This is an excellent reimagining of Lucy’s character from Dracula (and, yes, absolutely agree with the author that she is queer). Iris, though somewhat oblivious, is relatable and often hilarious, and I enjoyed reading about Lucy’s adventures. Oddly enough, the only part that didn’t work for me was the POV from Dracula—those chapters feel superfluous with everything else going on.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel by Kiersten White in exchange for an honest review. This was such a a great book. I love the Dracula story and have enjoyed different interpretations over the years, but this beat them all. Who knew I've been craving a story told from Lucy's point of view and that she was in love with Mina? I highly recommend this story.

Overall this is a good novel, with some things keeping it from greatness. I will say, for a storyline featuring exciting beings like Dracula and vampires, it felt more low stakes, and the plot is a bit slow moving.
I did enjoy the split narratives, particularly Lucy and the other vampires she meets and befriends- the writing in these sections is pretty and atmospheric, while the writing in Iris's narrative is…not.
The plot is straightforward and a bit predictable with the twist at the end. The romance was also a bit boring; I wanted more yearning before their immediate in love after just a few days lol . However I do appreciate their happy ending. I wouldn’t mind a sequel duology of the vampire pair hehe.

I have conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand I loved the characters, the world building, the fresh spin on Dracula, the title, and the cover. It was wonderful to see Lucy get the spotlight for once, and I was intrigued by the Promising Young Woman vibes of her revenge plot. The storytelling was enjoyable enough to keep reading, and the writing was often clever and at times downright beautiful.

On the other hand, the constant shifts between Lucy’s diary, the therapist’s transcripts, and present day Iris (plus a couple of other perspectives I felt were completely unnecessary since removing them wouldn’t have changed anything) made it difficult to stay engaged. That may just be a me thing—I don’t fare well with more than two POVs—but it interrupted the flow every time there was a switch. Since the chapters were very short (which I usually love), I found myself putting down this book frequently and switching to a more bingeable book. I also felt this was far longer than it needed to, since there was repetition and places where the pacing seemed to drag. The conclusion, in particular, seemed drawn out to the point where I often found myself wondering why the story hadn’t ended yet, and the ending itself ultimately didn’t feel as satisfying as I would’ve liked since it focused on setting up the next book rather than wrapping up the story neatly.

The romance was also a mixed bag for me—sweet, but not enough chemistry or connection between Iris and “Elle” to make me feel truly invested in whether they ended up together. I found Lucy’s relationships with The Queen, The Doctor, and The Lover far more compelling than the central romance.

I would recommend this to Dracula buffs who don’t mind constant POV shifts.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

I wanted so badly to love this one. DNF'd at around 15%. Just wasn't enticed y the writing style at all, but I think this book will find it's readership. The ideas are all there,. Thank you Net Galley for sending me an arc.

Oh my, this was something entirely different, like a story I didn't know I needed until I started reading it. Having her point of view her storyline was enjoyed. Being a fan of Dracula, I found this be a spectacular read, one that I found myself enjoying.

This book includes:
- complex family dynamics
- life on the run
- vampires

The concept behind "Lucy Undying" fascinates me and the book cover is absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, the book did not hold my interest and I was unable to plow through the story. That said, the chapters I read were well-written and I could see this book being a favorite for many paranormal readers.

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Kiersten White, and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863 and it will be posted to my bookstagram account https://www.instagram.com/tinynightingales/

I just love Kiersten White's writing and her adult horror really scratches an itch for me! While I didn't love this as much as her previous novel, I still really enjoyed this book. The atmosphere was so immersive and the characters all felt so real, I was rooting for them the entire time. Dracula is one of my favorite classic novels so it was fun to be back in this world (even if it isn't cannon) and seeing the characters I know and love grow and thrive. I have always had a soft spot for Lucy, because the things so goes through are so tragic but seeing her grow into the strong woman she is in this novel made me feel so proud. I also loved that Kiersten made Lucy queer in this because I have already read her as queer (Bram Stoker was ~probably~ gay so I think he would've loved to see his characters live openly and happily in this). The only thing that made this not a 5 star was the fact that I wish it was darker and scarier. Don't get me wrong, there were some pretty graphic scenes in this but I wish Kiersten went a bit darker. Despite that, this book was so fun and well written and I didn't want to stop reading. I will always read everything Kiersten White writes and I'm so happy seeing her grow and develop as an author!

Not for me at this time but I will definitely be going back at some point to try again because I really like the premise of this book.

Thank you Net Galley for the e arc. Lucy Undying is a sapphic retelling of sorts of Dracula first love Carmilla. Unfortunately I was not able to finish the story due to the writing style.

Things I enjoyed
-LGBTQ+ representation (multiple characters are in the LGBT+ community including both main characters)
- Dracula Retelling
-Vampires
-The diary entries/therapist session notes
-Dual POV & multiple time periods
-Strong female characters
Things I didn’t enjoy
I can’t think of anything I didn’t like now that o think of it

Thank you so much for gifting me this arc, but I had to dnf 35% of the way through! It was just too slow and the writing was too cringy at times, it made it super hard to read :(

This is my first Kiersten White novel, and I truly enjoyed reading this. We follow Lucy Westerna, and her journey of turning into a vampire. What I really enjoyed were the therapy sessions that addressed Lucy's struggles, past, her relationship with Dracula and with Iris. The book was intriguing enough that I wasn't bored though the pacing could have been a bit faster. Highly recommend!

This retelling was superb! It brought me into a spooky and dark world with a vengeance. I loved the atmosphere and the characters so much! Kiersten Whire is now on my auto buy list! Read this book this Fall!!!

Lucy Undying starts out as part Dracula retelling through a feminist lens and part gothic sapphic romance. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2/3rds of the book, as we follow Lucy's point of view of the events from Dracula, as well as learn what became of her after the story. We also follow Iris, a contemporary woman with a lot of family issues who discovers Lucy's diary as she returns to her family home, unaware that her new friend "El" is actually Lucy. As a big fan of the original Dracula, I very much enjoyed how White reconfigures the story to highlight the way in which Lucy is treated throughout the story by the male characters that take center stage, and the way in which her characterization of both Lucy and Iris allow us to respond to them both with empathy despite their past misdeeds. It is a wonderful story of healing and of two people who have been hurt by everyone they trusted finally connecting with someone who will accept them for who they are. It is particularly poignant how Lucy is able to finally love herself and forgive herself by seeing her younger self through Iris's eyes. I was ready to give this book 5 stars!

But that feeling reached its height with almost 150 pages left to go in the story. The third act sadly lost me as the book transitions into a let's get revenge on Dracula plot that devolves into a modern corporate thriller, but with vampires. Getting to this part helped me understand how the reviews for the book we lower than my initial impression and divided. The third act becomes something quite different and sadly a little hokey. I still was able to enjoy it, and I was (mostly) satisfied with the ending, but talk about a profound shift in tone and expectations! The third act is really more of a 3 for me.

My recomendation would honestly be to enjoy the book through 65% (chapter 70) . The end of that chapter would be.a great ending- if you don't mind a change of gears or you are just too curious to stop there, proceed with VERY different expectations. This is some wild stuff!

Thanks to Del Rey and Netgalley for access to an eARC for review purposes.

“Loving someone is always giving them the power to destroy you. But I trust both of us enough to know it’s worth it.”

If you have read or were forced to read Dracula in school and always thought, why do the characters treat Lucy so horribly?? And wanted a form of rectification for Lucy’s story, this book right here is for you! Lucy Undying can be best described as a gothic sapphic retelling set in modern day in a timeline where Lucy Westenra survives against all odds.

I first have to mention the format of this book: it is mostly divided between the timeline of the events happening in the present day, Lucy’s journal entries from 1890, and client transcripts containing Lucy’s ventures after being transformed into a vampire. I found this to be so clever in giving us a full spectrum of Lucy—before and after vampirism. I would also like to note this is a heavily character driven story so if you were not obsessed with Bram Stoker’s Lucy and didn’t write a 5 page essay about her in college then maybe this isn’t for you because the pacing is very slow. However, I really enjoyed the pacing as it allowed for you to truly meet this Lucy and let me just say right now I’ll take Kiersten White’s depiction of Lucy over the original. And let me tell you why. Through Lucy’s entries we see how starved for love she was and how she was used by the people that were there to “protect” her. Through the client transcripts, we learn of Lucy’s life after becoming a vampire and how she drifted place to place trying to find her purpose. Through the present day timeline told in Iris’ POV, we see Lucy being quite cheeky and flirty, allowing herself to open up to the possibility of love. This is what I call perfected character development because we really got to know Lucy through all the stages of her life.

Moving to Iris as she is our other main character, her spirit greatly resembles Lucy’s as she is fighting to be kept out of her family’s plans for her. The plot of this book comes with Iris’ plight of trying to outrun her inheritance, her blood, and the family business, if that’s what we want to call it.

If Lucy is The Terminator, Iris would definitely be The Fearless because this girl doesn’t let much faze her throughout the entire book. The plot of the cult trying to trap and mold Iris to what they wanted her to be was oddly chilling; especially once you get to the later chapters in which the explanation as to why Iris is a vital asset to the whole organization. However, I will say there were some chapters where, let’s just say, Iris wasn’t adding much to the story and kind of dulled in comparison to other parts of the book.

Even Dracula is more fleshed out in this novel as the author sprinkles a couple of chapters namely in his POV but gives you the sensation that you are the one in the book being watched, hunted, and stalked by him. Dracula also possessed a lot of human traits namely some weaknesses which I will not name but, it was very interesting to write him in a way where he was powerless. And then the rippling effects of what that experience will later ensue.

The romance in this was very subtle and honestly I live for it because it focused super heavily on Iris and Lucy’s relationship through their lived experiences with one another, the understanding that they were fighting for the same goal, and not wanting the other to be destroyed within the process of doing so.

Lastly, the acknowledges drove it all the way home for me which if you’re saying, “But the acknowledgments aren’t part of the book?” Yes they are, and I don’t care! I have to agree with Kiersten White when she notes of Lucy’s treatment in the original Stoker novel, the way she was infantilized, lacked agency over her body, and then shamed for her sexuality by people that were namely the “heroes” was always something that bothered me as well. Not to bash Bram Stoker because he’s dead and all but, you were so wrong for doing our girl Lucy like that. For me after reading this novel, it feels like the true ending and whenever I get around to rereading Dracula, I will always carry this novel in my heart. Because let’s face it: Lucy does deserve a girlfriend.

Thank you to NetGalley & Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was a huge fan when I read The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, and I big fan of retellings. And Vampires, yes please. Unfortunately, Lucy Undying, missed the mark for me.

3 stars

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Amazon Review submitted
Blog post goes live November 8th
Youtube vlog/Vampire wrapup coming

**TL;DR**: A book for people who hate Dracula and love cringey instalove
**Source**: NetGalley! Thank you for the eArc!

**Plot**: A mess. Basically feels like the author writing some self-insert fanfiction in which she tells Lucy everyone was out to get her and they get to kill Dracula and have sex.
**Characters**: No thank you.
**Setting**: This is all over the place, they travel quite a bit and there is a maybe haunted house but none of it felt well realized.
**Horror/Vampires:** When the cringe is this strong there is nothing else to be appreciated. I suppose if cringe is a horror subgenre for you, maybe?

**Thoughts**:

The way I want to describe everything about this I disliked would make me sound unhinged, truly. This one is billed as ‘A Dracula Novel’ on the bottom of the cover and I beg to differ. I think the best way to describe this would be a ‘Lucy Westenra Self Insert FanFiction’. We get Lucy’s story before and during Dracula, and current day with a young woman who finds her diaries and ends up friends with her.

I’m going to drop spoilers here - if you don’t want them here is my short version. Don’t read this if you like Dracula in any way. I recommend you just reread the original novel or just read anything else.

Now, the short version of this. Kiersten White, in the acknowledgements, of this book states they full believe that the original Dracula novel had an unspoken plot to steal Lucy’s money and fortune (which I find ridiculous). This is the story of Iris (our modern day main character) discovering this and falling in love with Lucy who has been a vampire this whole time. In addition to this we have Lucy moving through history meeting all these women who she either sleeps with or saves (much like a man in many old style fantasy or horror books, these women also have about the same depth as those old style books). In addition to this she single handedly ends World War 1 by stomping her foot at a bunch of old men. We get copious amounts of modern day band references, so many Emily Dickinson quotes, and the worst pet names I’ve ever read (my little cabbage and my little butter chicken).

Any feminism or empowerment we could have gotten for any of these characters is completely lost in how surface level all of this is. It reads like a poorly done fanfiction. Every scene, except the big monologues that you can tell the author had written up and stored for years, is brief and has about the depth of ‘Oh I stomped my foot at these old men and told them to sign a paper and left’.

I don’t claim to be a great writer or highly intelligent but this… was a mess. Just skip it. In fact if you see it in the store, look left, turn left - go elsewhere.

1 Star. I can’t even make a fun rating on this one. No.

I could not get into the writing style. It felt discombobulated and cringy at times. I really felt like a lot of the plot and purpose was surface level. I have seen others relate the story to poorly done fan fiction and I tend to agree with that.

It’s unfortunate because I was very interested in the premise.

This wasn’t what I was expecting it to be. I went into this book having already read the original novel several times and I’ve recently read another Dracula re- imagining/retelling. I’m also currently reading Dracula Daily. Suffice it to say I’m familiar with the original story. Maybe a bit too familiar.

I did like some of the choices the author made to update the story. How would vampires live among us in the modern day? The author had an interesting answer to that question. I don’t think I’ve seen vampires done quite this way. That element of the story might have been my favorite part of the book. Although I did like the relationship between Iris and Lucy, I felt it needed a bit more development. The vampire adventures with Lucy were interesting and kept my attention for the most part. I didn’t really care for how they were presented (the client transcripts). I think the book was full of interesting ideas that maybe weren’t executed the best. I’ll give more details below, please skip reading the rest of the review if you’d rather find certain plot points out for yourself.

I can say that I did enjoy this book, for the most part. It wasn’t terribly written, I just think the plot and pacing needed a bit more work. Either the book needed to be trimmed down or it needed to be a three book series. It almost felt as though it might have been a trilogy or duology and then had to be cut down to one book. Of course, I have no idea if this is true. All this to say that the book was longer than it needed to be. We have too many POVs. We get Iris in present day, Lucy’s journal as a human, Lucy’s therapy sessions in modern day as a vampire, Dracula’s POV, Lucy’s in modern day, etc. There’s also a few others thrown in. Some plot points that we see through Lucy’s POV as a human in her journal get rehashed in Iris’ POV. I thought this was unnecessary and repetitive. Adding Iris’ reactions to Lucy’s journal really slowed the pace down. Overall, I think we needed less POVs. Some just felt unnecessary and others, like the therapy sessions, just seemed like they didn’t quite fit.

I also felt that the plot points for the original Dracula story could have been conveyed in a better way. Those that have read the original story will have a hard time recognizing the characters as they have been significantly changed. No, I’m not referring to making Lucy queer. I’m referring to the other changes in Mina, Arthur, and Dr. Seward. The changes to Van Helsing I think were more believable. I actually think making Lucy queer makes more sense than some of the other changes.

There were several moments in the story where I felt that certain things were being spoon fed to the reader. Or shoved down our throats, however you’d prefer to view it. Again, I won’t go into specifics but this happened mostly in Iris’ POV when she’s reflecting on Lucy’s journal. Some of the twists were very obvious. I don’t think some of them were even meant to be a surprise to the reader, I’m not sure. The synopsis gives a surprising amount of the plot away. I’d skip reading it except for the first part where it tells you the premise.

I can’t say that I hated this book. There were things I really did like. I can’t say I loved it either. I will say I still had a good time reading it. This book took some time to finish though. I’d recommend to those that love vampire and or queer love stories. If you’re obsessed with the original Dracula novel, I’d still recommend giving this a try. Just be aware that since this is a re-imagining, things have been changed.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing, Ballantine, Del Rey, and the author for providing me with an ARC for review.