Dracula, No Contractions, and Neverending Love – Darknesses by Lachelle Seville, A Queer Vampire Romance

Remember when I said I had Darknesses on my nightstand and needed to read it soon? Well, I finally did it; it was quite an adventure.

Darknesses by Lachelle Seville is a sapphic, gothic, Dracula-inspired novel that has had traction in the book community circles I follow. I chose the book purely by faith in the readers that suggested it, and as usual, I didn’t know what I was getting into. That’s nothing new. Now, having finished the book, I wish I would have asked them why they enjoyed it.

Darknesses’s premise builds around an extraordinary love and its ability to heal most, not all, wounds. The end of the book’s blurb can be a little misleading. Now that I have re-read it after completing the book, I feel like it might cause the reader to think or feel that the love between the central characters is possessive. Don’t get me wrong. There are elements of possessiveness in the relationship, just not to the extent that the blurb would have you think.

If I had to pitch it to someone, I would lead by saying that it is a sapphic, gothic, Dracula-inspired novel that follows the budding relationship between two longing spirits with thirsts for something that only be quenched by one another. Oasis is a New York transplant recovering from events experienced in an “angel-focused” cult located in Blessed Falls. In this cult, she had a near-death experience that left her with paranoia. She doesn’t trust easily, especially concerning food. One day, while working, Laura, a strikingly beautiful woman, enters the bookstore and requests all the available copies of Dracula. In addition to that, she warns Oasis not to read it. Questionable, but Oasis maintains her curiosity and does not read Dracula.

This seemingly one-time encounter morphs into a love story that transcends what either Laura or Oasis expected of themselves. Both of them have secrets, and it’s a matter of time before they’re revealed. The question is, will those secrets tear them apart or will they bring them closer?

That’s the gist of what I got out of the story.

I enjoyed the first 75 to 80 percent of the book for the development of Laura and Oasis’s relationship. However, once other worldbuilding aspects were introduced via capture and rescue scenes, somewhere between those occurring and the ending, the story went off the rails. I’m not sure why it took such a turn. There are moments that contributed to significant bouts of disconnection from the story and made me question the author’s motives or intentions for including them. Especially the last 15 to 20 percent.

What I enjoyed most about the book is how Laura speaks. She doesn’t use contractions and regularly asks if something pleases someone. It’s cute. 🙂 I will give the book that much.

I think it overall could have been condensed down to 350 pages. According to my Kindle, it’s 527. The book, although entertaining, quirky, and cute, in my reading experience, there are characters that did not receive enough acknowledgment for me to connect to their importance in the story. When they would appear on the page after a length of time, I had to remind myself who they were and their function in the main character’s storyline.

I also felt that the worldbuilding had the potential to be fleshed out more. There were instances where I did get a feel of how the fantastical world operates and differs while existing in our present-day Earth, and would classify the novel as urban fantasy because of them. However, the descriptions of those fantastical locations weren’t distinct enough for me to feel that I’m being transported somewhere that exists on Earth while still being differential from Earth as we know it. I hope I’m making sense here.

My overall rating is 2.5/5 stars. Aside from my rating, I still recommend this book for a compelling spin on Dracula’s tale. If you love love and like snarky characters with literary banter, you will enjoy Darknesses.

I hope this review of Lachelle Seville’s ‘Darknesses’ finds you well.

Until my next blog post, drink your water, mind the business that’s yours, and continue reading beyond the book’s cover! ☺️

Huge thank you to Traum, BookSirens, and the author for the ARC. My review/reaction is voluntary, all thoughts are mine and unbiased, and receiving an ARC does not influence my rating and/or recommendation.

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Description

It’s been a year since Oasis stumbled away from Blessed Falls with wings carved into her back and too many scars to count.

A year spent razing delusions of being an angel’s vessel, proving to her brother that she doesn’t belong in a psych ward, and mourning the loss of her mother’s vinyl pressed ashes.

A year spent struggling to feel human again.

Enter Laura, the mesmerizing stranger who claims to hear Oasis’ heartbeat, who reads her hand-written memoir like scripture, who makes her feel closer to found than lost.

Laura is the most recent face of the eternal Count Dracula, ruler of the shadows, chimera of the Devil, and embittered victim of libel.

The Van Helsing Institute have been waiting for a glimpse of the dragon’s underbelly, and eagerly approach Oasis for her help in a ploy to kill Dracula for good. But not every wound from Blessed Falls has cicatrized, and Oasis realizes she may be a danger to Laura—and to herself.

Yet no one is as dangerous as Laura—the first vampire, the Devil’s plaything, and the person with whom Oasis finally feels human.

Oceans of time have passed since she last had a drink, and she will not let Oasis go easily.

***Book Description is from Goodreads***