Tuesday Review: Vow of Eternal Night

 

 Clara Wagner has always known that monsters are real, and the worst of them is Prince Raleigh of Rostenburg. But when he decides it’s time to marry, Clara inadvertently finds herself at the center of his attention.

Forced to accept Raleigh’s proposal, Clara would do anything to escape her fate. So when the prince provides an ultimatum—lift his vampiric curse before the end of the year, or become his bride for eternity—Clara knows what she must do.

Heal the prince. Stay alive. Try not to fall in love.

Give me a Beauty and the Beast retelling where the Beast is actually a vampire prince, throw in an arranged marriage, a curse that needs to be broken, and a creepy gothic castle, and obviously I’m going to read it.

I really enjoyed Clara. She’s softer than a lot of the FMCs I normally gravitate toward, but she still has a backbone, and I loved watching her grow throughout the story. Her banter with Raleigh was probably one of my favorite parts, and I really liked how their relationship slowly changed as she started learning more about him and the curse. There was plenty of yearning between these two, and some of their moments together were so sweet that this book actually managed to make me cry.

The gothic atmosphere was also done really well. The castle, vampires, vampire hunters, magic, found family, and mystery surrounding the curse gave the story that dark fairytale feeling I wanted without making the plot feel like it was trying to cram in every possible trope.

I do wish we had gotten more from some of the side characters and their backstories, especially once I knew where the story was going. And then there was the ending. I genuinely did not see it coming, and while I understand the choice, it wasn’t necessarily the direction I wanted the story to take. That one is completely personal preference, but it definitely knocked this down a little for me.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. Clara and Raleigh stole my heart, the world was beautifully gothic and atmospheric, and apparently I need more vampire Beauty and the Beast retellings in my life.