Forgotten Title I'm looking for an old Vampire Novel (YA Fantasy)

TheKillingAlice

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I can't concentrate, even though I don't even particularly enjoy romance novels (that aren't gay romance), but I did like that book back in the day and now I can't remember what it was. It must have been about 10 to 15 years ago that I read it, so it's definitely not recent and since it was one of my sister's books, I never had my own copy.
I remember there were at least two novels in this series, as they were interconnected, but both stories were told to the end each and the second one was more of a spin off than a direct sequel. Now I have no idea if they were the first two volumes, but I wouldn't expect myself to read a series out of line.
What I remember to be the first novel was a story set in a historical setting, maybe the 1800's? It's your typical YA Fantasy Romance. A female protagonist, who's half russian, I believe, is a noble and her parents have been dead for a while, so life is hard, even if they can pay their bills and all. She has a younger brother as well (protagonist is an adult, but young, her brother is just a bit younger, so both a well away from being teenagers). She has an aunt, which is important, because that aunt is connecting volume 1 and 2 through a daughter of her own.
Anyway, the MC of book one has an ability she can't control but also can't tell people about - she can read minds, but doesn't know how to ward them off, so it's extremely taxing. One day, she meets a guy she can't "hear" and feels drawn to him - tale as old as time. But the reason she can't hear his thoughts is because he's a vampire and they can all read and therefore also protect their minds from being read. One thing leads to another and the vampires teach her how to protect her mind and sanity, which gives her time to fall in love with the vampire guy she originally met. Later on, it turns out she's actually half vampire herself, therefore she has this ability in the first place. Her aunt knows of this fact and wants to murder her. Doesn't work though, because upon realizing she's half vampire, they feed her blood, which ends up healing her wounds.
(Presumably) Volume 2 / Spin-Off: the aunt herself had a child with a vampire. She treated her daughter awfully and nobody even know she'd had her. She ends up blinding her with bleach and tells her the reason for all her hatred is a specific vampire whom she hated more than anything. Fueled by that as her only goal in life, she tags along with a bunch of gypsy nomads, playing her violin, while searching for this specific vampire. She finds him, when she departed the gypsies and joined a circus, where she meets a vampire dude she falls in love with, who has connections to the one she was looking for, but falling in love made her waver for a while. Anyway, she finds out the dude she was supposed to kill was her father and, again, she's also a dhampir, so they cure her eyesight by having her drink blood in the end.


Does that plot ring a bell? I hate it, when I can't find something. I have a habit of hype focusing on things, so I would appreciate if anyone could give me a hint.
Needless to say, but I'll still do it: It's a western novel, traditionally published, not a webnovel.
 

CharlesEBrown

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Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Found it here at number 26. https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/best-vampire-books
Is this the right one?
That was my first guess, but in book 7 or 8 (one of the two in the series I have NOT read - though the last one was apparently co-written by someone else under Harris's direction and does not feel the same, judging by reviews), you find out Sookie is half-fairy (and thus irresistible to vampires).
I think I read the book jacket for the story in question about fifteen or twenty years ago but did not read the book, so don't know the title. The bit about the aunt feels familiar.
 
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