countdracula

carly⛄️ | 28 | give me your gothic recs (not actually dracula)

320 points

0% overlap

My Taste

The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, #1)

Reading...

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15h

Backhanded Compliments

Katie Chandler

A steamy sapphic romance with a fantastical twist about two bitter tennis rivals who realize they are reluctant soulmates—perfect for fans of Expiration Dates and Here We Go Again. Juliette Ricci dreams of only one being the best women’s tennis player in the world. She’s worked nonstop with her strict father/coach to prepare for her big chance in the Australian Open. Unfortunately, she’ll be playing Lucky Luca Kacic, an aloof player whose unorthodox style and reigning popularity deeply irritate Juliette. For months they’ve traded sly insults in their press conferences leading up to their showdown on the court, and their first ever match is the most anticipated of the season. But Juliette refuses to let her nerves—or Luca’s annoyingly perfect abs—get the best of her. Meanwhile, Luca seemingly has everything Juliette desires but there’s one thing missing from her love. When she shakes hands with Juliette after an agonizing match and sees her rival’s name appear on her wrist, it feels like a cruel joke. Juliette is a spoiled, arrogant brat who wants absolutely nothing to do with Luca or a soulmate. But despite their personal and professional clashes, the two grow closer after late-night massages and one too many shots of limoncello. Their chemistry is tangible, but Luca’s anxiety tells her that Juliette is just messing with her head to throw her off her game, and Juliette can’t understand why Luca is so hot and cold. With the pressure of the world scrutinizing their every move, they will have to decide what’s more important—being together or being number one.

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15h

Memoir Graphic Novels

by OhMyDio

17 books

Memoirs told via Graphic Novels. Recommendations welcome!

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📝

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Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis, #1)

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15h

Supper Club

Lara Williams

A sharply intelligent and intimate debut novel about a secret society of hungry young women who meet after dark and feast to reclaim their appetites--and their physical spaces--that posits the question: if you feed a starving woman, what will she grow into? Roberta spends her life trying not to take up space. At almost thirty, she is adrift and alienated from life. Stuck in a mindless job and reluctant to pursue her passion for food, she suppresses her appetite and recedes to the corners of rooms. But when she meets Stevie, a spirited and effervescent artist, their intense friendship sparks a change in Roberta, a shift in her desire for more. Together, they invent the Supper Club, a transgressive and joyous collective of women who gather to celebrate, rather than admonish, their hungers. They gather after dark and feast until they are sick; they break into private buildings and leave carnage in their wake; they embrace their changing bodies; they stop apologizing. For these women, each extraordinary yet unfulfilled, the club is a way to explore, discover, and push the boundaries of the space they take up in the world. Yet as the club expands, growing both in size and rebellion, Roberta is forced to reconcile herself to the desire and vulnerabilities of the body--and the past she has worked so hard to repress. Devastatingly perceptive and savagely funny, Supper Club is an essential coming-of-age story for our times.

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16h

Don't Let the Forest In

C.G. Drews

Once upon a time, Andrew had cut out his heart and given it to this boy, and he was very sure Thomas had no idea that Andrew would do anything for him. Protect him. Lie for him. Kill for him. High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality—Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more. But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won’t say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork—whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew’s wicked stories. Desperate to figure out what’s wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster—Thomas’s drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator…

countdracula finished reading and left a rating...

16h

countdracula

Nov 15, 2025

5.0

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 5.0Characters: 5.0Plot: 5.0

countdracula started reading...

Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë

You can find the redesigned cover of this edition HERE. At the centre of this novel is the passionate love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff - recounted with such emotional intensity that a plain tale of the Yorkshire moors acquires the depth and simplicity of ancient tragedy. This best-selling Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1847 first edition of the novel. For the Fourth Edition, the editor has collated the 1847 text with several modern editions and has corrected a number of variants, including accidentals. The text is accompanied by entirely new explanatory annotations. New to the fourth Edition are twelve of Emily Bronte's letters regarding the publication of the 1847 edition of Wuthering Heights as well as the evolution of the 1850 edition, prose and poetry selections by the author, four reviews of the novel, and poetry selections by the author, four reviews of the novel, and Edward Chitham's insightful and informative chronology of the creative process behind the beloved work. Five major critical interpretations of Wuthering Heights are included, three of them new to the Fourth Edition. A Stuart Daley considers the importance of chronology in the novel. J. Hillis Miller examines Wuthering Heights's problems of genre and critical reputation. Sandra M. Gilbert assesses the role of Victorian Christianity plays in the novel, while Martha Nussbaum traces the novel's romanticism. Finally, Lin Haire-Sargeant scrutinizes the role of Heathcliff in film adaptations of Wuthering Heights. A Chronology and updated Selected Bibliography are also included.

countdracula commented on countdracula's review of Shoot Your Shot

countdracula

Nov 06, 2025

3.5

Enjoyment: 5.0Quality: 2.5Characters: 3.5Plot: 2.5

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i read this book after a friend mentioned that lexi wrote a book and i had a lot of fun! i think some of the critiques i’m seeing are a bit harsh as i didn’t think it was any better or worse than similar books in the genre. i liked the characters— i really love a mean bisexual woman i think every book is better with a mean bisexual— and liked that this book explored lucy’s career and wasn’t only focused on hockey. (i’m a men’s hockey hater bc im a figure skater and hate sharing the ice with stinky men. like ROTTEN smell)

i do have my complaints. i think there could have been a little more time spent in editing, especially developmental and line edits. some words were repeated in quick succession that didn’t seem intentional and the motivations behind the characters needed a bit more fleshing out. i felt like they kept stating their careers are important, tattooing is important, she must focus on her craft! but i didn’t really see that. maybe this book should have been longer? or maybe it needed to be more focused. i am not sure. an example is the cat scene. that was weird, right? i was not wholly convinced by the plot. i will also say that some of the plot beats felt very similar to the only other hockey-involved romance i’ve read. i don’t think this is necessarily bad, but it was noticeable. i did like the other book better, so it reminded me that maybe i’d rather be reading that one instead.

that being said, i did really like the characters and their relationship. i thought it was nice seeing a woman be brooding and dark and a man be gentle and soft. i wish this dynamic was explored in some of the more risky scenes (lucy should have been more dominant! i’ll say it!)

i am not a huge romance reader and this was lexi’s debut so i am going to give it a little grace. i don’t want to be too harsh on genre tropes in a genre that i don’t read often and don’t enjoy as much as others. there was a lot to improve upon, but overall i had a fun and silly time.

final note: LEXI (OR LITERALLY ANYONE) NEEDS TO WRITE A SAPPHIC HOCKEY BOOKS PLEASEEEEEEEE THEY ARE LITERALLY DOING ROMCOM LEVELS OF ROMANCE IN THE PWHL AND NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT.

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