Once there was a man who fell deeply in love with a woman he could never have. When their affair was uncovered she was brutally murdered in front of him, and he discovered he was cursed, doomed to live forever as a vampire.
Over the centuries, he found his love again, and lost her again, until he was so broken he gave up on love entirely, sinking into the depths of depravity, losing his humanity.
Then one day, she came back into his life. A student of music studying under him at the conservatory in Venice, Italy where he was a professor. But even though he found her beautiful and intriguing, he didn’t recognize his fated mate at all.
Because this time she had to hide her true self.
This time she came back as a witch, whose destiny wasn’t to love him…but to kill him.
Blood Orange is a modern-day Dracula retelling about the “real-life” Dracula that inspired Bram Stoker. This is a dark vampire romance with plenty of content warnings (check interior of book for CW) and while it is a spinoff of The Dark Eyes Duet, it can be read as a standalone. It was previously referred to as “King of Darkness”.
About the Author
Karina Halle is a screenwriter, a former music & travel journalist, and the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of The Pact, A Nordic King, and Sins & Needles, as well as sixty other wild and romantic reads.
She, her musician husband, and their adopted pit bull, Bruce, live in a rainforest on an island off the coast of British Columbia during the summer, and in Los Angeles in the winter. For more information, visit www.authorkarinahalle.com/books.
Halle is represented by Root Literary and is both self-published, and published by Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Penguin, and Montlake. Her books have been published in numerous languages around the world.
Karina isn’t on Goodreads and does NOT check her messages here – please contact her via Instagram (@authorhalle) instead 🙂
Review
Karina Halle’s words vibrated off each page as I devoured this book. This is my first read from Karina and I was so eager to read this one, not only for the blurb, but I’ve heard so many good things about her work. This is not your typical vampire story, but it’s also not your typical Dracula story.
Readers are introduced to Dahlia and Val, interconnected souls destined to be together over spans of time. We are first introduced to other heartbreak as Val’s first love is literally killed before his very eyes, raging the vampire blood, heating his insides as he transforms into a blood-thirsty killer. Val continues life through the shadows but soon learns to embrace his humanity, taking up the mantle of a music professor at the local university in Venice, Italy. In comes Dahlia, a witch assigned to hunt and kill Val. But once they meet, the sparks fly as heated passion blazes between them. The spice between these two is off the charts. I will never look at a cello bow the same way again!
I was so hooked to this story and once it ended I was so mad, not realizing a cliffhanger ending was in sight. Talk about torture!! I am eagerly waiting for the next part, Black Rose. December cannot come soon enough!
