Guest Blogger: Erin from As the Book Ends with Hunting Prince Dracula

Hi guys!!!
Can you believe is December already? Christmas will be here in just 22 days. Crazy Crazy 🎄

I have something super exciting to share with you all:
This December we will have a few guest bloggers sharing with us their favorite read of 2017. How cool is that?! 

We will start with my bookstagram girlfriend Erin from As the Book Ends.

Her Favorite read in 2017 was Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco.

But before we get to her review, here is a little Q&A with her and the many ways in which you can go follow her after we are done!

Hi Erin!

Tell us a little bit about you before we go into bookish questions… Where are you from? Have you always lived there? Provided you don’t think it is rude, how old are you? What are your hobbies besides reading? We will not ask for home address and phone number at this point 😁

Hi! Thank you so much for having me Anne – this is so so fun! I’m from Houston Texas and I love it! I’ve lived here since I was 17, so a little over ten years. I’m 28 years old, 29 in June – AAHHHHH panic! Reading is my primary hobby, but I also have a real passion for writing. I’m currently working on two books, a Fantasy novel and a fun Novella about a Supervillain who falls in love. You already have my address 

- When/What got you into reading?

When I was about ten years old I got grounded for some reason or other, and I decided to finally pick up the Hobbit! I have always been a reader, but that book in particular really sucked me in and I’ve been a voracious reader ever since.

- We know what your favorite read in 2017 was now, but what were your top 3 2017 book releases?

- Do you have a favorite genre?

My favorite genre is absolutely fantasy! I know you will disagree with me here, but my top three books from 2017 (aside from HPD) were: Furyborn, Lord of Shadows and Ever the Brave.

I feel I need to respond to this: I have not read Furyborn or Ever the Brave, so I can't really say anything about them. But yah girlfriend... I most certainly don't agree about Lord of Shadows (My Review Here). But that is the beauty of books right?! There is a book for everyone! 

- Is there a book you really did not enjoy reading this past year? Which one? Why?

Unpopular opinion here: I HATED the Red Queen. The narration was just so so awful. The girl strings her love interests along and then expects them to go to these huge lengths for her. Additionally, I didn’t feel that the world building was really anything special.

- Do you have an all time favorite book or book series?

I have a few all-time favorites! The first is the Infernal Devices series. It absolutely blows my mind everytime I read it. YES!!!! I am jumping with excitement Erin! TID is life! Six of Crows is another favorite of mine – I actually have a tattoo for it. Did you guys catch that?! She has a bookish tattoo!!!! I am jealous... Finally, I am a little ashamed to admit, I’m an SJM groupie! I love the A Court of Thorns and Roses series! Why the shame? SJM rocks! Your interviewer for today is a ToG fanatic! 😊

- How about a favorite author?

Leigh Bardugo and Casandra Clare will always be favorites of mine.

- The bookstagram world has exploded with bookish merch this past year, are you into any of it? If so, share with us some of your favorite companies. --Our head blogger might hold it against you if you answer yes and forget the best bookish shop on etsy. Just saying 😜—

I am ON the bookish merch train! I absolutely love all of it! My FAVORITE shop of ALL TIME is definitely the GlimpsesOfMe shop on Etsy– I love that chick’s painted letters. Additionally, I really adore Little Crow Candles, For The Dreamers Design and I have like a billion book sleeves from Book Beau. LOVE THEM.

- Last but not least, where else in this big wide web world can we find you?

Well I spend most of my time on Instagram: @asthebookends but I also have a book review blog! You can find it at www.asthebookends.com

The review: Hunting Prince Dracula

Pic taken from Erin's Bookstagram! 

My Rating: 6 Stars

You. Guys. Oh. My. Lanta. I am so insanely in love with this book. I can’t even. I genuinely thought that nothing could de-throne Kendare Blake’s sequel to Three Dark Crowns (get it? Sorry – couldn’t help myself), but I was WRONG. I made up a new rating for this book. I have never in the history of my blog given a book six stars. This book is just that freaking good. Let me explain what warranted the new rating:

The first book in this series, Stalking Jack the Ripper was a really fantastic book, definitely a five star read for me. However, in that book, Wadsworth was more shy, more timid, and just overall less of a badass. In Hunting Prince Dracula, Wadsworth’s badassery knows no bounds. First of all, she is a female studying to have an actual profession, in the 1880’s. Second, she is studying Forensics! Third, the girl is literally fearless. Sure, she gets a frazzled on occasion, but she always pushes her fears down and moves past them. She is absolutely a female character for women to look up to. I think what I love the most about her is her refusal to let anyone control her life, even the man she loves. Its honestly such a rare trait in female YA characters and I have to applaud Kerri for writing Wadsworth that way.

Now, onto what really made Hunting Prince Dracula a six star novel for me: Thomas Cresswell. He was a phenomenal character in book one: supportive of Audrey Rose, clever, witty and just enough of a rogue to keep things entertaining. If Stalking Jack the Ripper was Wadsworth’s book, Hunting Prince Dracula is Cresswell’s. It’s so enthralling to learn more about such a mysterious and guarded character. Not only does this book delve further into Cresswell’s history, it shows his insecurities and weaknesses, humanizing him in a way that book one wasn’t able to do. To top it all off, Cresswell’s banter was seriously on-point. I don’t know how Kerri comes up with such fun dialogue, but I laughed out loud more times than I care to admit. Not a reaction you expect to have to a Thriller.

Finally, onto the actual plot of the novel. Though I enjoyed Stalking Jack the Ripper immensely and absolutely plan to reread it, I guessed who the murderer was about a quarter of the way through the book. Hunting Prince Dracula literally had me guessing until the end. When the murderer was revealed, I reread the page multiple times out of pure shock before moving on. The story moves along at a nice pace, and Kerri’s writing is truly captivating. She is wonderfully descriptive, painting beautiful pictures in her reader’s heads, and her research is so thorough that you really feel as though you’ve been taken back in time. Books like this are why I read.

My Takeaway: Kerri Maniscalco may have just become my all time favorite Author. Big words for a girl with a Six of Crows tattoo on her forearm, I know. I genuinely can’t say enough good things about this book – I added another star to my rating scale for it. I can’t wait to see what adventure Cresswell and Wadsworth embark on next year!

And that is a wrap guys! I have not read Stalking Jack the Ripper or Hunting Prince Dracula yet but it is on my tbr January! You shall all have my thoughts on it soon! Happy readings 😘