Book Review: Vlad, The Last Confession by C.C. Humphreys
Vlad: The Last Confession by C.C. Humphreys. © 2011 Sourcebooks Landmark. ISBN 9781402253515. Trade Paperback. Historical Fiction. 397 pages. Source: review copy provided by the publishers.
Synopsis: A novel about the real man behind the Bram Stoker myth. It tells of the Prince, the warrior, the torturer, the survivor, and, ultimately, the hero.
Review: Vlad Tepes has a bad rep outside of Romania, known solely as ‘The Impaler’ who went on to spawn the sinister vampiric legend of Dracula for Bram Stoker (in fact, if you are looking to for vampires here, you will be sorely disappointed). Yet, in his home country, he is remembered as a hero, a champion of Christendom and a bringer of peace to Romania. He was a man driven to avenge the murder of his father and brother but he also fought for what he believed in.
Vlad mainly has a bad press in the Western world due to the fact that it was not the poor who suffered during his time, but the rich. C.C. Humphreys has done an excellent job with opening the Western world’s eyes to the hero that Vlad was. This is done through highly researched prose, full of great characters but also through further appendices which provide even more information on Vlad Tepes. Read more
Synopsis: When beautiful half-succubus Lucy Gregory’s antique chest unleashes a Pandora’s box of demonic activity in a suburban beauty salon, brooding demon Rafe arrives to run damage control.
Synopsis: In a country still reeling from the collapse of the Roman empire, the young King Arthur and his wife Guinevere struggle to keep the barbarians at bay even as they establish the Fellowship of the Round Table. The spirited and outspoken Guinevere skillfully combats an accusation of planning to poison Arthur in a country simmering with unrest and scandal. But Guinevere’s greatest battles are dangers Arthur cannot see–ones she’ll have to fight on her own. And all the while, she must reconcile her thirst for freedom with her duties as queen, and her growing love for Lancelot with her loyalty to her husband.
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Synopsis: A modern woman find the scandalous secret memoirs from a woman of another era. These decadent tales of a life lived freely in a rigid time send her on a surprising journey to unshackle her own sensual potential.
Synopsis: “You’re dead” is so not what Allie Watson wants to hear. Unfortunately, it explains a lot. Like the dark, angelically handsome man who ferried her to this strange, hidden land. The last thing she remembers is stepping off a curb in front of a crosstown bus. Now she’s surrounded by gorgeous fallen angels with an unsettling taste for blood—and they really don’t want her around. Not exactly how she pictured heaven.
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Synopsis: Kate Tapert sees the world around her in the paintings she adores. Yet one place she never sees her life in in the world of the famous and reclusive artist Dalton Quinn—her father, whom she hasn’t seen or heard from in ten years.
