I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper #2
Published by Little Brown & Company on September 19, 2017
Pages: 434
Format: ARC
Source: the publisher
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In this New York Times bestselling sequel to Kerri Maniscalco's haunting #1 debut Stalking Jack the Ripper, bizarre murders are discovered in the castle of Prince Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. Could it be a copycat killer...or has the depraved prince been brought back to life?
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.
Stalking Jack the Ripper was one of my favorite books of 2016, so I was HIGHLY anticipating the sequel – and it definitely didn’t disappoint! The characters were epic, the writing was gorgeous, the plot was intriguing, and the twist ending was !!!!!!!!!!!!
Audrey Rose will forever be one of my favorite kick-butt heroines. She’s bold, fierce, and intent on living life her way. She was also a bit too stubborn for her own good at times, too determined to do things on her own when she should have gone for help. But she never backed down from a challenge, even when others were rooting for her to fail. I admired her courage and determination.
Thomas was so wicked, I loved it! He was cheeky and cocky and hilarious – a total charmer! He definitely had some moments where I wanted to smack him (i.e: the way he tried to make decisions for Audrey Rose, and didn’t listen to her when she asked him to stay out of certain things; also, when he spoke to the professors about Audrey Rose behind her back). But, overall, I think his character development was great, and he had a lot of growth in the end. Also, the revelations about him in this book were !!!!
I will forever ship Audrey Rose and Thomas. Their chemistry is electric, and the sexual tension between them is on fire. I REALLY hope there’s a third book because I CAN’T wait to see what happens next, now that they’re _________ (you know if you read it; I don’t want to spoil it!).
The secondary characters in this book were all on point, but I REALLY LOVED Daciana and Ileana!! I loved everything about them as individuals, as well as the relationship they had. And the revelations about both of them were !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really hope that, if there IS a third book, we get to see more of them!
I REALLY wanted to like and trust Anastasia. I was super intrigued by her, and I really wanted to know more about her right off the bat. I can’t discuss much else about her without spoilers, but she was another character where… the revelations about her were !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prince Nicolae was… interesting. I never really knew how to feel about him and never fully trusted him. But he was an intriguing character to meet and learn about. I was very amused by Professor Radu. He reminded me of a weird cross between Lupin and Quirrell (from Harry Potter). And Headmaster Moldoveanu was just a complete and total jackass.
The ending was one huge WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! moment. It was SUPER intense and there were a lot of *biting my nails* moments. It also had some heart-pounding/creepy thriller moments. The whole book felt like this slow burn that built up and up and up, until the ending crashed into you like a high-speed train – at which point, it didn’t let up until the very last page.
If you couldn’t tell from my review, I absolutely ADORED this book and I’m PRAYING there’s a third book! I can’t get enough of this world and these characters! I HIGHLY recommend this one!!!!