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Darknesses #1
Darknesses
It’s been a year since Oasis stumbled away from Blessed Falls with wings carved into her back and too many scars to count.
A year spent razing delusions of being an angel's vessel, proving to her brother that she doesn’t belong in a psych ward, and mourning the loss of her mother's vinyl pressed ashes.
A year spent struggling to feel human again.
Enter Laura, the mesmerizing stranger who claims to hear Oasis’ heartbeat, who reads her hand-written memoir like scripture, who makes her feel closer to found than lost.
Laura is the most recent face of the eternal Count Dracula, ruler of the shadows, chimera of the Devil, and embittered victim of libel.
The Van Helsing Institute have been waiting for a glimpse of the dragon’s underbelly, and eagerly approach Oasis for her help in a ploy to kill Dracula for good. But not every wound from Blessed Falls has cicatrized, and Oasis realizes she may be a danger to Laura—and to herself.
Yet no one is as dangerous as Laura—the first vampire, the Devil's plaything, and the person with whom Oasis finally feels human.
Oceans of time have passed since she last had a drink, and she will not let Oasis go easily.
A year spent razing delusions of being an angel's vessel, proving to her brother that she doesn’t belong in a psych ward, and mourning the loss of her mother's vinyl pressed ashes.
A year spent struggling to feel human again.
Enter Laura, the mesmerizing stranger who claims to hear Oasis’ heartbeat, who reads her hand-written memoir like scripture, who makes her feel closer to found than lost.
Laura is the most recent face of the eternal Count Dracula, ruler of the shadows, chimera of the Devil, and embittered victim of libel.
The Van Helsing Institute have been waiting for a glimpse of the dragon’s underbelly, and eagerly approach Oasis for her help in a ploy to kill Dracula for good. But not every wound from Blessed Falls has cicatrized, and Oasis realizes she may be a danger to Laura—and to herself.
Yet no one is as dangerous as Laura—the first vampire, the Devil's plaything, and the person with whom Oasis finally feels human.
Oceans of time have passed since she last had a drink, and she will not let Oasis go easily.
Hardcover
First published May 19, 2022
19 people are currently reading
963 people want to read
About the author
Lachelle Seville
1 book49 followersLachelle Seville is a nonbinary writer and hobby illustrator based in Detroit, Michigan. They write speculative fiction about messy midwesterners and bizarre encounters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
December 20, 2023
Maybe more of a review to come but this book desperately needed to be *at least* 150 pages shorter. Possibly a low three stars.
September 28, 2025
2025 reread: I had a chance to reread this book last month, and getting into it for a second time with some considerable distance from my first read really got me appreciating all that is going on in this novel. I love the characters---I love the plot; how it whips between serious and silly--I love all the lore and attention to detail the author has put in, all the nerdy little nods are just perfect. And still, there is so much depth and understanding for the murky side of our souls, the broken things we might not be able to fix but hope we can find a way to live with.
This is one of those, I wish I could go back and read it for the first time again, books. Enjoy!!! <3
---
This book is an all you can eat gay gothic vampire literary nerd-out buffet!! I loved it so much. This was long and luxurious, giving the fast pace and atmosphere of an omnibus comic, with painfully authentic characters, and passages of real lyrical beauty. It made me snort, it made me sad, it made me hungry, it made me miss people, it gave me w....look, EVERYTHING HAPPENED while reading this--!! Going to this became my comfort thing, the treat I could consume every day while apprehensively noting that my treat pile was getting smaller and smaller. Luckily, it seems the author has a continuation in the works. (!!)
Three of my favorite themes marry here:
beautiful stranger x vampire x REVENGE
So Oasis is a young woman who meets a beautiful stranger who she soon finds out is a vampire--and that's actually probably the more normal things she's going to find out about Laura. But Oasis has her own shit: she is struggling to put the pieces back together after getting away from a really fucky cult that left her with a scarred up body and an even more cut up soul. Hurt, riddled with anxieties, her relationship with her twin brother a mess and her mother gone, Oasis's art and the bookstore where she works at with her boss Kennedy are her escapes--that is, until fate throws her together with the vampire girl she may or may not have been meant to be with--a girl who is not only hundreds of years old, but is passionately upset about the shitty representation in the novel 'Dracula.'
The main characters! The side characters! The references! The descriptions! So many tender scenes between Oasis and Laura--Oasis and Vlad (who is, wait. no spoilers!!)--Helena who was her only friend in the cult CA--the sad, broken moments with her brother. But also so many moments of lightness and pure joy between people enjoying each others' company. There is action, xxx (well written, folks. and I do think I am a pretty harsh critic on that front); witty dialogue popping along in your head; soul-searching, soul-losing and soul-finding. This is one of those 'we're dating' while you're reading it books, so if you've been looking for something that paradoxically manages to cover so many heart-breaking issues and at times make you literally scared to turn the page while ALSO being deeply fun, funny and enjoyable---a book to really settle down and have a relationship with, well HERE IT IS!!!!!!!! (Also, someone needs to make this into a movie.)
This is one of those, I wish I could go back and read it for the first time again, books. Enjoy!!! <3
---
This book is an all you can eat gay gothic vampire literary nerd-out buffet!! I loved it so much. This was long and luxurious, giving the fast pace and atmosphere of an omnibus comic, with painfully authentic characters, and passages of real lyrical beauty. It made me snort, it made me sad, it made me hungry, it made me miss people, it gave me w....look, EVERYTHING HAPPENED while reading this--!! Going to this became my comfort thing, the treat I could consume every day while apprehensively noting that my treat pile was getting smaller and smaller. Luckily, it seems the author has a continuation in the works. (!!)
Three of my favorite themes marry here:
beautiful stranger x vampire x REVENGE
So Oasis is a young woman who meets a beautiful stranger who she soon finds out is a vampire--and that's actually probably the more normal things she's going to find out about Laura. But Oasis has her own shit: she is struggling to put the pieces back together after getting away from a really fucky cult that left her with a scarred up body and an even more cut up soul. Hurt, riddled with anxieties, her relationship with her twin brother a mess and her mother gone, Oasis's art and the bookstore where she works at with her boss Kennedy are her escapes--that is, until fate throws her together with the vampire girl she may or may not have been meant to be with--a girl who is not only hundreds of years old, but is passionately upset about the shitty representation in the novel 'Dracula.'
The main characters! The side characters! The references! The descriptions! So many tender scenes between Oasis and Laura--Oasis and Vlad (who is, wait. no spoilers!!)--Helena who was her only friend in the cult CA--the sad, broken moments with her brother. But also so many moments of lightness and pure joy between people enjoying each others' company. There is action, xxx (well written, folks. and I do think I am a pretty harsh critic on that front); witty dialogue popping along in your head; soul-searching, soul-losing and soul-finding. This is one of those 'we're dating' while you're reading it books, so if you've been looking for something that paradoxically manages to cover so many heart-breaking issues and at times make you literally scared to turn the page while ALSO being deeply fun, funny and enjoyable---a book to really settle down and have a relationship with, well HERE IT IS!!!!!!!! (Also, someone needs to make this into a movie.)
February 7, 2023
Kindle Unlimited.
This is a long and bizarre tale of a Dracula meeting a trauma riddled human young adult.
The biggest issue I had was the young woman, Oasis, doesn't seem to have a lot of agency. She's not in a healthy place, and the relationship overall is very consuming and instant, and almost toxic and manipulative.
There's a lot of backstory for both characters, and while it would be fair to say both have traumatic pasts, it's still obvious our Dracula aka Laura still has the upper-hand, and therefore the relationship is not as equal as I would have liked.
I liked that both women were POC, and I liked the original lore created for Dracula and their multiple embodiments and again the history and backstory of it all.
But I just never felt the connection as anything more than a thrall. Which maybe was the point?
This is definitely in the lane of Dark Romance.
It unfortunately went too long, and needed some cutting down of the chaff and stop trying to be 'mysterious' for us to actually get a story and plot, because for the length of time the book goes, honestly not a lot happened. I had expected there to be far more action but it ended up with more soap opera, so despite the impressive writing and overall uniqueness of the story - only a 3 star read.
This is a long and bizarre tale of a Dracula meeting a trauma riddled human young adult.
The biggest issue I had was the young woman, Oasis, doesn't seem to have a lot of agency. She's not in a healthy place, and the relationship overall is very consuming and instant, and almost toxic and manipulative.
There's a lot of backstory for both characters, and while it would be fair to say both have traumatic pasts, it's still obvious our Dracula aka Laura still has the upper-hand, and therefore the relationship is not as equal as I would have liked.
I liked that both women were POC, and I liked the original lore created for Dracula and their multiple embodiments and again the history and backstory of it all.
But I just never felt the connection as anything more than a thrall. Which maybe was the point?
This is definitely in the lane of Dark Romance.
It unfortunately went too long, and needed some cutting down of the chaff and stop trying to be 'mysterious' for us to actually get a story and plot, because for the length of time the book goes, honestly not a lot happened. I had expected there to be far more action but it ended up with more soap opera, so despite the impressive writing and overall uniqueness of the story - only a 3 star read.
July 26, 2025
One of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and it DID NOT LET ME DOWN
If anything, it exceeded my wildest hopes!
11/10, FLAWLESS, WONDERFUL, HILARIOUS, ORIGINAL, I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT
PROPER REVIEW TO COME!!!
HIGHLIGHTS
~Black vampires!
~so many flavours of queer
~own your scars
~#BatsAreBest
~beware pink flames
Darknesses is officially my new favourite vampire novel.
Seriously, there is nothing I do not love about this book! It had me laughing my head off, reading quotes aloud to the hubby, clutching my ereader to my chest, and breathless on the edge of my seat by turns. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop until I reached the end – I ended up devouring the whole book in two sittings, and it would have been one if I hadn’t had to break to sleep!
Where do I even start???
If I were pitching Darknesses to a friend, I’d probably say something like: this is Twilight grown up, Black, queer as fuck, and featuring vampires that are unapologetically deadly.
…So nothing like Twilight, basically. The anti-Twilight, in fact.
IT’S SO FREAKING AWESOME!
Oasis is a survivor still adapting to the ‘normal’ world after years of being brainwashed and brutalised by a cult. Laura is the glorious woman who sweeps into the bookshop where Oasis works to buy every copy of Dracula she can find – so that she can burn them. Because they’re libel against the true Dracula – Laura herself.
When the two of them hit it off, it’s a catalyst that changes them both forever.
Oasis is no simpering, meek, swept-off-her-feet romance heroine, seduced to the dark side by the big bad vampire; she’s fragile in some ways after what she’s been through, and has healing to do, but she’s a survivor, tough as nails and fierce and infinitely far from passive. She accepts Laura’s strangeness lovingly, easily, and reading along as she grew into her confidence and strength over the course of the book was a joy. I can’t remember the last time I cheered on a character this much!
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
If anything, it exceeded my wildest hopes!
11/10, FLAWLESS, WONDERFUL, HILARIOUS, ORIGINAL, I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT
PROPER REVIEW TO COME!!!
HIGHLIGHTS
~Black vampires!
~so many flavours of queer
~own your scars
~#BatsAreBest
~beware pink flames
Darknesses is officially my new favourite vampire novel.
Seriously, there is nothing I do not love about this book! It had me laughing my head off, reading quotes aloud to the hubby, clutching my ereader to my chest, and breathless on the edge of my seat by turns. Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop until I reached the end – I ended up devouring the whole book in two sittings, and it would have been one if I hadn’t had to break to sleep!
Where do I even start???
If I were pitching Darknesses to a friend, I’d probably say something like: this is Twilight grown up, Black, queer as fuck, and featuring vampires that are unapologetically deadly.
…So nothing like Twilight, basically. The anti-Twilight, in fact.
IT’S SO FREAKING AWESOME!
Oasis is a survivor still adapting to the ‘normal’ world after years of being brainwashed and brutalised by a cult. Laura is the glorious woman who sweeps into the bookshop where Oasis works to buy every copy of Dracula she can find – so that she can burn them. Because they’re libel against the true Dracula – Laura herself.
When the two of them hit it off, it’s a catalyst that changes them both forever.
Oasis is no simpering, meek, swept-off-her-feet romance heroine, seduced to the dark side by the big bad vampire; she’s fragile in some ways after what she’s been through, and has healing to do, but she’s a survivor, tough as nails and fierce and infinitely far from passive. She accepts Laura’s strangeness lovingly, easily, and reading along as she grew into her confidence and strength over the course of the book was a joy. I can’t remember the last time I cheered on a character this much!
“You were born in the 1400s?”
Laura licks wine off her lips, nodding.
“January 26th, 1431, in Sighisoara.”
“I was born July 13th, 1996, in Wichita,” I say. “I should check and see if we’re astrologically compatible.”
Read the rest at Every Book a Doorway!
August 26, 2024
2024 update: In June, I finished rereading my debut. The sequel has been incredibly slow to come together even though I’ve been taking notes since before the final draft was completed. Recently those notes became more substantial as I concluded my first re-read of Darknesses. I put it off for a long, long time. I’m my own worst critic, and I knew I was liable to hunt for flaws until it made me feel sick. It’s really hard not to try and get to the bottom of every negative review or DNF. I spend too much time trying to see my writing through others’ eyes, such that at a certain point while writing, I have to pretend that I don’t intend for others to read at all. And then I actually start reading, and end up laughing at myself. I found an upsetting number of typos, but ultimately, I realized once again that my book is awesome. And although I have made a reasonable effort to not read negative reviews, I noticed that some Goodreads reviewers seem to deliberately reach into genres that aren’t for them just to take it out on the author when they get what they paid for. It's unfortunate to me that the most popular review of my book on this website is dismissive quip from a white person for whom the book certainly was not meant. There’s no point in proselytizing, though. I love my debut and I’m excited to get started on the sequel, even if I’m the only one who reads it.
--
I am, quite obviously, biased, but I give this book 5 stars because I had no doubts about it. From shitty first draft to laying it out in indesign, writing DARKNESSES gave me joy, hope, and healing—not to mention I learned a LOT about medieval history. Fucked up but funny is my m.o. so from the authorial side, this book rocks 🖖🏽
--
I am, quite obviously, biased, but I give this book 5 stars because I had no doubts about it. From shitty first draft to laying it out in indesign, writing DARKNESSES gave me joy, hope, and healing—not to mention I learned a LOT about medieval history. Fucked up but funny is my m.o. so from the authorial side, this book rocks 🖖🏽
July 12, 2022
To read this review on my book blog, please click here.
The Good:
There are so many quotes, lines, pieces of dialogue, and one-offs in this book that are startling and perfect. Tense moments that are cut with a laugh from a perfectly timed piece of dialogue, deep conversations that incorporate stark realities and dark humor, the way Dracula’s whole family unit operates. It was impossible to expect where the novel was going next, as well as how the situation would turn out. Narratively speaking, it’s fascinating. The beginning is fraught with Oasis’ emotional journey through her past trauma, navigating the modern world that she doesn’t quite feel part of as she both moves past the angelic cult she escaped and counts down the day until the rapture it claimed would come. The story’s plot beats move in sync with Oasis’ journey–the stakes rise dramatically as she takes bigger steps into the world, and after confronting the truly mystical and absurd, she finally faces down the man who took so much from her.
The vampiric mechanics of the world are absolutely fascinating. If you’ve spent any time at all reading my blog, or my Twitter, or just talking to me then you know I read a lot of vampire books, and I care about how vampires operate within their lore. Seville’s interpretation of Dracula is one of the most creative, fascinating, and genuinely brilliant ways I have seen the vampire imagined in fiction. The combination of legends and facts about Vlad Dracul, the odd bits of traditional vampire lore, and the utterly mystical absurdity that is the deal Dracula has with the Devil was like unwrapping present after present.
The side characters are all amazing–even the villains and antagonists are so perfectly crafted to be hated. I think after each of the “good” side characters was introduced, I left a note in my Kindle saying “I love them,” because they were all perfectly lovable. Included in this are the faces of Dracula that we see or hear about that aren’t Laura–Laura is obviously the main love interest, but the way that Laura’s association with the traditional Dracula is so well handled and incredibly creative. All of Dracula’s pets are fantastic, and I would die for most of them but especially Minty Fresh. I also like the casual way in which some of the side characters introduce other legends and mythologies into the story. I’m a sucker for world building that includes a whole hidden world, and this book surely delivers.
The Okay:
Usually, this section is stuff that bothered me but wasn’t necessarily bad. For this book, though, this is where I’m going to put the stuff that I either am not done thinking about or have decided not to think about too deeply.
Ultimately, the biggest thing I have is that I want more. An entire world and cast of characters were created in this book and I am not even a little bit done with thinking about and caring about them.
The Bad there’s nothing bad to say here
Final Thoughts:
So, I wrote this section first. Generally, I don’t do that; I usually write the three critique sections and then decide what parts of those I want to include in my summary. But I’ll be honest, with the Roe v. Wade situation I had a lot of trouble motivating myself to write this review at all. Lachelle Seville is the only reason I did, because an author this talented absolutely deserves to have their work discussed and recommended. Lachelle wrote what I can only describe as the most tender, loving, emotional, and beautiful story. This is so much more than a “Dracula retelling” or a queer romcom or a wish fulfillment fantasy. Somehow, despite all that happens in this book, it’s never too much or too unreal–there is so much trauma written into Oasis and so much love and fight there, as well. One moment you can be in tears reading about the terrible abuse suffered by Oasis and Helena while trapped in a cult, and the next you’re reading about the many wonders kept in a magical dungeon in upstate New York. There is cause for celebration, laughter, terror, horror, sorrow, love, and just about any other human emotion you can have in this book.
The novel is unapologetic about…everything. There’s no cushioning blow for the white readers or decolonization lessons–this isn’t a book that holds your hand as a white reader, it faces the intersections of Oasis being a Black woman in the US head on. It also doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to the complexities of difficult trauma. Not everyone survives serious trauma still picture perfect and innocent, and Seville grapples with the messy emotions that come with a lot of different traumas. They also perfectly captured the navigation of new love, how at the same time it can feel fresh and timeless, uplifting and agonizing. The complicated ideas dealt with here, the overlapping narratives of hurt, abuse, and revenge, and the back and forth of danger, acceptance, and perseverance tie the whole book together. There are a lot of plot points, but they’re all crucial in the whole of the relationship between Laura and Oasis–the heartbeat that keeps the novel going.
I cannot emphasize enough how beautiful of a book this is, how talented the author is. Please, read this book.
The Good:
There are so many quotes, lines, pieces of dialogue, and one-offs in this book that are startling and perfect. Tense moments that are cut with a laugh from a perfectly timed piece of dialogue, deep conversations that incorporate stark realities and dark humor, the way Dracula’s whole family unit operates. It was impossible to expect where the novel was going next, as well as how the situation would turn out. Narratively speaking, it’s fascinating. The beginning is fraught with Oasis’ emotional journey through her past trauma, navigating the modern world that she doesn’t quite feel part of as she both moves past the angelic cult she escaped and counts down the day until the rapture it claimed would come. The story’s plot beats move in sync with Oasis’ journey–the stakes rise dramatically as she takes bigger steps into the world, and after confronting the truly mystical and absurd, she finally faces down the man who took so much from her.
The vampiric mechanics of the world are absolutely fascinating. If you’ve spent any time at all reading my blog, or my Twitter, or just talking to me then you know I read a lot of vampire books, and I care about how vampires operate within their lore. Seville’s interpretation of Dracula is one of the most creative, fascinating, and genuinely brilliant ways I have seen the vampire imagined in fiction. The combination of legends and facts about Vlad Dracul, the odd bits of traditional vampire lore, and the utterly mystical absurdity that is the deal Dracula has with the Devil was like unwrapping present after present.
The side characters are all amazing–even the villains and antagonists are so perfectly crafted to be hated. I think after each of the “good” side characters was introduced, I left a note in my Kindle saying “I love them,” because they were all perfectly lovable. Included in this are the faces of Dracula that we see or hear about that aren’t Laura–Laura is obviously the main love interest, but the way that Laura’s association with the traditional Dracula is so well handled and incredibly creative. All of Dracula’s pets are fantastic, and I would die for most of them but especially Minty Fresh. I also like the casual way in which some of the side characters introduce other legends and mythologies into the story. I’m a sucker for world building that includes a whole hidden world, and this book surely delivers.
The Okay:
Usually, this section is stuff that bothered me but wasn’t necessarily bad. For this book, though, this is where I’m going to put the stuff that I either am not done thinking about or have decided not to think about too deeply.
Ultimately, the biggest thing I have is that I want more. An entire world and cast of characters were created in this book and I am not even a little bit done with thinking about and caring about them.
Final Thoughts:
So, I wrote this section first. Generally, I don’t do that; I usually write the three critique sections and then decide what parts of those I want to include in my summary. But I’ll be honest, with the Roe v. Wade situation I had a lot of trouble motivating myself to write this review at all. Lachelle Seville is the only reason I did, because an author this talented absolutely deserves to have their work discussed and recommended. Lachelle wrote what I can only describe as the most tender, loving, emotional, and beautiful story. This is so much more than a “Dracula retelling” or a queer romcom or a wish fulfillment fantasy. Somehow, despite all that happens in this book, it’s never too much or too unreal–there is so much trauma written into Oasis and so much love and fight there, as well. One moment you can be in tears reading about the terrible abuse suffered by Oasis and Helena while trapped in a cult, and the next you’re reading about the many wonders kept in a magical dungeon in upstate New York. There is cause for celebration, laughter, terror, horror, sorrow, love, and just about any other human emotion you can have in this book.
The novel is unapologetic about…everything. There’s no cushioning blow for the white readers or decolonization lessons–this isn’t a book that holds your hand as a white reader, it faces the intersections of Oasis being a Black woman in the US head on. It also doesn’t hold your hand when it comes to the complexities of difficult trauma. Not everyone survives serious trauma still picture perfect and innocent, and Seville grapples with the messy emotions that come with a lot of different traumas. They also perfectly captured the navigation of new love, how at the same time it can feel fresh and timeless, uplifting and agonizing. The complicated ideas dealt with here, the overlapping narratives of hurt, abuse, and revenge, and the back and forth of danger, acceptance, and perseverance tie the whole book together. There are a lot of plot points, but they’re all crucial in the whole of the relationship between Laura and Oasis–the heartbeat that keeps the novel going.
I cannot emphasize enough how beautiful of a book this is, how talented the author is. Please, read this book.
August 26, 2024
Wildly bisexual modern Dracula retelling. Personally I did not need more info than that going into this novel, and it did not disappoint. Dark, intense, sexy, and funny (in a fucked-up kinda way), anyone who perks up at ‘dark sapphic vampire sh*t’ should read this asap.
March 31, 2023
In some ways, this comes off as two different novels combined into one. The first novel is a story about Oasis, a young woman who nearly died as a cult member, learning to love, trust, and reconnect with both other people and reality itself in the aftermath of that trauma. She also struggles to overcome shame over having gotten sucked into the cult in the first place, over having left the other cult members behind to suffer and possibly die, and over the extensive scarring cult rituals left on her body. This plotline is grounded in psychological realism and a keen understanding of cult dynamics; the imagined cult isn't obviously based on one specific real cult in particular, but its bizarre, disturbing practices and theology contain elements of everything from Heaven's Gate to Jonestown to the various groups formed by notorious internet con man Andy Blake.
The second novel is a lighthearted and absolutely bonkers wish-fulfillment romance about Oasis, a young woman who meets and immediately falls in intense mutual love with Count Dracula, immortal vampire and genderbending shapeshifter, currently manifesting herself as a gorgeous twenty-four year old Black woman named Laura. (This Dracula plays by quasi-Carmilla vampire name rules: s/he doesn't have to use every letter of "Dracula" when s/he chooses a new name, but the name does have to be made of letters that are in "Dracula". Hence, s/he's been Darla, Al, Raul, Carl, etc.) Although Dracula/Laura is being pursued by the descendants of Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, &c., this threat and its eventual resolution take a backseat to Oasis's various supernaturally-inflected dates and encounters with her new girlfriend, whose personality and mannerisms are sort of half Gary Oldman's version of the Count in Frances Ford Coppola's 1992 film adaptation, half Nandor the Relentless from What We Do In the Shadows. There's a vampire bunny and a vampire kitty! Being Dracula's girlfriend means you get access to all kinds of opulent luxury! Also, you get to see Dracula turn into bats and stuff! Since she's hundreds of years old and has had countless partners, she's amazing at sex! Laura and Oasis visit a vampire/werewolf/revenant nightclub!!
The vampires and werewolves do kill and eat and torture people, but it's treated very lightly (again, think What We Do In the Shadows). The people who get tortured are usually pedophiles or murderous cult leaders or something along those lines. The people who just get eaten are never named characters. Only the *really bad* supernatural creatures, the ones you're not supposed to like at all, would ever stoop to sexual assault.
You might already have noticed two potential problems here-- problems which, in my opinion, DARKNESSES never quite manages to reconcile, although it tries very hard in its final third and does manage satisfying, complete-feeling resolutions to both of the novels that it is.
The first problem is that the gravity and realism with which the first novel treats the many abuses and transgressions of Zeke, the cult leader, and the PTSD Oasis suffers as a result, can ring a little hollow (or at least seem very odd) when juxtaposed with the cheerfully amoral, handwave-y treatment of Dracula & friends' killing and torturing all over the place in the second novel. I mean, sure, most of them need human blood to survive, but it's established that they can get that *without* killing anyone (and certainly without having fun killing people in drawn-out ways). When the reader is immersed in that plotline, it's easy to roll with it because the vampires etc. are likable and only rarely come off as malicious: their killing for pleasure is catlike, the behavior of a literally different, predatory species. Also, it happens almost entirely "offscreen". But when we're brought back to the first plotline, and we're suddenly supposed to be taking Zeke's comparatively small potatoes murders, assaults, and torture extremely seriously, the way we would in real life, it's jarring.
The second problem is that, for a character who is in recovery from cult brainwashing by a group that persuades its adherents of supernatural nonsense, Oasis just isn't very conflicted at all about going out with a woman who says up front that she's a vampire and comes on super strong in a way that could easily read as love-bombing. While Oasis does *acknowledge* that it's odd she's not more suspicious, doesn't see certain things as red flags, etc., I couldn't help but feel this should have been a way, way bigger point of uncertainty and drama in the early stages of the romance-- I think it would've added a lot, as the entry into a relationship does feel rushed (as previously mentioned, it's literally love at first sight!) and early scenes of Laura having to more actively court Oasis, figure out how to approach her in ways that don't activate her trauma, and persuade her she isn't a threat would have been a neat parallel to later scenes of Oasis trying to convince Laura to let her guard down and trust enough to drink Oasis's blood (it's a whole thing, not going to explain it here, this book is for you if "horny human begs reluctant vampire to drink from them" is a dynamic that revs your engine).
The second novel is a lighthearted and absolutely bonkers wish-fulfillment romance about Oasis, a young woman who meets and immediately falls in intense mutual love with Count Dracula, immortal vampire and genderbending shapeshifter, currently manifesting herself as a gorgeous twenty-four year old Black woman named Laura. (This Dracula plays by quasi-Carmilla vampire name rules: s/he doesn't have to use every letter of "Dracula" when s/he chooses a new name, but the name does have to be made of letters that are in "Dracula". Hence, s/he's been Darla, Al, Raul, Carl, etc.) Although Dracula/Laura is being pursued by the descendants of Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, &c., this threat and its eventual resolution take a backseat to Oasis's various supernaturally-inflected dates and encounters with her new girlfriend, whose personality and mannerisms are sort of half Gary Oldman's version of the Count in Frances Ford Coppola's 1992 film adaptation, half Nandor the Relentless from What We Do In the Shadows. There's a vampire bunny and a vampire kitty! Being Dracula's girlfriend means you get access to all kinds of opulent luxury! Also, you get to see Dracula turn into bats and stuff! Since she's hundreds of years old and has had countless partners, she's amazing at sex! Laura and Oasis visit a vampire/werewolf/revenant nightclub!!
The vampires and werewolves do kill and eat and torture people, but it's treated very lightly (again, think What We Do In the Shadows). The people who get tortured are usually pedophiles or murderous cult leaders or something along those lines. The people who just get eaten are never named characters. Only the *really bad* supernatural creatures, the ones you're not supposed to like at all, would ever stoop to sexual assault.
You might already have noticed two potential problems here-- problems which, in my opinion, DARKNESSES never quite manages to reconcile, although it tries very hard in its final third and does manage satisfying, complete-feeling resolutions to both of the novels that it is.
The first problem is that the gravity and realism with which the first novel treats the many abuses and transgressions of Zeke, the cult leader, and the PTSD Oasis suffers as a result, can ring a little hollow (or at least seem very odd) when juxtaposed with the cheerfully amoral, handwave-y treatment of Dracula & friends' killing and torturing all over the place in the second novel. I mean, sure, most of them need human blood to survive, but it's established that they can get that *without* killing anyone (and certainly without having fun killing people in drawn-out ways). When the reader is immersed in that plotline, it's easy to roll with it because the vampires etc. are likable and only rarely come off as malicious: their killing for pleasure is catlike, the behavior of a literally different, predatory species. Also, it happens almost entirely "offscreen". But when we're brought back to the first plotline, and we're suddenly supposed to be taking Zeke's comparatively small potatoes murders, assaults, and torture extremely seriously, the way we would in real life, it's jarring.
The second problem is that, for a character who is in recovery from cult brainwashing by a group that persuades its adherents of supernatural nonsense, Oasis just isn't very conflicted at all about going out with a woman who says up front that she's a vampire and comes on super strong in a way that could easily read as love-bombing. While Oasis does *acknowledge* that it's odd she's not more suspicious, doesn't see certain things as red flags, etc., I couldn't help but feel this should have been a way, way bigger point of uncertainty and drama in the early stages of the romance-- I think it would've added a lot, as the entry into a relationship does feel rushed (as previously mentioned, it's literally love at first sight!) and early scenes of Laura having to more actively court Oasis, figure out how to approach her in ways that don't activate her trauma, and persuade her she isn't a threat would have been a neat parallel to later scenes of Oasis trying to convince Laura to let her guard down and trust enough to drink Oasis's blood (it's a whole thing, not going to explain it here, this book is for you if "horny human begs reluctant vampire to drink from them" is a dynamic that revs your engine).
June 9, 2023
Darknesses by Lachelle Seville is a sapphic, gothic, Dracula-inspired novel that has had traction in the book community circles I follow. I chose the book purely by faith in the readers that suggested it, and as usual, I didn’t know what I was getting into. That’s nothing new. Now, having finished the book, I wish I would have asked them why they enjoyed it.
Darknesses’s premise builds around an extraordinary love and its ability to heal most, not all, wounds. The end of the book’s blurb can be a little misleading. Now that I have re-read it after completing the book, I feel like it might cause the reader to think or feel that the love between the central characters is possessive. Don’t get me wrong. There are elements of possessiveness in the relationship, just not to the extent that the blurb would have you think.
If I had to pitch it to someone, I would lead by saying that it is a sapphic, gothic, Dracula-inspired novel that follows the budding relationship between two longing spirits with thirsts for something that only be quenched by one another. Oasis is a New York transplant recovering from events experienced in an “angel-focused” cult located in Blessed Falls. In this cult, she had a near-death experience that left her with paranoia. She doesn’t trust easily, especially concerning food. One day, while working, Laura, a strikingly beautiful woman, enters the bookstore and requests all the available copies of Dracula. In addition to that, she warns Oasis not to read it. Questionable, but Oasis maintains her curiosity and does not read Dracula.
This seemingly one-time encounter morphs into a love story that transcends what either Laura or Oasis expected of themselves. Both of them have secrets, and it’s a matter of time before they’re revealed. The question is, will those secrets tear them apart or will they bring them closer?
That’s the gist of what I got out of the story.
I enjoyed the first 75 to 80 percent of the book for the development of Laura and Oasis’s relationship. However, once other worldbuilding aspects were introduced via capture and rescue scenes, somewhere between those occurring and the ending, the story went off the rails. I’m not sure why it took such a turn. There are moments that contributed to significant bouts of disconnection from the story and made me question the author’s motives or intentions for including them. Especially the last 15 to 20 percent.
What I enjoyed most about the book is how Laura speaks. She doesn’t use contractions and regularly asks if something pleases someone. It’s cute. 🙂 I will give the book that much.
I think it overall could have been condensed down to 350 pages. According to my Kindle, it’s 527. The book, although entertaining, quirky, and cute, in my reading experience, there are characters that did not receive enough acknowledgment for me to connect to their importance in the story. When they would appear on the page after a length of time, I had to remind myself who they were and their function in the main character’s storyline.
I also felt that the worldbuilding had the potential to be fleshed out more. There were instances where I did get a feel of how the fantastical world operates and differs while existing in our present-day Earth, and would classify the novel as urban fantasy because of them. However, the descriptions of those fantastical locations weren’t distinct enough for me to feel that I’m being transported somewhere that exists on Earth while still being differential from Earth as we know it. I hope I’m making sense here.
My overall rating is 2.5/5 stars. Aside from my rating, I still recommend this book for a compelling spin on Dracula’s tale. If you love love and like snarky characters with literary banter, you will enjoy Darknesses.
I hope this review of Lachelle Seville’s ‘Darknesses’ finds you well.
Huge thank you to Traum, BookSirens, and the author for the ARC. My review/reaction is voluntary, all thoughts are mine and unbiased, and receiving an ARC does not influence my rating and/or recommendation.
Darknesses’s premise builds around an extraordinary love and its ability to heal most, not all, wounds. The end of the book’s blurb can be a little misleading. Now that I have re-read it after completing the book, I feel like it might cause the reader to think or feel that the love between the central characters is possessive. Don’t get me wrong. There are elements of possessiveness in the relationship, just not to the extent that the blurb would have you think.
If I had to pitch it to someone, I would lead by saying that it is a sapphic, gothic, Dracula-inspired novel that follows the budding relationship between two longing spirits with thirsts for something that only be quenched by one another. Oasis is a New York transplant recovering from events experienced in an “angel-focused” cult located in Blessed Falls. In this cult, she had a near-death experience that left her with paranoia. She doesn’t trust easily, especially concerning food. One day, while working, Laura, a strikingly beautiful woman, enters the bookstore and requests all the available copies of Dracula. In addition to that, she warns Oasis not to read it. Questionable, but Oasis maintains her curiosity and does not read Dracula.
This seemingly one-time encounter morphs into a love story that transcends what either Laura or Oasis expected of themselves. Both of them have secrets, and it’s a matter of time before they’re revealed. The question is, will those secrets tear them apart or will they bring them closer?
That’s the gist of what I got out of the story.
I enjoyed the first 75 to 80 percent of the book for the development of Laura and Oasis’s relationship. However, once other worldbuilding aspects were introduced via capture and rescue scenes, somewhere between those occurring and the ending, the story went off the rails. I’m not sure why it took such a turn. There are moments that contributed to significant bouts of disconnection from the story and made me question the author’s motives or intentions for including them. Especially the last 15 to 20 percent.
What I enjoyed most about the book is how Laura speaks. She doesn’t use contractions and regularly asks if something pleases someone. It’s cute. 🙂 I will give the book that much.
I think it overall could have been condensed down to 350 pages. According to my Kindle, it’s 527. The book, although entertaining, quirky, and cute, in my reading experience, there are characters that did not receive enough acknowledgment for me to connect to their importance in the story. When they would appear on the page after a length of time, I had to remind myself who they were and their function in the main character’s storyline.
I also felt that the worldbuilding had the potential to be fleshed out more. There were instances where I did get a feel of how the fantastical world operates and differs while existing in our present-day Earth, and would classify the novel as urban fantasy because of them. However, the descriptions of those fantastical locations weren’t distinct enough for me to feel that I’m being transported somewhere that exists on Earth while still being differential from Earth as we know it. I hope I’m making sense here.
My overall rating is 2.5/5 stars. Aside from my rating, I still recommend this book for a compelling spin on Dracula’s tale. If you love love and like snarky characters with literary banter, you will enjoy Darknesses.
I hope this review of Lachelle Seville’s ‘Darknesses’ finds you well.
Huge thank you to Traum, BookSirens, and the author for the ARC. My review/reaction is voluntary, all thoughts are mine and unbiased, and receiving an ARC does not influence my rating and/or recommendation.
June 30, 2025
4.5 stars!!✨
Dracula simps for a MEGA traumatized (covered in scars, physical and mental, from a cult, CRAAAZY) modern woman. They meet in a bookstore. It’s beautiful, tragic, a human and a vampire linking hearts.
This sapphic Dracula retelling will live in my mind rent free for a HOT MINUTE. I’m new to the ‘retelling’ trope but this was such a good ‘history-repeats-itself’ read. I recommend checking trigger warnings!
If you’re looking for a dark sapphic vampire read, this is the one!
Dracula simps for a MEGA traumatized (covered in scars, physical and mental, from a cult, CRAAAZY) modern woman. They meet in a bookstore. It’s beautiful, tragic, a human and a vampire linking hearts.
This sapphic Dracula retelling will live in my mind rent free for a HOT MINUTE. I’m new to the ‘retelling’ trope but this was such a good ‘history-repeats-itself’ read. I recommend checking trigger warnings!
If you’re looking for a dark sapphic vampire read, this is the one!
July 29, 2024
"I have seen you, Oasis. Your heart has weathered maelstroms... Do not let it beat askance for me."
I picked up this book because I had heard it described as a lesbian retelling of Dracula. However, Darknesses is SO much more than that. Rather than simply retelling the vampire classic, this book completely flips it on its head, forcing you to rethink everything you thought you knew about The Count. Darknesses captures the same brooding, dark, gothcic atmosphere of Stoker's writing, while at the same time being a fresh, modern, and dramatically sapphic story that stands on its own without needing to know Dracula. It is not just a retelling of a classic story, but a love letter to the vampire mythology as a whole. The characters are complex and engaging, and the surprises will keep you hooked each chapter.
Sidenote: I need to see this book adapted into a campy TV show, if for nothing else then to see all of Laura's killer fits.
I picked up this book because I had heard it described as a lesbian retelling of Dracula. However, Darknesses is SO much more than that. Rather than simply retelling the vampire classic, this book completely flips it on its head, forcing you to rethink everything you thought you knew about The Count. Darknesses captures the same brooding, dark, gothcic atmosphere of Stoker's writing, while at the same time being a fresh, modern, and dramatically sapphic story that stands on its own without needing to know Dracula. It is not just a retelling of a classic story, but a love letter to the vampire mythology as a whole. The characters are complex and engaging, and the surprises will keep you hooked each chapter.
Sidenote: I need to see this book adapted into a campy TV show, if for nothing else then to see all of Laura's killer fits.
March 25, 2023
“It is not often that prey takes equal interest in its predator.”
Woof. I think this is the definition of a mixed feeling. This book started so strong, and in the first 50 percent, it was everything I wanted out of a super intense, kind of unhinged vampire romance. Around the 50 percent mark, I did start getting a little bit impatient and antsy for the plot to actually go places, and then when the plot did go places, it wasn't as interesting or as absorbing as I had thought it would be. And then the ending used a bunch of tropes that I flat-out dislike. So I'm ending this book liking it a lot less than I did in the beginning. But oh man, that beginning. One of thee most engaging first chapters ever.
This was another completely blind read; when I started, I had no idea that it had anything to do with Dracula. After I finished the first chapter, I paused, went and read the original Dracula for the first time, and then came back to this book. I think that was a great idea, and I do think that a familiarity with the original book will add to the experience of reading this, because it does use a lot of excerpts and the original characters are important to varying degrees. This is a universe where Dracula exists, but the book Dracula also exists. The author made it work. The best thing about this is really the writing, and you can enjoy that whether or not you read the Stoker original. So evocative and lush, and the romance of it was exactly what I wanted. So all-encompassing; they're ride or die from day one. I just love when people fall in love and are not normal about it. This did have a definite tinge of insta-love, but the way Laura phrased her proclamations, the way her love for Oasis was framed as fated and inevitable, bred in the blood, I really ended up liking it.
“How can you love me if all I am is food?” I ask.
Laura clicks her tongue as though chastising me.
“You cannot comprehend just how much I love my food.”
But as I said, it didn't work for me on all fronts.
The thing is, this is pretty long. I prefer long books these days, books that spend a lot of time letting the reader get to know the characters. But this is a case where I'm not sure if all of the page time is used effectively. There's also the fact that I took a pretty long time to read this, just because of the fact that I don't have a lot of time to actually sit down with my Kindle for long stretches of time. So that probably impacted my enjoyment and my feelings as well. I still think this was amazingly written, and it's a very unique idea. I'd definitely be interested in returning to this world if the author does so.
Also, huge kudos to the cover artist. This is gorgeous.
Content warnings:
“Home is where you went. If you had gone to the bottom of the deep blue sea, I would have followed you there, too.”
December 29, 2024
a very fun read!! the first chapters especially had me incredibly engrossed. the characterization is very well done for oasis, and laura is a mystery i enjoyed seeing unraveled. maybe a few too many plot diversions, but i think the rewritten mythological lore and the side characters made this into something similar to a 80s-90s-esque cult classic B movie i’d be obsessed with. said with the highest of praise! especially for a debut novel. i love a beautiful, messy, dubiously toxic romance. i saw the comment that a sequel is in the works and i’ll absolutely be keeping an eye out for it.
December 15, 2022
**Special thanks to the incredible Lachelle Seville for providing me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review
I want to state my positionality as a white reviewer, and note that this review is from a white perspective.
This book is a twist on Dracula that is everything I have ever wanted in a contemporary fantasy novel. It is dark and lush and undeniably gripping, with satisfying character arcs and subplots that combine to create a story worth savoring. I can’t pick a favorite aspect, from bitterly funny teenage vampires and underground undead dive bars, to powerful portrayals of trauma and loss, to several surprise appearances (no spoilers, but trust me when I say that these cameos are worth waiting for).
It is unapologetically black, queer, and vengeful, which blend to create a stunning depth and such a sense of realism that now, after reading, I’d be more surprised to learn vampires (and associated undead beings) aren’t real than to learn that they are. Seville blends modernity with history and fantasy to reach stunning depths with numerous overlapping threads of trauma, love, and loss. Tension builds and wanes, bubbles over, scabs, scars, in a brilliant pattern, often cut in half with absolutely hilarious dialogue and details.
I can say with total honesty that I have never highlighted as many lines in any other book as I have in this one, ranging from beautiful prose to lines I actually laughed out loud at. This is unlike any book I’ve ever read, I cannot recommend it enough.
I want to state my positionality as a white reviewer, and note that this review is from a white perspective.
This book is a twist on Dracula that is everything I have ever wanted in a contemporary fantasy novel. It is dark and lush and undeniably gripping, with satisfying character arcs and subplots that combine to create a story worth savoring. I can’t pick a favorite aspect, from bitterly funny teenage vampires and underground undead dive bars, to powerful portrayals of trauma and loss, to several surprise appearances (no spoilers, but trust me when I say that these cameos are worth waiting for).
It is unapologetically black, queer, and vengeful, which blend to create a stunning depth and such a sense of realism that now, after reading, I’d be more surprised to learn vampires (and associated undead beings) aren’t real than to learn that they are. Seville blends modernity with history and fantasy to reach stunning depths with numerous overlapping threads of trauma, love, and loss. Tension builds and wanes, bubbles over, scabs, scars, in a brilliant pattern, often cut in half with absolutely hilarious dialogue and details.
I can say with total honesty that I have never highlighted as many lines in any other book as I have in this one, ranging from beautiful prose to lines I actually laughed out loud at. This is unlike any book I’ve ever read, I cannot recommend it enough.
June 20, 2022
You'd think "Dracula walks into a bookstore and buys all the copies of Dracula to burn in outrage over bad representation" would be the start to a joke, but Seville manages to bring drama and heft from this starting point. Chock full of eroticism, scene-stealing side characters, and deep cut allusions to vampire lore, all within a fast-paced, action-forward package. Loved Oasis' dynamic with her brother. Oasis in general was a really dynamic and engaging character. All the most appealing aspects of vampire fiction--from Carmilla to Anne Rice to Twilight--are brought out here. Everything is amped up to 11, but such is the way with vampires! A celebration, an examination, a reinterpretation, a reclaiming of the vampire tradition from an author who--and this is important because it reveals what you're getting into--self-dubs as "Mary Shelley’s dyke daughter."
February 18, 2023
Thank you to Book Sirens for an e-arc. All opinions remain my own.
This was a journey... I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this. This statement is a complex one because I both enjoyed and was equally incredibly confused by the direction of this.
I was expecting this to be a straight up contemporary (of sorts) about a girl deprogramming from a cult, that wouldn't shy away from the graphic reality of it and due to that, I felt like I was waiting for ages for an actual insight into Oasis' life.
What we have, however, is kind of a genre bending mash up of a Dracula retelling, filled with so much. It was still filled with many a troubling, cult-related topics, but Dracula was at the heart of it, I would say.
I can't deny that I was so confused at how paranormal this got and how quickly it did at that, but I think had I expected this type of content I would have got more out of it and this would have reflected in a higher star rating.
I absolutely loved the queer rep, black MC, and the love scenes were fantastic. The history of Oasis' time in the cult was heartbreaking and there were times I had to stop reading for while.
I do feel like this was sort of chaotic with too many plot devices included for it to flow smoothly. It was too long, and there was definitely some parts I feel could have been edited out. Although the romance was something that had me pushing through (more so the steamy scenes), it definitely felt like an unbalanced and toxic dynamic, especially coming straight off of what Oasis had been through.
But really I just wished I had had a better understanding of what this would be when I first picked it up, because as I say, if I wasn't shrouded in so much confusion, I think I would have loved it much more than I did.
I think this would be classed as Dark Romance and it certainly hasn't put me off of trying more from this sub-genre, despite not realising that's what I was reading!
I will most certainly be keeping an eye out for more from tRAUM publishers, as I love the representation they deliver in their authors and the stories they share.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
This was a journey... I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't this. This statement is a complex one because I both enjoyed and was equally incredibly confused by the direction of this.
I was expecting this to be a straight up contemporary (of sorts) about a girl deprogramming from a cult, that wouldn't shy away from the graphic reality of it and due to that, I felt like I was waiting for ages for an actual insight into Oasis' life.
What we have, however, is kind of a genre bending mash up of a Dracula retelling, filled with so much. It was still filled with many a troubling, cult-related topics, but Dracula was at the heart of it, I would say.
I can't deny that I was so confused at how paranormal this got and how quickly it did at that, but I think had I expected this type of content I would have got more out of it and this would have reflected in a higher star rating.
I absolutely loved the queer rep, black MC, and the love scenes were fantastic. The history of Oasis' time in the cult was heartbreaking and there were times I had to stop reading for while.
I do feel like this was sort of chaotic with too many plot devices included for it to flow smoothly. It was too long, and there was definitely some parts I feel could have been edited out. Although the romance was something that had me pushing through (more so the steamy scenes), it definitely felt like an unbalanced and toxic dynamic, especially coming straight off of what Oasis had been through.
But really I just wished I had had a better understanding of what this would be when I first picked it up, because as I say, if I wasn't shrouded in so much confusion, I think I would have loved it much more than I did.
I think this would be classed as Dark Romance and it certainly hasn't put me off of trying more from this sub-genre, despite not realising that's what I was reading!
I will most certainly be keeping an eye out for more from tRAUM publishers, as I love the representation they deliver in their authors and the stories they share.
Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy! >(^_^)<
Gén
January 17, 2026
I’m always looking for fun reads, and I think I’m easy to please in that department, but hard to impress.
This book impressed me, and more importantly it surprised me. If you often feel like you’re reading the same essential story in different iterations, if your pattern recognition is getting too good and you need a palate cleanser—read this book.
It’s hard to describe the vibe because it doesn’t lean on a lot of aesthetics and tropes that I am well acquainted with, but I guess in a way it kind of does for Dracula what Lore Olympus does for Greek mythology…but it does it better, and also it does more. There is something deliciously camp, irreverent, and whimsical about the low supernatural fantasy that emerges throughout.
While there is humor and frivolity, the story also deals with a lot of heavy things, including the very real Traumas of the characters. This can be a bit heavy at times, but it also makes them feel very real. The main character, Oasis, is very far from a bland your-name-here or Bella Swan, and her relationships with people don’t feel manufactured.
The writing is also superb—poetic, ekphrastic, witty—it has it all. The authorial voice is not stingy, but there are also recurring themes and motifs that aren’t spelled out. I think it both shows and tells, and does each to great effect.
One criticism I’ve seen in other reviews is that the book could have been shorter. That would suggest that it dragged, which it didn’t. If anything, I would say that maybe it could have been two books. There is also enough world building scaffolding for more books, and I really hope that there will be more!
This is simply the most interesting thing I’ve read in a long time. I highly recommend!
This book impressed me, and more importantly it surprised me. If you often feel like you’re reading the same essential story in different iterations, if your pattern recognition is getting too good and you need a palate cleanser—read this book.
It’s hard to describe the vibe because it doesn’t lean on a lot of aesthetics and tropes that I am well acquainted with, but I guess in a way it kind of does for Dracula what Lore Olympus does for Greek mythology…but it does it better, and also it does more. There is something deliciously camp, irreverent, and whimsical about the low supernatural fantasy that emerges throughout.
While there is humor and frivolity, the story also deals with a lot of heavy things, including the very real Traumas of the characters. This can be a bit heavy at times, but it also makes them feel very real. The main character, Oasis, is very far from a bland your-name-here or Bella Swan, and her relationships with people don’t feel manufactured.
The writing is also superb—poetic, ekphrastic, witty—it has it all. The authorial voice is not stingy, but there are also recurring themes and motifs that aren’t spelled out. I think it both shows and tells, and does each to great effect.
One criticism I’ve seen in other reviews is that the book could have been shorter. That would suggest that it dragged, which it didn’t. If anything, I would say that maybe it could have been two books. There is also enough world building scaffolding for more books, and I really hope that there will be more!
This is simply the most interesting thing I’ve read in a long time. I highly recommend!
May 21, 2022
a digital copy of this book was provided by the author for an honest review
Oasis and Laura have stolen my heart! I didn't have any expectations for this book. It was recommended to me and I was lucky enough to get a digital copy to read. I didn't read the blurb so I went into it blind and I think that's a good way to experience this story. The only thing you need to know going is that is a modern twist on Dracula.
As for the story, the pacing was really slow at times but it helped make the instalove feel more real and less forced. It also helped with Oasis' recovery from past trauma. The third act did grind the story to a screeching halt for me. I was vibing and then it felt like the book would not end. But the writing is solid.
And so are the characters! The side characters steal the scenes they're in, particularly Talon for me. The lore behind Dracula is unique and I loved seeing two different sides of Dracula ;) and hope there will be more in the next book.
This story continues into a series but I'm here for it. I hope Oasis and Laura are still the main characters but I can also see other famous monsters getting a love story of their own.
p.s. There's a playlist that Oasis makes for Laura that I recreated in Spotify so give it a LISTEN HERE!
Oasis and Laura have stolen my heart! I didn't have any expectations for this book. It was recommended to me and I was lucky enough to get a digital copy to read. I didn't read the blurb so I went into it blind and I think that's a good way to experience this story. The only thing you need to know going is that is a modern twist on Dracula.
As for the story, the pacing was really slow at times but it helped make the instalove feel more real and less forced. It also helped with Oasis' recovery from past trauma. The third act did grind the story to a screeching halt for me. I was vibing and then it felt like the book would not end. But the writing is solid.
And so are the characters! The side characters steal the scenes they're in, particularly Talon for me. The lore behind Dracula is unique and I loved seeing two different sides of Dracula ;) and hope there will be more in the next book.
This story continues into a series but I'm here for it. I hope Oasis and Laura are still the main characters but I can also see other famous monsters getting a love story of their own.
p.s. There's a playlist that Oasis makes for Laura that I recreated in Spotify so give it a LISTEN HERE!
November 29, 2023
DNF at 36%
I gave this the ol' college try. I've been struggling with this for over a month and only got up to a third of its length. I really hate to say it, but this is one of the most boring things I've ever read in my life. There is absolutely no tension and Oasis has no goal she's trying to achieve other obsess over her new girlfriend, Laura the vamp.
I did enjoy the chapter titled The Gospel of Oasis because it was actually interesting to see her backstory and how she got involved with the cult. It was like a glimpse into a book I actually wanted to read. It had emotional depth, complexity, and an intriguing situation. But then it ends and we're back to Oasis obsessing over Laura, a girl she just met and barely has a personality and... look, Laura was boring.
Laura is Count Dracula, but in the Witness Protection Program. The way she was written just wasn't interesting to me. All Laura did was drink wine and be the perfect girlfriend to Oasis, but then she broke it off because Oasis didn't believe she was a vampire. But, for real, who would? At 36%, Laura wasn't developed enough as a character for me to care what happened to her or to root for her and Oasis.
I almost feel the need to apologize for disliking this so much. The author writes really well and I hope she publishes something else in the near future. I hate to rag on an indie book, but this was not for me.
I gave this the ol' college try. I've been struggling with this for over a month and only got up to a third of its length. I really hate to say it, but this is one of the most boring things I've ever read in my life. There is absolutely no tension and Oasis has no goal she's trying to achieve other obsess over her new girlfriend, Laura the vamp.
I did enjoy the chapter titled The Gospel of Oasis because it was actually interesting to see her backstory and how she got involved with the cult. It was like a glimpse into a book I actually wanted to read. It had emotional depth, complexity, and an intriguing situation. But then it ends and we're back to Oasis obsessing over Laura, a girl she just met and barely has a personality and... look, Laura was boring.
Laura is Count Dracula, but in the Witness Protection Program. The way she was written just wasn't interesting to me. All Laura did was drink wine and be the perfect girlfriend to Oasis, but then she broke it off because Oasis didn't believe she was a vampire. But, for real, who would? At 36%, Laura wasn't developed enough as a character for me to care what happened to her or to root for her and Oasis.
I almost feel the need to apologize for disliking this so much. The author writes really well and I hope she publishes something else in the near future. I hate to rag on an indie book, but this was not for me.
June 19, 2022
Sexy, modern bisexual vampire story. Laura, "smacking her lips after a hearty sip," says: "Liars taste sweet." From Kansas, with Latin. Plus modern pop culture references. Charming detail about what you can't bring into the club in Hell's Kitchen: "NO SILVER, NO CRUCIFIXES, NO HOLY WATER, NO CONSECRATED IRON, NO BIBLES, NO BLOOD FEUDS, NO EXCEPTIONS!!!"
August 27, 2024
4.75⭐️
If a24 needs a sign to branch into miniseries, I present this book. this gothic fever dream is black, sapphic, & it slaps.
If a24 needs a sign to branch into miniseries, I present this book. this gothic fever dream is black, sapphic, & it slaps.
July 9, 2023
A truly intriguing Dracula Retelling! I loved this book so much! The first moment Laura walked in she stole my heart just as much as oasis. This book has so many witty and classic lines that I have outlined through out the book. I found this book although showcasing trauma to be heart warming and a comforting read. Here’s one of my favor quotes from the book and there’s so much more that I might make a collection of them or do a video about them.
“I am real,” Laura says soft in volume,but firm enough to loosen my paranoia just a little. “And I would never bring stress into the life of my human. It defeats the purpose of making you mine”
Laura and even Dracula had so many old fashioned swoon worthy lines and a way of talking that just drew you in. This was a very good black sapphic book! All the black sapphics would love the book and I truly believe non binary folks would especially enjoy it! Now come forth and dive into the intriguing world of oasis and Laura.
Edit: I also want to add on that although not action packed and full of erotica the over all story was really good. People comping about those two things are just people who personally like action packed and erotica story. By the way it was written i feel the story was supposed to be focused mainly on the characters and how they process their traumas before and after the things happened to them. I don’t believe it’s supposed to be action packed per say. At least not for the first book. Assuming there will be another at some point because it says darkness #1. I loved how the book was written and how comforting it was. Someone said the dynamic was manipulative….I really don’t see how so. If anything emotionally oasis has more of the power. If oasis one day decided she didn’t want Laura or Dracula the would of let her go whole heartedly and more than likely let themselves starve to death. I say focus more on the spruce reviews and try the book out for yourself.
“I am real,” Laura says soft in volume,but firm enough to loosen my paranoia just a little. “And I would never bring stress into the life of my human. It defeats the purpose of making you mine”
Laura and even Dracula had so many old fashioned swoon worthy lines and a way of talking that just drew you in. This was a very good black sapphic book! All the black sapphics would love the book and I truly believe non binary folks would especially enjoy it! Now come forth and dive into the intriguing world of oasis and Laura.
Edit: I also want to add on that although not action packed and full of erotica the over all story was really good. People comping about those two things are just people who personally like action packed and erotica story. By the way it was written i feel the story was supposed to be focused mainly on the characters and how they process their traumas before and after the things happened to them. I don’t believe it’s supposed to be action packed per say. At least not for the first book. Assuming there will be another at some point because it says darkness #1. I loved how the book was written and how comforting it was. Someone said the dynamic was manipulative….I really don’t see how so. If anything emotionally oasis has more of the power. If oasis one day decided she didn’t want Laura or Dracula the would of let her go whole heartedly and more than likely let themselves starve to death. I say focus more on the spruce reviews and try the book out for yourself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2023
Thank you to BookSirens, tRaum Books, and author Lachelle Seville for providing me with a digital copy of this novel to review. All opinions within this review are voluntarily given and entirely my own.
CW: Sexual content, blood, sexual assault (including CSA), graphic depictions of eating disorders, graphic cult trauma, forced institutionalization, graphic depictions of self-harm, death (including death of a parent), murder, racism.
A queer modern vampire novel utilizing classic vampire mythos, in which Dracula meets a traumatized cult survivor and begins an obsessive romantic relationship. It does lean heavily on the instalove trope at times, but because of the author’s willingness to commit to this throughout the novel, it remains enjoyable. It is surprisingly fun (and funny) despite the abundance of emotionally challenging subject material, and the characters– even secondary and tertiary characters– are well-rounded and interesting. There are a generous amount of references to pop-culture vampirism, music, and nerd-culture, though it never feels at-odds with the narrative. Beyond these elements (and undoubtedly more importantly), Darknesses is told from a Black, Queer perspective– which is shockingly underrepresented in Vampire novels, and especially in Vampire romance. Really looking forward to seeing where the next novel takes this series when it is published!
CW: Sexual content, blood, sexual assault (including CSA), graphic depictions of eating disorders, graphic cult trauma, forced institutionalization, graphic depictions of self-harm, death (including death of a parent), murder, racism.
A queer modern vampire novel utilizing classic vampire mythos, in which Dracula meets a traumatized cult survivor and begins an obsessive romantic relationship. It does lean heavily on the instalove trope at times, but because of the author’s willingness to commit to this throughout the novel, it remains enjoyable. It is surprisingly fun (and funny) despite the abundance of emotionally challenging subject material, and the characters– even secondary and tertiary characters– are well-rounded and interesting. There are a generous amount of references to pop-culture vampirism, music, and nerd-culture, though it never feels at-odds with the narrative. Beyond these elements (and undoubtedly more importantly), Darknesses is told from a Black, Queer perspective– which is shockingly underrepresented in Vampire novels, and especially in Vampire romance. Really looking forward to seeing where the next novel takes this series when it is published!
February 9, 2023
I devoured this book. It took me three days, which is less time than it took the characters to eat each other, but it was worth my very limited patience to see them fall completely in love.
There is a very specific genre, which may or may not have a name - don't ask me - about abuse survivors who find people who love them entire, scars and all, and make a found family to replace what blood denied them. Think Black Jewels Trilogy. I am a connoisseur of these novels. I consider the best of the genre to be the stories allow the survivors space to be angry, to refuse to forgive the unforgivable, to seek revenge on the perpetrators and the complicit. We need space for rage. We need to be loved in our righteous anger as well as our self-hated. Lachelle's book savours revenge like a fine red wine. All will end well, it promises you. The broken can be loved. The wicked can be punished. Both will be glorious.
In a world where the angels don't protect you, it's a great comfort to think the devil and her friends have your back.
There is a very specific genre, which may or may not have a name - don't ask me - about abuse survivors who find people who love them entire, scars and all, and make a found family to replace what blood denied them. Think Black Jewels Trilogy. I am a connoisseur of these novels. I consider the best of the genre to be the stories allow the survivors space to be angry, to refuse to forgive the unforgivable, to seek revenge on the perpetrators and the complicit. We need space for rage. We need to be loved in our righteous anger as well as our self-hated. Lachelle's book savours revenge like a fine red wine. All will end well, it promises you. The broken can be loved. The wicked can be punished. Both will be glorious.
In a world where the angels don't protect you, it's a great comfort to think the devil and her friends have your back.
March 16, 2024
Is it wise, really, to fall in love with “a mass-murdering sentient bat colony”? And supposing you did—how could you be sure that your emotions were real? This novel retells the tale of Dracula in 2010s New York City with such uncertainties in view.
Oasis Johnson, terminally single after surviving a cult, works in a bookstore and lives alone, doing her best to make it from day to day. A bizarrely alluring customer, Laura, buys all the bookstore’s copies of Dracula with the declared intention of burning them because the book “bears my name, but I am nowhere to be found within these pages.” Because Oasis hasn’t read Dracula and says something solicitous about Laura’s health, Laura declares she is “mine”; thus begins an uncanny romance.
The brilliancy of the novel is in how it juxtaposes Oasis and Laura’s burgeoning romance with Oasis’s traumatic experiences in the Custodes Angelorum cult. Both carry the threat of making herself the property of a dangerous manipulator in exchange for stability, protection, and the relief of ceding autonomy. Even as we hope for the best in Oasis’s search for love, we watch uneasily, wondering whether, with Laura, she is not reenacting her experience of seduction into the cult. Darknesses understands and subtly acknowledges this ambiguity of love.
I review the novel at greater length on Medium (un-paywalled link).
Oasis Johnson, terminally single after surviving a cult, works in a bookstore and lives alone, doing her best to make it from day to day. A bizarrely alluring customer, Laura, buys all the bookstore’s copies of Dracula with the declared intention of burning them because the book “bears my name, but I am nowhere to be found within these pages.” Because Oasis hasn’t read Dracula and says something solicitous about Laura’s health, Laura declares she is “mine”; thus begins an uncanny romance.
The brilliancy of the novel is in how it juxtaposes Oasis and Laura’s burgeoning romance with Oasis’s traumatic experiences in the Custodes Angelorum cult. Both carry the threat of making herself the property of a dangerous manipulator in exchange for stability, protection, and the relief of ceding autonomy. Even as we hope for the best in Oasis’s search for love, we watch uneasily, wondering whether, with Laura, she is not reenacting her experience of seduction into the cult. Darknesses understands and subtly acknowledges this ambiguity of love.
I review the novel at greater length on Medium (un-paywalled link).
February 3, 2023
Ravishingly evocative, Darknesses careens from blisteringly dark comedy to sorrow laced tragedy and back again, but it never falls into bleak hopelessness. From the time Laura walks into the bookstore, an undercurrent of happier possibilities races beneath a reality harsher than anyone should have to suffer.
The relationships, the characters (I LOVED Cypress), the heat (10/10) and even the descriptions of the Hudson River paint a vivid story that had me literally reading until dawn on multiple occasions.
As an aside; I adore the way Laura doesn't use contractions and her views on race — it's one of those rare moments when a character's voice is so uniquely defined that leaves you thinking about them for days after you shut the book. Same for Oasis — she and everything she's been through are very much going to linger in my thoughts for a long, long time.
Oh and I really loved the art. Top tier. A certain picture had me grinning for a long, long time.
The relationships, the characters (I LOVED Cypress), the heat (10/10) and even the descriptions of the Hudson River paint a vivid story that had me literally reading until dawn on multiple occasions.
As an aside; I adore the way Laura doesn't use contractions and her views on race — it's one of those rare moments when a character's voice is so uniquely defined that leaves you thinking about them for days after you shut the book. Same for Oasis — she and everything she's been through are very much going to linger in my thoughts for a long, long time.
Oh and I really loved the art. Top tier. A certain picture had me grinning for a long, long time.
January 7, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 rounded up to 4
This book is the most original retelling/sequel of Dracula I’ve come across, and I loved the queer and BIPOC rep in the book.
I could tell the author put a lot of time and effort into the story. There’s a ton of lore and story-building sprinkled throughout the book, which was awesome. The prose was beautiful, and the characters were very believable. I especially loved how both Oasis and Laura needed to grow in order to end up together in the end.
The only criticism I have was the pacing toward the end. The resolution of the story crawled by, and I found myself fighting the urge to skim the chapters. I understand the author was allowing Oasis the time she needed to heal from both her old and new trauma, but the pacing just made me wish the story would just end already.
With that being said, I don’t think I’ll ever reread Darknesses, but it was well worth a full read-through.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is the most original retelling/sequel of Dracula I’ve come across, and I loved the queer and BIPOC rep in the book.
I could tell the author put a lot of time and effort into the story. There’s a ton of lore and story-building sprinkled throughout the book, which was awesome. The prose was beautiful, and the characters were very believable. I especially loved how both Oasis and Laura needed to grow in order to end up together in the end.
The only criticism I have was the pacing toward the end. The resolution of the story crawled by, and I found myself fighting the urge to skim the chapters. I understand the author was allowing Oasis the time she needed to heal from both her old and new trauma, but the pacing just made me wish the story would just end already.
With that being said, I don’t think I’ll ever reread Darknesses, but it was well worth a full read-through.
I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
January 23, 2025
the girls, gays, goths, and nerds are gonna eat this one up and i am here for it! i was so down for the revenge plot, Laura, Dracula, and not so much down for the amnesia 😑 i always hate that as i’m scarred from Freeform Shadowhunters 😭. For all intents and purposes this book does the work it says it will and is absolutely feeding my recent Dracula kick. i am inherently in love with Laura tho ☺️
June 1, 2025
I’m late on reviewing this but this book was GOLDEN for me and a great intro on black, queer vampirism for me. I need me a Laura BADLY.
November 8, 2022
I love this book and I highly recommend it to complete your vampire canon.
Here you will find:
-revenge
-humor
-POPEYES REFERENCES
-great food references in general
-jokes. we've got jokes
-true love
-hot sexxxxxx
-an indictment of our fucked up society
-heartbreak. wow, there are some passages incredibly hard to read.
-a pantheon of occult creatures
-A modern, wonderful, heartfelt and amazingly GAY (specifically Black, specifically lesbian, but readers who know--they know) interpretation, homage and one-of-a-kind story that Dracula deserves.
Mary Shelley And Bram Stroker are proud <3
(PS: I am really excited to see what this author will bring us next.)
Here you will find:
-revenge
-humor
-POPEYES REFERENCES
-great food references in general
-jokes. we've got jokes
-true love
-hot sexxxxxx
-an indictment of our fucked up society
-heartbreak. wow, there are some passages incredibly hard to read.
-a pantheon of occult creatures
-A modern, wonderful, heartfelt and amazingly GAY (specifically Black, specifically lesbian, but readers who know--they know) interpretation, homage and one-of-a-kind story that Dracula deserves.
Mary Shelley And Bram Stroker are proud <3
(PS: I am really excited to see what this author will bring us next.)
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