A unique twist on Dracula! I'll be honest I wasn't sure that I was going to like this book because the cover threw me off and the romance in this book is not my cup of tea. However I found this story extremely engaging and I was surprised by how much I liked the book. The story is told from four different perspectives at first. Iris is our main character who is living in the present day. The other is of Lucy, who lived in the late 1800s, her story is told through her journal. Third is a client transcript from the present day, but you learn about her past as a vampire. The last perspective is that of Dracula. Each perspective gave a unique view into vampires and their struggles. Iris, as the only human, was my favorite character. It was interesting to see how all of these characters were connected and to see their lives intertwined.

The story was more than about vampires but about overcoming obstacles and finding your true self. The message was an important one and I always enjoy a stories with strong female characters even in this case if some of them were vampires. I wish the book was a little shorter. The length was a little too long at points however the writing was very good and it did flow. The romance was not my preference but it was tastefully done. I have never read the original Dracula I did not know that Lucy was an original character to that novel. I am now interested in reading that classic because of this book. Overall, a unique vampire novel that fans of vampires and horror would enjoy!

Thank you to Del/Rey Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

Oof, this is a tough one to review. It's always heartbreaking to start a book you're really excited for and have it end up being a big disappointment all around. <i>Lucy Undying</i> has all the right ingredients for an extra tasty meal, but if you don't cook 'em right, the end result will still taste like ash.

<i>Lucy Undying</i> tells the story of Lucy Westenra, spanning from the events of the original novel and her survival of them to the modern day. So far, so intriguing. It's being told through her diary entries, records of her therapist session and the point of view of Iris, the young woman who finds Lucy's diary decades later. It's a great premise and Lucy is an interesting character. Sadly, a great premise doth not a great book make.

I started having doubts pretty early on when White apparently consistently got the name "Godalming" wrong. At least I think that's what happened, because I didn't find any other reason for her to constantly write about Lord "Goldaming" and his ancestors' big "Goldaming" MLM. If there was an intention behind changing the name, White never told us. As it is, it reads like a very weird and easily rectified mistake that should have been noticed considering the name comes up regularly throughout the novel.
The writing is, in general, okay but the dialogue is very stale and often cringey. The plot is convoluted and gets worse with every page. The pacing is rather slow and quite frankly, the story drags and drags and is surprisingly boring for a Dracula novel. There's a central romance that could have been great but suffered due to bad dialogue, lack of chemistry and Iris as a character, because she's just insufferable most of the time but White clearly wants her to read as "cool and quippy" with some added awkwardness in romantic situations. It's also just very instalovey, and to top it all off they call each other "my little cabbage" and "my little butter chicken" and just, no. Yes I get where the names come from, no they're still terrible.
And then there's Lucy. I wanted to love her because hey, it's Lucy Westenra, but in this novel she isn't really allowed to be that. There's no actual exploration of her tragedy, of her inner broknenness beyond the superficial. Instead, she is turned into some kind of vampire Badass Superheroine that, I kid you not, is basically solely responsible for ending World War I, is stronger than any other vampire she meets that isn't Dracula himself, and somehow inspires every age old vampire lady (she only ever meets major female vampires, because this is a ~feminist retelling, you know) to become her Best Self and Be Nice. How she does this I can't tell you because I sure wasn't inspired by anything she does or says. She's also not allowed to have any flaws whatsoever. Yes, she talks a big deal about being a monster for killing people, but every other character keeps telling her that actually, she's doing great, she's killing the right people (bad men, Nazis, ya know, the thing superheroines do), she's innocent, she's a victim whose survival everyone is in awe of. She's also allegedly very clever, yet doesn't figure out very obvious things and is clueless about the modern world despite living in it. She simply isn't a well-written, complex, consistent character. She reads like a watered-down woobiefied fanfiction version of Lucy Westenra, and I'm not talking about the good kind of fanfiction.
But really, the same can be said about all the original characters. Without spoiling too much: In her aknowledgements White writes that she's absolutely convinced that Lucy was the victim of a conspiracy by basically all the people involved in her life who were only ever out for her money. That's what this novel is. Everyone is evil but Lucy, who is flawless, and Iris, who's the cool rebel that's fighting for all the right things and really wants you to know about it, too.

Does this read like a rant review? Probably, and I apologize for that. But the disappointment is real and there was just nothing that could save this book for me. I do hope others might enjoy it more.

Kiersten White is back with her signature bite. LUCY UNDYING is an awesome expansion of White's canon that puts a thoughtful queer twist on what we think we know about Dracula's famous victim. Combining vampirism and an MLM scheme makes for a delightfully compelling read.

In short, I loved this book! Lucy Undying reimagines Lucy Westenra's story as a sapphic romance and features an imaginative vampire MLM plot, interjecting humor into a Gothic story. The story is told through therapy session transcripts, journal entries, and first person narratives as it oscillates between the past and present. The story is primarily related through the perspectives of Iris and Lucy (both past and present).

We see both past and present Lucy, a stark contrast between her nineteen year old self and her present day persona. Iris is scrappy and determined, and her narration reveals strong parallels between herself and Lucy. I loved Iris's chapters and her snarky commentary often made me laugh. I was enthralled by Lucy and fell in love with her just as Iris did, especially seeing how she evolved from denial of her sapphic feelings into a woman who fully embraced herself.

The plot hinges on a conspiracy and, as a reader, it's simple to put the pieces together because we have access not only to Lucy's past and present perspective, but also Iris's perspective. Importantly, readers are presented with Lucy's journal entries many chapters ahead of Iris's reading of the same, allowing us to draw our own conclusions prior to her. Readers learn about characters from Lucy's past long before Iris does, and Lucy is similarly ignorant to certain information. So while the reader knows what's happening, the the characters always several steps behind. However, I think the story is less about the conspiracy and moreso about the characters' journeys of self discovery.

I loved the way Dracula is incorporated into the story and the utilization of third-person narration (in contrast to all other chapters being first-person) for his chapters was an excellent decision.

It's been a long time since I've read Dracula so I cannot comment on any specifics, but I found this a fascinating reimagining of Lucy's story that integrated plenty of history and lore. If you enjoy books like Interview with the Vampire you may enjoy this one.

I received a copy through NetGalley for review.

This was a 4.5 for me, I actually enjoyed this one, knowing its a very loose retelling of primarily Lucy's story and what happens to her both before her mortal life ends, and after Dracula turns her and moves on. If you are looking for a true to the original retelling you're not going to be happy here, I'd advise those of you to skip this.
This is a story about Lucy and Iris, whose families and life experience had literally been disrupted and shaped by vampires- and finding one another.


Lucy was taken advantage of in her mortal years, plodded for being silly and beautiful by the people she trusted, and the one person she loved the most, Mina. As soon as Mina begins to pull away and move on, she finds herself and her increasingly ill mother by three men who would love to marry the soon to be alone heiress - just as soon as her mother kicks it and they can inherit a fortune through Lucy.

And it seems like they would have succeeded if Dracula hadn't showed up, taking an interest in Mina's soon to be husband Jonathan, and later Mina, and to try to protect her- Lucy.
Lucy's last mortal act was to step forward to protect Mina. The woman she loved.

It has timeline changes, going between Lucy telling her immortal story to Vanessa, a therapist who seems like she's dying. From Iris in modern times, running to see what she can sell off of the family's UK estates so she can get away from her mother's evil MLM and cult like followers- after the death of her mother. The third in-between is Iris reading mortal Lucy's teenage diary that she finds in one of the old mansions.

Lucy gains some agency over herself as a vampire, and runs into many of Dracula's 'Brides' over the century. Many are crystalized in personality after being turned, many don't remember their own names, or who they were. But the theme is Dracula doesn't look in on any of them after turning brides, they are nothing more than a marker for another grave he can sleep to rest in if he ever passes through again. Spreading his empire, he cares for the chase, nothing more.

Lucy, Dracula, Iris and her family were always part of a circle eating its own tail, a circle. Eventually it's going to meet again.

Mina and Dracula are absolutely the villains in this story.
I'd like to wack both Mina and Dracula in the nose.

In 1892, a young Lucy Westerna is a nineteen year old girl who has everything; she's beautiful, she's rich, and she is surrounded by men who are eager to marry her. Except that's not what Lucy wants, she's a bit strange for her time and what she'd really like is some bodily autonomy and someone who actually truly loves her and sees her for who she is.

In 2024 Iris Goldaming is also a little strange because she is currently doing something most people would never dream of; running away from inheriting a multi-million dollar corporation, because, quite frankly it's a multi-million dollar cult. In her attempt to through off the cults bloodhounds she heads to her ancestral home in London under the guise of an "emotional reset" after the death of her mother where Iris's story will collide with another young woman's who will give her the power to break free of everything holding her back. They've just gotta kill Dracula first.

I'm gonna tell you all a secret, I loved White's retelling of Frankenstein. Devoured it in one night it is still one of my favorite retellings of one of my favorite stories. So I did what any reader does and went and bought. And I Darken, been trying to read it for at least two years for now. So I was extremely hesitant when I requested this eArc. I figured The Dark Descent was a one-off; omigoodness was I wrong. This was phenomenal.

I have always believed that Lucy gets shafted, especially in retellings, hell I just read one where some sort of psychic ability between Lucy and monsters is what made her so susceptible to Dracula, good book but one more time Lucy is just a pretty twit with no substance and unable to control herself. And Mina is somehow always better. She always rises above Dracula and whatever other monsters are thrown in her path in numerous retellings and just like no. At some point, someone had to write a story where Lucy at least was something more than just some idiot and I'm so glad that White decided to take up her cause because this Lucy is amazing! White has not just humanized her she's given her so many of the same insecurities that numerous young women face that don't allow them (us, let's be honest) to see how amazing we are. Lucy changes people (vampires) for the better just simply by being Lucy, and she spent far too long around people who wanted her to be less to be able to see that for herself. And Iris is just absolutely amazing as well. But Lucy, omigoodness Lucy, I feel like I've waited my whole life for this version of Lucy. Okay and I have to give an honorable mention to Rahul, his husband, and fucking Vanessa the therapist as well. Vanessa may actually be the hero of this entire story.

The way this is told was really amazing as well. Switching between 19 year old Lucy, 130ish year old Lucy, and Iris's perspective allowed us to see not just the growth but the woman Lucy had always been to begin with. And I loved the twist with the vampire thing. For most of the story we have vampires portrayed in ways they usually arent; they are living alone on the fringes of society and they aren't multi-millionaires who invested in Apple at the right time. Which makes sense to me to be honest, I do get the whole if you live for centuries you're probably gonna make some good financial decisions once or twice but at the same time I've got seventy year old parents and I work in a call center I know how people shy away from change, especially technological change as they age. However, the most believable portion of this is the whole corporation thing. We live in a time of giant corporations making billions, hell Amazon cleared trillions, the fact that no one has ever thought of this before (although I do feel like there was a Supernatural arc that had something similar) is astonishing.

My only very tiny complaint is that it did start to drag towards the end. We spent way too much time laying the ground work leading up to the multiple big reveals at the end, especially when by that point is fairly obvious what those would be. I'm not saying it wasn't a fun ride getting to them but a couple of chapters I found to be almost fillers. But that is truly a small complaint.

Overall, this was excellent, exactly what I was looking for when I requested it, probably even more so and I'm so glad there is a Lucy is a strong, capable badass with a hot girlfriend.


As always thanks to Random House Publishing - Ballantine and NetGalley for the eArc!

I struggled to read this all the way through. The fast changes from Iris, to Lucy before she was turned, Lucy after she was turned, made it frustrating to really grab onto the characters, the world, etc. In the end, the conversations where Lucy is narrating to the therapist were my favorite chapters. I felt so engaged with her, always excited to hear what happens next, where as the journals and Iris's pov were fillers.

It started off rough and jarring when we flipped between the characters. I would have liked the diary entries of Lucy to start after Iris finds the diary, that way it connects the reader with Iris’s discovery of information instead of it being an info dump.

Overall, I expected more gothic vibes, but instead I was stuck inside of Iris's bitter head more than I'd like.

This was really fun! Kiersten White is a great writer, and I love a good vampire story. I have not read the original Dracula, however, so this was a great way to ‘dip my toe in’. I will add this one to my recommendation list!

I'd definitely agree with reviewers complaining about this being called an "epic gothic fantasy" and a horror novel. It's really more like Vampire Academy than any true horror book. Luckily, I didn't read the blurb before going into this, so I didn't have any expectations to be dashed. Overall, I found this to be a very entertaining and enjoyable book. It's a fun, romantic adventure with plenty of likeable characters and some interesting things to say about Dracula.

I did feel the storyline lagged a bit once it was all caught up to modern times though. The Goldaming MLM company and their secret overlord were built up to be the big bad, but we never really saw them do anything that terrible. Unlike many MLMs, the products they were selling actually worked, and while there are hints of them doing horrible things off-screen, in reality, the meanest thing we actually witness them do is boss Iris around about her hair and makeup and say some corny slogans. I also felt like the conclusion was a major cop-out. After chapters and chapters of debates about how to handle a major obstacle, they essentially just end with "eh, we'll figure that out later." It feels a bit silly to say when I'd already argue the book was a little overlong, but we really needed a few more chapters towards the end to address that whole issue.

Thank you netgalley and publisher for a copy of the eARC!

I wanted to love this. The cover is beautiful and the description is intriguing, but I DNF’d this book… I personally felt it read a bit too much like fanfiction.

I love reaching for a classic retelling and so when this title popped up on NetGalley, I was intrigued immediately. I was initially insanely confused by the multiple point of views and timelines. Eventually, I started getting more invested and understood why each timeline mattered. The timelines were still quite disconnected and just as one would get interesting it would change to the next not giving you time to fully appreciate each POV. I LOVED getting a new sapphic twist on the classic Dracula through Lucy Westerna. Overall, if read and enjoy the blurb, you’ll probably like the book, that is pretty accurate.

At times it felt like I was reading multiple books at once, so that lead me to a 3 instead of a 4 star! If you love sapphic vampire retellings with a non-traditional POV, this one is for you!

While it did take me a moment to get an understanding of the different povs and timelines I LOVED this book. I am a huge dracula fan and loved the direction of this story! I pride myself on seeing plot twists a mile away and did not see anything coming in this book, it was amazing. Thank you netgalley for the arc.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I brought this on myself. I did not read the burb close enough. I only got 4 chapters in. It was so chaotic and all over the place. Then I realized it was about two girls and definitely not my cup of tea. Did not finish.

Overall thoughts: I loved this story. 4 stars

I do have to say it was a little difficult to get into, but that could be because I am a mood reader, or it could be because the pacing was off with the different POVs. Starting out, is a POV from Dracula, one from the MC Iris, journal entries of Lucy Westenra, and a client transcript between a vampire and a therapist named Vanessa. I loved the different POVs, and mediums used to share them with the reader. That said, this was quite a long book.

Keep in mind I have not read Dracula and I'm probably going to fix that ASAP.

Later on there are a few POV chapters that felt unnecessary imo, and I'll be interested to see how the released copy compares. That said, I will definitely be purchasing my own copy on release day!

Rating the book:
1. Characters? 1
I loved the main characters.
Iris is a young adult dealing with the death of her abusive mother. And we also have Elle, who's an assistant to a museum helping her go through the items in the home. Iris plans to cut and run as soon as possible to avoid the legacy her mother's company is forcing upon her. I felt like the way their relationship progressed was beautiful.
BUT I did have issues with the characterization of Dracula.
2. World-building/setting? .5
I loved how White described the world through a vampires eyes in the transcripts. The names she gave to the other vampires she met, and how she experienced the world as a vampire.
3. Plot? .5
It was kind of meandering, there was two stories that felt like part one and part two with no distinction within the book.
4. Originality? 1
This is an authors take on the characters of Dracula. And I think White did a wonderful job.
5. Writing? 1
Beautiful writing, I loved the journal entries and the transcripts.
6. Pacing? .5
The pacing was a little weird, it took a bit to get into the story, but once I got to the 25-30% mark I couldn't put it down.
7. Themes? 1.
Identifying themes is new for me, it brings be back to high school language arts etc. but I feel like White created a story in which people can identify how difficult it can be to love oneself.
8. DID I CRY/WILL IT STICK? 1
9. Enjoyment? 1
I love epistolary novels, and essentially reading multiple stories in tandem and waiting for everything to converge. It's so much fun.
10. THE end. .75

8.25/10 = 4/10

Thank you to Del Rey and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of the book and the chance to leave an honest, voluntary review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an Advance reader copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I really wanted to like this book. Im a huge fan of Dracula and works based off it. I also like Kristen White's writing, but something just went wrong after about 20% of this book.

Let's begin with the good. The concepts of Lucy surving what happens in the orignal novel, great fantastic idea. The early sections from Lucy's Pov are fasinating and enchanting. The idea of Iris is also a fun concept. But it quickly goes sour.
The plot is over complicated and bloated. The only twist that is actually unexpected it the final twist in the last 10% of the novel, but it is laughably bad. This book needed more editing and to have the plot slimmed and removing the frankly idiotic twists. I honestly wiuld have removed Iris and all of the plot tied to her and just let the book be Lucy's.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 and sadly I was left disappointed. It took me close to two weeks to finish this novel which is unusual for me, but the lack of interesting characters and plot could not hold my interest. I finally summoned enough energy to finish it and was relieved when it was over. If you like the original story of Dracula, as I do, I wouldn't recommend this. It comes across more like fan fiction on Wattpad than a published retelling.

I will always be Lucy Westenra's number one fan and this book only solidified my role as the head of her fan club! 👰🏼‍♀️🧛🏻🩸

Lucy Undying is a sapphic take on Bram Stroker's Dracula told in several perspectives across decades. The novel picks up the thread from several plot holes in Stroker's work and has a similarly epistolary feel that fans of the original Dracula will love! The new characters perfectly slot into the established world and. bring a fresh perspective to an old story.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you to Kiersten White, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review 🥰

Thank you Netgalley for the eARC

3.5

As a fan of sapphic gothic fantasy inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula, Lucy Undying immediately piqued my interest. The first few pages didn't evoke that genre however, since the first chapter made me wonder if I received a mislabeled file. Not quite the gothic I expected.

This is more of a mystery/romance epistolary novel rather than a gothic. Regardless of the error in book classification, Kiersten White's writing invited me in *cough* with the compelling plot. I can admit that a majority of the twists, such as certain character reveals were expected, but I'm not someone who tends to read in between the lines to figure out the end, and some still came as a surprise. It takes a while to build up, and after I thought the main conflict was over, there was more. I personally felt all the loose ends were tied, but that there were too many . Minor mentions of gore, nothing too crazy.

Definitely a read to redefine yourself as a person without limits of mortality, what it means to love, to be a woman, and understanding what matters most.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book early.

Lucy Undying follows Lucy Westenra from Dracula as she navigates the modern world and Iris, a girl on the run from her mother while inheriting a house in England.

This book should have been right up my alley with my love of sapphic vampires and Dracula but it kind of fell flat for me. I wish I had read more reviews before requesting this, because even though I was entranced by this gorgeous cover, the book was long, extremely confusing, and hard to follow. The point of view and time switches at the start jumped the story and made it hard to track what the plot was. And I couldn’t stand the way it shifted into the MLM section of the plot. But even though I really enjoyed Iris and Lucy’s story they felt very fast and rushed. I did enjoy the letters between them near the end of the book as that felt the most like the original story.

Lucy's voice in her diary as well as in “life” was my other favorite part of the book so if you're looking for a book that's big on Lucy's side of all the events, you would enjoy this. Even with all my criticism, I do appreciate White wanting to explore Lucy's character, as she is rarely discussed in a positive or interesting way.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley again for the chance to read this early.

I found the beautiful writing that I have come to expect from Kiersten White, lovely imagery all around. But the chapter jumps from one timeline to the next, while also remembering who we were reading about, unfortunately took me out of the flow of the story. All the inner thoughts that we get page after page of, were just not for me. As a lot of these are merely personal dislikes of writing choices, I still feel the novel is strong in the story it tells and will be an enjoyable read for others.

Thank you to the publisher for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.