Blood Orange (The Dracula Duet, 1)

Rating: 4 Stars

"My heart will always find yours!"

Dahlia Abernathy has only known revenge. When her parents were killed at an early age by vampires, Dahlia spent the rest of her life under the thumb of the Witch's Guild being trained to kill them. Her latest mission sends her undercover to a prestigious music academy in Venice, Italy. Her goal? To kill Professor Valtu Aminoff, her teacher and the notorious vampire who inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. But getting close to a dangerous vampire like Professor Aminoff is one thing. Falling for him is another. With Dahlia's appearance disguised under a glamor spell, Valtu has no idea that the woman who has become his new dark obsession is actually the reincarnation of the woman he loved and lost twice before. And Dahlia doesn't remember that the very man she has been sent to kill is the love of her life. Will their love come through and transcend time once again? Or are the fated lovers destined to let history repeat itself?

Minus the reincarnation aspect of this book, which I just feel like is an easy out, I really enjoyed this book. It was an interesting take on vampires! I liked having the dual point of views, of both Dahlia and Valtu. I really enjoyed that a lot of Valtu's perspective was discussing his past and telling us about Mina and Lucy and the fates that befell them. I can admit that Lucy's story really made me cry actual tears! I liked the idea of Dahlia being a witch and a vampire slayer, although we never got to see her do any actual slaying. I would have loved to learn a bit more about the Guild and the monsters that were being let out in Italy, but it felt like those issues were resolved by the time of the epilogue and I hope they are discussed in the final book.

I think the world that is created in this book is amazing, the lore for the vampires is great and the way they have adapted to living alongside humans is intriguing. I loved Valtu's character because he is so broody most of the time and hides a really dark vampire nature. Dahlia and Valtu are drawn to each other, though because of the spell, neither of them really understands why. However, they have great tension and banter. The last few chapters of this book got super intense and I honestly look forward to reading the next one.