He loved Pru far too much to allow that to happen to her. He frustrated me in his insistence not to change Pru into a vampire, but I could understand from his frame of reference (of many years indoctrinated by the church) that he was an abomination likely damned to hell. He might have a raving thirst that he has to control, but in his heart, this man made a choice to do right, and he didn't stray from that path. I am a lover of antiheroes and dark heroes, and there is no darkness in this hero. Yet, Marie didn't try at all to see what Chapel was, her beloved.Ĭhapel could not see the goodness inside of himself, and from the beginning, it is clear that Chapel is a very good man.

Granted Marie lived in a time where the church had a stranglehold over reason and a strict and narrow view of black and white. Pru knew that a woman in love should look past the surface and to the man beneath, although Marie could only see the beast. I love the scene where she calls Marie, Chapel's long deceased love, a 'cow.' That was classic and really true. And it's not fair for us to hold ourselves accontable for the choices that others make. He was tormenting himself for his part in his love Marie's suicide. She was tough on Chapel for what she considered him wasting hundreds of years brooding and feeling sorry for himself. Through the eyes of Pru, a woman doomed to die young by her disease, I was shown to see that life is so precious that it is important to grab at every experience of value to us with both hands. It also speaks of living one's life to the fullest, a lesson I still need to work on. But fundamentally, like Hellboy, he makes a choice not to be evil. Was Chapel evil merely because he was a vampire? Was he a monster and an abomination just because he had to take the blood of humans to live? Or, like Professor Broome asks in Hellboy, 'What is the measure of a man?' Like Hellboy, Chapel is a creature of the night, born from what is considered evil. Smith poses a question that gave me food for thought. Good versus evil is a part of this story, but Ms. It had the elements of a traditional vampire story that I love. It reminded me of the vicious hatred I have for that disease, and the message of this book hit home with increased potency because of seeing my father succumb to this disease, and how Pru suffered in this way.

It reminded me of what it was like to lose my father to cancer. This book made me cry like a baby towards the end.

Be Mine Tonight by Kathryn Smith