Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

I reluctantly picked this book up. It's black and red cover with a looming dracula-like figure hiding a knife behind it's back, did not really look like my kind of book.
But I wanted to read something by Marcus Sedgwick as I had heard good things about him.

Midwinterblood turned out to be a "don't judge a book by its cover'' job. I was enthralled by the writing and the wonderfully eerie, gothic nature of the story.

This is a romance between Eric and Merle that spans several centuries and several lives.

It is complete with vampires, magic orchids, vikings and, of course, a love that will not die.

My only disappointment was the shortness of some of the chapters. Just as I was getting lost in the time period and engaging with the characters...we moved onto the next period of time.