Emily Coffee and Commentary's Reviews > A Dowry of Blood

Dazzling and hypnotic as a spell, this devastatingly lush farewell letter accounts the cost of obsession, jealousy, and manipulation. Poetic and seductive, we see that the lines between love and infatuation, freedom and control, resentment and hurt, are almost never clearly defined. We see the whirlpool of abuse and power, the cycles of misunderstandings and malcontents, and the explosive conclusions that they result in. As the novel expertly details, not everyone is cut out to love. Love is so often seen through a self serving glass, as a means to an end, leaving destruction and harm in its wake. Love is the beautiful word used to disguise an ulterior motive, a hidden ambition, and is the scapegoat for desolation and deception. Gorgeously rendered, nuanced, and reflective, A Dowry of Blood is a dark and wonderfully thought out reimagining of one of the most seductive, bleak legends that there is.