Book Review: Snow White and the Vampire by Marina Myles

Snow White and the Vampire is the second book in The Cursed Princes series by Marina Myles. Like the first book in the series, Beauty and the Werewolf, the book is a historical romance. Alba Spencer thought her past in Romania and the dark magic that haunted it was behind her forever. She is one of the first female barristers now, safe in London. But London has its dark side, Jack the Ripper stalks the midnight streets and her hated stepmother has found her again. To make things even more difficult, the gypsy boy she loves at 14 has arrived in town and brings new dangers with him. That gypsy is Dimitri Grigorescu, who has become a surgeon, a gentleman, and a vampire. He fights his nature and wants to protect Alba, even from himself, but that is easier said than done.  Alba must rely only on her wits to discover what she wants, and to stay alive.

Snow White and the Vampire almost lost me a few times. In fact I put my Kindle down, ready to call it quits, only to pick it back up determined to finish. I liked Alba's character and the Snow White aspect of the story. She was smart, strong, and open minded without being gullible. The Jack the Ripper thing was good, and added some extra danger to the story since people kept going out at night unprotected. However,  I think the combination of three complex story lines was just too much. When I got to around 40% complete I was ready for the story to wrap up. I will say that I was surprised with who the Ripper turned out to be- but the rest rather fell flat for me. I just think there were several unnecessary bits, and while the important stuff was well done it lost its potency because of the sheer volume of extra information.

I would recommend Snow White and the Vampire to fans of Marina Myles, and for those that particularly loved Beauty and the Werewolf. If your reading list is as big as mine, and you do not fall in those categories then I would suggest skipping this book at least for now.