Blood Countess was a great fiction imagination of Elizabeth Bathory. I had previously been fascinated by the history of "Lady Dracula" and was so excited that there was going to be a fiction book based on her! It didn't disappoint! It was grueling and gruesome and grotesquely wonderful! I wasn't a huge fan of the main character, just because I don't have much sympathy for characters who stand by and watch bad things happen when they know they can do something, but it was a bit more understandable considering the circumstances. I would have liked to see more world building as well. Overall this was a good book and I think horror fans are going to love this one!

17the Century Hungary- Anna Darvulia is the eldest daughter of the towns midwife. Along with her three younger siblings they struggle to put food on the table while Anna's violent and cruel father drinks away what money they have. When Anna is summonsed to help the new Countess, Elizabeth Bathory, a bond between the women is formed. Anna is asked to work for the countess as her chambermaid, a job that would provide money to keep her family fed, but stories of Elizabeth's cruelty have spread across the village. Anna quickly falls under Elizabeth's spell and is drawn into her life as her confident and lover...but she soon realizes that Elizabeth has a dark side...and if she isn't careful she could be the next victim.

All the stars!!! Blood Countess is an exciting new fictional tale portraying Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian noblewoman who was a serial killer obsessed with the idea that blood could restore youth. This novel was very well written, you quickly become immersed in the characters tales. Elizabeth is charming and beautiful, but hushed discussions about her cruelty combined with the disappearance of the female staff members have Anna questioning Elizabeth's motives for hiring her. Anna is torn between her love for Elizabeth and her revulsion of the brutality she begins to display. Anna will have to save Elizabeth or end her reign of terror before she becomes the next victim. I absolutely loved this book and it was perfect for my fall reads list. This will definitely be a novel I will add to my library when it releases so I can read it again and again.

Blood Countess by Lana Popovic was immensely fun to read.

Bloody, macabre, mysterious, and somehow dark, dramatic, and funny at the same time, this was a wild ride. I really enjoyed the way Popovic chose to characterize both Elizabeth and Anna. These women were fierce and uncompromising, manipulative and sexy, and infinitely driven to their purposes. I enjoyed them both so much, and I loved how the story didn't hold back. I would've loved a little bigger impact at the end, but honestly I can hardly complain. I had a lot of fun reading this.

I'll be waiting to see what else this author writes in the future. Thanks, Netgalley!

I received an ARC in exchange for a honest review (Netgalley)

I always thought Elisabeth Bathory was such an interesting character so when I read the synopsis of this book I was sold! And I was not disappointed.
I usually struggle with books that are based on true events, re-imagined, but this one was done perfectly in my opinion, the ending was soooo satisfying.

The writing was excellent and portrayed perfectly a good main character development.

I guess my only disappointment is that the book was not any longer. Considering how long Bathory lived in actuality, maybe this could have been two books? But that's not a complain the book is amazing and I guess I would've loved more.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was honestly really excited to dive into Blood Countess. It was interesting in the beginning, but then I slowly started to lose my interest in it. In this book, you will meet Anna Darvulia. She lives in Hungary as a healer of sorts. On her way home one day, after saving a little kitten from being tortured, she runs into the new Countess - Elizabeth. From this one moment, her life was forever changed.

Okay so I had high hopes on this book. I know, I know, I shouldn't do that to myself before diving into anything but I did. I was really psyched to read about the Countess Dracula. However, what I got was boredom. Not a lot happened in this book until the end. Yeah, people feared Elizabeth and at one point Anna is under her spell because she feels "loved". Yet, not a lot happened.

So (view spoiler) and that's about it. Even the ending was a smidge predictable because you just kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the end, I really wanted to enjoy this from start to finish BUT I just wanted this whole thing to end. The last chapter was okay but not a complete shock either.

Dark, sumptuous prose and thankfully undiluted bloody mayhem make this an excellent bit of YA horror, and Popovic's sophisticated handle on both pulp horror conventions AND the slow psychological descent into erotic obsession (not to mention the deflection and excuses made for an abusive partner) made this a far more interesting and elegant entry in queer gothic fiction than it might otherwise have been (lesbian Bathory erotica has been done before and done badly, so this was refreshing).

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC.

As soon as I saw this cover and read the synopsis I knew I had to have this book, and it gave me everything I wanted in an Elizabeth Bathory novel. Unlikable manipulative women, torture, murder, no romance, unhappy endings, and of course blood.
The ending did fall a bit flat for me, though I can't really put a finger on why other than I wanted more fight out of Elizabeth in the end. I loved the epilogue though.
I was enthralled by this gothic horror YA.

This book is perfect for Halloween time! Its very dark and delicious. I read through this book so fast and was craving for more. We will be buying this for our library and recommending it to everyone!

This was such a unique and beautifully written book. I loved the descriptions! I just didn’t connect to the characters as much as I would have liked.

Great read - loved the story and the writing. Fantastic characters. Just loved it! The progression of Elisabeth's character is fascinating to follow as is Anna's realisation as the book goes on, as to what she's let herself in for. I honestly couldn't see how it would end.

A dark and blood-drenched tale of the difference between love and obsession, and the darkness hidden under the surface of beauty.

Lana’s magical writing was the strength of this story featuring a naïve girl becoming swept up into the devious machinations of Elizabeth Bathory. The first half was better than the second, which detailed Anna adjusting to life at the castle and getting to know the Countess while slowly transforming into her pet. At first, she excused the erratic behavior Elizabeth exhibited, but with each escalating problem, Anna began to realize the Countess’s true colors were shaded with black and red and hued with violence and death. The second half slowed until the end which was a letdown due to the buildup of this abdominal and heartless character. There wasn’t much of an impact with the resolution which was another weakness. Though this story is based on the history of Elizabeth Bathory, I wish it stuck more to the facts before deviating off into the finale.

Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the writing was good, it had a nice flow to it. The story kept me interested and I definitely wanted to see how the book would end. I thought that the author wrote a really interesting retelling of Elizabeth Báthory. I would recommend!

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for letting me read, Blood Countess, in exchange for an honest review.

The mind is complex. It can play tricks on you, making you question what is real and what isn’t, and Anna finds herself a prisoner in more ways than one. The mind is a powerful weapon, and Countess wields hers like a sword, drawing Anna in like a fly into a Venus fly trap. Lana Popovic has crafted a masterful tale of horror. It’s a slow quiet descent into madness, and I was consumed entirely watching Anna stray further down the path to hell.

This was much better than I thought it was going to be, even though its young adult it doesn't water down the horror of the story too much. I've been interested in the history of Elizabeth Báthory for a long time, no one knows for sure how true the tale of her crimes are. There are people who think she was a real life vampire and drank blood to stay young. There are people (like me) who think that there is truth in the tales but they might have been exaggerated by her enemies to able to help themselves to her wealth and lands. And there are also people who think that it was all a conspiracy by her relatives again for her wealth and lands and she was innocent. There are so many ways that you could tell this story and I felt that the way this story was told was done very well. I liked that as the main character Anna gets to know and love her, you start to doubt all the tales and you see her as Anna does. The romance between them is so interesting to read, you know that it's not going to end well but it sucks you in. The ways that they both manipulate each other for their own ends is fascinating but there are also times especially near the being of the relationship that they show real affection towards the other. I found some of the dialogue wasn't particularly true to the historical time period but it didn't hinder my enjoyment or immersion in the story. I would love to read an adult version of the same tale though since I think that it would have had a much larger impact on the reader. I think that the ending was quite rushed and pretty unrealistic but overall I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone that has an interest in the tale of Elizabeth Báthory.

Thank you so much to Netgalley for this ARC! It was such a quick and exciting read, and I feel like I have gained a better understanding of the Blood Countess herself from reading it! It is a spectacular account of Lady Bathory's descent into darkness, and there are a lot of names, places, and even tortures that are worked in from her actual history! I loved that we saw the story through a chambermaid's eye, as it is someone who would have been close enough to Elizabeth to be privy to all of her inner workings. The author used this closeness to her advantage, and made her someone the countess couldn't live without to justify why she was never slain in kind. Lana pieced this story together so beautifully!

When we meet Anna, she is a peasant. She lives with her violent father, her midwife mother, and her siblings. She is smart, kind, and talented, but she harbors a tortured heart. When she meets Elizabeth, she sees herself in her, and she is taken with her from the start. She thinks their chance meeting is the last time she will see her, but her haunted face never leaves her mind. So when the countess entreats her to come help her in her time of need, she does not hesitate; now leaving her mark on Lady Bathory as well. She is soon after sent for to be her chambermaid, and although things hold her back from doing so, a macabre series of events launches her forward and brings her to Elizabeth's castle. At first, she is given a job in the scullery, trying to help keep her family afloat as she tries to win back Elizabeth's favor. While there, the other girls regale her with stories of Elizabeth's cruelty, but she can hardly believe her ears. Surely the kind countess she had met was under some sort of duress that made her act this way.

She worms her way closer to Elizabeth as a way to gain more coin to send to her ailing family, and as she does, she realizes the problem must be her husband, Ferenc. Anna and Elizabeth grow even closer, shedding their professional relationship and becoming something more akin to lovers. Anna begins to see flashes of Lady Bathory's evil herself, and takes it upon herself to try and calm the storm raging inside of her. When not even losing her husband helps, Anna slowly realizes that maybe Elizabeth was the terror all along, and she steadily declines into madness, using Anna's affinity with herbs and healing for much darker purposes until the former chambermaid has had enough. She bites back, much harder than the countess ever expected, and Elizabeth's story ends much like it does in real life; locked away in a tower until her death.

I love how this is, at its heart, the story of a girl who will fight for what she loves, and what she loves changes greatly in this book except for one thing; her family. She prizes her mother and her sister above all else, and it ends up being a weakness for her, as does her eventual love for the countess herself. It blinds her, as love is wont to do, to a lot of the bad parts of Elizabeth until it is nearly too late. At that point, she learns that the person she should love is herself: the stone-hearted witch that Elizabeth always thought her to be. She is such a strong and intelligent main character, and it was so cool to me how her tie to nature was something to be feared, as it more than likely would have been in this era. However, since she was the 'pet' of the countess, no one could touch her, but you could see everyone turn against her, even more so for continuing to stay at Lady Bathory's side. When it was all said and done, this was an extremely thrilling and interesting read, full of lore and gore for those with dark hearts but also a glimmer of sunlight that is love; familial and otherwise. I immensely enjoyed it!

I've named this book as my Halloween read this year. Link below and due to be published 26th Oct.

I must admit I was a little disappointed when I read it. In many places it was overwritten (drowning in adjectives when one was enough) and contradictory.

It has such a great premise, I really wanted to enjoy it :(

I hate to give bad reviews, as it's just my opinion and I know how hard authors work, so I'll leave it at the promo link for you.

Thank you for the book.

Blood Countess was a thrilling, original twist on the story of Elizabeth Bathory, widely regarded as the first female serial killer.

We get to see the Countess through the eyes of a commoner and our main character, Anna. Anna is drawn to the countess from their first meeting on the Countess' wedding day when a rescued kitten nearly gets run over by their wedding carriage. From there we see the events unfold across nearly a lifetime, with Anna tending to the health of someone who shouldn't exist to becoming closer to the Countess than she ever thought possible. There's a feminist current underlying the novel with questions about what really are acts of female empowerment and liberation and what are just crimes and misdeeds done using feminism as a ruse.

We get to see a powerful woman in a time when women weren't supposed to be powerful and all the consequences that come with it. Family is a strong theme in the novel, with many of the characters' actions being motivated by how far they would go to protect and take care of their families.

The characterization in this novel is the best part, with our leading ladies having distinct personalities and secrets even the reader couldn't have guessed. This novel has twists and turns you wouldn't expect and the end truly left me shocked. If you love horror, thrillers, or a new look at history, this book is perfect for you.

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Amulet Books through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.*

From the synopsis to the characters, my expectations for this read was very high. Were they met? Sorta kinda but not really. There were certainly a few elements that could've been improved to make this a worthwhile read such as the ending. The epilogue to some extent was fine (despite me hoping something between Anna and her childhood friend Peter would lead somewhere) but leading up to it, the finale was lackluster and the anticipation of what could happen next quickly diminish. Sadly enough the built-up was a lot better than the reward itself. Besides those disappointing aspects to the novel, I did very much enjoy reading the story in Anna POV and what her feelings and thoughts towards one of the most prolific female serial killers of all time were. Sure she was oblivious at times (let’s be real more often than not) and too lovestruck to pay mind to the warning signs of this infamous murderous treacherous ways (one of her many flaws I must say), nevertheless the author was able to showcase impressive writing style and created interesting story content that left me wanting more. Overall the "Blood Countess" is a decent retelling worth checking out.

A solid 4/4.5.
I burned through the story so quickly. Pacing was great! Kept me involved the whole way through. My only qualms for it losing half a star are as follows: I wanted more instances of showing how ruthless and cunning Elizabeth could be. And I wanted Anna to be a stronger protagonist. She lacked conviction and overall strength. I was mad at her for a majority of the story. Dislike weak women, in real life and in my stories. And she seemed way to complacent, even when she was helping people secretly. Other than that, the story flowed well, was interesting, and kept me wondering how Anna was ever going to survive.