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Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals Of Mina Harker (2010)

by Syrie James(Favorite Author)

3.81 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

0061923036 (ISBN13: 9780061923036)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Avon

review 1: Upon finishing Dracula, My Love I read the author Q&A in the back of this edition. The first question basically asked, "Why do this", to which James responded that in Stoker's Dracula, we never hear actual telepathic dialogue between Mina and Dracula, and that the encounters between Mina and Dracula occur offstage, and aren't really delved into in all their potentially erotic glory. James' response interests me because those two aspects of the books are *by far* the strongest. My rating after the first third of the book, which details Mina and Dracula's relationship at Whitby, was much higher. The conversational eroticism of Mina and Dracula's relationship before she realizes what he is, is interesting, well imagined, and runs parallel to Stoker's story without undermining... more it. The telepathic conversations between Mina and Dracula are really interesting, and it's especially cool to read that and then reread the conversations between Van Helsing and Mina when Mina is hypnotized in Stoker's book.These are the two aspects of Dracula, My Love where James is writing fan fiction as parallel. Imagining conversations here and there, what was glossed over in the original; all the while respecting the integrity of the original. This can be interesting, and in this case important in the sense that as a female character in Victorian England, there would be a shit ton we don't get to hear from Mina's perspective in Stoker's Dracula.Where fan fiction falls apart is when the author goes, "But this didn't actually happen, THIS did, explain explain explain explain explain." James avoids this for the first half of the novel but then it gets problematic. Multiple times James changes what occurred in the story and then betrays her own discomfort by explicitly stating the reasons why so-and-so doesn't mention any of this in his or her journal in the Stoker version. James spends the last 100 pages saying such and such didn't actually happen the way Stoker said it did, and because of that she has to spend a lot of energy covering her own tracks. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD.The way she has Mina's feelings toward Dracula change at the end happens too easily, which is too bad considering the plausibility with which James writes Mina's discovery and subsequent acceptance of Dracula's vampirism. Mina finds out Dracula's "true" thoughts at the end, when according to James she has been able to read his thoughts for the last couple hundred pages. Huh? Does Mina get special thought read-y powers while in Castle Dracula? The parts about Mina's upbringing and her true parentage are cute, but unnecessary. It was neat to hear Dracula's backstory throughout the book, but the way James hastily suggests at the end that it may all have been lies anyway is pretty unsatisfying, and frankly flimsy if what she's trying to accomplish is to write a credible parallel to Stoker's book.Dracula My Love was, on the whole, enjoyable, as I love the original Dracula and find Vampire lore interesting. James writes the Mina and Dracula relationship very well. If you're interested in imagining that relationship and watching Mina and Dracula quote Shakespeare at each other, you'll find this book enjoyable. I'm glad I read it, and it is SEXY as fuck, and I would go so far as to recommend it to a fan of Stoker's novel and of Vampire lore in general. It's interesting and fun, but not revelatory.
review 2: I love Syrie James, and this book was really great! If you want to know how Mina Harker felt about Dracula, this is the book to read! Mina also loves her husband, Jonathan Murray, but Dracula does have that mesmerizing persona about him that lets the reader see why Mina could love two men at the same time. But of course I knew that Dracula is always up to no good, especially at the end of this book where he reveals a secret to Mina that changes her mind about him. But I'm not giving away any spoilers! less

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