Review: COUNT DRACULA HAS NOTHING ON JEREMIAH & ZONDRA
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2011
As a boy growing up in Indianapolis, Indiana I was forced by my big Sis to go to the Hollywood Theater's Saturday Matinee of "COUNT DRACULA" series of B-Movies on more than one occassion.I was always into World War II, Air Force, cops & robbers, Superman, Dragnet and Perry Mason.  My sister Janet was always into Tarzan, Count Dracula, Frankenstein, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, The Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry and Zorro.HAVE I GOT A BOOK FOR HER!!!ORIGINAL BLOOD by STUART LAND was a great departure in my normal and preferred reading.When I first read the historic settings of Holly-on-Brighton, England, and then jumping to Gerogetown, Washington D.C., I was hooked.  Then comes the election of my favorite President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.  President Lincoln's bold mandate to free the "Slaves" precipitated the CIVIL WAR (another of my favorite historic topics).  In all of my readings of the events of the Civil War, I missed the fact that families of VAMPIRES were quite active!  There is Gailene, the Matriarch and Fenton, her want-to-be lover who becomes the nemises of Jeremiah who is her lover.  You read about people living to be 100, 107 , 110 years of age.  Well, little did I know, VAMPIRES can live for centuries - without the need for anti-aging cremes, plastic surgeons and hard phsyical work-outs at the Equinox Gym.Enter ZONDRA, Gailene's great granddaughter. A beautiful college co-ed who had been adopted at birth by a nice young couple in New Jersey.  She meets Jeremiah and transcends time.  Love is in the air.  In the two hundred plus years it takes for STUART LAND to weave this MASTERPIECE, trials and tribulations come face to face with Zondra, and she handles every situation with the calmness of a pro.  The VAMPIRE families remind me of the New York, Chicago, Detroit, Boston, Las Vegas Cosa Nostra families - always feuding about something with often-time bloody results.STUART LAND had me turning page after page in awe, anticipating the next bite on my neck, feeling the blood being sucked from every vein and artery in my body.  I was facinated as I read this tightly woven tale of fiction to the point Gailene, Fenton, Jeremiah, the twins, and Zondra seemed so real to me.Shortly before two A.M. (Sunday morning, 3 April), I could not keep my eyes open, I had to leave the last coulple of chapters for the morning.Funny thing, at just before seven-thirty this morning, I felt this cold, wet touch on my neck - I was startled, thinking it was Jeremiah!  I jumped into an upright position, only to see the fangs on my beloved German Shepherd!  He wanted to go for his ride to the park!FIVE STARS is not enough for ORIGINAL BLOOD by STUART LAND!  This is a terrific book and his attention to historic detail and descriptive words for the settings are outstanding.  His character development is pure perfection!  Each character fully evolves and fills their intended position to make ORIGIAL BLOOD a facinating and truly enjoyable book.I purchased and read the Kindle Edition - NOW, I have to purchase the REAL BOOK to place in a prominent position on my bookshelves. IF you enjoy reading about VAMPIRES, or you just want to take a walk on the wild side, I highly recommend getting your copy of ORIGINAL BLOOD by STUART LAND.  Having read this book, I wonder . . . DO VAMPIRES really walk among us?I certainly will be reading STUART LAND as long as he keeps on writing.Michael PhelpsAuthor