Umm, full disclosure, I received a free copy of this book from the author.

Right, that's out of the way. This was fun! The 19th century lit geek in me enjoyed the Dracula references - especially because they constantly called back to the book itself. For all that this novel followed the usual beats of the YA plot, the narrative never felt overly forced once it got into full swing. (I could deal with a little less tragic back story in YA fantasy, although I don't think it's unjustified here.) And the romantic
elements worked--mostly because they were part of the narrative background.

One thing I thought was very well done - there was one scene where a parent strikes a child and everyone reacted properly! It wasn't ignored, it wasn't laughed away, it was treated like domestic abuse. It may seem weird to harp on that, but my sense is that fantasy novels (set in modern times) where the characters are fighters tend to downplay the problems with violence (not so much during the fights, but outside of them) so it was nice to see that not happen.

Definitely an enjoyable ride and I'm glad I got a chance to read it.