A new take on infamous Vlad Dracula, except now with a teen love triangle. At first I was so interested in the premise... but by the time I finished the book, I just couldn’t get how flat it fell for me. The story revolves around Vlad Dracula, who has long lived in the shadow of his father and older brother, suffering their cruelties and wanting so badly to prove himself and be worthy of the throne. His only friend is his cousin Andrei Musat and both boys find themselves at odds with one another when they meet Ilona Csaki, who is newly betrothed to Vlad’s older brother who is inheriting the throne.... for now. The only things we get about Ilona is that she is gorgeous and “isn’t like other girls” because she likes science and isn’t afraid of blood. She’s throwing her feelings between both boys and is constantly just out here being “not like other girls” (sigh). The whole book mainly focuses on the love triangle between the three with Vlad essentially being the bad boy while Andrei is the nice guy. Throughout this book there are political assassinations, war, and so forth, yet all those things are essentially glossed over for this tepid love triangle. I found myself caring less and less for these unlikable characters and was just happy to have made it to the end of the book. I had high hopes for this book and was just disappointed, I do adore a Vlad Dracula take but this one just didn’t work out for me. It felt much more middle grade than young adult and all the characters were unlikable and you just can’t really find yourself caring for any of them. The only thing that I was truly invested in was Vlad versus his older brother for the throne, after that I was just left with meh for everything else.

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Swoon Reads for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*