Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco

 

Title: Hunting Prince Dracula

Author: Kerri Maniscalco

Pages: 418

Publisher: Jimmy Patterson Books

Published: 2017

Source: ARC from Jimmy Patterson (thank you!)

Rating: ★★★★★

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Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper’s true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe’s best schools of forensic medicine…and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.

But her life’s dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school’s forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.

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With just a month between now and September, I thought I’d finally post my review of Hunting Prince Dracula and explain to you why you should have this book pre-ordered and on your most anticipated books of 2017! This review will be shorter than I would like it to be, just because I don’t want to say too much without spoiling it as it’s not even out yet!

This was definitely one of my most highly anticipated books of the year and I was both shocked and extremely excited when I received a copy for review. I basically devoured it within a few days although towards the end, I tried to pick up something else to drag out the inevitable ending as I just didn’t want to finish this book! The book is set primarily at a Forensic Medical school in Romania and uses the story of Dracula to create an epic murder mystery tale. I really liked this setting and thought it was unique to the story. I also loved the castle and the secret passageways – that’s exactly what you expect from a mystery novel, especially one that is set in such a famous place.

The story was constantly interesting and was quite fast-paced. It was constantly switching from light to dark and from funny to serious. It wasn’t really connected in terms of the mystery to the previous book, but I feel like if you do want to read this book, it is best to read the first book in the series first as it makes a lot more sense, plus you get a much better feel for the characters.

There were several new characters in this book, but other characters that featured in the first book, such as Audrey Rose’s cousin and aunt were still spoken of. Audrey Rose and Thomas are perhaps two of my favourite fictional characters to ever exist. They perfectly compliment each other, with their witty banter and expert skills, I just love them both and was so happy to get another book with them. Their relationship is one where you’re questioning ‘are they? aren’t they?’ and I really enjoy their communications. I love that Thomas is almost constantly trying to impress Audrey Rose, and that he really puts the effort into trying to show that he cares for her. Audrey Rose is a strong character but in this book, we see her trying to carry on with her life alongside trying to cope with the events of Stalking Jack the Ripper. I feel like we really see her progress and grow throughout this book and ultimately come out of it stronger.

As always, the ending had me completely lost for words. With both books, I think I have it sussed out who is the culprit, and both times I have been wrong so it’s always a surprise to me. Kerri has this really wonderful way of making the villain who you least expect it to be, and in a way you can almost sympathise with them. This was much the same with Hunting Prince Dracula, however I didn’t sympathise with the culprit this time, unlike with Staking Jack the Ripper where I did. I just couldn’t believe that I had been so far off with my guess for who was playing Dracula!

I really already cannot wait for the third book to be released already and have a long wait ahead of me. I miss both Audrey Rose and Thomas and honestly can’t wait to see what they get up to in the next novel together. I’m looking forward to the humour and witty banter between them in future books.

Here are a few reasons why you should most definitely divulge into this wonderful series!

1. It features a kickass female lead character
2. A handsome, witty and humorous young man features in the novels
3. It’s a wonderful combination of mystery and adventure, based on historic events
4. Kerri has the ability to make you not want to put these books down
5. The series is all around incredible so far and is not one to be missed!

You can see more of my pictures (like above!) at here!