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aVampireReads

Gothic-curious. Born analog, raised digital. The kind of person who reads Dracula and knows Mina was the real MVP. BookTok: @spellbinding.press

888 points

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Level 4
Reading...Jane Eyre
My Taste
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Dracula

aVampireReads commented on a post

13h
  • Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
    Thoughts from 18%
    spoilers

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  • aVampireReads commented on a post

    13h
  • What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)
    Thoughts from 50% (Finished Ch. 7)

    As someone who doesn't read horror with anxiety, I shouldn't have started reading this in the dark at 2am... but I did, so now I have the light on. 🥲

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  • aVampireReads commented on a post

    13h
  • What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, #1)
    Thoughts from 26%

    I'm ashamed to admit that, despite having an English degree, I've never read Fall of the House of Usher, so I haven't been able to compare WMTD to it directly. I know the plot, but I'm curious to see how the mushrooms play into things. I'm enjoying it so far, including the Kingfisher's imitation of the OG gothic style, but I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing just yet.

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  • Post from the Jane Eyre forum

    13h
  • Jane Eyre
    14% into Jane Eyre (& sharing my first annotation key!✒️)

    Technically a reread, but it feels more like a first-time read because I barely remember it from middle school. This time though, I’m actually annotating it, with a full-on color-coded key. I used to be the type who thought writing in books was borderline disrespectful. Back in my undergrad lit classes, I carried a separate notebook so my books stayed “clean.” But I’ve completely flipped. I want my books to show signs of thinking. Here’s the key I’m using: 💜Character development: choices, relationships, growth arcs 🖤Gothic stuff: setting, mood, inner turmoil, vibes 🩷Themes: gender, class, religion, power 🩶Weird/suspense: tension, foreshadowing, anything eerie 🤎Fav quotes: lines that hit or just sound amazing Honestly, it’s made the reading so much more active. Instead of just observing, I feel like I’m in conversation with the book. Like it’s meeting me where I’m at. Sharing in case anyone else is trying to get more out of their reading or has annotation systems of their own. Would love to swap ideas!

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  • aVampireReads commented on marissa's update

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    aVampireReads finished reading and wrote a review...

    5d
  • White Nights
    aVampireReads
    Apr 16, 2025
    5.0
    Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0
    🏙️
    💌
    🌙

    This story is deeply melancholic, emotionally dense, and surprisingly relatable. Though how much it resonates with each one of us may differ depending on our own experiences. 💖 What I loved: • I found myself highlighting so many lines. Thoughts and emotions I’ve felt before, but could not quite name. • There’s something profoundly cathartic about reading a character who embodies feelings you've felt in the past or might be experiencing now, yet struggled to articulate. • It was written in 1848 and yet feels so incredibly relevant today. Like a reminder that our inner lives, loneliness, longing, disillusionment, are timeless. The ache of the human soul really transcends centuries. • The city as a character. The St. Petersburg setting is so atmospheric. It feels like a living, breathing presence in the story. Honestly, the city might be the narrator’s only true companion. • It gave me serious Murakami’s After Dark vibes. Nighttime becomes this quiet stage for inner reflection, where the city almost watches over the characters. I kept picturing scenes from White Nights and imagining the barely audible sound of snow falling…the kind you can only hear if you’re still, alone, and really listening. • The way Dostoevsky defines the “dreamer” really stuck with me. The narrator lives right in that dreamy space: aware of who he is, but also lost in delusion. • The unreliable, first person narration with direct addresses to the reader. It gives the story this unstable intimacy: you’re close to the narrator, but can’t fully trust what he sees or believes. It’s about loneliness, yes...but also the fleeting beauty of connection, and how a single conversation on a cold night can feel like a whole lifetime...

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  • aVampireReads commented on aVampireReads's review of Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)

    1w
  • Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
    aVampireReads
    Apr 11, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 4.0
    🏹
    ❄️
    ⛑️

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  • aVampireReads finished reading and wrote a review...

    1w
  • Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
    aVampireReads
    Apr 11, 2025
    4.0
    Enjoyment: 4.0Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.0Plot: 4.0
    🏹
    ❄️
    ⛑️

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    9
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  • Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
    Thoughts from 75%
    spoilers

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  • aVampireReads commented on a post

    1w
  • As Many Souls as Stars
    My first ARC from NetGalley!

    I’ve requested a few books through NetGalley before but this is the first one I’ve actually gotten! Excited to read this next!

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  • aVampireReads commented on a post

    1w
  • Witchcraft for Wayward Girls
    Thoughts from 80%

    The feminine rage this book is making me feel right now. 🤬

    6
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  • aVampireReads commented on a post

    1w
  • The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
    how many of us are back after sotr?

    my obsession with this series came flooding back after finishing sunrise on the reaping, so here I am again. The last time I read this book was when I was 18 for school, but before that, I used to read (and reread) the series when I was about 15. So, it's definitely been a while. I'm also wondering, if anyone read sotr first without reading the trilogy, what are your thoughts?

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  • aVampireReads commented on a post

    1w
  • The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
    Revisiting!

    It's too dark for me to start a scary book (We Used to Live Here) and too soon for me to start another giant epic (A Day of Fallen Night). Gonna reread the trilogy to refresh my memory since I haven't read them since release and then move on to one of those, I think.

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  • aVampireReads commented on a post from the Founder Announcements forum

    1w
  • Product & Dev Update (4/10/25)

    Hi everyone! We have a few product updates to share - 1. The button to edit read dates is now on the book page - instead of sifting through your library to edit dates, you can visit the book page directly. 2. You can now edit the title, progress %, and spoiler tag on your posts (in addition to the contents!) 3. Fixed various bugs related to adding books to the Pagebound catalog, Goodreads imports, and comments on activity updates. We've had some questions about non-English books and issues importing books in non-Roman lettered languages like Arabic and Greek. We do plan to address both of these issues, however it is a large project and due to the discussion and forum nature of the site, the solution isn't straightforward. For now, non-English books will remain separate from the English version to preserve single-language discussion in the forums, and you may encounter data issues importing books in non-Roman lettered languages. We ask you refrain from importing those books at this time to help keep the integrity of our database! Special shoutout to our lovely Devin for helping on the engineering side with these updates 🫶 Happy reading, Jennifer & Lucy 💜💙

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  • aVampireReads commented on a post from the Pagebound Club forum

    2w
  • marissa
    Edited
    Appreciate for PageBound's Rating System

    I’m obsessed with PageBound’s rating system. It’s been so lovely being able to break down my thoughts into enjoyment, quality, characters, and plot and in such an easy way. Sometimes I may not think the quality of writing is the best, but the characters totally win me over or maybe there’s barely any plot but I still had the great time reading it! I think it’ll be nice for me to have to look back on as well when I’m recommending books for others too, it’s like my own little bookish cheat sheet even when I may not note it in the review itself. I also love the inclusions of emojis. It’s such a fun touch, even if I definitely spend more time picking the perfect emoji than writing the actual review😅. It’s cool seeing what emojis other people choose too because they might have caught something I didn’t or thought something was more important. Anyway, just wanted to quickly share my appreciation!

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  • aVampireReads commented on a post

    2w
  • Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
    Thoughts from 30%
    spoilers

    View spoiler

    5
    comments 4
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