Reviewer Comments: Theodora Lestrange was orphaned as a young girl and grew up with her scholarly grandfather. She was given a wonderful book education, but he left her with almost nothing when he died except debts. When her school friend, Cosmina, asks Theodora to come to Roumania and to help her prepare for her impeding wedding, Theodora jumps at the chance. She hopes to use the atmosphere and superstitions of the area to write a novel that she can publish under her own name. Theodora finds more than she expected when she arrives in Roumania at the castle in the Carpathians.
One person that Theodora meets is Count Andrei Dragulescu. He is Cosmina’s betrothed and the last Dragulescu heir. The stories that swirl around this mysterious man both intrigue and frighten Theodora. Is he more than he seems? Does a vampire roam the halls of the castle at night? Is he a man with supernatural powers? Theodora doesn’t know what to think. She loves the amount of writing that she is able to do with the spooky vibe of the castle, but at the same time, the strange events that begin to happen frighten her. Is Andrei behind them?
Theodora left a suitor behind in Scotland. Her publisher, Charles Beecroft, will marry her just as soon as she agrees. Perhaps she should head home and live a life of safety with him. Theodora strongly considers this but is torn by her immense attraction to Andrei. The conflicting emotions that she feels are almost her undoing. She knows that she shouldn’t feel anything for Andrei, he is above her station and she can offer nothing to him, but at the same time, the attraction is unlike anything she has ever felt before.
This book is a true gothic romance. It has very dark and mysterious events in it that everyone thinks are supernatural. The whole description of the castle and the village makes you aware that something dark is happening in the area. Ms. Raybourn pulls us into the mystique of the Carpathian Mountains with their legends of werewolves and vampires. Theodora is there to use the local folklore for her book and thinks she knows that none of it is real, but the more time she spends there, the more she begins to think that anything is possible. She even participates in a ceremony to insure that a vampire doesn’t rise again. I found myself traveling with Theodora between believing that the spooky things were just her imagination and believing that something supernatural and sinister was at work. I will say that I didn’t see the end coming which was a nice surprise.
The only part that bothered me about the book was that sometimes the action seemed to drag. It took Theodora forever to act on her decisions and she seemed to be going nowhere. I thought things would progress faster than they did. Overall, a wonderful read especially for fans of gothic novels. Ms. Raybourn really honors the genre.
