"In celebration of the new covers for the Vampire Bride Series and the interior overhaul of the trade paperback, I decided to share a bit about the back story of the series and the epic battle between the heroine, Lady Glynis, and the villain, Vlad Dracula.
The Tale of the Vampire Bride was born in a very vivid dream. Encapsulated in the mind of Lady Glynis Wright, I bore witness with breathless anticipation of the events of the first chapter of this novel while they unfolded, I dreaded where the carriage would carry the family from England and when it rolled into the courtyard of a formidable, yet crumbling castle in the Carpathian Mountains, my fears were confirmed. I awakened with the green eyes of Count Vlad Dracula searing into my soul.
Immediately I knew I had to write the tale of the fourth Bride of Dracula. It didn't take long for me to fall utterly in love with Glynis, her world and her struggle to free herself from the most villainous and evil vampire of all time.
The challenges of writing a novel that takes place in the 1820's were difficult enough, but capturing the personality of a legendary character from one of the greatest books in literature, Bram Stoker's Dracula, was incredibly daunting.Stoker's novel is one of my favorites of all time, but I still felt I truly did not understand the vampire. Since Count Dracula is only seen through the eyes of his enemies in the novel, I decided to delve deeper and read about the Romanian hero, Vlad Tepes. I immersed myself in the tales of Vlad the Impaler, struggling to understand how a man could be so cruel, so violent, yet so revered by his people. Slowly I began to see a pattern in his actions, his strict adherence to his own moral code of what was right or wrong. I remember reading one terrible story about him killing a woman for not properly mending her husband's clothing and finally grasping the key component to the personality of Count Dracula. His absolutely unyielding viewpoint on how the world should operate and his role in ruling it made him the perfect, terrible villain in Glynis's life.
Lady Glynis is a rebel. She chaffs against society and all its rules. Though she is still an aristocrat through and through, she defies the strict moral codes of her time. That she should become the Bride of Dracula is not only ironic, but sets up an adversarial relationship between the two that is sometimes difficult to witness. The word "bride" in the title of this book does not imply the happily-in-love woman on the day of her wedding, but the designation of a female vampire created by a male vampire. Glynis's beginnings as Dracula's Bride are not born out of love but violence and blood. Glynis may be the Bride of Dracula, but he is her tormentor, her abuser, and her nemesis. This dichotomy sets the stage for their battle for control of Glynis's life.
Without a doubt, Lady Glynis is our heroine and Vlad Dracula is our villain. Yet there are many more characters in this epic tale that will choose sides and impact the tale of the vampire bride named Glynis.
I hope you enjoy this first volume in her story and the many to follow."
I certainly did enjoy this novel and I'm currently reading volume 2 - The Vengeance of the Vampire Bride, whilst eagerly awaiting volume 3 - The Lament of the Vampire Bride. This is a hefty tome, running to just over 600 pages. It is a real door-stopper of a book. I easily fell in love with Lady Glynis Wright, although her habit of stomping her feet when things don't go her way did become irritating after a while. Other than that one minor point I couldn't find anything to complain about or criticise story-wise. However, proofreading was a bit dodgy with a few misspelt words and far too many words that had been hyphenated unnecessarily. Clearly something that had not been picked up on when the book changed to a different format. That is not Rhiannon's fault but it should have been picked up by a competent proofreader.
I bought the paperback version of the book for £10.42 from Amazon. It is also available in Kindle format for £1.84. I enjoyed it immensely and I'll happily give it a 9 out of 10 rating.