Following the grief and horror of her discovery of Jack the Ripper's true identity, Audrey Rose Wadsworth has no choice but to flee London and its memories. Together with the arrogant yet charming Thomas Cresswell, she journeys to the dark heart of Romania, home to one of Europe's best schools of forensic medicine... and to another notorious killer, Vlad the Impaler, whose thirst for blood became legend.
But her life's dream is soon tainted by blood-soaked discoveries in the halls of the school's forbidding castle, and Audrey Rose is compelled to investigate the strangely familiar murders. What she finds brings all her terrifying fears to life once again.
In this New York Times bestselling sequel to Kerri Maniscalco's haunting #1 debut Stalking Jack the Ripper, bizarre murders are discovered in the castle of Prince Vlad the Impaler, otherwise known as Dracula. Could it be a copycat killer...or has the depraved prince been brought back to life?
MY THOUGHTS
I wasn't all that wild about Stalking Jack the Ripper. I liked pieces of the plot, but I found the characters a bit annoying, and it just wasn't as groundbreaking as the hype made it out to be. But, because of the hype, I decided to go ahead and check out book two on audio. Again, I didn't hate this book, but I was very disappointed with it. It honestly just makes me sad because I just can't see what is making so many others love this series. Yeah, this review will be full of some unpopular opinions.
After discovering the identity of Jack the Ripper, Audrey Rose Wordsworth and Thomas Creswell are traveling to Romania to attend a school of forensic medicine. Their new school is none other than the castle of Prince Vlad the Impaler, and Romania is rife with the return of the vampire. Or, at least, deaths that resemble vampirism. Bodies are found with stakes through their hearts, and others are found drained of blood. Audrey Rose and Thomas are determined to figure out the truth behind these bizarre crimes.
First of all, the plot of this book was really slow and kind of boring. Which is strange because it has a lot of intriguing stuff to work with. There is mythology and Romanian history, and these odd murders. The book does try to work with these things, but instead of making the book riveting, it made the pacing slow. For instance, we sit-in on many classes in which mythology and Romanian history are explained to the protagonists. At least Stalking Jack the Ripper had an intriguing plot and an interesting conclusion. This book struggled to hold my attention. This is also a case where, for a historical novel, it was very unrealistic and at times ridiculous. I struggled with placing the genre of Stalking Jack the Ripper because while there were no real paranormal elements, it read a lot like a paranormal book. This was more the case in this book. Although, a lot of this is because there were too many ridiculous and unbelievable coincidences. Like, of course they are staying in the castle of Vlad the Impaler, even though that would be incredibly unlikely. And of course [highlight to view spoiler] Thomas is related to Dracula! Because why not! [end of spoiler].
I will admit that Audrey Rose did not annoy me as much in this book. She didn't yell quite as often as she did in book one, so she wasn't as grating. She did make a lot of dumb decisions though. I can't say much more about her because I really don't find her that interesting of a character. Besides her interest in dissecting bodies, she really is just the typical YA heroine. This book did include a lot more female characters for her to befriend, which is a positive. Book one was really lacking in female characters. Unfortunately, I had trouble keeping them apart. On audio, their names all sounded similar. I cannot tell you what their individual names are, because I had trouble separating them. All their names ended in Ana I believe (or something that sounded similar through audio).
As for romance, I wasn't a fan. I know Thomas Creswell has a lot of fans, but I still don't find him charming. I don't hate him, but he just reads like the typical love interest with a tragic backstory and snark that hides his true emotions. What bothered me about the romance is that whenever the plot started to move, and we would get scenes of Audrey Rose and Thomas being detectives, they would spend the whole time with their witty banter. I found some of it amusing in book one, but I grew so tired of it here! I wanted to see the plot actually move forward! I honestly just found their constant bickering nauseating.
IN CONCLUSION
I think when I started this review I thought this book was okay, but I honestly struggled to find anything I truly loved about this book. I just can't see why this book is so hyped, which is part of my struggle. I don't think it's a bad book, but I've read so many other books, and there is nothing really that new to this series. There are other books I've read that have much more interesting characters. I probably should have stopped after book one, but I really hoped that I would like this one. I don't plan on continuing the series.
I hereby give this book
2.5 Stars
Meaning: I almost liked it, but not quite
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