Goodreads Synopsis
Traveling with her treasure-hunting father has always been a dream for Theodora. She’s read every book in his library, has an impressive knowledge of the world’s most sought-after relics, and has all the ambition in the world. What she doesn’t have is her father’s permission. That honor goes to her father’s nineteen-year-old protégé—and once-upon-a-time love of Theodora’s life—Huck Gallagher, while Theodora is left to sit alone in her hotel in Istanbul.
Until Huck returns from an expedition without her father and enlists Theodora’s help in rescuing him. Armed with her father’s travel journal, the reluctant duo learns that her father had been digging up information on a legendary and magical ring that once belonged to Vlad the Impaler—more widely known as Dracula—and that it just might be the key to finding him.
Journeying into Romania, Theodora and Huck embark on a captivating adventure through Gothic villages and dark castles in the misty Carpathian Mountains to recover the notorious ring. But they aren’t the only ones who are searching for it. A secretive and dangerous occult society with a powerful link to Vlad the Impaler himself is hunting for it, too. And they will go to any lengths—including murder—to possess it.
Review
The Lady Rogue was selected as Bookstaholics Anonymous's May's read-along of the month and I knew I had to join in as I am a fan of Jenn Bennett's contemporary books!
This was honestly such a fun and adventure packed book that had me hooked from the very beginning. I got a lot of Indiana Jones/The Mummy vibes with the main characters in this book looking for the magical ring that had once belonged to Vlad the Impaler. As soon as I read that this was very focused on Vlad I knew I had to read it!
I loved the magical element of this book and the adventure as a whole. Theodora is thrown into this mystery when the only family she has goes missing and whilst she came across incredibly spoilt and unlikable at the beginning, she really grew on me and I ended up loving her character by the end of the book. I also thought Huck was an amusing character who made me laugh and I love his quick wit and banter with Theodora.
However I felt like the ending fell very flat and rushed for me. I wanted more from the plot and from the characters. I felt like we joined Theodora and Huck on this epic journey only for it to end so quickly that you could have blinked and missed most of it.
Overall this was an interesting and adventure filled book with Vlad's history at the forefront. I definitely recommend this book to fans of historical and fantasy fiction and anyone who enjoys the 'Stalking Jack The Ripper' series because this book gave me Hunting Prince Dracula vibes.
Rating: 4/5 stars