LUCY UNDYING is a highly unique and fresh take on the classic Dracula tale. The book partially follows the epistolary format in homage to the original, this time with letters from Lucy's perspective. It also maintains the primary tone of gothic horror throughout the book but with a modern twist at every step, casting a light on how a vampire would hide and maintain their power in plain sight in the present day, and what type of modern villain they may become in the process. Lucy's story tackles conversations of power, control, and reclaiming women's stories, both past and future, by addressing the mistreatment she faced in the past and pursuing justice in the present. Different from the original text, UNDYING has the added and necessary focus on the queer plot line present in the original between Lucy and Mina, this time giving readers a fulfilled story with Lucy and new character Iris in a dynamic that empowers them both at every step. Rich with mystery and a fast-paced plot, the novel maintains lightness with its humorous narrators, especially within Lucy's teenage diary entries as she documents the men surrounding her in the 1890's. I flew through this book and haven't stopped thinking about it since- this is the exact type of retelling I seek out, and I can't wait to see more readers discover this version of Lucy's story.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House / Ballantine for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

"Lucy Undying" is an exciting reimagining of Lucy Westenra, one of the more sidetracked characters from Dracula. It looks into what could have happened if Lucy had survived her supposed death and had lived on to present times—having had to cope with all the trauma from her turning vampire and her discovery of self outside the overwhelming shadow of Dracula.

The jacket of the book is striking, giving way to a story full of eerie, powerful moments. Lucy's character development was something special to read, especially her journey of self-discovery and relationship with Mina being extremely complex. That will just add depth to her story, making it more compelling than this insta-love present-day storyline between Lucy and Iris, which feels a little underdeveloped to some readers.

However, this novel does have several flaws. The result of this dual focus to retell Dracula and weave in the subplot of a modern-day vampire MLM cult does not always mesh well. This attempt at stitching together two narratives occasionally leaves a disjointed story that feels slow, especially in the middle sections. Truly uneven in its pace, some readers find it a bit too slow before the final 100 pages when all the action picks up.

The portrayal of characters from Dracula can also be controversial, especially to the fans of the original. Some portrayals, like the case of Mina as a manipulative character, may seem superficial or even reducible. The feminist themes in the book are palpable but at certain times, much toward the end, seem stridentlyportlet.

Despite these critiques, "Lucy Undying" does manage to give Lucy some voice and agency denied to her in Dracula. The character's evolution and the final act are very strong and balance very well against modern-day cringe moments, redeeming some of the slower parts.

If you are a Dracula fan and you do like retellings that go more into the sidelined characters with new perspectives, then "Lucy Undying" is a read worth taking the time for. It's definitely unique in horror and fantasy with a little dark humor, even if it doesn't live quite to its potential.

Lucy Undying is exactly what I wanted from a vampire story. It’s dark and well written and the characters pulled me in immediately. I loved the three different ways the POVs are told. I felt each character voice was clear immediately and I never had to question which POV I was in. I do think it got really slow and questioned a bit if it needed to be nearly 500 pages. It’s very character focused which I enjoy but is definitely not for everyone.

This book was absolutely breathtaking. It felt like a sapphic love letter to the original Dracula and the writing? Impeccable.

As I read, I got to see who Lucy and Iris were and who they became and never got to be.

I can't recommend this book enough.

Dracula fans, this one's for YOU! Seriously, I kind of wish I had read Dracula prior to diving into Lucy Undying so I could fully appreciate all of the references in this retelling. 

I love vampire stories and horror novels and Kiersten White's latest delivered in many ways. We get dual timelines: Lucy in the late 19th Century and Iris in the present day. I honestly loved both of their stories. But the book reads more like a paranormal historical fiction, rather than horror. There are some action-packed scenes, but I was never scared, even when things lurked in the night. It's a sapphic love story and it's about choosing your own fate. And as you'd expect in a novel by White, it has a thing or two to say about cults/religion. 
Overall I enjoyed the novel. It drags a bit here and there and attempts to cover too much ground. I think if it had been a tighter read it would've been a homerun. Still, I can't wait to read whatever White writes next. She's one of my favorite voices in the genre.

Lucy Undying will be out 9/10.  Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC!

P.S. DO NOT READ THE SYNOPSIS. I feel it gives wayyyyy too much away.

I've already pre-ordered my physical copy of this book! Sapphic Dracula retelling? I knew this would be right up my alley with writing I love and actively seek. This is the first book I've read by this author and absolutely will not be the last. I did initially struggle with the POV's and timelines but eventually, each felt like it's own tone of voice and became easier for me to navigate.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for access to the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of Kiersten White from her Conquerer’s Saga, I was ecstatic to be approved for her latest book, one that promised to be a dracula retelling like never before seen. And trust me, she absolutely delivered. Lucy Undying is a dark and rich story about a young woman cursed by dracula and the journey she takes through the coming centuries to undo what he’s done to her.

I absolutely loved this, and White continues to hold steady as one of my favorite authors!

4 stars. I knew from the first page that I was going to enjoy this book. I like my vampire books to be queer and funny and this had that. I liked the structure and the main characters. I did think this book was going to end about 100 pages before it did but after getting to the end, I see why she kept going.
I would definitely read more by her following this.

I have really enjoyed Kiersten White’s other novels so was super excited to see she had a new book coming out, and this time a Dracula retelling, but sapphic. Sign me up. I jumped on the opportunity.

This book is, like the author’s previous works, deeply atmospheric, and dare I say slow moving. However, in this case the book is almost 500 pages, and really not a whole lot happened over the course of the book. I would categorize this as a character driven book, because again, not much happens of significance with the plot, but we do get to know the characters immensely well.

I enjoyed the different points of views including Lucy’s diary/journal, therapist discussions, and Iris. It was a fun way to get to know the characters in an intimate and natural way. I also enjoyed the authors writing style which did draw me in, however I felt that the book was too long for what it was, and I found myself not wanting to pick it up.

I think I need to stick to these books in audio because they really immerse me more in the atmosphere that way. Some books just work better for me in that medium, and in this case, I believe this author is that way for me.

3.5 stars rounded to 4

⭐⭐⭐1/2 stars!

Now, I have NOT read Dracula (and I'm not really sure if I will) so I can't attest to whether this is well written fanfic or not but I did have a good time! I would reccomend this if you're wanting some sapphic vampires

Spoilers below:

I have two complaints:

One: the mish-mash of POVs. First we have Iris (in 2024), then we have Lucy (in 1890ish), Lucy (in 2024), and Lucy (in 2025), as well as Iris (in 2025) when the 'current' (2024) timeline catches up, as well as some POVs from Del Toro, Dracula, and Mina. See how this could be confusing? I eventually figured out the timeline but I really do wish we only had two: Iris 2024-2025 (with Lucy's journals being shown as Iris reads them, not seperately) and instead of transcripts with her therapist (which felt really random, as we never actually met said therapist) just have Lucy narrate her life (either to the reader, or herself, or Iris in the future or something).

Two: This novel couldn't seem to decide what genre/tone/mood it wanted to be. I enjoyed both sections: Lucy's journal/transcripts from her therapist walking us throughout her life and history and her emotional journey, and Iris' mad dash to destroy Goldaming Life. It did feel like I was reading different books for a while though. Lucy's sections were reminding me of Addie LaRue, while Iris's sections felt like a modern paranormal book.

All of these complainst aside, I was hooked. I've been wanting to read some spooky sapphic vampires and that's exactly what this is.

**A thank you to NetGalley & Del Rey for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review of Lucy Undying by Kiersten White.**

I knew only two things going into to this book - it was a Dracula story and it was sapphic. One thing I love is sapphic vampires, and I was so excited to love this one too, but sadly it fell short.


In this book we get three different perspectives with three different voices - Lucy’s journal, Lucy’s therapy transcripts and Iris’s modern day pov. I think this was a mistake because the story didn’t feel very cohesive. It honestly was like juggling between three books, and not in a fun way. I think Lucy’s transcripts were the best part of the book. White has an incredible lyrical voice, but it was sadly overshadowed by the trendy phrases in Iris’ perspective.

Side note: An MLM cult vampire book would’ve made for such a funny prompt by itself and feels like such a missed opportunity.

Anyway, for having read over 170 pages, you think things would start making sense or pieces would start coming together, but they don’t? It really drags on with Iris, she hides so much of herself from the narration that it makes it impossible to care for her as a character. Also, the insta love was wack.

This feels like a group project where one person did significantly better than the other, and it’s painfully obvious who it is. Lucy > Iris

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for providing me with an eARC of this title.

Lucy Undying is a Dracula retelling with multiple POVs and alternating timelines. We get Lucy in the 1800s and Iris in 2024 as well as chapters from 2025 and interviews with an unnamed character. First I would like to say that the cover is stunning, absolutely beautiful. As far as the story, I had some mixed feelings while reading it. This book is pretty lengthy, and I don't think it needed to be this long. The second half is so much stronger than the beginning. I didn't really feel super invested in the story until about 40% of the way through. At that point I sat down and read the rest in one sitting. The second half of this book was great. There were some top notch moments at the end that I absolutely loved. I didn't really prefer one POV over another. I felt pretty similarly about all of them throughout the book. The vampire vibes are very strong throughout. Even when I wasn't loving my time reading this at the beginning, I was still loving the vampires. I think this book is absolutely worth pushing through the beginning because the second half is truly amazing.

Compelling, bloody, and intricate - Lucy Undying mixes up the standard Dracula story and will keep you guessing until the end about who will come out of this story alive.

<i>“My name is Lucy Westenra, and this is my story.”</i>

Told through three distinct timelines - Lucy’s diary, her own retelling of her story after her death, and current day - we slowly begin to piece together the story of Lucy Westenra, and what actually happened after her death in the story of Dracula. As we begin to unfold Lucy’s bloody history, we are introduced to another character - Iris Goldaming - who is the unfortunate CEO of a sinister MLM, and seemingly cannot escape her calling. When these two collide it’s an instant romance, but with both of them hiding deadly secrets from the other it seems doomed to fail. As we learn more about Lucy’s life after death, Iris and Lucy are ever drawn to each other and might be the one thing able to keep this story from becoming a tragedy.

I loved how this story was written, with it being interspersed by journal entries, therapist discussions, and even some internal monologue from Dracula himself. I found this writing style to brilliantly bring all the moving pieces in this story together like a well-oiled machine, and there were multiple times I had to pause to register what was going on when one of these pieces were cleverly inserted into the current-day storyline.

I was enthralled from the beginning, and this book was excellent at bread-crumbing more and more information at the end of a chapter right before a timeline or POV switch - making it extremely difficult to put this book down and constantly needing to find out what happens next. I also loved the inclusion of a sinister MLM lurking in the background, and the bits and pieces we (as the reader) are fed about it, until we can finally understand why Iris is so desperate to escape their clutches - and why they are so desperate to hold onto her by any means necessary.

While I, personally, love introspective stories with heavy inner dialogue, I can see this story not working for you if you don’t find a writing style compelling. A great deal of this novel is told through either Lucy or Iris’ internal monologue, as well as journal entries and a conversation/confessional with a therapist, and only the parts with more action feature direct dialogue and action between characters. While the plot in this story is compelling in itself, a great deal of this novel I would classify as more of a character study of a character who was cheated out of life in the original Dracula story, and is then forced to adjust to her afterlife as an undead vampire.

In my opinion, the only weak point in this novel was some parts of the romance between Iris and Lucy. It was never unbelievable, but the timeline of this novel is relatively very short and they very quickly fall into each other and become one another’s confidants, which I found to be a bit unbelievable. In the same way, Iris very quickly becomes friends with a cab driver she had met for only 30 minutes, and while I greatly enjoyed his character I felt he might have jumped just a bit too quickly into helping this woman he doesn’t know. However, neither of these things took enjoyment away from the story and were distracting enough to make this book any less than a 5 star read to me.

I loved this novel, but I could see how someone who loves all the characters within Dracula - and not just Lucy - might have some issues with this book. However, with this being a re-imagining and a retelling, I think you should absolutely give this book a chance to wow you with its story, like it did to me. Lucy Westenra truly grows from the hunted young woman who died in Dracula into a hunter herself, finding herself along the way and forging her own path.

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Del Rey for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A clever re-imagining of the story of Lucy Westenra in Dracula. If Lucy hadn't been destroyed by Dr. Van Helsing and others in Dracula, what adventures lay in store for her? Lucy never loved any of her suitors; she only loved Mina Harker, her former governess. Her life as a vampire is a search for love and meaning, not so different from life as a living human being.

Lucy's story is told in alternating chapters: Lucy writing in her journal in 1890; Lucy talking to her therapist in 2024; and Iris writing her story connected to Lucy. Iris is a descendant of Lord Goldaming, Lucy's fiance Arthur Holmwood in Dracula. Lucy's family runs a huge self-help empire called Goldaming Life, a legacy Iris is not eager to inherit. When Iris discovers Lucy's diary from 1890 in Lucy's bedroom at a London Goldaming property, she realizes there is an alternative history of Dracula and her family - and possibly a way out of Goldaming Life for her.

Dracula purists may not be attracted to Lucy Undying, but the novel is a creative take on the classic horror novel. Kiersten White fans will be thrilled with her new novel as will avid readers of vampire novels and sapphic fiction.

The power of blood’s driving force of life brings together the lives of two young women entwined by Dracula’s meddling in Kiersten White’s Lucy Undying.
Lucy Westerna sacrificed herself to Dracula to protect someone she loved and became a vampire, and upon awaking into her immortal life she’s spent her time on a path of self-discovery that eluded her in her past, as well as seeking an escape from the one who created her. After centuries pass, it’s 2024 and Lucy meets Iris Goldaming, who is desperate to break free of her family and past, which is a cultish empire built upon a dark secret. Lucy and Iris have an immediate, mutual connection and attraction to one another, but any future of their potential relationship is threatened by outside forces as Iris’s mother fights any attempt at escape for the sake of the family business and Lucy’s past is lurking menacingly in the shadows as Dracula’s on the loose wreaking further havoc; the pair have found happiness in one another but keeping it may prove harder than they imagined.
Composed of journal entries, recollections of the past during therapy sessions, and more traditional narration of present goings-on, the story spanning centuries that involves Lucy, Iris and her family, and Dracula is revealed in similar textual format as the narrative of Dracula, but instead of focusing on the titular character of that classic, an exploration is undertaken for a side character whose name and fate was written about briefly and quickly forgotten. Picking up and imagining what life, and reborn immortal life, was like for Lucy was an interesting concept to extrapolate from the original tale and parts of that were done well; however, the novel as a whole was too ambitious as the additional narrative thread behind Iris’s family, though intriguing, came across as more forced in and too much – both ideas were decent but combining them together diluted the potency of each. Obfuscation is relied upon heavily throughout to generate a sense of ominousness surrounding the secret behind the Goldaming’s empire and the past that Iris is so keen to escape from, but there are clues strewn throughout the lengthy text that point toward the truth of the matter, which makes that obfuscation less an effective tool and more a frustration to endure.
Overall, I’d give it a 3 out of 5 stars.
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First, I want to shout a HUGE thank you to @NetGalley and @DelReyBooks for this eARC!!
This book... This book! YES! An absolute MUST read for all Dracula fans.
My favorite aspect of this novel is how "true" it kept to Stoker's 'Dracula' in accordance with the characters and the timeline and pertinent events.
This story is one big What-If.
What if something different was going on with the side characters than we were originally led to believe? What if Lucy's heart belonged to another? What if That world and This world eventually melded? What if we tried to capitalize on vampirism? What if...
You could call this story a retelling of 'Dracula', but don't let your feelings from that book seep over and interfere with this one; whether good or bad. It's the same, but it's not. Ohhhhh, it's so not.
This is Lucy's (and Iris') story, not Dracula's.
While she (this book) is a hefty one and definitely a commitment, it's absolutely worth the time spent.
I'm quite curious to see the reviews roll in from readers who have never read 'Dracula' =)
Am I going to go back and reread it now? ABSOLUTELY!

An interesting take on the familiar story of Dracula, Mina and Jonathan. Lucy is a side character in the original and here she is the heroine. However in doing so Kiersten does completely redo her character. I think if you analyse this too closely compared to the original, you would be disappointed. In trying to highlight Lucy we villainise the other characters in Dracula more than needed. But if you view it as inspired by but totally separate from the original it is a good concept. The writing has Kiersten's familiar poetic flow to it, and is slow paced but in an entrancing way.
I like idea of client transcripts and past and present merging together and what lucy got up to over the years.
Maybe a little drawn out but ultimately an enjoyable concept and well executed, but may not appeal directly to fans of the classic original. It was good seeing a feminist twist and the parallels between iris (the main character) and lucy were interesting and well laid out, and the gothic, haunting vibes were beautiful to get lost in, even if it could have been more succinct.

As a fan of the original Dracula, I was disappointed with this book. For readers coming into it not knowing the original Dracula story, it may be more enjoyable. The author is definitely a talented writer, and her flow and beautiful imagery is what kept me reading. Unfortunately, though, the book fell flat as far as doing justice for the character of Lucy. I would try other books by this author in the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to read!

With the stunning cover and mentions of sapphic vampires, I was interested in the potential of the story. And while it did not embody my expectations, I still found parts of the story enjoyable, especially Lucy's perspectives early on in the novel. I found the pace to be slow but not in a way that made sense or was enjoyable, a dragging pace rather than meandering. I appreciate its quick chapters, but overall found it difficult to finish.

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House, and Del Rey for access!

Wow. This book was phenomenal! I found myself wanting to read just one more chapter, and couldn't put it down. I think the author did a great job with the points of view, and I found myself needing to know more about each character. I absolutely loved the message about finding yourself, as well. It resonated a lot with me. Lucy, Iris, Rahul and Anthony are by far some of my new favorite characters. My only complaint is that in the early chapters, Iris talks about journal chapters, that we as the reader have already read. It felt a bit redundant. However, this book was a nice, atmospheric read, and I devoured it.
Thank you to Net Galley for the eARC (and a new favorite author!)