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Reviewed by Alysha Allen for Readers' Favorite
Lucinda Elliot time travels to the French Revolution where one of the last of the aristocratic rakes, Émile Dubois, charms his pious and poor relative, Sophie de Courcy into marrying him. Within the tradition of the Gothic novel, once married and settled in North Wales, Sophie and Émile must overcome a ruthless vampire couple who seek to use Émile for their own private ends. Additionally, a seductive femme fatale vampiress tests their love and awakens sordid memories from Émile's past which he must battle and to which Sophie reconciles herself. Meanwhile, Sophie's maid Agnes and her beau, Georges, otherwise known as Emile's side-kick/valet, join forces with the newly-married couple to save the village from turning into a coven of neck-biting vampires.
As a modest aficionado of eighteenth-century British literature, I am acquainted with and have even read some of the popular works from this period, from the rising sentimental novel to the emerging Gothic novel in the 1790s. Similarly, I was pleased to find that amongst many contemporary authors, Lucinda Elliot attempted to authentically narrate the story from an eighteenth-century perspective, to the extent of titling her novel in Enlightenment fashion. Told simply as an historical paranormal romance, it is well-written and a book I would recommend to lovers of this genre. Moreover, I laud Elliot for her indubitable appreciation of this prolific century in Britain when rakes, prudes, and vampires prevailed, albeit separately, now skillfully combined in Elliot's twenty-first century reincarnation of pre-Austen fin de siècle.
