Dracula In Love: The Secret History of Mina Harker by Karen Essex

Welcome to the tour for Dracula in Love by Karen Essex. It's time for Mina Harker's story! Available in all formats

Dracula In Love: The Secret History of Mina Harker
by Karen Essex
Genre: Gothic Romance
Dracula in Love is a lush, sensual reimagining of Bram Stoker’s classic, told through the eyes of Mina Harker. In Essex’s version, Mina is no passive maiden besieged by darkness, but a woman divided between the life Victorian society demands of her and the dangerous, erotic, supernatural truth awakening inside her.

As Mina is drawn into Dracula’s world, she discovers that desire, memory, and identity are far more complicated than the men around her will admit. The novel transforms the familiar tale of the vampire count into a story of female hunger, forbidden love, and the terrifying cost of self-discovery. At once gothic, romantic, and psychologically intimate, Dracula in Love asks whether the monster is truly the creature in the shadows, or the world that demands women dampen their own power. With the dark romance and gothic atmosphere of Anne Rice, the feminist revisionism of The Mists of Avalon, and the erotic, mythic charge of A Discovery of Witches and The Historian, Dracula in Love is perfect for readers who love seductive historical fantasy, dangerous love stories, and classic tales retold from the woman’s point of view. For fans of Anne Rice, Deborah Harkness, Elizabeth Kostova, Madeline Miller, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and readers who believe Mina Harker deserved the last word.

Amazon

About the Author:
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KAREN ESSEX is a national and international bestselling author whose novels spotlight history’s most fascinating and powerful women—those who shaped empires, commanded art, and seduced the world. The books are embraced by readers who crave both depth and passion in historical fiction. 

STAY TUNED FOR HER UPCOMING NOVEL, RUN, DARLING, the untold story of the glamorous Gabor sisters' escape from Nazi occupied Europe to the United States and to celebrity. 

Her work includes an acclaimed two volume biographical novel KLEOPATRA: The Early Years, the little known story of the princess’s rise to the throne; & PHARAOH: Book II of Kleopatra, focusing on the queen’s political acumen as well as her romances. LEONARDO'S SWANS, a global bestseller, puts Leonardo da Vinci’s rivalrous female muses at its core, aristocratic women who shaped the art and politics of the Italian Renaissance. The novel won Italy's prestigious Premio Roma for foreign fiction. STEALING ATHENA is a sweeping historical saga from the perspectives of two of history's most fascinating women who played key roles in the building and fate of Athens' greatest monuments. DRACULA IN LOVE retells Bram Stoker’s classic tale from the perspective of Dracula’s obsession, Mina Harker, who surprises readers with her own supernatural lineage. 

Also an award-winning journalist & screenwriter, Karen has written for Netflix, James Cameron and Fox Studios, Warner Bros, Sony, Paramount, and Fox TV. She was graduated from Tulane University with a BA in Theater, attended graduate school at Vanderbilt University, and received an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. A New Orleans native, she has also lived in London, Paris, and Los Angeles. 

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R&R BOOK TOURS

Cover Reveal: The Tide Has Teeth by Poppy L. Roberts

The Tide Has Teeth
by Poppy L. Roberts
September 29, 2026
Genre: Monster Romance/ Sapphic
Cover Artist: Sage & Fable
Monster Romance
Leviathan x Human
Sapphic
Plus Size FMC
Hurt/Comfort
Touch Her and Die
Tentacles
Insta-Love


The plans were perfect. Her dress was a froth of white lace. Her maid of honor had just finished pinning her veil in place. The buzz of excitement and fizz of champagne filled her ears. She just wanted to take a breath alone to soak it in before the emotion of the day blurred her mind. What she couldn’t have planned was the pain lying in wait on the other side of her hotel room door ready to topple it all.

When Georgia runs from the picture-perfect life she had meticulously built, taking her honeymoon trip alone, she prays the secluded seaside resort will wash away her shame. The private beach surrounding her villa offers her seclusion and peace, but the grief and betrayal threaten to drown her. And each night, the quiet cove tucked behind no trespassing signs whispers her name, calling for her to slip into the glittering blue water.

The creature had lived in this cove for centuries and never had she seen a human alone and with such an endless stream of tears. Styx watches the broken woman as she lounges on the sand and moves like a ghost around the small house just beyond the boundaries of her cove. Quietly, she calls to her, desperate to find out what stole her spirit. She wants nothing more than to hold the woman in the lull of the waves as she rips the source of her grief from the world. As obsession rises like the tide, Styx finds herself desperate to fix the fragile human.

But all vacations end, and as Georgia’s past comes hunting her down, the only way to survive may be to call to the storm beneath the surface and let its vengeance consume her entirely. She’ll have to stare into the depths and grapple with the fear that trusting a monster may be taunting the same fate that already burned her.

Love is an anchor that drags you into the deep…where even the tides have teeth.

Pre-order Link

Triggers:
Cheating (not main couple)
Near Drowning
Gaslighting
Partner
Body-Shaming (mild)
Sexual Content
Toxic Partner Dynamics

About the Author:

website

Poppy Roberts has always been a passionate lover of stories and has finally decided it was time to tell one of her own.

As a child she always enjoyed playing pretend, inventing stories, and immersing herself in imaginary worlds. Now, as an adult, she still gets excited about fairy rings, magical creatures, and discovering entirely new worlds. Her mother encouraged her love of reading at a young age, and Poppy's search for that magical feeling has only grown stronger over time. 

IG: @author.poppy @rrbooktours

Tags: #rrbooktours #sapphicromance #monsteromance #coverreveal

 

R&R Book Tours

Y.A. Science Fiction: Obscura Nights (Obscura Nights, #1) Warren Wynn + giveaway

Obscura Nights (Obscura Nights, #1)
Warren Wynn
August 4th 2026
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
Seventeen-year-old Farris Aldan didn’t join the Sentinels to save the world.

He joined to escape insanity.

In Obscura City, contracting the whisperis means shedding your skin and becoming a monster. As a newly trained Sentinel, Farris hunts the infected, hoping vengeance will silence the guilt over his best friend Calla’s death.

Then he’s assigned his first solo mission. Track down Rena, a whisperis-infected punk rocker evading quarantine. From her black hair and beet-red eyes, she’s the spitting image of Calla. Farris can’t bring himself to arrest her. Not with that face, not with that voice.

Choosing Rena brands him a traitor. Now hunted by the Sentinels he idolized, including his adoptive father, Farris learns Rena’s connection to the whisperis runs deeper than anyone imagined. Visions of a cure guide her toward the Hollow, a hidden valley of darkness beyond the city. Only an ancient vantashade named Krieger knows the truth, but it offers a global cure for a terrible price: her life. To save Rena, Farris must risk everything–his future, his family, even the cure itself. And it still might not be enough.

Goodreads-Amazon

EXCERPT:
Little by little, we awkwardly stumbled and sashayed toward the cluster of monsters. A littler further and we slipped into their group. Mere feet separated us from the graceful corpses.

A stench of boiled tar and kerosene swam over us. The air curdled with heat. We watched the burdeneds’ faces as we moved. No longer paying attention to us. Their shoulders, arms and chests were relaxed. Caring and glossy white eyes stared back at their deceased partners.

A small pressure pushed against my chest. Rena leaned her head against it, and I realized that she’d been shivering.

“God. I wonder when they died.” She mumbled so softly I barely heard her. “Wonder if they knew they were dyin’. What they felt when they turned into monsters.”

I shook my head since it was too risky to speak. Little by little, I moved us to the back of the room. Need to go slow so we don’t alert the burdened.

Rena looked up at me, her face mere inches from my own. “All their feelings…what happened to them when they died?” Her skin was so bruised and cut up. The dark circles beneath her eyes contrasted her increasingly pale complexion. “Their names? Their memories? Where did they go?”

My whole body ached. I swallowed. When I tried to comfort her, my mouth opened, but nothing came out.

Her hand squeezed my shoulder without a lick of strength. “I don’t wanna become like that, Farris. God almighty, I don’t wanna end up being just a memory.”

I tried to speak but again failed. Realizing my limitations, I instead pulled her even closer. Her breath felt hot against my neck. Her tears chilled my skin.

Rena gritted her teeth. Her chest shook from deep, silent sobs. “I don’t wanna die, Farris. I don’t…”

My back stung, muscles ached. Ribs throbbed and head pounded. I looked at the bandages over her eye. Around her ankle. The stains of blood on her cargos, her vest.

Nameless music played behind us. Forgotten dead danced around us. Filthy ground creaked below us.

About the Author:
TikTok-Instagram
Warren Wynnfield is an American author writing young adult science fiction about parallel worlds, bizarre creatures, and mind-blowing twists. His passions in a previous life doing graphic and video game design heavily inspire his stories and characters. His previous novel, ‘Break the Moon,’ was published by Lost Boys Press on March 28th, 2024.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from West Virginia University, Mike left behind the mountains for the beaches of Palm Coast, Florida. If he isn’t kayaking or hiking, he’s earning grey hairs writing through the moonlight hours.

GIVEAWAY! 

 Obscura Nights Blitz

Middle-grade Fantasy Adventure: The Baal of Shangisha by O. Mez

Blending atmospheric storytelling, African cultural echoes, and timeless themes, O. Mez delivers a powerful debut novel for young readers who believe that courage is not the absence of fear—but the decision to keep moving forward. How far would you go to save your world when everyone else has stopped believing?

The Baal of Shangisha
by O. Mez 
Genre: Middle-grade fantasy Adventure, fantasy
January 6, 2026
Publisher: MindStir Media
One boy. One impossible dream. One journey that could change his world forever.

When a mysterious force hurls young Chetanna into the home of an enigmatic old bird, he arrives carrying an extraordinary dream: to bring peace to the wicked and divided world around him.

Even Chetanna is unsure such peace is possible.

But when his mother tells him of a distant land of possibilities—a place where hidden answers may be found—Chetanna finally sees a path forward. As darkness spreads across the island he calls home, he begins a dangerous quest armed with only a slingshot, a mysterious name whispered by his mother, and the ancient power of the Eight.

Chetanna believes that courage, hope, and determination will be enough to complete his mission.

He is wrong.

Halfway through the journey, betrayal changes everything. The companions he trusted most abandon him, convinced that the quest is doomed. Left for dead and stranded in an unforgiving wilderness, Chetanna loses nearly everything he depended upon.

He should turn back.

He should surrender.

Instead, he holds tightly to the one thing no enemy can take from him: his dream of creating a better world.

Driven by resilience, courage, kindness, and an unshakable belief in what might still be possible, Chetanna presses forward. But when he finally reaches the legendary land he has risked everything to find, a devastating truth awaits—one powerful enough to destroy his mission and shatter everything he believes.

The Baal of Shangisha is a lyrical middle-grade fantasy adventure filled with mystery, ancient power, dangerous choices, unexpected betrayal, and unforgettable lessons about hope, sacrifice, selflessness, and perseverance.

Perfect for readers who enjoy:

• Courageous young heroes and epic quests
• Magical lands inspired by rich cultural traditions
• Fantasy adventures filled with danger and discovery
• Stories about friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness
• Meaningful lessons about resilience, love, kindness, and hope
• Young characters who discover that even the smallest voice can inspire extraordinary change

Amazon

 

About the Author
O. Mez is a Nigerian-born author whose storytelling is shaped by the rich oral traditions, cultural rhythms, and imaginative tales that surrounded him while growing up. Inspired by stories passed down through generations, he writes lyrical, atmospheric fantasy that explores courage, resilience, hope, and the quiet strength of those who dare to believe in a better world.

Now based in Colorado, Mez brings together African cultural echoes, timeless life lessons, and immersive fantasy adventure to create meaningful stories for young readers. His debut middle-grade fantasy novel, The Baal of Shangisha, follows a young hero on a dangerous quest filled with mystery, betrayal, ancient power, and the unshakable determination to change his world.

Through his writing, Mez hopes to encourage children to embrace kindness, perseverance, selflessness, and the belief that even the smallest voice can make a lasting difference.

When he is not writing, he enjoys watching football, spending time with his wife and daughters, and reading stories about forgotten lands, brave souls, and extraordinary journeys.

5 Sheep➕ Book Review: Unpredictable Magic by Faith Hunter

Unpredictable Magic
by Faith Hunter
July 14, 2026
Witches Angelina and Evan Everhart-Trueblood take a case that spirals out of control until the whole city is at risk in this exciting new novel from New York Times bestselling author Faith Hunter.

Angelina Everhart-Trueblood and her brother Evan run Everhart Investigations, a PI firm in Chattanooga that solves paranormal crimes committed by supernatural beings. When their new client wants help finding her friend, who supposedly disappeared during a reception at Angie’s aunt Jane’s winter residence, things get . . . complicated.

The client is not who she appears to be, and demons strike the city for the first time since the Witch War. On top of that, evidence is pointing toward the involvement of an overly ambitious vampire—who just happens to be Angie’s ex-husband.

As Angie and Evan team up with CPD, they will have to dig deep into their magical reserves—and rely on some friends in high places—to rid Chattanooga of the danger creeping into their city.

I have not read any of Ms. Hunter's other novels- but that may change. Vampire and Witch novels are not my first choice of reading, but when authors like Ms. Hunter writes with such "flowing" ideas and entertaining words, old ladies will make changes in their choices.

"Unpredictable Magic" was a very enjoyable read- with words that were not familiar to me, but she made them understandable in every paragraph. There were lots of vamp fights and spells, some with humor, but also some with lots of blood and brimstone. If her other novels are as graphic and explosive as this one, you will want to read her next new novel for sure.

I wanted to continue reading, even though I had other things to do and had to put the book down. She made the characters come alive in their interactions with each other, and the story line flowed in all 534 pages. 

Amazon

I would positively give this novel 5 Barts ➕

 

 

About the Author:
​Website
Faith Hunter, urban fantasy writer, was born in Louisiana and raised all over the south. Hunter fell in love with reading in fifth grade, and best loved SciFi, fantasy, and gothic mystery. She decided to become a writer in high school, when a teacher told her she had talent.

Now, she writes full-time, tries to keep house, and is a workaholic with a passion for RV travel, Japanese maples, orchids, white-water kayaking, and writing. She and her husband love to RV to whitewater rivers all over the Southeast.

The dark urban fantasy Skinwalker series, featuring Jane Yellowrock, is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling series with multiple books and compilations. Jane Yellowrock is a Cherokee skinwalker who tracks, hunts, and kills rogue-vampires for a living — that is, until she takes a gig working for Leo Pellissier, the Master of the City of New Orleans. The series is set in an alternate reality, modern-day world, one inhabited by humans, vamps, and other things that go bump in the night.

Her Rogue Mage novels, a dark, urban fantasy series, feature Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage in a post-apocalyptic, alternate reality, urban fantasy world. These novels are the basis for the Rogue Mage World Book and Role Playing Game, which contains lots of fiction for the readers!

The Soulwood series features Nell Nicholson Ingram, and is a spinoff from the Skinwalker series. Nell is an escapee from a cult, a solitary woman with deadly magic of her own. In book one, Blood of The Earth, she is hired to help PsyLED (a division of Homeland Security) find a missing child.

Faith’s Junkyard Cats series is a “near future” SciFi series of novellas first released as Audible Originals and later as ebooks, and possibly some day as a print onmibus.

Under her pen name Gwen Hunter, she writes action adventure, mysteries, and thrillers.

As Faith and Gwen, she has 40+ books in print in 30+ countries.

Faith can be found on Facebook. Want the latest news? Join her newsletter!