It is the War of the Roses in England and Lucinda Delacourt returns home from her tutorage in France. On arrival she finds her father, the vicious Thomas Delacourt has betrothed her to to the abominable Lord Appleby. When Lord Appleby attempts to advance his claim on Lucinda during a late night stroll, she flees to the nearby burned ruin of Ravenglass. Ravenglass were originally a close tied family to her own, but had been considered traitors in the war to their detriment. But there she finds Nicholas Lord who, after a brief moment of mistaken identity for a childhood friend, aids her in both killing Lord Appleby and escaping from her father. She also discovers, to her astonishment, that he is a vampire. Heading for London, they find themselves falling in love, and Nicholas seeks to petition the Elders as no female vampires are allowed to be created. But the elders have a task of their own for the pair, to rescue the Princes in the Tower, before an enchanter and his horde of revenants kills them.

I was expecting a fairly dry kind of romance with history and vampires thrown in for sparkles. What I actually got was a highly amusing transplant of some modern day thoughts and story that rolled with whatever was thrown at it. The plot is nonsensical, vampires and zombies in historical London, but as the story builds up each part, so it doesn’t feel like it has just come from nowhere and our protagonists dry humour to each absurd situation, had me consistently grinning and waiting to see what came next. The characters, Lucinda aside, are a little dry and simplistic, but our two heroes more than make up for it. Lucinda certainly has a great turn of unexpected phrase and I was always amused in watching the story unfold through her eyes. Her demeanour changes quite often depending on the situation, but always with a positive thought towards the situation. The writing is both weighty and historical, as well as that little extra modernity that has been added allowing the reader to easily grasp what is happening and understand the situation.

The formatting of the book was fine, although “Mistress.” did keep appearing. Editing and spelling were fine and the chapters split the story up nicely. Overall, I enjoyed this book far more than I was expecting to. From start to finish, I kept waiting to see how far the plot would go and Lucinda’s ongoing wonderment at the situation.

If you are looking for an authentic historical story set in the wars of the roses, this one is not for you, but if you want a story you sit back and relax in the fun and frolics it goes through, then look no further. This is a prequel to a longer running series, and I’m honestly tempted to go looking for a copy.