Wow! Lucy Undying was a gripping and unique reimagining of Dracula lore that had me hooked from the beginning. This story actually follows Lucy Westenra, one of Dracula's victims in the original Bram Stoker tale. I love that Lucy's backstory and ongoing story as a vampire is explored in this book. This book took turns I didn't see coming and I appreciated that! It's dark, it's smart, it's funny, it's feminist - wonderful! I loved the interweaving POVs and narratives, it kept the story moving at a great pace. At times, this tale reminded me of Interview of a Vampire, especially the chapters that are transcripts of a character relaying their history in therapy sessions. Because this tale takes place over years and years, it feels like an epic journey you are traveling on along with the characters. Don't skip reading the acknowledgements, either! I was just as entertained with those. If vampire books are your thing, if you love revisiting classic tales, and you love female-centric stories, this is a book for you! So excited that I was able to read this one.

I absolutely loved this book so much. I mean first let’s start with the cover! Gorgeous are you kidding me!! As a vampire loving girlie this was such a fun read that had me pulled in from the beginning!

*Post will be published on 9/10/24

I was so excited to request this on Netgalley. Kiersten White is one of my all-time favorite authors, although I have to say that it's been a while since I read a book from her that had both great characters and pacing. The story is told in alternating chapters from 3 POVs: Lucy when she was human, Lucy in the present as a vampire, and Iris in the present. The format worked nicely and gave a sense of progress because there was always more to uncover about Lucy or Iris's life no matter which POV you were currently reading. I was also highly invested in why Iris was running away and whether she would succeed. It was exciting and I couldn't wait for their paths to cross. 

Another element I really enjoyed was Lucy's diary entries. I loved her vibrant and witty remarks and how she popped off the page. She was smarter and much more thoughtful than people in her life gave her credit for, and so full of love. I felt so bad about all she went through (especially how her love didn't seem to be returned the same she wanted, and how she never felt like enough). 

The character development was also excellent. It wasn't just Lucy who grew up, but the other vampires she met and befriended along the way. Lucy touched everyone's life that she encountered and I loved her journey to find herself. I loved all the female empowerment in this book. 

The ending was also very satisfying. I think even though there was a sort of loose end, it was still perfect. It felt hopeful more than anything and I was happy with the character development. Overall it was a solid book that I highly recommended. This has to be one of my favorite books from Kiersten White!

I absolutely loved this book! As an avid Dracula lover, the concept is brilliant. That Kiersten was able to take Lucy's character and mold it into this amazing story. I have most definitely pre ordered this for not only my collection but for a re-read!

There were so many lines in this book that I highlighted — the writing was often beautiful and regularly heartfelt and impactful. The romance between Lucy and Iris was a bit insta-love which I actually enjoy in sapphic romances, and found it to be done well. It was really cool to see a twist on the Dracula story, giving a history and future to a character who’s pushed aside in the original.

I have always loved Dracula and in college I wrote a paper on Lucy Westenra. I thought her character was by far my favorite, and consistently overlooked. She was abused and taken advantage of in so many ways, and I really connected with this author’s take on her life, or afterlife I should say. I’m so glad she gave Lucy her own voice back, and in such a startling good way. I loved this book so much!!

If Kiersten White writes it, I will read it. This book was amazing and hooked me from the first sentence. It was such an interesting take on this character and her perspective is masterfully told in both journal entries and modern day events. I was surprised by the twist on who the "bad guy" of the story actually was and delighted with the love story.

With a macabre humor and intense yearning reminiscent of “Sweeney Todd”, this book keeps you on the edge of your seat and wanting more. Just when you think you have it all figured out, like you have the upper hand on this story, it comes from the shadows and sinks its teeth into you once more.

Kiersten White really has something special here. She’s created not just a Dracula story, but one of true ethereal beauty and self-discovery. This book brings to mind the importance of staying true to yourself despite those who attempt to undermine, control or influence you.

This story bares to ask you this question…How far would you go for love and justice in the face of eternity?

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of Lucy Undying. This is a gorgeous story of love and healing wearing a cloak of gothic horror. Exciting, touching and delightfully sapphic, definitely give this one a read! Lucy is the heroine of my dreams

First off, I wanted to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

I have so many feelings towards this book, but I mostly feel disappointment and indifference.

I have been itching to get my hands on this book because gothic, sapphic vampires? Of course this sounds like it was made for me. Alas, it was not.

The writing felt completely off. I did not enjoy the reading experience. I wanted beautiful lyrical writing with longing and lust, but instead I really had to force myself to finish it.

The 3 different timelines made it difficult for me as well. If I stopped at a chapter and called it a night, when I picked up the book again, I had to go back 3 chapters to refresh myself of the previous plot I left off at. The only timeline I enjoyed was the therapist transcript. Iris' story was my least favorite, she was insufferable to read about and their love story was so insta-lovey.

I did appreciate the homage to the original Dracula story, even though I found that novel incredibly dull as well. To be fair, I also enjoyed many other factors to the book, including Lucy's coming of age story, Dracula's comparison to a narcissistic serial r**ist, and the MLM cult plot line. The themes of youth being connected to power, and the capitalist nature of the health and wellness products was interesting as well.

Overall, I feel like it could have edited out 100 pages or so and had the same story.

Not a fan of the constant back and forth between time periods and the 104 chapters. The chapter of “Yes I”m lucy and this is my story” Should have been first because it’s interesting and would have grabbed the reader 10x than what was chosen.

The rest of the story is just as bad. Instead of going on about her, she goes back and forth about her dad and then trying to pick up women. She also calls herself other names. Overall very messy book and writing.

Netgalley review, possible plot points mentioned below.

I was super excited to read this (the cover is really too good) but alas this book reads like a bad fanfiction that I wouldn't have finished after the first few pages (but I did).

The perspectives are often confusing, weird things are said and done throughout: Iris calling lucy her butter chicken, Iris calling her an angel and nonstop talking about how in love she was with her from one interaction on the street, vampire multi level marketing, just giving away a house, if you're a vampire you automatically become pansexual, and so on.

Overall the dialogue was personally awful and the story lacking in any interest, pretty early on I wanted to dnf this book. I couldn't get into a single character, they were either important or absolutely annoying.

If I had a nickel for every multi level marketing vampire books I read it would be 2 and they were both absolutely terrible.

I was surprised the story kept going after the first half concluded, I couldn't believe there was more that could possibly happen.

I thank the authors and netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book.

In Bram Stoker's Dracula, Lucy Westenra was a young English noblewoman damned for the "crime" of being sexually attractive to the men around her. Lucy deserved better, and she gets it in Lucy Undying. This re-write / spin-off of the original Dracula follows Lucy, who survives her suitors' attempted beheading, as she finds healing over the longue durée of her undead life.

Lucy begins with the format, tone, and themes of Dracula but then moves in new directions as the story reaches the 21st century. The Victorian gothic setting of human Lucy's diary and the historicity of vampire Lucy's travails in Europe during the World Wars shifts into the dystopian corruption of late-stage capitalism as lived by Iris, a descendent of Lucy's former fiancée, Arthur Holmwood, Lord Goldaming. Likewise, the sexualization and repression suffered by Lucy in Victorian England are echoed in the self-help Ponzi-scheme and involuntary medical procedures / institutionalization suffered by Iris in modern America.

This content is obviously heavy and requires deft handling. I think White succeeded in the first half of the book, which reminded me strongly of A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson. Both center Dracula's (and Dracula's) victims — Dowry focuses on surviving spousal abuse and Lucy looks at the aftermath of child abuse — while still holding space for healing.

Unfortunately, there was a dramatic tone shift into YA Romantasy territory toward the end of the book. I started having flashbacks of cartoons from the late 90s where the team of super-powered high school girls (Dracula’s victims) team up to defeat the evil villain (Dracula / Goldaming Life) through the power of love. I’m generally all for wish-fulfillment in fiction, I also want the queer couple to live happily ever after for once, but this was too unrealistic and disjointed. In my opinion, White ought to have stuck with the more adult tone, themes, and plot.

In summary: An original queer YA Romantasy twist on Dracula. And a worthwhile contribution to recent dystopian SFF novels on the issue of female bodily autonomy. Recommended with caveats due to the hand-wavy ending. 4 stars

The cover art looks like bad AI- I personally wouldn't have given this a look in a bookstore just for that alone. BUT the story. It's good. Well written. I feel like the chapters are too short though, I prefer them longer because sometimes you say "as soon as I finish this chapter, I'll do the chore." and if they're short then you have to get up sooner. This was an unputdownable book regardless!

I loved it. I loved it. I loved it.

As one of the first victims of the infamous Dracula, Lucy Westenra saw her story cut short, or did she? In “Lucy Undying” we learn the truth of her end and how a vampire bride can grow into something far more terrifying than her creator. With blood, love and betrayal that cuts to the bone she must rely on allies old and new to finally get her revenge.

This story is fantastic and it’s not lost on me that I got to read it in the early days of Pride month. As a character that I think gets lost amongst the others in the original story I really enjoyed the cuts of young human Lucy against that of the vampire showing not only her growth but how important it is to learn and reach and seek out other people and hold on to pieces of humanity even if all seems hopeless.

The through line connecting these pieces is also fantastic with Iris, reluctant heiress to a cult like company that promises youth and beauty, as she tries to sell off her fortune and disappear. Her moments of finding community and maybe even love as she tries to disentangle from the madness of her family ties was wonderful and the perfect catalyst to bring all these different threads together to a very satisfying conclusion.

I can’t explain how good this book was and how quickly I raced through it and I am so excited for everyone to get their hands on it this fall!

*special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

Lucy Undying is built upon the bones of Dracula - it's in part a retelling of the familiar 1800s story, and in part a new continuation set in 2024. It's also wholly and unabashedly queer.

The novel jumps between multiple timelines and POVs as we follow both the titular Lucy as well as the modern young woman Iris through writings, transcripts, and internal monologues. While the nature of the story was very engaging, my only major complaint comes from the pacing. The novel seemed to slow down considerably after a certain point, and sections became repetitive while Lucy and Iris would experience the same events from different perspectives.

Lucy herself was an absolute delight to read, and many of my favorites passages were from her diary entries in the 1800s. Her loneliness, compassion, wit, and sapphic yearning were heartbreaking and funny in turn. She was captivating both on page and in that incredibly striking cover art.

Really, I knew I couldn't go wrong with gothic horror and queer vampires. Thank you so much to Netgalley for the arc!

★ ★ ★ • 3

I really enjoy the aesthetic of this book and the story concept. Not to mention the stunning cover artwork. The characters and storyline also weren’t bad… However, I didn’t particularly care for the writing style.

Every chapter in the book alternates between past, present, character perspective, journal entries etc… It made the storyline awkward to follow and frankly just wasn’t done well. That’s not to say everyone who reads Lucy Undying will feel the same, but it definitely wasn’t something that I appreciated.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The concept for this book was absolutely up my alley. I gravitate towards anything involving vampires and I love the idea of taking characters from classics and exploring their lives and expanding their stories. I thoroughly enjoyed the stylized elements of the diary entries and the therapy transcripts. This story was an interesting, provocative, gothic journey that I was really able to sink my teeth into (pun intended) and enjoy.

Additionally, the cover art is gorgeous and really captures the essence of the book to me.

.Told in multiple POVs, and across multiple timelines, the chapters alternate between journal entries from Lucy as a teen before she is turned by Dracula, Lucy telling her therapist her life story after she was turned, and Iris, the heir to a massive MLM company trying to destroy everything her family has built.
This book is probably going to be one of my top reads this year, and Kiersten White’s version of Lucy Westenra is probably one of my favorite characters I’ve read in a long time. I loved how quirky and naive Lucy started out, compared to how independent but still funny she became.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of Lucy Undying in exchange for my honest review.

I don’t even know where to begin with this review, mostly because there is so much to say and then also because I don’t want to give away any of this story. I want you guys to read it!

I found myself connecting to this book more than any I’ve read this year, maybe even ever.
It’s a bit long, I will say that,
(479 pages to be exact)- so I hope you have your reading stamina up 😉
But I loved every minute of reading this book. Not once did I find myself bored.
I just wanted to keep reading!

Kiersten White does it again with another unputdownable novel.

If you’re into vampires, love stories, self discovery and healing, badass women and maybe just a bit of girl on girl action 🙈🙊
This one is for you.