Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker
    Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker
    Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker
    Audiobook13 hours

    Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker

    Written by Syrie James

    Narrated by Justine Eyre

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Syrie James approaches Bram Stoker's classic Dracula with a breathtaking new perspective-as, for the first time, Mina Harker records the shocking story of her scandalous seduction and sexual rebirth.

    Who is this magnetic, fascinating man? And how could one woman fall so completely under his spell?

    Mina Harker is torn between two men. Struggling to hang on to the deep, pure love she's found within her marriage to her husband, Jonathan, she is inexorably drawn into a secret, passionate affair with a charismatic but dangerous lover. This haunted and haunting creature has awakened feelings and desires within her that she has never before known, remaking her as a woman.

    Although everyone she knows fears him and is pledged to destroy him, Mina sees a side to him that the others cannot: a tender, romantic side; a man who's taken full advantage of his gift of immortality to expand his mind and talents; a man who is deeply in love and who may not be so guilty of evil after all.

    Yet to surrender is surely madness, for to be with him could end her life. It may cost Mina all she holds dear, but to make her choice she must learn everything she can about the remarkable origins and sensuous powers of this man, this exquisite monster, this...Dracula!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateAug 17, 2010
    ISBN9781400186723
    Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker
    Author

    Syrie James

    Syrie James is the USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of thirteen novels including the critically acclaimed The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen; Jane Austen's First Love; Forbidden; Dracula, My Love; The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë; Nocturne; Runaway Heiress; Summer of Scandal; Duke Darcy's Castle; Floating on Air; Two Week Deal; and the international bestseller The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. An admitted Anglophile, Syrie loves all things British and 19th century. Her novels have hit many Best of the Year lists, won the Audie Romance Award, and been designated as Library Journal Editor’s Picks and the Women's National Book Association’s Great Group Read. Syrie lives in Los Angeles and is a member of JASNA, the Historical Novel Society, and the Writer's Guild of America.  Visit Syrie at www.syriejames.com.

    More audiobooks from Syrie James

    Related to Dracula, My Love

    Related audiobooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Let A Little Love In

      Jun 9, 2019

      Let A Little Love In
      4 min read

    • Article

      An Ocean Of Love

      Aug 17, 2021

      An Ocean Of Love
      6 min read

    • Article

      A double LIFE

      Sep 13, 2022

      A double LIFE
      6 min read

    • Article

      An ocean OF LOVE

      Jun 27, 2023

      An ocean OF LOVE
      6 min read

    • Article

      DEFINING Memories

      Aug 5, 2021

      DEFINING Memories
      7 min read

    • Article

      Your Poetry

      Jun 25, 2021

      The music labeled from A to ZI can’t get those sounds out of my headThose 45s are from our lifeSometimes the memories cut like a knife Jukebox Nights have been the bestAll my problems to get off my chestSpent with people I love and have sharedA good

      3 min read

    • Article

      A time FOR US

      Apr 8, 2020

      A time FOR US
      8 min read

    • Article

      Now Is the Time

      Nov 24, 2020

      Now Is the Time
      5 min read

    • Article

      Summer Beach Reads

      Jan 10, 2021

      Summer Beach Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      Worlds Of Ink And Paper

      Nov 22, 2022

      As a young girl, I still remember my dear mother, smile on her face, curled up with Family Circle magazine in her lap. She was engrossed in an article titled “Butternut Wisdom,” written by Gladys Taber. At my age, it didn’t mean a thing to me. But as

      6 min read

    • Article

      Book Extract

      Jan 20, 2020

      My year off was also interesting, in that I didn’t feel any less loved, or cherished, or wanted. Why? Because my life is already rich with soulmates, and I got the chance to behold that. You don’t have to shag someone for them to be a soulmate. We do

      7 min read

    • Article

      An Elephant NEVER FORGETS

      May 17, 2023

      An Elephant NEVER FORGETS
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      My Family Didn’t Know I Existed

      Sep 29, 2020

      Knocking on my hotel-room door on the last morning of our holiday in Italy, my big sister, Katrin, 50, surprised me with a biker jacket made of buttery-soft leather. ‘It’s your birthday present,’ she smiled. ‘You know I can’t resist getting my little

      4 min read

    • Article

      Love, Family & Arabian Nights

      Jul 14, 2021

      Love, Family & Arabian Nights
      11 min read

    • Article

      Sharing Tales Of Family Life In West Sussex, TV Star And Novelist Susannah Constantine Recalls A Wardrobe Malfunction At Windsor Castle And Reveals Why She Wants To Interview Theresa May

      Jun 22, 2020

      Sharing Tales Of Family Life In West Sussex, TV Star And Novelist Susannah Constantine Recalls A Wardrobe Malfunction At Windsor Castle And Reveals Why She Wants To Interview Theresa May
      3 min read

    • Article

      My Friend Juniper

      Apr 5, 2023

      My Friend Juniper
      24 min read

    • Article

      Ice cream DREAMS

      Jul 28, 2021

      Ice cream DREAMS
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Periodic Stranger: When exile becomes home.

      Dec 12, 2013

      My roots are in a hilltop village west of Matera, where rabbit and boar run riot in the fields. Figs, apricots, and pears hang in heavy clusters, at eye-level and within easy reach. There, the local girls are famous for their calves, made firm and st

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Periodic Stranger

      Mar 2, 2017

      My roots are in a hilltop village west of Matera, where rabbit and boar run riot in the fields. Figs, apricots, and pears hang in heavy clusters, at eye-level and within easy reach. There, the local girls are famous for their calves, made firm and st

      21 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Dracula, My Love

    4/5

    97 ratings28 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 1/5
      I picked up this book way back when. At the time I was really into any book with a vampire theme. This one sounded intriguing and one that I had not read yet regarding the secret journals. Usually, when it comes to the story of Dracula and Mina it is usually Dracula that is featured and not his lover. Yet, there have been stories told with Mina but again some good and others alright.I am really trying to read books from my massive to be read pile. So I picked up this book, still looking forward to reading it. I got four chapters in and was ready to put the book down. What a bore. Mina did not stand out to me as a strong feminine voice but a little girl pining for her lover. Plus, just from the little bit that I did read the story seemed to stretch on and repeat itself without real purpose. I already forgot what happened in these first four chapters.
    • 4/5
      really enjoyed this book. puts a love story twist on the old story of dracula. loved the time period and the dark love story.
    • 4/5
      I got a copy of this book through Librarything's Early Reviewer program. I love the original story of Dracula but always wished that the women characters were more filled out. This book does a great job of doing that in a believable way and paints Dracula into a more complex character than he was originally portrayed as.The whole book is told through the viewpoint of Mina Parker. Through her eyes we see Lucy's decline, hear of Jonathan's troubles in Transalvania, etc. The story line closely follows the original Dracula storyline but the interactions between Mina and Dracula are more filled out. You also see more of Mina's relationship with her husband Jonathan. This definitely comes off as more of a romance than the original Dracula, but mostly it is a Victorian fantasy of sorts.I thought the book was well done. The language and writing style mostly stays true to the original Dracula, and the original Dracula storyline is basically followed (if embellished on quite a bit). Mina Harker is a wonderful complex character: she is dutiful, yet independent, she loves her husband, yet is drawn to Dracula. She is a character that is easy to love and empathize with, she is even admirable at points.The characters of Jonathan and Dracula are also filled out nicely. Neither of the male leads is completely good or completely evil. Jonathan can be overly restrictive and traditional towards Mina; which suffocates her at times...yet he is also a loving husband. Dracula is more accepting and encouraging of Mina's non-traditional behavior (wanting to work outside the home and be educated) but is selfish when it comes to what he wants.This book ends up being less about the mystery behind Dracula and more about Mina's struggle to decide between two men who truly love her but each have faults of their own. That being said there is still some mystery and urgency throughout this book. The book would have been more engaging and unpredictable if I had not already known the story of Dracula so well.Overall the book is well done and a must read for Dracula fans, especially Dracula fans who have always wanted the role of the female characters in Dracula expanded. This take on Dracula is definitely more of a romance than a horror, although not annoyingly so, and it is aimed towards a female audience. Some of the steamy scenes in the book get pretty explicit so I would recommend for an adult audience. I enjoyed this book and would definitely consider reading other of James' books in the future.
    • 4/5
      ‘Dracula, My Love’ retells Bram Stoker’s novel from the point of view of Mina Harker, who in the original was a victim of Dracula and didn’t play a large part in the action. In this, we learn not just Mina’s story, but that of Dracula as well- or at least his story as he wishes Mina to know it. Because he has fallen in love with Mina and will do and say anything to win her. It’s been years since I read ‘Dracula’ (in 1969, IIRC) so I’ve forgotten large parts of it, but I do think James has followed his plot pretty faithfully. Everything she has written slots into it fairly seamlessly. The only thing that I felt was changed too much was that Van Helsing comes off as a bit of a buffoon, which I don’t remember him being. Dracula comes to England and meets Mina while her fiancé, Jonathan Harker, is still in a hospital in Europe, recovering from all that he’s endured in Dracula’s castle. He doesn’t reveal himself as Dracula, but rather as a Mr. Wagner from Austria. He’s gorgeous, well read, polite, dances divinely and he wakes in Mina feelings that she doesn’t have about her fiancé. He stalks her relentlessly- but she doesn’t see it that way, of course. In time, he is revealed as Dracula, the vampire that Van Helsing is hunting, who terrorized Jonathan, who is assumed to have killed Lucy Westenra, Mina’s best friend. But Dracula explains all this away; he is innocent of harming anyone. Mina falls in love and in lust with him. Even though she is very aware of the morals of the Victorian society she lives in, Mina continues to see- and allow more and more intimacies with- Dracula, despite being affianced and then married to Jonathan. She manages to justify it- or is she able to do this because Dracula has her under a spell? Despite knowing that he can bespell humans and make them do as he wishes, this possibility never seems to occur to her, not even at the very end. She is very smart and educated but she comes off, sadly, as easily manipulated and unwilling to examine what she is doing. It was a disappointment to have a narrator it was hard to engage with for 450 pages. Still, it’s vampires. It’s Dracula! It’s rather fun.
    • 4/5
      Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker is a retelling of Bram Stoker's classic Dracula from Mina Harker's point of view. The major events of the novel remain unchanged; however, their interpretation is totally different.The story begins with Mina summering in the English costal town of Whitby with her dearest friend, Lucy. Her fiance, Jonathan, is away on business in Transylvania, and Mina is disturbed because she hasn't heard from him. There is a great deal here about Mina and Lucy's friendship that is not in the original novel, but, frankly, the Whitby section seemed to run a bit long at times. The action picks up when Mina meets the mysterious Mr. Wagner (who is blatently obviously Dracula) and falls in love with him, and Lucy begins to sicken from blood loss. In short order, Mina is called away to nurse a delirious Jonathan, who is raving of being held captive by demons, in Eastern Europe. Mina and Jonathan are married, Lucy dies and rises as a vampire, and the vampire-hunting team has formed. As a previous reviewer has already commented, the men of this vampire-hunting team are kind of thin sketches; they're not well-filled-out as characters. If a feminist complaint about the original Dracula was that Mina's character was not well-developed, then we can make the same complaint about the majority of the men (and I would include Jonathan) in this novel. I wish James had achieved a balance. It's disappointing in particular to see fan favorite Van Helsing so frequently belittled.There is a great deal of romantic tension in the novel, and it's not the sex-driven passion we see in so much vampire urban fantasy these days. It's much more intellectual, though the element of physicality is there. In this way, James draws Mina as a woman with both a mind and a body to be satisfied, and she makes her a stronger character in doing that. Because she draws Mina this way (without giving away any spoilers), I have to say that the "Epilogue" was pretty disappointing as an end to the story; I think she ends up burying these elements of Mina's character in favor of a more traditional picture of womanhood.You can read this novel without reading or rereading Stoker's novel, if that's a concern you have in approaching it. You'll probably enjoy it more if you know the original story and if you know what James is rewriting, but James' story of a woman torn between two lovers stands on its own as a narrative of passion and suspense.
    • 4/5
      Retelling of the Dracula story told through Mina's eyes. I enjoyed the story. I also enjoyed her feelings for Dracula and his for hers. I wish the ending were different but then again maybe it is.
    • 5/5
      Great ideas, very interesting the autor´s choice to describe the known leading characters somewhere struggling between good and evil, letting them act not just "black" or "white" but all vivid in every shade of grey, I really did enjoy it! One of these books you are sorry to have to turn the last page ..
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this re-imagining of Dracula from Mina's point of view but did take issue with her being so indecisive and naive. The writing was wonderful and I felt like I was in the pages with these characters.
    • 5/5
      Absolutely loved this. If you loved Bram Stroker's Dracula, you will love this. If you long for more depth into Mina's point of view, this book provides it. It stays close to the original story line, but provides an amazing complement.
    • 4/5
      Mina is drawn to a mysterious man but who is he? No matter how hard she fights it, he has gotten under her skin.Mina feels betrayed by her feeling for this man; she struggles with a guilty conscience since is already engaged to Jonathan, her childhood sweetheart. When her betrothed vanishes while traveling abroad she fears for his safety but when he suddenly reappears in a hospital in ‘Buda-Pesth’, Mina goes to him at once. He seems changed by his experience abroad; what happened to him? She tries to forget about the stranger and marries Jonathan as planned but her past comes back to haunt her. Is there a connection between Jonathan’s disappearance and Mina’s mystery man?I enjoyed the read but think some parts were a bit rushed; some plot details seemed to be accepted a bit too easily by the characters. Overall a fun, escape read! I enjoyed the story and would recommend it to fans of “romantic-historical-remakes”.
    • 5/5
      Dracula has been done and re-done numerous times. Why should you read this incarnation? This story tells what the original book leaves out.Syrie James fills in the gaps of Bram Stoker's Dracula with thrilling wonder. If you are a fan of the movie starring Gary Oldman, Keanu Reaves, Anthony Hopkins and Winona Ryder this book is a must read. Ms. James continues flawlessly from both the book and the movie--for which I was grateful.As a Dracula-phile, I must say I was very happy with this book. It was (almost) everything I hoped it would be. The end of the book was not what I'd hoped for but I've yet to find a version of Dracula that will sate my thirst for the perfect ending. Most others will be happy with the final chapters. While I didn't exactly agree with it, the book ended well enough.
    • 3/5
      When reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time recently, I thought that Mina Harker and the eponymous vampire of the title were the two strongest characters in the novel, but I also recognise that there are many inconsistencies and Victorian eccentricties in the story which leave crucial questions unanswered. Syrie James' retelling of the original fills in many of the gaps, but at the expense of poor Mina, which I'm sure wasn't the author's aim. Instead of bowing to the will of her husband and the other men, Mina is now Dracula's puppet, forsaking the brave initiative she showed in Stoker's version to be manipulated by the Count's smooth words. Written with tongue firmly in cheek, and a very modern smirk at Victorian misconceptions, Syrie James glibly pokes holes in the epistolary accounts of Van Helsing, Seward, Lucy Westenra and even Mina's own diaries, which I enjoyed. Although the first half of Dracula, My Love is basically a potted rehash of the orginal told entirely from Mina's perspective, advancing little on the events recounted in Stoker's novel except to introduce Mina's dalliance with 'Mr Wagner' at Whitby, Miss James questions why Dracula would shore up in Yorkshire when he has bought a house in Essex, and why does he seek out Lucy in Whitby and London? The second part of the novel, however, turns into the worst kind of cliched historical romance, and Dracula's insistence that he's just a lonely, misunderstood old romantic - and the fact that Mina believes him - is taking the joke too far. Mina's opinion of Dracula, once the penny drops and she realises who the charming old man in Whitby really is, veers back and forth between Dracula's opinion and Van Helsing's. He's charming and caring, no wait, he killed Lucy and now he's lying to cover his tracks! Good, evil; yes, no! Her dithering is tiresome, and the glib explanations that Dracula feeds her are patently ridiculous - Van Helsing killed Lucy with his blood transfusions (and Stoker would not have known about blood types when he wrote his novel in 1897); the three women in his Transylvanian castle who tried to seduce and kill Jonathan are Dracula's sisters, not his brides ('honest, love, she's my sister!'), and it was one of them that Jonathan saw scaling the outer walls of the castle like a lizard; Vlad the Impaler was Dracula's brother, and Dracula was an innocent victim. He has an answer for everything. The poor, slandered vampire has spent the last four hundred years reading, painting and pining for a girlfriend, not killing the townsfolk and drinking their blood. Van Helsing has it all wrong, Mina! Now, I will admit to thinking that Van Helsing and the other men were a set of stuffed shirts, but Syrie James' 'romantic' interpretation of Dracula puts a rather more disturbing spin on the character - basically, 'Nicolae' Dracula is an abusive partner, threatening, controlling and manipulating Mina to do his bidding, and trying to cut her off from family and friends, which is far more disturbing than the ancient creature and his boxes of dirt in Stoker's novel!Mina also undergoes a 'romantic' transformation - she finds out who her real parents are, in pure Harlequin-by-numbers style. Her personal revelations served little purpose, except to make me gag. Syrie James seems to have been so determined to raise Mina above the dubious background of Englishwoman and Victorian wife that she inserted all manner of cliched conventions and plot devices, but took away the strength and practicality demonstrated by the same character in Stoker's version. I loved that Stoker's Mina has trained herself to be a helpful assistant to her husband by learning shorthand and typing, and that she supports Jonathan and the other men in their quest to destroy Dracula - to the point of sacrificing herself, if need be. James' twist on the character has Mina bemoaning her fate as a housewife, forbidden to help Jonathan with his work and frustrated in the bedroom. Dracula even tells her, 'I understand that your desires conflict with your curious Victorian sense of propriety and morality', which sounds like something a feminist critic would say about the original novel, not what Mina would think about herself.Overall, Syrie James' modern, romantic reimagining of Dracula is creative and well researched (even if the author does like to signpost her research with simplistic footnotes and exposition), but lacks the atmosphere and thrill of Stoker's writing. Dracula himself is suitably enigmatic to the end, but Mina Harker is reduced to a pathetic woman who is torn between two men. Stoker might have written a 'sexless' heroine, but at least his Mina could think for herself.
    • 3/5
      What would Dracula look like from Mina’s point of view? Syrie James takes this question and twists it, causing Mina to fall in love with Dracula before she knows he’s Dracula. Just as in the original book, she goes to visit her friend Lucy and her mother in Whitby, but what we don’t see are her secret meetings with a mysterious and attractive man, because she doesn’t mention them. And when she discovers that his true identity is Dracula, the story changes, to accommodate Mina’s new truth.The original Dracula is one of my favorite books, and as a result I seem to have a lot of trouble with any book that modifies the story in any way. And so it happened here, for a variety of reasons. Some things made sense told James’s way – like how the four men actually killed Lucy because of the danger of blood transfusions – but some don’t.First of all, I felt like there was too much explaining on Dracula’s part. Every single move in the original novel is carefully explained and turned around by Dracula himself when Mina starts to ask questions. It happens every time the men discover something and, though I know it’s a novel, I honestly had just had enough of his excuses. If I were Mina I’d have chucked him out immediately, simply because there comes a point when you get tired of hearing the same story. Plus, I found it crazy that she’d trust the word of a mysterious stranger over that of the husband she’d known and loved her entire life. Maybe passion makes people crazy, but I often wanted to smack her around. And even though she and Dracula have plenty of intelligent conversations, none of these are actually explicit in the text – we just learn about all the things they had in common. I didn’t feel the connection or the spark between them.Other than that, the book mainly follows the original’s plot, with some diversions explaining more of Mina’s backstory. These did give the book an interesting angle, going into more detail about how she and Jonathan met and the origins of her parents, but overall weren’t really enough to justify the whole basis of the book as a love story between Mina and Dracula. It didn’t help that I felt Mina was a surprisingly weak character. Her intelligence, for me, was belied by the fact that she never really questioned Dracula. She just went along with his explanations and continued to fall in love with him – she never considers that he might be manipulating her, as she knows he can do. She starts to wake up in some respects by the end of the book, but for the most part I just didn’t like her, which is a disappointment given how fond I am of the original.In all honesty, I do think my fondness for the original has stopped me enjoying more modern takes on it as much as I might had I never read it. As a result, I just didn’t really connect with this book.Plenty of others have felt differently about Dracula, My Love. If one of them is you, please let me know in the comments and I’ll feature your review here.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed having Mina's character given focus - it brought a new dimension to Dracula.What was hard for me to get thru was what I perceived as Mina being a rather intelligent and sensical woman who continued with an illicit connection (Dracula) while being engaged and then married to another. With the strict morals of this Victorian society I felt she reacted more as a modern woman might at times.Putting this aside though, I did find the novel rather engaging.
    • 4/5
      I am a huge fan of the original Dracula, and always wished we got more of Mina's side of the story. Mina was attacked in the book, but she had a lot more strength in her convictions than Lucy did. This book tackles how Mina responded to being compelled by Dracula, and whether or not she fought back.Syrie James fills in the gaps we have of Mina's side in the original tale. We see Lucy and Mina meeting a dashing Mr. Wagner, and how the fear builds as the murders begin.Mina is a woman, engaged to be married, who is charmed and courted despite how she believes a proper woman should behave. She eventually marries Jonathan, but her suitor still pursues her.When Mina learns the truth behind Mr. Wagner and Dracula, she sees the manipulation, and begins to resist. Dracula, My Love is a story of romance, mystery, and conflict. Mina Harker emerges from this novel a rounder character, revealing that a proper Victorian lady may not speak her mind as often, but she is just as quick witted as the men of her generation.I recommend this book to fans of Dracula, Jane Austen, and anyone ready for a vampire story without a teenage cast.
    • 4/5
      ‘Dracula, My Love’ retells Bram Stoker’s novel from the point of view of Mina Harker, who in the original was a victim of Dracula and didn’t play a large part in the action. In this, we learn not just Mina’s story, but that of Dracula as well- or at least his story as he wishes Mina to know it. Because he has fallen in love with Mina and will do and say anything to win her. It’s been years since I read ‘Dracula’ (in 1969, IIRC) so I’ve forgotten large parts of it, but I do think James has followed his plot pretty faithfully. Everything she has written slots into it fairly seamlessly. The only thing that I felt was changed too much was that Van Helsing comes off as a bit of a buffoon, which I don’t remember him being. Dracula comes to England and meets Mina while her fiancé, Jonathan Harker, is still in a hospital in Europe, recovering from all that he’s endured in Dracula’s castle. He doesn’t reveal himself as Dracula, but rather as a Mr. Wagner from Austria. He’s gorgeous, well read, polite, dances divinely and he wakes in Mina feelings that she doesn’t have about her fiancé. He stalks her relentlessly- but she doesn’t see it that way, of course. In time, he is revealed as Dracula, the vampire that Van Helsing is hunting, who terrorized Jonathan, who is assumed to have killed Lucy Westenra, Mina’s best friend. But Dracula explains all this away; he is innocent of harming anyone. Mina falls in love and in lust with him. Even though she is very aware of the morals of the Victorian society she lives in, Mina continues to see- and allow more and more intimacies with- Dracula, despite being affianced and then married to Jonathan. She manages to justify it- or is she able to do this because Dracula has her under a spell? Despite knowing that he can bespell humans and make them do as he wishes, this possibility never seems to occur to her, not even at the very end. She is very smart and educated but she comes off, sadly, as easily manipulated and unwilling to examine what she is doing. It was a disappointment to have a narrator it was hard to engage with for 450 pages. Still, it’s vampires. It’s Dracula! It’s rather fun.
    • 5/5
      This book is incredible. It took me about three weeks to read but that was because I was really sick and that was torture. All I wanted to do was pick this book up and read it but I couldn't because of all the headaches.Dracula, My Love was the perfect book for me because I loved Dracula but at the same time I had some problems with it. Dracula could have had so much more and left you with so many questions. Syrie James took Dracula and actually improved it. You get so much more in this book. It has everything, a great plot, amazing characters, adventure and romance.This is one everyone needs to read.
    • 4/5
      This is the story of Mina Harker, a smart, capable and married 19th century woman who falls in love with Dracula. Told from her perspective, Mina explains how she came to love two men and the effects the experience has on her understanding of herself and the world.My favorite aspect of this novel was learning Dracula's background and how he became a vampire. The world building crafted around the historical events provided an interesting and believable explanation for his existence. I liked how James portrayed Dracula as a sympathetic character without downplaying the crueler aspects of his vampirism. This is the most important piece of the story because it allows for the understanding of Mina's intense feelings for Dracula despite being very much in love with her husband. James does a good job of taking a well-known story and infusing it with enough new information to keep it interesting. The story moves at a good clip and never gets bogged down in the details. I also thought the resolution was well done. It leaves you satisfied with a feeling of possibility for Mina's future. Recommend.
    • 4/5
      For those familiar with the original work by Bram Stoker, this is a very different approach which keeps the reader wondering what new insight Syrie James sheds on one of the most notorious monsters of literature. Mina Harker kept another journal. And here she reveals her romantic realtionship with Dracula. Yeah, one could call this a romantic, chick novella. But nonetheless I found it a clever and intriging take on a very old and familiar plot. With a surprising ending, this book kept me on the edge of my seat awaiting new revelations about our old friend and fiend, the Count.
    • 3/5
      An interesting take on the Dracula legend and original story. Told from Mina's point of view, we learn that there are two sides to every story, even stories this old. I found this to be really interesting and engrossing. However, if you are familiar with Bram Stoker's work, there will be a lot of repetition. I liked the softer, kinder Dracula, but for some reason, found Mina irritating. Not constantly, but often enough to be distracting. She fits the time period (if she is not more than a little ahead of her time) but for some reason, I wanted to slap her. Otherwise, truly enjoyable. A fresh take on an old tale.
    • 4/5
      The Good Stuff Finally, we get what I always thought of the central character of Dracula, Mina Harker's storyA good retelling of the Dracula story from a more feminine prospective Dracula is an actual character with thoughts and emotions, not the stereotypical monster he is portrayed as in the Bram Stoker Novel (Which I still love though!)Author does a brilliant job of keeping to the original era of the story while at the same time, making it easier for the modern reader to enjoy (Hope that makes sense, really had a hard time trying to express this). I know many readers are turned off by Dracula as it is written in the often overly flowery prose of the eraThe romance between Dracula and Mina rings very true and you find yourself hoping that she will choose him over the wimp JonathanLoved the backstory they created for Mina and for DraculaBeautifully written, really makes the story come aliveThink I am going to be checking out some of her other workdsThe Not so Good StuffI didn't like what the author did to the character of Van HelsingAt times the story didn't ring true or jive with the orignal DraculaNot much mention of one of my favorite characters Quincy MorrisFavorite Quotes/Passages"I was fortunate to attend a school with an excellent library""I had felt more excited, more alive, and more intellectually stimulated, than in any dialogue I had shared with Jonathan in years.""Just because we are engaged, it does not mean we are dead. We can still look and appreciate other men, can we not?" (Jen's Note: Damn Skippy I'm married and I look ALL THE TIME -- my hubby doesn't mind -- I'm just not allowed to touch -- sorry Ryan and Nathan)What I LearnedJonathan Harker was even more of a pussy than I already thought -- ok he gets better near the end of this book, but still - can you say MISOGYNISTIC WIMP!Who should/shouldn't readDracula purists probably would not enjoy (Meaning those who dislike when author's play around with classic novels)Pretty much anyone else will enjoyAlso those who like a lot of excitement and suspense probably wouldn't enjoy this eitherGood read for those who have no interest in reading the original but still want the story of Dracula4 Dewey's
    • 5/5
      I have a confession to make. I've never read Dracula. After reading this book, I intend to rectify that mistake. But, I am familiar with the story. Dracula, My Love is a wonderful retelling from Mina Harker's viewpoint. The book has a Gothic feel that I really enjoyed. Mina is a strong character, but has her faults. Those faults and her misreading of Dracula's intent is what drives the story. Quite enjoyable even if you haven't read Dracula, I can only imagine it would be even better if you had read it.
    • 4/5
      I really liked this! I will let you in on my little secret, I read a lot of vampire novels but I've never read Dracula. I've primarily been a fan of new school vampires. This might be my gateway book though. It balances old and new very well. I also really like the treatment of the love triangle - Mina's feelings are complex and grown-up, rather than the simplistic "but I want TWO things" which normally encapsulates a love triangle.
    • 3/5
      This is a hard book for me to review. I absolutely loved Dracula. I was very young when I read Dracula (thankfully, my mom never looked at what I was reading) and I was a teenager when I read it for the 2nd time. When I read Dracula, My Love, I felt like it was simply a retelling of Dracula. It didn't seem that original and overall I wasn't impressed. The author is an impressive writer and I felt she would be better served not taking on a classic tale. I gave the book 3 stars because I felt I was probably a bit biased and if I hadn't read the original Dracula, I may have enjoyed this book a bit more.
    • 4/5
      I picked this book because I love Dracula. It's true. Before there was Eric Northman and Edward Cullen there was Dracula. I read Dracula many years ago after watching the movie. I loved the book but it didn't have the romantic element that the movie had. I always wished that Dracula would have had a little more romance. Syrie James granted my wish with Dracula, My Love. The story is told from Mina's point of view but she stays true to the original story line. One of the things I liked most about the story is Mina's inner struggle with her feelings towards Dracula and her husband, Jonathan. Mina knows she should stay away from Dracula but can't seem to help herself. Her feelings are very relateable and believeable. The chemistry that Syrie writes between Dracula and Mina is very sensual. Syrie James writes an intriguing story. It was definitly a page turner. There is a mysterious element to this story that keeps you wanting more. I found myself picking up this book when ever I had a spare moment. Would I recommend this book? Definitly. I know all the romantics out there, like me, will love it.
    • 4/5
      really enjoyed this book. puts a love story twist on the old story of dracula. loved the time period and the dark love story.
    • 4/5
      Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker is a retelling of Bram Stoker's classic Dracula from Mina Harker's point of view. The major events of the novel remain unchanged; however, their interpretation is totally different.The story begins with Mina summering in the English costal town of Whitby with her dearest friend, Lucy. Her fiance, Jonathan, is away on business in Transylvania, and Mina is disturbed because she hasn't heard from him. There is a great deal here about Mina and Lucy's friendship that is not in the original novel, but, frankly, the Whitby section seemed to run a bit long at times. The action picks up when Mina meets the mysterious Mr. Wagner (who is blatently obviously Dracula) and falls in love with him, and Lucy begins to sicken from blood loss. In short order, Mina is called away to nurse a delirious Jonathan, who is raving of being held captive by demons, in Eastern Europe. Mina and Jonathan are married, Lucy dies and rises as a vampire, and the vampire-hunting team has formed. As a previous reviewer has already commented, the men of this vampire-hunting team are kind of thin sketches; they're not well-filled-out as characters. If a feminist complaint about the original Dracula was that Mina's character was not well-developed, then we can make the same complaint about the majority of the men (and I would include Jonathan) in this novel. I wish James had achieved a balance. It's disappointing in particular to see fan favorite Van Helsing so frequently belittled.There is a great deal of romantic tension in the novel, and it's not the sex-driven passion we see in so much vampire urban fantasy these days. It's much more intellectual, though the element of physicality is there. In this way, James draws Mina as a woman with both a mind and a body to be satisfied, and she makes her a stronger character in doing that. Because she draws Mina this way (without giving away any spoilers), I have to say that the "Epilogue" was pretty disappointing as an end to the story; I think she ends up burying these elements of Mina's character in favor of a more traditional picture of womanhood.You can read this novel without reading or rereading Stoker's novel, if that's a concern you have in approaching it. You'll probably enjoy it more if you know the original story and if you know what James is rewriting, but James' story of a woman torn between two lovers stands on its own as a narrative of passion and suspense.
    • 4/5
      Dracula, My Love is a retelling of the Dracula myth. It’s been a long time since I read the original, and my memory is a little hazy about whether or not this book stays true to its inspiration. But I really enjoyed this novel, covering Mina (Murray) Harker’s experiences from her time at Whitby (where she meets a man named Mr. Wagner, obvious to everyone but her that he’s Dracula), her love affair with Dracula (even though she’s married to Jonathan) up through the time when she must make a difficult decision regarding her personal happiness.I’ve read Syrie James’s other two books (one based on the life of Jane Austen and her inspiration for Sense and Sensibility, the other about Charlotte Bronte), and this one is just as enjoyable. The author’s prose flows very smoothly and the plot moves along quickly. James’s Mina Harker is a believable character, strong in the face of he difficulties she experiences. She’s a bit too modern at some points in the story, but I found that that didn’t interfere too much with my enjoyment of the story.Normally, I don’t read much Dracula and vampire-inspired fiction—and those that I do read, I find disappointing (take Deanna Raybourn’s The Dead Travel Fast as an example—I love her writing normally, but I thought the plot of that book was rather ridiculous). But with Dracula My Love, the author doesn’t go overboard with the vampire stuff. In fact, I though Dracula was quite a sympathetic character. At the same time though, you can’t totally trust him. Is he telling the truth? Or is he just feeding Mina what she wants to hear? I remember Stoker’s Dracula as being pure evil, so it was interesting to see a new side to him.Although Mina and Dracula’s characters were well-drawn, however, I thought the other men faded into the background at times—Mr. Morris and Lord Godalming say about five sentences between then, and Van Helsing comes across as being a bit of an idiot. James uses British spelling in order to make Mina’s voice more authentic, but her use of British spelling is often inconsistent. She also uses footnotes to explain some terms and foreign phrases, but thankfully these occur infrequently. Nonetheless, I thought that was an likable retelling of the Dracula myth, definitely worth reading if you’ve enjoyed Syrie James’s other two novels.