I’m so pleased to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for clever and hilarious graphic novel Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovern. This is Emily’s debut graphic novel. Thank you to Anne Cater and Simon & Schuster for giving me the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book!
About the book:
Georgette Heyer meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer in this smart, funny graphic novel by Emily McGovern, the award-winning author of My Life as a Background Slytherin.
The year is 1820, and bored young debutante Lucy knows there must be more to life than embroidery and engagements – no matter how eligible the bachelor might be. Some bachelors, she has discovered, are less ‘eligible’ than they are ‘bloodthirsty,’ however… literally. It turns out that there are a lot of vampires in late-Regency England, and Lucy has an eye for spotting them and the desire to rid the world of them.
It’s not long before Lady Violet Travesty, leader of a mysterious vampire cult, spots Lucy’s talents and offers her a place amongst her vampire acolytes.
Unfortunately, Lady Violent is most horribly slain by the famous Lord Byron before Lucy can accept. Lucy instead joins Lord Byron and his enormous, psychic eagle Napoleon in their ongoing fight against evils such as bloodsucking ghouls and bad taste. Before long they’re joined by the mysterious Sham, an androgynous bounty hunter, who catches Lucy’s eye. The trio lie, flirt, fight and manipulate each other as they make their way across Britain, disrupting society balls, slaying vampires, and making every effort not to betray their feelings to each other as their personal and romantic lives become increasingly entangled.
A balm for the soul for readers who love Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, novels by Eloisa James and Jane Austen, and the action and adventure of Xena, Warrior Princess, Bloodlust & Bonnets is the most modern action-heavy love-story set two hundred years ago that you’ll read this year.
About the author:
Emily was born in the UK but grew up in Brussels, where she attended the European School of Brussels II. After graduating, she began a Foundation Art Diploma course at London College of Fashion. She studiously avoided any fashion, and instead spent her time making hand-drawn animations and weird paintings of witches.
She began a BA degree in Russian Studies at University College London and spent a year in Russia working in a rural commune, where she ran a weekly art “gathering” for the kids. The year abroad allowed her to go to many Russian art galleries, which were a revelation to her – artists such as Vereshchagin and Vasnetsov she found influenced her greatly.
She graduated with First Class Honours and by 2016 was building a comic driven social media platform based around the regular posting of her ‘My Life As A Background Slytherin’ comic. Bloodlust & Bonnets is her first graphic novel.
My Review:
As soon as I saw the blurb for Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovern I knew I had to read it. As a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan of both the TV show and the graphic novel series, I knew this book was going to be something I would love. And I was so right!
I’ve dipped in and out of graphic novels over the years, enjoying some of the Marvel comics, loving The Walking Dead and being ever so slightly obsessed with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics continuation after being a fan of the TV show for many years. My most recent foray into the genre has been Gerard Way’s The Umbrella Acadamy which I absolutely adored! So when I was given the opportunity to read and review Bloodlust & Bonnets I jumped at the chance.
The year is 1820 and bored young debutante Lucy knows there must be more to life than endless embroidery and engagements. She has discovered that some bachelors are less ‘eligible’ and more of the ‘bloodthirsty’ variety. Lucy soon realises that she has an eye for spotting vampires and would like nothing more than to rid the world of them all.
Lucy joins forces with Lord Byron (yes, THAT Lord Byron!) the world famous poet and vampire hunter(!), his enormous psychic eagle Napoleon, and the mysterious Sham, an androgynous bounty hunter who catches Lucy’s eye. What follows is a cleverly written and hilarious tale that sees the trio fight, flirt and manipulate their way across Britain, disrupting society balls, slaying vampires, and trying their best not to betray their feelings to each other as their personal and romantic lives become increasingly entangled. It’s a perfect mix of action, adventure, romance and comedy, with the action moving along at a cracking pace and some brilliant one liners that had me laughing out loud.
Artwork has the ability to make or break a graphic novel for me, but I was very impressed with the artwork here. The simple style is unique, quirky and very easy on the eye, bringing the story and characters vividly to life. The story flows well and the skilfully drawn artwork, together with the cleverly written, hilarious prose makes for a perfect combination.
Bloodlust & Bonnets is an impressive debut that I would highly recommend. I can’t wait to see what the talented Emily McGovern comes up with next!
Bloodlust & Bonnets is available to buy now: Amazon UK
Check out what these other fabulous bloggers have to say about this impressive graphic novel:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks so much for the blog tour support Cal x
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You’re very welcome, Anne. ❤️
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