"). Like I said, the smut is off the charts, I'm coming away questioning myself a bit but also... My Lord.
If you, like me, have an unhealthy obsession with vampires and also love literature and retellings this is probably going to be for you. Go forth, read this impeccably done smutty Dracula retelling, you won't regret it.
Content warnings: sexual content (multiple scenes, kinks are listed in the beginning of the book*), grief, blood, death, miscarriage (forced)/child death (still birth, mild medical content warning), death of a parent (off page)
*adding a note here: Halle mentions dubcon in the content warnings, the singular scene happens in Valtu's reminiscence and it's more consensual than dubious, there is a similar scene later on which is also more consensual than dubious. They were both done really, really well and toed the line beautifully. Read with care, but as someone who often has this as a hard no, they passed my test.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Sexual content, and Death
Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Miscarriage
Minor: Medical content and Death of parent