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Dreams for the Dead #2
Dead Heart
“I’ve been waiting so long for this.”
When his father turns him into a vampire, Branek eagerly embraces a life of blood and shadows. From kidnapping the object of his obsession to recognizing the arousing beauty of a fresh corpse, he delights in depravity.
But there's one thing more important to Branek than a life of glorious sin: his family. Though he lives without morals, he won't tolerate threats to his brothers and sister. He'll do anything to protect them... especially if it means leaving a trail of bodies along the way.
DEAD HEART follows Branek's life from the night he becomes a vampire until the moment he first meets Dawn in DREAMS FOR THE DEAD.
When his father turns him into a vampire, Branek eagerly embraces a life of blood and shadows. From kidnapping the object of his obsession to recognizing the arousing beauty of a fresh corpse, he delights in depravity.
But there's one thing more important to Branek than a life of glorious sin: his family. Though he lives without morals, he won't tolerate threats to his brothers and sister. He'll do anything to protect them... especially if it means leaving a trail of bodies along the way.
DEAD HEART follows Branek's life from the night he becomes a vampire until the moment he first meets Dawn in DREAMS FOR THE DEAD.
- GenresVampires
154 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 13, 2018
67 people want to read
About the author
Heather Crews
20 books570 followersArt, dreams, spray paint. Love, death, villains. Awkward but nice. Can't keep plants alive.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Heather-Crews/...
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Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Heather-Crews/...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lemonadegoth/
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 22, 2018
My immediate reaction after reading this book was: holy shitballs.
Which is hilarious because I just went and read my review of the first book in this series and I started the review off in exactly the same way. I think that means you did your job well, Heather!
This was absolutely glorious. I read the entire thing with my eyes practically bugging out of my head. It's dark. It's dirty. It's offputting but also sexy at the same time. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I found Branek quite erotic,even especially when he was doing..... unspeakable things. This book was sexual and sensual when in parts it had absolutely no right to be. And I ship it.
I LOVED that Branek was bisexual. He actually reminded me a bit of my beloved Val, except a thousand times scarier and more deadly. His inability to hold himself back from doing anything he wanted was hot, even when it was terrifying.
I'm very keen to read more from this world. I want to know about how long Jared was stalking Leila for. Or I'm down to just read some more scenes where Branek shared toys with Tristan. Or look, if we're going to go dark, why not give me some dirty shit about Branek and Gus? Or Tristan and Gus. Basically I just want anything else from this world, but bonus points if it's porn. >:D
Filled with blood, gore, and a full blown psychopath as a leading man, this is an ominous, doomed romance that was exactly what I didn't know I needed.
5 Stars!
I am friends with Heather here on Goodreads, but this has not influenced my rating in any way because she hasn't sent me any mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.
Which is hilarious because I just went and read my review of the first book in this series and I started the review off in exactly the same way. I think that means you did your job well, Heather!
This was absolutely glorious. I read the entire thing with my eyes practically bugging out of my head. It's dark. It's dirty. It's offputting but also sexy at the same time. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I found Branek quite erotic,
I LOVED that Branek was bisexual. He actually reminded me a bit of my beloved Val, except a thousand times scarier and more deadly. His inability to hold himself back from doing anything he wanted was hot, even when it was terrifying.
I'm very keen to read more from this world. I want to know about how long Jared was stalking Leila for. Or I'm down to just read some more scenes where Branek shared toys with Tristan. Or look, if we're going to go dark, why not give me some dirty shit about Branek and Gus? Or Tristan and Gus. Basically I just want anything else from this world, but bonus points if it's porn. >:D
Filled with blood, gore, and a full blown psychopath as a leading man, this is an ominous, doomed romance that was exactly what I didn't know I needed.
5 Stars!
I am friends with Heather here on Goodreads, but this has not influenced my rating in any way because she hasn't sent me any mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.
i-wrote
May 16, 2018DEAD HEART is live!!!
https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Heart-Dre...
(PSSST. In celebration, I'm making Dreams for the Dead free from 5/16 to 5/18. Yay! https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Dead-He...)
I always told myself I would never write a series. I just didn't want to bother with that. ONLY STANDALONES, I promised myself. My books would always be complete stories.
But then. THEN. My friend Nenia went and liked one of my villains so much that she asked me to write a book about him. She asked again and again, until finally it started to seem like something I could do. And that is how I found myself imagining Branek's twisted backstory.
This is a rather self-indulgent book filled with sex, murder, and the occasional existentialism that I require of vampire stories. It's a prequel to Dreams for the Dead, although I think it's probably better read as a sequel. It begins when Branek becomes a vampire, and ends at the point where he shows up in DftD. He's a psychotic murderer whose first priority is always his family, even though he constantly clashes with them. His favorite things are violence and death.
I wasn't sure I would be able to do Branek's character justice, but I ended up being really happy with this! He was fun to write, and I also enjoyed fleshing out the unruly teenage versions of Tristan, Augusta, and Jared. The bookwill be live in just a few days is available on Amazon now!
https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Heart-Dre...
(PSSST. In celebration, I'm making Dreams for the Dead free from 5/16 to 5/18. Yay! https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Dead-He...)
[...] they existed worlds apart from him. Innocent and enthusiastic, they’d never killed anyone. They’d never tasted blood that didn’t leak from an accidental paper cut. They’d never felt the insatiable monsters of hunger and lust that always lurked within, ready to rip free at any moment. Oh, god, he could have licked each one of them from head to toe, tainting their purity with each swipe of his tongue before gorging on their blood. Innocence had never appealed to him but damn, the things he could do to corrupt it.
I always told myself I would never write a series. I just didn't want to bother with that. ONLY STANDALONES, I promised myself. My books would always be complete stories.
But then. THEN. My friend Nenia went and liked one of my villains so much that she asked me to write a book about him. She asked again and again, until finally it started to seem like something I could do. And that is how I found myself imagining Branek's twisted backstory.
This is a rather self-indulgent book filled with sex, murder, and the occasional existentialism that I require of vampire stories. It's a prequel to Dreams for the Dead, although I think it's probably better read as a sequel. It begins when Branek becomes a vampire, and ends at the point where he shows up in DftD. He's a psychotic murderer whose first priority is always his family, even though he constantly clashes with them. His favorite things are violence and death.
I wasn't sure I would be able to do Branek's character justice, but I ended up being really happy with this! He was fun to write, and I also enjoyed fleshing out the unruly teenage versions of Tristan, Augusta, and Jared. The book
April 27, 2021
This is a PREQUEL to Dreams for the Dead, which I liked. This is also a masterpiece among vampire books, up there with books I adore like A Dance In Blood Velvet, The Dark Blood of Poppies, Interview with the Vampire: Claudia's Story, and Through a Glass, Darkly.
Best read after Dreams of the Dead, not before.
Did I mention that I like my vampires ~dark~? I guess I did.
Well, Branek, the protagonist of this prequel novel(la) sure as hell delivered ~dark~ to my doorstep. I knew he would. I was fascinated by him when he was one of the antagonists of Dreams for the Dead, and I absolutely had to know more about him, especially since some of the things he said and did didn't quite add up to the shallow, hedonistic vampire he claimed to be.
And I was right, Branek is so much more!
Branek was 16 when he was adopted out of the orphanage together with 3 children a decade younger than him: his "siblings" Tristan, Jared and Augusta. Their new guardian and father, Loftus, is an aloof bloodsucker and former investment banker, who has ~plans~ for his four children that will one day be vampires.
Heather Crews opens Dead Heart with Branek at age 26, as he wakes up next to an unconscious girl, newly transformed into a vampire.
Branek takes to vampirism like a fish to water. The blood, the thirst, the carelessness, the indulgence in every lust and every depravity, they sing to him. Yet, there is more to Branek than simple wants that keep him occupied. There is a deep-seated loyalty and even responsibility that Branek feels for his siblings. This is shown again and again as Branek worries about their acting-out and tries, in his own imperfect way to help and guide them.
Branek is no saint; he does not want to herd his teenaged, human brothers and sister for the good of his soul. No, his love is of course tied to conditions. He does want his siblings to look up to him. To notice him and include him. Maybe even to feel a tiny bit grateful. But on balance, what he asks is very little, and through Branek's care of his siblings shines his true yearning for a family, for acceptance.
Cheerful depravity would be one description of how Branek leads his life. On the other hand, Crews actually manages to draw readers into the act of feeling deep sympathy and commiseration with a lost soul desperate to find a connection in life. Branek barely dares to hope for something more, and he constantly drowns himself in his excess of blood and fucking.
In a way, the novella serves as a cautionary tale of sacrificing too many of your own wishes and principles, and what it does to you.
I loved every second and thought it was absolutely phenomenal in writing and in terms of character development. Can't wait to read Book 3.
Best read after Dreams of the Dead, not before.
Did I mention that I like my vampires ~dark~? I guess I did.
Well, Branek, the protagonist of this prequel novel(la) sure as hell delivered ~dark~ to my doorstep. I knew he would. I was fascinated by him when he was one of the antagonists of Dreams for the Dead, and I absolutely had to know more about him, especially since some of the things he said and did didn't quite add up to the shallow, hedonistic vampire he claimed to be.
And I was right, Branek is so much more!
Branek was 16 when he was adopted out of the orphanage together with 3 children a decade younger than him: his "siblings" Tristan, Jared and Augusta. Their new guardian and father, Loftus, is an aloof bloodsucker and former investment banker, who has ~plans~ for his four children that will one day be vampires.
Heather Crews opens Dead Heart with Branek at age 26, as he wakes up next to an unconscious girl, newly transformed into a vampire.
Branek takes to vampirism like a fish to water. The blood, the thirst, the carelessness, the indulgence in every lust and every depravity, they sing to him. Yet, there is more to Branek than simple wants that keep him occupied. There is a deep-seated loyalty and even responsibility that Branek feels for his siblings. This is shown again and again as Branek worries about their acting-out and tries, in his own imperfect way to help and guide them.
Branek is no saint; he does not want to herd his teenaged, human brothers and sister for the good of his soul. No, his love is of course tied to conditions. He does want his siblings to look up to him. To notice him and include him. Maybe even to feel a tiny bit grateful. But on balance, what he asks is very little, and through Branek's care of his siblings shines his true yearning for a family, for acceptance.
Cheerful depravity would be one description of how Branek leads his life. On the other hand, Crews actually manages to draw readers into the act of feeling deep sympathy and commiseration with a lost soul desperate to find a connection in life. Branek barely dares to hope for something more, and he constantly drowns himself in his excess of blood and fucking.
In a way, the novella serves as a cautionary tale of sacrificing too many of your own wishes and principles, and what it does to you.
I loved every second and thought it was absolutely phenomenal in writing and in terms of character development. Can't wait to read Book 3.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews