In the author’s note, Kiersten White references her similarities with Bram Stoker stating that she “relate[s] to an author who sets out with high ambitions [...] and then gets tired and gives up.” And that’s exactly what I felt White did with this book.

Lucy Undying had such high potential with so much going for it: a gothic fantasy reimagining of Dracula where Lucy Westenra escapes death, becoming a vampire and searching for her senses of Self over the next century. Meanwhile, in present day London, Iris is escaping her legacy of taking over her mother’s health/beauty cult (MLM) and happens upon the century-old journals of one Lucy Westenra.

[What I Disliked]:
The concept sounded great, but the execution really fell apart. Told through three different lenses (Lucy’s journals from 1890, Lucy’s conversation with her therapist in Sept 2024, and Iris’s perspective in Oct 2024), the first half of the book has the gothic fantasy feel I was expecting. Even though the pacing was a bit slow and I was really only interested in one of the timelines at this point, I was still overall interested. The 50%-60% mark were actually quite enjoyable as Bram Stoker’s original piece of Dracula is finally fully reworked into what becomes Lucy Undying. However, that enjoyment only lasted 10%. The last 40% of the book has an entirely different feel and pacing that made the entirety of the work feel like at least two completely different books mashed together into one (our chapter POVs are now a mixture of present-day letters, 1st person character POVs, and even a 2nd person POV). Where we started off with a gothic fantasy, we ended up in a bizarre modern-day sci fi referencing social media influencers and, I kid you not, Goop. It saddens me in the way that Orphan Black season 5a saddened me.

Some pieces of thread woven into the larger tapestry of the story were easy to pull apart and predictable. While we were treated to some luscious prose (“Dear, dear Mother, who loves like a knife, slicing me into ever smaller pieces until I’m exactly the shape that pleases her the most”), we were also assaulted with phrases such as “Blood bank’s closing, bitch.” Do these writing choices reflect the timelines in which they were written? Yes. But they are also jarring in the worst way possible.

[What I Liked]:
As much as it sounds like I disliked this book, I didn’t hate it. I thought there were great moments and great details. I loved the love story between Iris and Lucy. I loved discovering the secrets behind Lucy’s story and meeting members of Lucy’s life throughout the 20th century. And as I said, it had great potential. I just feel like it was such an ambitious story to tell and the cohesion suffered.

Thank you NetGalley and Del Rey for an advance copy of this book!

I've been into vampires since I was a little kid. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show and I adore the web series, Carmilla. I've read a ton of vampire stuff including Carmilla and Dracula. Though vampires have taken a backseat for the last several years, I was excited to read this book. Kiersten White is a good storyteller--I enjoy her imagination and sense of humor (as well as all things gay). I've read a few reviews that slam Lucy Undying, especially for daring to retell Dracula, but I found it clever. The first part was entertaining (a bit long) and I loved the middle part (too short). Can't say the same for the last part of the book. I don't know why it went on that long and there didn't seem to be a real purpose for Iris and Lucy to have been separated in the first place. Plus, Dracula was such an unbearable character (not in a good gothic way either). Yeah, so that was sad for me, but I'm happy a sapphic Dracula novel from Lucy's viewpoint was written!
#NetGalley

I’m still kind of new to receiving arcs, but out of the ones I’ve gotten, never has one felt like so much of a rough draft. And I mean ROUGH. This was a million ideas with absolutely zero clear direction.

Sometimes when I start a writing a review there’s like five different ways I think about opening it. Well, this felt like the same thing. Three out of the four first chapters felt like they could have been a decent beginning. The first chapter is narrated in second person about Dracula, the second chapter is from Iris in modern day, the third chapter is a journal entry by Lucy in the 1800s, then onto the fourth which is a transcript where Lucy is speaking to someone.

Got it? If not, that’s okay — I didn’t either.

Anyways now that I’ve outlined the structure, I can explain why it was an issue. The whole Dracula part should have been a prologue instead of a first chapter, and the transcript should have been before the other two because that’s where Lucy introduces herself and says this is her story we’re reading. As it was hearing someone say it was their story when they were the last one we met just felt weird. After that, then the journals could have came in, then Iris’s chapter after the scene had been set since that is when she meets Lucy and she’s our second main character.

Or maybe scratch that — instead of trying to cool down that hot mess things should probably just be changed. Iris’s point have view should have been present less, because the story almost manages to achieve something when it focuses on Lucy. I also wasn’t a fan of the narration style the author chose to use when writing Iris, and in my opinion it felt out of touch with the gothic vibe the story was trying to achieve.

In terms of the transcriptions, they should just go to completely and be replaced with an actual Lucy perspective, whether it be in first or third. The only reason they exist is to recap us on what happened in the centuries since she turned and this could have been achieved just as easily had she been given a present point of view in what was supposed to be her story.

The way things are, being thrown around between this many perspectives, all of which are in different timelines, just gave me whiplash right off the bat. Even more so because the chapters were so short, which I normally like, but here it irked me because as soon as I felt like I was getting the hang of this scene, we were in another. Then once it would go back to that perspective it would pick up where it left off as if I could remember where that was with everything else I was trying to understand.

After that the plot proceeds to drag on at an unimaginably slow pace. Iris’s frequent chapters were largely to blame for this. Somewhere between all those pages on pages of inner monologue there seemed to be glimpses of potential but it got to the point where it had dragged on for so long that I had lost any interest in where those things could go. Even once it had gotten there, even though it should have been interesting I was just ready for the story to be done because the journey to get there was so unenjoyable.

In terms of romance I honestly could not of cared less. The most reaction I had to it was full body cringing from nicknames and insta-love. Iris begins calling her “the/my angel” immediately after their first meeting and if you think that’s bad just wait because after that we get…my little cabbage. Yes that’s right, no it’s not a joke.

And if you don’t like that one that’s ok, there’s always “my little buttered chicken too”.

Even the world building was kind of lackluster. Don’t get me wrong there were some cool ideas, like the vampires being able to turn into moonlight and other things. This book did a good job at describing the things that did happen in a pretty way. The problem was the why. The author seemed like she tried to address this in the story when the she has Lucy tell us — oops sorry I mean her therapist:

“I can see in your expression that you want some rational explanation for all of this. Why does the sun bind us? How can I change into moonlight? How can I move and think and feel without being alive? But I’ll ask, why do you dream? Why do you look at the ocean and feel awe? Where does love come from and why does it feel so much like fear?”

*Disclaimer: as the quote above is from the arc it is subject to change before the official release*

It’s safe to say from that she decided to dismiss logic and cover up the lack thereof with more pretty words. She knew what she was doing when she wrote that for sure and still glossed over it.

The only solid positive with this that goes beyond mere potential is the cover. At least something delivered. Once the book opened though it went rapidly down hill.

Overall, somehow this managed to be both overwhelming and underwhelming at every turn and that’s its only real achievement. Two stars in some ways feels like a stretch but since there were some redeeming ideas scattered throughout this mess I’m gonna go with it for now. Yet again, I was fooled by a gorgeous cover. Lucy may look great there but this book wasn’t a good look for her. Maybe this book will be able to find the right audience, but it definitely isn’t me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review — so sorry I didn’t enjoy it more because I was so excited for this!

I found this to be somewhat tedious. The concepts are interesting but I think the narrative jumps around too much in timelines/peoples’ heads for me to feel really connected to anyone. I didn’t like Lucy’s 1800s diary entries but the modern timeline stuff was more interesting in my opinion.

Kiersten White always has good writing, though, so I’m interested to see what she writes next. I really loved her And I Darken trilogy.

A standing ovation for this cover! I loved the concept of Lucy Undying and the three POVs had me so drawn in from the beginning. The trouble started when one POV started drawing me in so much that I dreaded reading the other two. I felt the modern day plot line was the most interesting, and if perhaps we had less of Lucy’s diary or a more concentrated version of the diary, my attention wouldn’t have wandered but as it stands, I felt myself skimming those parts in order to get to modern day. I really wanted to like this more but it was a struggle to get through the last 50% because I was not enjoying the pacing. I really, really enjoyed the modern plot line though and know that I will give this author another chance because I can see that she writes in a way that I love, I just wish we didn’t also have to read the two POVs that dragged the plot.

I wish I had not wasted my time slogging through this novel. I love retellings or reimagings of classic literature but this was not for me. It is a disorganized epistolary style story with none of the charm of the original Dracula.

I really wish that we only had one POV. I did not like how the author went back and forth. even between time periods. The author should have kept with Lucy and see how she went from human to vampire and how she actually survived throughout the years. The client transcripts from Lucy's therapist was completely unnecessary in my opinion. This story should of been all about Lucy's life as a vampire and how she coped with it.

The other POV is Iris, an american woman who is set to inherit her mother's evil company which she doesn't want. Instead of selling the company she runs away to London to sell furniture from a mansion she inherited. This story line feels pointless to me. As stated previously the story should focus on Lucy.

Do yourself a favor and read Bram Stoker's Dracula. Thank you to Netgalley and publishers for an eARC of Lucy Undying.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

First things first can I just gush how freaking cool and stellar is this cover, the gaze of Lucy reminds me of the TikTok popular fallen angel gaze, so intense, so unnerving.

This author's books are either hit or miss for me, there is no in-between. I have absolutely adored And I Darken series from the author and it remains one of my favourites to this day, the Camelot Rising sounded absolutely fantastic in theory but was the biggest let down ever. And this one unfortunately leans towards the latter with not-inspiring character cast, a plethora of historical inaccuracies and a lacklustre mystery.

Honestly the stars are for the cover that is wasted on this book.

Thank you NetGalley , and the publishers for this E-ARC !

I’ve been on a vampire kick recently and I feel like that fulfilled me . If you are someone who loved ,
“ Dowery Of Blood” and “ Interview With A Vampire” you will definitely enjoy this !

This is a twist on a classic tale that I found to be very appealing , and omg .. look at that beautiful cover !

I found the parallels between Lucy and Iris to be fascinating and heart worming , given the time and essentially the history that separates them ! Everything was so well developed , and I did find myself glued to my kindle screen ! I loved how this story was told through therapy sessions, it felt as I was in the room with them !

While I did enjoy it , I definitely think it was a tad bit too long for what it really was ! Some parts definitely fell short .

All in all I am so happy I got to read this , it’s been on my list and I can’t wait to get a physical copy !

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with an arc in return for a fair review.

I loved this book so much that I’ll buy a copy when it comes out. When I can, I’ll tell all my bookish friends how fantastic this book is and that they must pick it up as soon as possible.

Lucy Undying is a book that rewards patience and paying attention. It’s slow initially, but it’s impossible to put down once it gets going.

The strength of this book is its characters. Lucy gets the development she deserves. Watching her grow and change is a pleasure to read. We see versions of Lucy
from different times in her life. All of them are worth spending time with. She's just that charming.

For me, the most significant transformation in this book belongs to Iris. Although I could not stand her at the beginning, I rooted for her to succeed by the end. Give her time to warm up, and she’ll win you over.

One of the minor characters stole my heart; I’d love to see her again in the future.

The writing is solid, giving each character a distinctive voice. White has a natural talent for building a gothic atmosphere. Her descriptions of the places Lucy goes make you feel like you’re walking alongside her.

Without spoilers, I have to say there is a love story that’s deeply moving and engaging. There are twists aplenty—one of them made me yell,”What?” at my phone. It was that good.

Read the book. You wont be disappointed you did.

Kiersten White’s *Lucy Undying* offers a modern twist on the classic *Dracula* tale, centering on a passionate sapphic relationship between Lucy Westenra and Mina Murray. Set across two timelines—the 19th century through the present day—the novel explores themes of identity, love, and empowerment through Lucy’s transformation into a vampire.

The novel shines in its fresh take on the Dracula mythos, infusing it with modern elements and a nuanced exploration of love and immortality.

However, the book's conclusion feels convoluted, as it transitions to a modern setting involving a multi-level marketing scheme. This twist, while unique, feels slightly out of place compared to the rest of the narrative.

Despite its slightly tangled ending, *Lucy Undying* stands out for its portrayal of a sapphic love story. Fans of gothic horror and romance will find this a compelling coming of age thriller.

Composed in a pseudo-epistolary style, Lucy Undying is told mainly in three perspectives: the secret diary of Lucy Westenra before and during the events of Dracula in the 1890s, recordings of the vampire Lucy in 2024 made by a Boston therapist, and a first-person narrative by a young woman named Iris who arrives in London at the start of the novel. Iris’s narratives take place a few days after the recordings, which are all done on the same day.

Some spoilers regarding Iris’s identity and midpoints of the plot will be discussed later in this review. This review also contains discussion of the plot of Dracula, including heavy spoilers for the ending.

Kiersten White is one of the contemporary masters of books in conversation with cultural history. While current trends place heavy emphasis on feminist retellings of Greek mythology (thanks in large part to Madeleine Miller’s Song of Achilles and Circe), White’s bibliography is filled with feminist takes on everything from historical figures like Vlad the Impaler to the children’s TV figures of the 90s.

Lucy Undying is a return to one of my favorite areas of White’s work: literary classics approached with a modern sense of progressive and feminist ideals, much like this month’s book club selection of her 2018 young adult novel The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein. Her next novel tackles one of the greats in monster storytelling: Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

But this isn’t a novel about Dracula, the vampire himself. It’s about the “main” victim of the novel, Lucy Westenra, who is turned into a vampire by Dracula and subsequently starts attacking and feeding on young children.

As a revisionist work, Lucy Undying takes a hefty amount of artistic license with the elements of the original story in order to line up some of the material points that the author wants to make. Dracula purists (I’m sure they exist) probably won’t love some of these changes; Dracula’s the villain of Lucy’s story, in some ways, but White’s alterations create other villains for Lucy and Iris to contend with, some of which may be unpopular for readers with attachment to the original novel.

For the rest of us, though, these changes create a story that’s much more compelling to a contemporary audience.

I started Lucy Undying with certain expectations, particularly because (fortuitously) I’d been getting ready to start my reread of The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein for the Girls in Capes Book Club. Elizabeth Frankenstein stayed with me for a long time after reading it, and I finished my reread between starting and finishing Lucy. While the books are definitely cousins of a sort—books that tackle classic novels by viewing the story through the perspective of a female character who’d been largely pushed aside by the original author—there are a lot of differences, too.

First, Lucy straddles the original novel’s era and our own. This was the first thing I didn’t expect to see, but makes sense in a story about a vampire who can live centuries as long as no one interferes. In the first quarter or so of the book, I really didn’t care for this choice; Iris felt like a self-insert or a vehicle to make a contemporary reader care about Lucy and her problems, which wasn’t my favorite thing.

But there’s a point in the book where another very unexpected thing is revealed to the reader, and this is where I understood the brilliant direction White was headed with the story. Iris is the heiress to a multibillion-dollar company that falls somewhere between a MLM and the Church of Scientology, and suddenly bringing actual, literal vampires into the situation made a hell of a lot more sense.

Very little about Lucy Undying went the way I initially suspected, which is exactly what we like to see in a book. The novel also makes Dracula actually scary again: his looming presence in Lucy’s memories are at times genuinely upsetting, and White does an amazing job at drawing in the original Victorian metaphor about the horror of vampires lying in their sexuality by transforming the original message—that vampires are bad because they Have Sex—into one about sexual assault.

There’s a lot more I want to say about this brilliant and incredibly timely novel, but that would both take up way more space than a review tends to hold and also spoil way too much of the plot. Needless to say, you’re likely to spot this book at one of our future book club meetups: it’s rich with discussion points, and it’s practically screaming for a book club or, at the very least, a buddy read.

You’ve probably guessed as much by this point, but I cannot recommend Lucy Undying more highly, especially if this is your introduction to this author. Kiersten White excels at writing books that feel like speculative fiction while they also feel as if they’re your own life:

“I never stopped being nineteen! Every feeling I have feels like the only feeling I’ll ever have.”

Over a decade past nineteen, I know exactly what this felt like. It’s a sensation that you can understand only in retrospect, when the feelings you thought would hurt you forever turned out to be feelings for only a short time. This, I think, is the greatest reason I think Lucy Undying is perfect for an adult audience: while both of the protagonists are young women just coming of age, the novel’s perspective on what can be the most difficult years of a person’s life offers insight—and maybe even closure—that will make the greatest impact on readers who stopped being nineteen quite some time ago.

This book will be reviewed and featured on my instagram account : @emily_reads_everything. In addition, my goodreads account will have a starred rating, as well as one here. My GR account is linked in the profile of my instagram.

When Dracula changes a young girl into a vampire, then abandons her, she's left to find her own way in the world. Eventually, that means revenge.

This book had a great concept, but it meandered more than I expected, and I found myself thinking, "This should be the ending" at about the 60% mark. Through Lucy's eyes, we get a tour of the ways the brides of Dracula, as they call themselves, deal with their grief over what happened to them, along with a heavy dash of madness.

Lucy's an interesting character, as she sacrificed herself to save the love of her life, her former teacher, Mina. The book has strong gothic vibes as well, with a critical scene taking place at Lucy's grave. But it all wasn't enough to save it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was worried when I picked up this book that it was about to be as convoluted in terms of the times and dates things are happening in as the original Dracula novel is. And this book does happen in three distinctly different time periods.

For one, we finally get a version of Lucy's own diary entries!!! This excites me for multiple reasons. Honestly, I think I would have been happy with that part of the novel no matter what else happened.

The second narrative strain takes form as somewhat of an Interview with the Vampire allusion, wherein Lucy is telling a psychologist about her life after being turned into a vampire and shortly after being abandoned by Dracula. She comes to meet other vampires he has turned, always women, always without the memory of a name, and she tries to find some purpose for herself.

Finally, we are introduced to Iris, a wholly original character who's dated story begins about a month after the psychologist interview Lucy is giving.

It's unclear for a while what the tie is between Iris and Lucy but, damn, when it's revealed at about halfway through the novel, it just starts on an amazing and original story that continues the Dracula mythology, and the story of some of its characters, in a completely satisfying way that really was quite difficult to guess at ahead of time.

There were some pacing issues (this is a very long read) and that stopped me from rating it a solid 5 star read, but it was immensely enjoyable.

Torturous. Insufferable. Poor little rich girl on vampiric steroids. My third vampire book of the year and another huge disappointment.
Overly long with multiple POVs spanning centuries and barely a whiff of the dark, moody gothic one would expect from the absolutely breathtaking cover.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reading copy

‘Lucy Undying’ was a highly anticipated read for me (mostly based on the cover) and while overall, it’s a solid read, there are some aspects that let me down. I would recommend this to fans of ‘The Invisible Life of Addie Larue,’ ‘Dowry of Blood,’ and ‘A Long Time Dead.’

Plot: I found the plot engaging- the multiple storylines are woven together well, bringing gothic, vampire tropes and vibes into a modern setting. Like most stories with multiple storylines, I do think some were more interesting than others: Lucy’s plot line is more engaging than Iris’s.

Characters: I kind of struggled with the characterization in this… I found Iris to be a little too *quirky*- snarky without actually being funny, but that’s obviously up to personal preference. Lucy was fairly solid, but the side characters were somewhat one-dimensional.

Writing: I didn’t find the writing noteworthy in either direction, not beautiful enough to point out, but not egregious either. My only qualm is that some of the themes (feminist ideals) were a little heavy-handed and on the nose- White could have let the reader extrapolate more.

Pacing: At some points I was incredibly rapt and shocked by twists, and others, it almost slogged. The story took a little time to ramp up and kind of lost me at the end, but in the middle, I was very much along for the ride.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lucy Undying by Kiersten White is a gothic romantasy retelling of Dracula, following the renowned Lucy Westenra as she escapes from Dracula in search of self-discovery and true love. It also explores the story of Iris--an heiress on the run from the ghost of her mother and the secrets surrounding her family's legacy.

I found the story to be emotionally resonant and really enjoyed the intersecting of Lucy's and Iris's storylines as they both grapple to find their purpose and make peace with their pasts. The author's storytelling was evocative and fresh with how she explores different modes of weaving her tale, ie. Lucy's diary, the client transcripts, etc.

Overall, this is a must-add read to your TBR if you are interested in romance, gorgeous writing and poetry, deeply emotional themes, and timeless retellings. I couldn't recommend it more!

Thank you to Del Rey, NetGalley, and the author for the opportunity to read an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.


I know this is a retelling, and admittedly, I haven't read Dracula or any other retelling that I remember. That being said, I really loved this book! I loved the alternating perspectives between Lucy's transformation and life as an early vampire and modern-day Iris. Iris has a mystery hanging over her head, and it's really cool to see how it intersects with Lucy's story near the end. The end of the book gets very strange and more chaotic, and I just really enjoyed this book. It was fascinating, and I loved the characters

I love Dracula and am always excited to read a retelling of Dracula regardless of how loosely based it may be. The cover of this book is pretty and, of course, the title gives insight on what to expect. The concept was a good one, but the execution of the story left something to be missed. The characters were likeable but, overall, it felt as though something was missing. The story was good but it wasn't memorable and there were times where my interest in the story wavered overall, it was an okay read but I have to be honest that I was somewhat disappointed by the story.

Thank you to Kiersten, Netgalley, and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange my honest review.

Lucy Undying by Kiersten White is a loose Dracula retelling that follows Lucy, a character who plays a critical role in the original Dracula tale. Without going too much into the plot, this novel is a story that explains how Lucy really was and what became of her.

I am a huge Kiersten White fan so I was already excited about this but once I started reading it, I was so hooked. This story is incredible sapphic and gorgeously written. This is told in a few different formats and povs. Iris is a modern day character who finds Lucy’s diary so we get Iris’ modern pov, Lucy’s diary entries, and some transcripts.

The diary entries and the transcripts were far and away my favorite part of this book but I did enjoy Iris’ pov as well. It just felt more modern where as the rest had a more poetic vibe to it.

This book has so much longing and aching in it. I found myself tearing up more than once while reading this. I just loved some of the lines so much. There is a change in tone at about the 65 percent mark where it becomes a lot more plot focused so there is this feeling have having multiple stories mashed together which I really enjoyed but may not work for everyone.

I think there are a lot of great discussions that could come from this book about identity and womanhood and love.

I cannot wait to get my hands on a physically copy of this to annotate and tab because I enjoyed this so much. This will definitely be in my top books of the year, if not my top book of the year. I just finished it and I already want to reread it.