Published By: Faber
Pages: 320
Released On: 25/09/2025
Reading Age: 9-11
Strange happenings are afoot in Temstown. Everyone is saying vampires are to blame and the townsfolk have their stakes at the ready.
But Mina, Buffy and Bella, three unusual cousins, are about to discover a family secret – and an ancient book – that could change everything. Could their connection to Dracula give them the powers to heal – not cull – vampires?
Temstown is about to welcome its very first vampire healing company, Dracula & Daughters, and their first case is certainly close to the heart!
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Faber for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I’m relatively new to Emma’s books, with The Houdini Inheritance, but I enjoyed it so much that I’m thrilled to read this new one.
It’s a vampire book unlike the other vampire books I’ve read. It still has everything we want from vampiric lore, but she’s put her own spin on it.
I do enjoy reading children’s books, but there is always a risk that with children as main characters, I won’t relate to them or feel a part of their journey. But I liked Mira from the off. No I can’t relate to her, but that’s not important really in this book, I still loved her. There’s lots of other characters, children and adults, goodies and baddies, and they were all fab.
It’s full of mystery and intrigue and scares. It’s so layered and exciting.
I managed to read it very quickly, as I do with children’s books but even if it wasn’t a kids book I think I would still have read it quickly. It’s fast paced and exciting and I struggled to put it down because I was so into it.
I don’t know if there will be illustrations in the final copy, but I do hope so, as they’ll really bring this imagery Emma has created to life.
Yes it’s a vampire book, a fantasy, a thrilling adventure. But for me, this was more about friendship and family and community and togetherness. It’s deeper than other vampire books I’ve read before, not that there’s anything wrong with those books, they all have their place, but books I’ve read before tend to just focus on the scare factor, whereas this definitely has more heart, and it just so happens to involve vampires.
I don’t know if this is a one off or not but it definitely has the potential to be the start of a series, or at least a duology/trilogy.
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