** spoiler alert ** Thank you so much to Random House and NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

N.B. - DRACULA purists will note that the family name Godalming appears in my review as “Goldaming” instead. This is an artistic choice made by the author to change the spelling of the surname and not an error of mine. Whether you agree with that artistic choice or not, I leave to you!

LUCY UNDYING feels like three different novels barreling toward one another at breakneck pace; one is a beautiful epistolary adaptation of Dracula from Lucy Westenra’s point of view. Another, a 21st century Lucy processing her afterlife of loss and grief with her therapist. The third, from the POV of Iris Goldaming, whose family and destiny is as much entangled in Lucy’s past as it is with their futures.

I wish I liked this more than I do. The cover art is stunning and the idea of a sapphic retelling of Lucy Westenra's life, death and afterlife appeals. I will say Kiersten White has a really poetic touch at various points of the story, but it's clunkily juxtaposed to a lot of modern jargon that takes me out of the story. The story drags at various points and the convergence of the different stories suffers from this as well. I found myself favoring Lucy’s diary entries the most. I think Lucy’s storyline with Vanessa could have used some editing, and I think Iris’s chapters could have used a LOT of editing. The two contemporary storylines get bogged down by a lot of modern conversation that makes the characters sound terminally online. I guess that’s bound to happen in a premise where vampire Lucy Westenra processes her various traumas with a therapist and Iris Goldaming is her 20-something year old love interest, but it just really took me out of the beauty of their love story when they had a conversation about the age gap between Lucy and Iris and discussed the semantics of Lucy’s sexual identity.

I want to thank Del Rey for giving me a copy of the ARC. This was a solid retelling that I think is enhanced if you read the original Dracula (that part is probably obvious). I absolutely loved the first half of the novel where it’s essentially three POVs: Iris Goldaming (an ancestor of Arthur Holmwood a.k.a Lord Goldaming Lucy’s fiancé), Human Lucy writing in her diary (pre-vampire), and Vampire Lucy recounting her first days as a vampire to a human therapist a la Interview with the Vampire.

I think I could have lived without Iris’ POV? I was much more invested/interested in Lucy as a character.

The MLM vampire scheme was interesting? I LOVED the framing of Mina as the Big Bad.

Overall would def recommend. It was a fun ride 🩸🖤

Great concept with some missing beats, so giving this one a 3.5 out of 5. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I am always going to be a sucker for a feminist vampire story, so I was excited to be invited to read this ARC. However the overall story feels imbalanced in terms of character development and story pacing. Understandably, a lot of the focus is on Lucy as two of the three character perspectives are hers, so she is a really nuanced and complex character. You get to watch her gain agency over her own life literally through decades which on its own would be an amazing story.

Unfortunately, Iris's side of the story falls a bit flat. Compared to Lucy, her character development falls a bit flat. Without giving the story away, her part of Lucy's story feels a bit too much of a stretch of reality, given the context and mechanics presented in the story. In a lot of ways, I feel like there were two separate stories being told that yes did overlap, but at the end of the day could've been separated.

I generally speaking still enjoyed Lucy's story and would love to read more about her.

killer cover. but ugh i didn't like this one. it's unfortunate that to center lucy in a dracula remix kiersten white chose to do that to mina. i liked iris plenty but this left much to be desired.

There is something enticing about vampire stories and especially Dracula, so I was excited to dig into Lucy Undying. There are several interesting themes throughout which I loved about the story. There is a strong feminist tone, and I enjoyed Lucy and Iris’s relationship. I found the story occasionally disjointed, however, and the pacing slower than I would have liked. While Lucy felt well developed I wanted to see the character of Iris expended on.

Thank you NetGalley and DelRey for the advanced reader copy.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
I found "Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel" by Kiersten White to be an exciting, unique, sexy, suspenseful & addictive take on the original story about Lucy from Dracula & what happens after the events of the original story.
I love watching vampire movies & I loved reading the original "Dracula" so this book definitely caught my eye.
I will be keeping my eye out for what Ms. White decides to write next.

This Dracula based novel was very interesting as it takes Dracula's first victim and brings her into the 21st century. I enjoyed the story for the slow burn that it was. Part action and part love story, this was truly an entertaining book!

Having loved Kiersten White's The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein and her The Conqueror's Saga trilogy, I was absolutely stoked to pick up Lucy Undying. She always does a marvelous job reimagining figures that we know well with a twist that makes them deeply human and compelling, even as they do terrible things. With this reimagining of Lucy Westenra from Bram Stoker's Dracula, White juggles several timelines and weaves the story of Lucy's undead life with 21st-century heroine Iris's journey as she runs from her past.

I love vampires, and the bittersweet musings of these immortal creatures of the night always strike a chord with me. Unlike in the original Dracula, this Lucy Westenra isn't killed by the heroes and instead spends the next century discovering herself. These parts of the story resonated with me the most, and White's writing was gorgeous, reminiscent of S.T. Gibson's A Dowry of Blood. I felt for her deeply, and I imagine that this would've been fantastic as an audiobook with how intimate Lucy is with the audience. I'll have to check it out on audio later!

That being said, the multi-pov structure of the novel gave me such stark tonal dissonance that I almost dreaded returning to Iris's perspective. A fair amount of White's humor, most present in Iris's irreverent POV, fell flat for me in this one, unfortunately. While certain revelations and parallels were cleverly done, the book felt like two very different books mashed into one.

Nevertheless a delightfully feminist reimagining of a beloved classic, Lucy Undying is the type of vampire story that I'd like to see more of in publishing!

The gorgeous cover and the author's past novels are what drew me in to begin with, then I found out it was a story about Lucy from Dracula and what happens after the events of the original story. Count me in! Unfortunately, this novel was a bit of a let down and the multiple POVs and timelines made for a confusing novel. It was also slooow. I liked that this was a feminine take on Lucy, but I also felt the author was trying too hard to make her a badass girl boss which ultimately made her character (and the other characters/dialogue) cringe. I can't say I ultimately recommend this unless you enjoy slow plots. Thank you to the publisher for a chance to give my opinion.

I absolutely loved Mister Magic, so I knew Kiersten White wasn't going to disappoint. I don't know what to talk about first. The incredible writing? The stunning cover? I loved all of it.

This book was impossible to put down. I will read ALL of the Dracula retellings, and this one is at the top of my list. I especially loved reading Lucy's journal entries. The suspense, mystery, and the romance sprinkled in were absolutely perfect. I wish I could read this book again for the first time.

What an intriguing addition to the Dracula legend. The cover immediately pulled me in and when I realized it was Kiersten White who was the author, I became very excited.
While although I enjoyed the story as a whole, I think my mind really struggles to connect with vampires in the modern world even with seeing how they adapt over time with their immortality. The dates were sometimes hard to track with how often they were switching around and although I learned to enjoy the journal entries and client intake forms as a vessel to showcase Lucy's emotional transformation over time, it took me a while to get there.
With it being a Dracula-inspired story, the cover, and the description-- I had expected it to contain more gothic and darker vibes than it did.

I wanted so much to love this. It had all the trademarks of female empowerment and gothic intrigue, but it couldn't quite stick the landing because the characters were disengaging, the revolving POV was clunky, and, at times, confusing, and the snail pacing dimmed the Dracula-induced stakes.

This one wasn't for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine for the ARC in exchange for my review.

For a fan of gothic novels and Dracula, this book really hit the spot. Switching the roles to focusing on Lucy and her complex character was just what the story of Dracula needed. I love when women characters from older classics or myths are given new light and expanded. This was so beautifully written and a feminist masterpiece.

Wow! This is not my genre, but I absolutely loved this book. I heard the author received a 1 star review because the book has sapphic content. Not due to a bad story or bad writing, simply due to homophobia. So, of course I went right to NetGalley to request an arc! I am so glad I did!
The story, the character development, the world building are all amazing. The time hopping is appropriate to the story and lends even deeper understanding to it all.

Having the story of Dracula be reimagined with Lucy as an independent, self evolving woman was a treat. It’s a story of finding herself and coming into her sexuality as much as it is a story of greed, vampires and messed up family dynamics.

It is difficult to go into details without giving away spoiler so I will leave this review by saying Lucy and Iris are brilliant characters that I enjoyed getting to know. While Iris’s mother and Mina were characters loved to loathe!

This is my first book by this author and I will check out more from her!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the arc.

Damn y’all this book had everything. Badass vampires, intrigue, an evil MLM. Everything I wanna gush about is a pretty big spoiler so the biggest pro is as follows: there’s a joke about how Jonathan Harker was always bringing back recipes for food he tried and if it wasn’t like 12 am I would have genuinely lol’d. The biggest con is this: Kiersten babe, this book was too long 🥲 despite being intensely readable, the story really dragged in places, particularly at the end. Also Kiersten is 3 for 3 on making me cry and this time I will be suing for emotional damages! 😤😂

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Del Rey for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

We are halfway through the year and this book has landed itself in my top 5 in 2024. This book takes a minor character of the well known story of Dracula and puts her front and center of her own story in a fascinating fashion. I was hooked in just a few pages. The multiple POVs were done in such an intriguing way and as they were clearly marked, it was easy to bounce between them and follow all of the narratives. I also loved the present day story of Iris, her struggle to break from her family's creepy MLM cult, and her awkward inner thoughts over her crush on Elle who she doesn't realize is the owner of the diary she's been reading. Also need to give a shoutout to Rahul, Anthony, and Vanessa the therapist, as well as the Queen, the Lover, and the Doctor.

While we as the reader can easily put together that Lucy, Elle, and our unnamed client are the same person, I found myself waiting excitedly for the moment that it all comes together for Iris and we join all those pieces together in the present. Lucy's life prior and post being turned are given so much consideration and make her a full-fledged 3 dimensional person compared to air-headed heiress of the classic Dracula story. Her desire to be loved for who she truly is is relatable and breaks your heart as time after time she gives her devotion to those unable to return that love, though they are all fundamentally changed by having Lucy in their lives.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for the eARC of this book for my honest review. I cannot wait to purchase a physical copy of this book when it comes out in September. I will definitely be rereading this one.

I had a wonderful time with this story! Reading it in tandem with the original Dracula was a nice touch, but not needed to enjoy this story, as it stands on its own as a tale of self discovery and the power of love. The epistolary style and the use of Stoker’s characters is evocative of the original, but never overshadows the story White set out to tell. There were a few moments that felt a little cringey (dialogue, inclusions of modern music which will date this story) but overall this was a really touching exploration of what it means to be a woman in a world that would shape you into what it wants you to be without any consideration for what you want.

I love sapphic vampires and this did not disappoint. If you are looking for a fast paced book this is not the one for you. If you’re looking for a new twist on Dracula and love women vampires I highly recommend. Easy, entertaining read that I finished in now time. This was my first book by this author but I look forward to reading more if they’re anything like this book :)

DNF @42%

I truly wanted to like this, but it just didn’t do it for me. The pacing felt so, so slow and the juggling POVs had me a bit lost. The concept is really interesting but the execution fell flat. The writing was okay and at times really beautiful. I just lost interest and was basically forcing myself to continue. I feel this story is very niche, and will appeal to those that like a slow build with mystery.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this upcoming read!

I LOVED this!

It was pure vibes and gave everything I hoped it would. I am new to this author but she is automatically one I will be checking out. I mean, come for the cover stay for the plot. And the vamps, and the blood