Such a sexy and engaging vampire novel. I love the bisexual drama of it all, and the eroticism of the blood drinking in particular is done so well. Epistolary novels are usually hit or miss for me, but this one was a hit - I think the fact that Constanta was speaking to Dracula the entire time was really in this novel's favor. I do think that marketing it as a Dracula reimagining is a little misleading as it doesn't engage much with the actual text of Dracula. If it didn't mention the Harkers in passing, it would easily be any other vampire story (and in this version of events, they survive the Harkers anyway? I was confused as to why we surpassed the point in time where they would've been). That said, I do love that one of the "brides" was a man. I also greatly enjoyed Gibson's take on vampirism as a slow-grade draining of humanity over a long period of time rather than an instant transformation. That was super cool, and I'd love to see that in more vampire media.

"Encore of Roses" was included in the version that I read; I thought it was a sweet epilogue to their story, and I love that Constanta, Magdalena, and Alexi remained important to each other while living out their own lives.