#dbrr

OK, hope you’re ready, this is going to be a long one! Its time to talk romance, and this book is full of it. I thoroughly enjoy the lack of love triangle in this series, the things keeping Dory and L-C apart are emotions and secrets rather than another person, and that makes their relationship finally coming to fruition so satisfying.

The book starts and L-C is already on board

These first chapters are great, Dory with no memory is funny, but ultimately she is still very much her. L-C is trying to help her yet trying to avoid being garroted. We also start very quickly after the first book, so Dory and L-C are still very much skirting around their relationship, Dory getting in her own way and L-C going all in before he’s sure she is on board.

He’s hot and quite literal at times!

I like that he is honest with her in this book, he spent too much of the first two hiding Christine from her, and with good reason, but he has decided what he wants and is open about it from the beginning, something Dory may freak about to start with, but she gets there.

This mirrors a similar quote in Death’s Mistress, L-C is ultimately not like many other vampires, he was alone and developed his own identity and that makes him different enough to appeal to Dory. The fact he’s gorgeous is secondary.

Ha ha ha ha, there are a lot of funny one liners in this book (’Spongebob is the shit’ is another favourite) but this one genuinely makes me laugh every time I read it.

This section sums up how much Dory requires that physical contact, she uis heavily touche starved that the act is enough for her, not just in an intimate manner, but those small touches in a relationship, that even friends don’t tend to give, I’d be a bit insane if I’d waited 500 years give or take for that regular comforting touch.

I don’t ship Dory/Marlowe, but I can see a kind of begrudging respect/attraction on Kit’s side which is appealing, though clearly lost on Dory!

Here’s some cute fluff for you

Everyone needs a little spoon sometimes!

I am about to spam you with the memories sequence, this is a wonderful moment out of reality where Dory and L-C get to really connect, Dory gets to finally experience some of L-Cs memories and understand how alike their situations are to each other, these sections make me all warm and fuzzy!

A sense of belonging seems to be the cement to their relationship, Dory has never felt attached to her family, a mix of the situation Mircea created to save her life and feeling ‘other’ by being a dhampir, while L-C felt abandoned and unwanted by a mother in life and a father as a vampire. 

Even half dead he turns up to kill things, and kiss his girlfriend, he may be the perfect man (vampire)!

It seems to be very Dory to only accept her own feelings about someone if they’re on the verge of being ripped away from her, we’ve pretty much known she loved him since In Vino Veritas, but only now is she completely sure she knows she loves him, and in that moment is able to bridge the gap with her other self and use her master power.

Aww, this bit is lovely, finally breaking down the last of the issues between them, understanding that L-C is not with Dory because he wants to save her, likely a lot of why he is with her is precisely because she doesn’t need saving. She isn’t a burden on him and as senators their relationship won’t be questioned by anyone. Its a perfect ending, especially as we’ve waited some time for book four.

Dory: Oh no way! That bitch sent me to a fucking cow-

Mircea: She set Senator Marlowe on fire.

Dory:

Mircea: In the senate chamber, in front of the Consul.

Dory:

So, I started the Dory re-read with volume two and just finished the 10th chapter. What about you???

"So I sent the body up first. It's coordination was about what you'd expect for someone without a head, and it didn't help that the stairs shuddered with every step. But amazingly they looked like they might hold.

Ok I have thoughts, many many thoughts about this fantastic book. Its my favourite of the Dory books and pretty high up on the overall list of Karen Chance novels, I am particularly fond of the theme of relationships in the book.

Dory has three types of relationships building throughout the series, but they are heavily themed here. Firstly there is her found family, Claire, Stinky and Ray as people she has bonded with and claimed as her own. Secondly there is blood family, Mircea and Radu and how she is finally beginning to develop real emotional connections to a family she felt abandoned by and the thread that connects these two, found and family and adds romantic is obviously Louis-Cesare. He is definitely the primary relationship in this book, if my quote picks are anything to go by, but his presence and Dory’s acceptance of him as someone important in her life allows her to bridge the other relationships better. You could also argue the fourth relationship is that of herself, bridging the gap between Dory and Dorina and realising that her vampire half is not a monster after all.

Some quotes to help illustrate:

Found family:

I love this quote, it sums up how Dory brings out a goodness in Ray, a loyalty to her as his master. They’re great together and Ray is willing to face her wrath to tell her off for thinking Louis-Cesare is only after a Christine replacement. There’s not a lot of Claire or Stinky in this book, but the parts which are there confirm the loyalty of others to Dory, willing to protect her, fight for her and ultimately defend others against her should she go full dhampir around others. 

My favourite blood family moments are mainly with Mircea, he is so good in this book, he finally tells Dory the truth, shows her he loves her unconditionally and nearly dies for her, its a huge step in showing Dory she has a family who do want her, even if its hard to be close.

This scene made me tear up, it must have broken Mircea to know he had to remove such loving memories to keep Dory alive.

The anger and sadness of nearly losing Mircea when they are just getting to know each other properly. This is such a Dory reaction to that situation.

This is a pivotal moment to me, Dory would never had said this in Midnight’s Daughter, and possibly not in Death’s Mistress either, acknowledging her family and their importance to her is key for Dory’s development and in bringing herself together.

He’s so proud of her!! I really enjoy these moments, when they can admit they do love each other. I find it important that Mircea has a sort of redemption arc, he’s certainly an antagonist in the Cassie novels, but he’s not a bad character, he’s on the ‘right’ side of the war and wants to win, he is just a very good vampire and that doesn’t sit well with someone as moral as Cassie, but works so much better with Dory, its also evidence of how much he loves his daughter and really isn’t as attached to Cassie except with how much she can do for him. I believe he cares for Cassie, but she can never be as important to him.

Finally finished Dory book 1, I’ve always thought of this as the weakest book in the series, it has the difficulty of setting up new characters while trying to flesh out others we met briefly in the Cassie books, but I still love it. Dory is engaging, kick ass and yet not overpowered, giving her room to develop over the series.

Louis-Cesare grows from arrogant ass to the budding starts of the most amazing character, a guy I pretty much adored by the time I first read Death’s mistress, and Mircea, while not heavily featured in this book, becomes relatable, interesting and enjoyable, all whilst still being his manipulative self, he definitely grows on you!

Radu is excellent too, our first major LGBT character and he’s flawed, engaging, funny and Dory’s first step to finally embracing the Basarab clan, I always love him and look forward to more of him as the series progresses.

I consider the weakest link in Dory’s books to be Claire and in this book the fey. I don’t find Claire’s arc to be overly engaging but I think she’s used just enough before becoming unbearable, but I’m sure someone out there may like her!

I’ve finally finished the second Dory book, I really enjoy this one, it’s fun, develops several characters more than the first and brings in a deeper connection with Dory and L-C. Mircea is at his best here, his love for Dory is evident, defending her against the consul and he becomes as sympathetic as he has done to this point when he provides Dory with more detail on her mother (which I assume is because he’s finally hoping to bring her forward in time with Cassie, something he’d not had hope of before).

We get a nice amount of Marlowe, but I definitely prefer him in Fury’s Kiss, he’s always funny though, sneaky, mean and always a mess, I like that he gets crumpled and rough in comparison to suave and always cool Mircea, it shows how different two very powerful vampires can be.

We meet Ray in this book and he’s hilarious, headless and not. I love the way Dory’s relationships with vampires develop over the series, and Ray is important in helping bring out her protective side, along with Stinky, Aiden and Claire of course, Stinky isn't in the book a whole lot, but I mean who doesn’t love a drunk fey baby in their literature?

Obviously my OTP gets well underway here, finally breaking down the major barriers to them being together. Louis-Cesare finally loses his position on the Senate and the shackles of Christine the crazy revenant. 

There’s plenty of excellent side character interaction too- Anthony, Geminus, Ming-de and the Consul all make important cameos.

This is definitely a strong book, and was my favorite when it came out, over most of the Cassie books (we’d not had Hunt the Moon yet I think), but Fury’s Kiss wins for my favourite Dory book, I’ll list my reasons on that review.