Dr. John Polidori’s tale “The Vampyre” burst upon the Regency scene along with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein after that notorious weekend spent writing ghost stories with Lord Byron.
A vampire craze broke out instantly in the haut ton.
Now Ian Ashton, the Lord Vampire of London, has to run around town in the daytime, linger in front of mirrors, and eat lots of garlic in an attempt to quell the gossip.
If that weren’t annoying enough, his neighbor Angelica Winthrop has literary aspirations of her own and is sneaking into his house at night just to see what she can find.
Hungry, tired, and fed up, Ian is in no mood to humor his beautiful intruder… (taken from the back of the arc)
Book Details:
Title: Bite Me, Your Grace, Author: Brooklyn Ann, ISBN: 978-1-4022-7444-2, Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca, Formats Available: Mass Market and E-Book, $6.99, Release Date: April 2013, How I read it: Mass Market Arc from Publisher, Rating: 4.5 Crowns
My Thoughts:
Occasionally you find a book that makes you wish you had been the one that came up with the concept, and, for me, Bite Me, Your Grace was definitely that book. I have been a huge fan of Polidori, Byron, Shelley, and Mary Shelley, so when I discovered that Bite Me, Your Grace was going to feature a heroine that was as addicted to them as I was, I knew I had to read this book.
After the release of The Vampyre, London’s Lord Vampire, Ian Ashton, Duke of Burnrath, has had to put on a pretty good show of being human to dissuade members of the ton thinking that he was a vampire. The only thing left to do is hunt down the man responsible for the novel.
Angelica Winthrop has decided that she is going to eschew marriage and become the next Mary Shelley. And she knows the perfect setting for her next novel: Burnrath House, an imposing Elizabeth manor that she believes to be haunted. Deciding to break into Burnrath House, she encounters more than a ghost when Ian Ashton, Duke of Burnrath, bites her.
Not only does she find inspiration for her gothic novel, she finds the perfect way to ruin her marriage chances although she didn’t expect the vampire offering for her as a way to portray himself as human.
For Bite Me, Your Grace Brooklyn Ann has went back to the novella that started the entire vampire romance genre and worked the essence of The Vampyre by John Polidori into a novel of her own using a fresh voice that readers of gothic fiction, vampire novels, and romance will find intriguing.
Bearing shades of Polidori’s Lord Ruthvan, Ian Ashton, Duke of Burnrath, quickly became one of my favorite heroes. I was hooked on him from the first encounter.
Normally I find heroines, even those I like, to be a bit annoying and while Angelica occasionally dances on the verge of annoyance, I found that I really liked her. She was willing to push the envelope in her quest to become an authoress of gothic fiction as well as her love for writers that, at the time, were deemed scandalous.
Not only were the main characters absolutely amazing to read, I loved the way Polidori was incorporated into the novel as a secondary character.
This is Brooklyn Ann’s debut novel as well as the first in her trilogy and I must say I cannot wait to read more from this witty and brilliant author.
Cover thoughts: I loved the guy partially shown on the cover, he truly has that vampire quality to him and the stormy sky above a castle gives off that gothic feel. What threw off the cover for me was the bubblegum pink dress. I wish it would have been a different color.
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