Dacia and Lou are New York society girls going to Romania to meet their family. Little do they know there is more to the Florescus than they've been told. Soon they are caught up in supernatural secrets and political intrigue. Soon, the marriage prospects of a New York season are looking like a pice of cake. 
 This book has all the right elements: supernatural creatures, strong female friendships, a late 19th century setting. I really enjoyed Dacia and Lou. They had a strong bond despite their personality differences. Additionally, neither was potrayed as the "poor wallflower" type which is easy in period pieces. Yes, Lou was a little weaker at the beginning, but she was never judged for it. And she was always strong in her own way. 
 Conversely, our villain is rough. For one, he seems somewhat cliche and vague in his goals. Of course he wants to usurp the throne and take over all of Romania. Why wouldn't he? But it all feels very thin in terms of development. And I really didn't enjoy the assault of Dacia as a plot device. It takes a character we have hereforto seen as strong and uses her as a prop for the villain to sexually assault. Yes, sometimes that's how villains try it. But Mihai was nowhere near developed enough for this to work. It felt forced upon the narrative. Let's make Dacia a victim in this situation. A guy will want her real bad, and he will attempt to force himself on her. 
 Additionally, the world here did not feel fully fleshed out. I'm all for twisting the Dracula and Vlad the Impaler mythology, but it didn't mesh together well here. At one point a character tells the girls he is worried for their safety around Mihai because of the popular novel Dracula. But the novel Dracula does not at all fit in with the world established, and neither does the author use it to explore the sensationalism and gossip. I understand wanting to acknowledge the novel, especially as it came out in the period we are set in, but it doesn't really work. And the Florescus themselves didn't present thesmelves vibrantly. I understand the mythology, but not why I should care. 
 While George deoes a wonderful job at developing Dacia and Lou, I would have liked to see this translate to the world around them as well. Some parts felt more tell than show. And the setting was not nearly as richly built and exciting as it could have been. And why Romania and how Romania as a setting is any different than Paris or New York would have been at this point remains to be seen. I'm not given the all the pieces I need to make this stand out in a sea of wonderful young adult supernatural fiction. Still, it wasn't a chore to get through, and would made a good, quick summer read.