Bitten By Time: Book Review

'Bitten By Time' is a historical fiction and fantasy novel written by Lara Bronson and is the first book in a 4 part series called 'The Vampire Genesis Chronicles'. I was very lucky to receive a copy of the book before it came out, (which is on the 21st of April 2023) and get to review it for future readers. In 'Bitten By Time' we meet Petra, a Romanian/American, University of Washington, history student! We follow Petra as she embarks on a personal trip to Romania, visits her old family houses, eats traditional Romanian food and explores famous sights. During her visit to the Royal Palace of Tárgoviste, Petra is transported through time and has to act as a mute maid to protect her identity. Only, the kings second in command finds out her secret and damages her chances of getting home.

First Impressions

Bitten by time begins in an airport, where we meet Petra and her best friend Mei. Immediately we hear about Petra's stalker ex, which she is trying to forget about by taking a trip to Romania and a few flashbacks of her life. We find out basic information about Petra in the first few chapters: her Romanian heritage, her life with her family and information about her missing sister. I have to say, I was initially impressed with the descriptions of clothing and surroundings, but I wished that I had gotten a more solid description of what the characters looked like. I also felt as if the beginning of the book took a while to get into, but after the first few chapters, it flowed nicely. I loved the mentions of witches, vampires and Zburatorul, a Romanian mythical creature that attacks unmarried maidens. Hearing of these Creatures had me so interested, as I am a sucker for the supernatural. My favourite characters throughout the book were Mama Nica, a witty and amazingly stubborn old lady and mother figure, who has been the castles maid for many generations, and Gabriel, Petra's love interest, who is poetic, gentlemanly and will stop at nothing to protect her. There was a bit of spice in the story towards the end, which was just enough for me. I felt deeply connected to Petra and Gabriel's relationship from the beginning and need to know more in the next books! I do feel like a lot of research went into this book, especially with making the dialogue historically accurate. The dialogue was my favourite parts of the book and made me feel like a Medieval princess whilst reading! The book did end on quite a sharp cliff hanger, which can be annoying to some readers, but I was content with how it ended and definitely would continue the series!

Pros

• Beautiful descriptions of landscape and sights, helping you to get the imagination flowing and hop into the medieval world.

• Historically accurate in my opinion, especially within the dialogue making me feel immersed.

• Short chapters and a very useful glossary in the back of the book. It helped me out quite a lot and described what certain creatures were and told us what the Latin meant!

• I am glad that it is set somewhere other than America, England or Paris!

Cons

• I feel it took me a long while to get into the story and a couple of the chapters could be less focused on.

• I feel like the characters weren't described enough, although that is my personal opinion and I enjoy description quite a lot.

• I also didn't feel very connected to Petra, I felt I didn't get to know much about her as a person.

Conclusion

To conclude, 'Bitten by Time' is a well written supernatural, historical fiction book, filled with twists and turns, magical creatures and romance that will keep you hooked. Bitten by Time has minimal swearing, but has mentions of attempted sexual assault, violence, stalking and talk of murder, but is definitely tame and not gory at all. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is a lover of the supernatural and would say this book is a teen/ Young adult style novel. I rate this book a 3.5/5 stars because the book definitely piqued my interest, and kept me entertained and connected, but I do feel some things could be improved. Lara Bronson definitely did an amazing job with this book and I am excited to see what she has planned for Petra and Gabriel in her next books!

I am so excited for this book to come out so you can read it too! I hope this post inspired you to pick up this book and check out the start of Lara's new series. If you are interested in reading this book or not, comment why below! I would greatly appreciate if you would consider following and sharing my blog and joining my book club group if you liked this post, and contact me with any requests or questions you may have.