I was really enjoying this until the halfway mark, and then things started to get a bit... bland for me. Which is a shame because the story had a lot of promise.

Lucy Undying had some really interesting premises and with that wonderful cover it was impossible to resist but I must say that the reading didn't go as I hoped.

The author has many difficulties in managing three points of view and in the end the one that is really interesting is that of Lucy in the past. The narrative often gets lost in chatter and digressions that lengthen a story that could easily have been resolved in fewer pages with a more pressing pace and that would keep you glued to the pages.

But between banal, immature and sloppy characters, and a story that progresses piecemeal, unfortunately I never really felt involved in reading.
And it's a shame because there are really some interesting and even original ideas and ideas! I appreciated the twisting of Mina's character and everything that revolves around her figure. But unfortunately these acute insights are lost in a glass of water.

2.75⭐ Thanks to Netgalley and publishing house for the e-ARC

It started out pretty good but at 42% it went downhill for me 😭😭im not sure what was the main factor that threw me off cause the writing was pretty good and i liked how the book started but i don’t know i think i lost interest at some point

Thanks to the publisher for the arc

☆☆☆½
(rounded down due to the rating system)
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Dracula changed her. Love will transform her.
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What drew me to the book:
I think the better question is what didn’t draw me to the book? With a gorgeous cover & an interesting sounding plot / story / synopsis how could I not be drawn in?
How long it’s been on my TBR:
To be honest I don’t quite remember but according to my Netgalley since June of this year at least.
My expectations:
A good reimagining with good characters & an interesting story between them, character driven, a well-written romance & a good mix of the past & present.
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My thoughts whilst reading:
I didn’t note down a lot so some things were forgotten but for a lot of the book I felt not uninterested but tired, every time I was reading it I started to grow sleepy, I think it may have been the writing style but I couldn’t quite say for sure. Other than that I found myself enjoying certain parts of the book more than others, for example Lucy’s past explored in the transcript & through her journal were both really interesting whereas I didn’t quite love Iris’ point of view, I found her voice to read as not immature per se but younger than she was, I even struggled to figure out her age until past halfway into the book when she said she was 25, she acted / read as a little younger & very modern which contrasted (& not in the best way) to young Lucy’s voice which was obviously a lot more sophisticated, it also contrasted to
older Lucy’s voice which was more ‘mature’. I did find that the book got better as I changed how I read it which left me speeding through a large chunk as opposed to stopping every couple chapters out of something akin to boredom. After this point I pretty much just got the book finished because whilst I was enjoying it I wasn’t loving it the way I wanted it to.
How long it took me to read:
4 Days which is honestly a lot less time than I thought it would.
Overall:
I think the best way to describe this book is as oil on water. On the one hand we had the story of Lucy Westerna, human turned vampire, searching for something & on the other we had Iris & Elle, living in the present, Iris searching for a way out of her family & Elle helping her & then, later, Lucy. We watch the two stories unfold until they reached a point where they combine & are the same, continuous, ongoing story, finally joint but they felt like two separate stories to me, occuring in the same book but still not quite the same story. Maybe it was intentional, Lucy doesn’t reconcile with her past self until later in the book but that transition of the two Lucy’s isn’t really ‘seamless’ nor does it feel as if they’re merging into the same Lucy. I feel that something that doesn’t help with this is that we know that Elle is Lucy, the books synopsis tells us as much but the story could’ve been a lot more interesting if we hadn’t known who she was, if we believed Lucy to be dead & Elle just the museum appraiser who is also obviously (to us) a vampire with the reveal being hinted at & hidden rather than being the books synopsis. I get why that wasn’t the case, afterall the book is called Lucy Undying, she is the titular character & on the cover & the twist may have been slightly obvious but I do still think it would’ve given the book a little extra umph. On the note of Lucy being the titular character I did find myself surprised by the fact that the book wasn’t only in her point of view but in the present rather only Iris’. What I did enjoy about the book being told though was how the past, the present & the future all unfurled at the same time which pairs well with a quote from the book, I forgot the exact quote but it was from a classic book & was along the lines of “forever is made up of now’s” it really felt that way with the book with all the time happening ‘now’ be it the past, the present or the future yet to come.
Ultimately Lucy Undying was a tale of finding yourself & breaking free of the past, moving on & letting go, all of which had a satisfying conclusion although the execution was flawed & it was a little predictable at times.
Miscellaneous:
There were a few quotes & things that reminded me of one of my favourite books (Vicious by V.E. Schwab)
Did it meet my expectations:
It didn’t meet my expectations, it wasn’t what I was expecting at all from the titular character sharing the book with another character to the different voices of those characters. I feel part of my mislaid expectations on this story can be blamed on the cover, they say not to judge a book by its cover but as a reader & someone who understands that the cover artists & designers have a job, I know better than that, a cover can tell you a lot about a book & so I guess I expected the book to feel more like the cover when in reality it didn’t, don’t get me wrong I absolutely love the cover its gorgeous but it just misled my expectations.
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Favourite character:
Lucy.
Favourite scene:
I loved the scene that followed Iris seeing the portrait.
Favourite relationship:
Lucy’s with herself, watching her reconcile with her past, finding herself & forgiving herself was nice to read. I also have to say that a very close second was the romance between Iris & Lucy.
Favourite quote:
‘It breaks something inside me, seeing a perfect reflection of what it looks like to kill your heart before someone can do it for you.’
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Why I rounded the review up / down*:
If I had to ‘more accurately’ rate this book its rating would be somewhere between 3.5 stars & 3.75 stars as it wasn’t quite here nor there for me so I ended up deciding to round it down.
Do I regret reading it:
No but I won’t be rereading it any time soon either.
Will I be reading the sequel:
Not applicable.
Will I be keeping my copy:
Probably but only because the cover is really pretty.
Do I recommend it:
If you want something new, modern & something old, rooted in the past, two stories which are the same tale just out of order, the story of a Utah based cult & a girl who can’t escape & the story of another girl who couldn’t escape her own problems as they find their way out of the dark then this is for you.
*(for rating systems such as Goodreads)
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Thank you so much to Netgalley for the ARC.

Book Ratings
Content: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Writing Style: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Readability: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Plot Development: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review
Lucy Undying was a fantastic addition to the ‘Dracula’ world. I really enjoyed the use of different mediums to tell the story, and that we got different POVs. I thought the addition of a Vampire MLM was fantastic, and actually really believable. I do think if vampires were real someone would capitalise on it in the form of a MLM/pyramid scheme. The only thing I struggled with was the pace of the book, I did find it was quite slow at points and I struggled to fully buy into the story. There were definitely some fantastic twists and turns throughout the book, I guessed a couple but I was shocked by others.

Would I read it again? Yes.

This is a fantastic read with an interesting take on the dracula story. Loved reading it from the other side ao to speak. White delivers a remarkably vivid world and characters that come alive on the page.

It is a bit slow to get into, but once you do it’s hard to put it down.

4.5 stars

LUCY UNDYING is an engaging, unexpected reimagining of DRACULA spanning the book right to the real day, and with a vampiric multi-level marketing scam for funsies.

I LOVED the MLM scam aspect of the book. It's such a fun idea (and feeds into the reframing aspect of the original tale.) These scams are like vampires, draining people to survive, so why not add actual vampires to it?

It's such a clever device woven into the reframing of DRACULA that puts the women of the book front and centre. Even Dracula himself is very much sidelined in this book, with only a few chapters towards the end that use him to explore the toxic masculinity that gives rise to a sense of entitlement to women's feelings and bodies.

I actually haven't read DRACULA - it's a classic and I struggle with them (however, it's slates to be one of Barrington Stoke's Classics Retold next year, so I'll finally get to know the story properly!) I suspect that the opening would have been full of more "ooo, that's how this book is taking X element?" moments if I knew the original. However, not knowing (beyond pop culture general knowledge) didn't affect my enjoyment of the book.

The story it told across multiple timelines. There is Lucy's diary (the happenings of her pre-vampire life), Lucy talking to her therapist (her vampire life pre-Iris), and then Iris narrating the present day (Lucy joins in with present day narration in the final act so we see both of them taking on the vampires and MLM.)

Thank you, DelRey & and NetGalley, for approving this ARC.

Omg this book was amazing! It's a Dracula retelling based on Lucy Westenra story. I found the whole story so beautifully and richly written, and it had me hooked the whole way through.

The story is mostly told from mostly 3 timelines and different POV we have Lucy's diary entries set in the 1800s, Iris POV set in 2024 and then Lucy's POV with her therapist, a little after Iris in 2024 and then the last part of ye story set end of 2024 and 2025.

I don't want to spoil too much as I genuinely think going into this a little blind is the best way.

Overall, it's a saphic, haunting, vampire story but also a story about love, understanding, and loving yourself and even has a little bit of girl power thrown in.

I'm always seated for sapphic vampires! And, I guess, Dracula retellings too, after this.

Lucy Undying was a read I thought I'd need a bit longer to get through, because the pacing seemed so slow, but I literally read 70% of it in one day because I couldn't stop reading, so how slow was it really? I can't say. What I can say though, is that this story gripped me, and kept me hanging on every single word.

I feel like most people probably found Lucy's chapters more interesting, but for me, Iris was the character I kept wanting to go back to every time I was reading about Lucy, or the secret third PoV.

That's not to say I disliked Lucy, I still found her history entertaining, and I liked the romance between her and Iris. I could feel the longing through the pages, and kept wishing for them to finally be happy.

My favourite thing about this book, is the never-ending number of twists. We get the majority of them in the second half, which is, no surprise, the half I enjoyed reading the most.

I saw only a few coming, but when Iris started putting things together in her head (and with all those pages), I was in shock. And then I kept getting surprised all the way until the end.

The gothic atmosphere was on point, I enjoyed the writing style as well. This is actually my very first book by Kiersten White, even though I've had her books on my tbr for years. Now I know I'll probably like the others too.

The plot is very well crafted (if a bit unbelievable at times), but I do think it's stretched out more than it should be. Especially in the first half where we didn't get as much action as the second.

Aside from that, I don't really have any other negatives. It was such a fun read, and I'd love to have a sequel of some sort, because there's definitely more story to tell.

*Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

this book was good but unfortunately not great.

i particularly enjoyed lucy’s diary and the talks with her therapist, and even the bits in the house with iris were interesting to me.

however the story went a bit downhill when they left london. it was what should have been a brilliant plot, but it just felt slightly lacklustre and vaguely confusing to me. there was also issues with the pacing throughout the book as a whole, and some details that were kept back (presumably for the plot) that would probably had made it better if revealed earlier. it also just wasn’t very memorable to me.

Romantic, and slightly dark. Not my favorite book of the year but a great pov of lucy and her relationship and experience of the poetic world of dracul.

Once I got into this book I could not put it down. I love a Dracula book and a sapphic version was bound to be awesome and it was! I couldn't wait to read more about Lucy and this did not disappoint!

Kiersten White has such a fantastic way of world building. It's gritty and gothic and utterly immersive. Fell into this story from the first page and couldn't stop once I had started,

This was such a unique book

I was expecting something totally different but in a good way I totally loved it,
I loved how the story was told by different characters in different years and the use of letters,

I was a way of exploring Dracula story I’ve never seen before and I was totale intrigues from page 1

3 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2024/09/30/review-lucy-undying-by-kiersten-white/
My FIve Word TL:DR Review: Started Well, Went Off Track

I was really excited to pick up Lucy Undying for various reasons. I seem to be enjoying the recent resurgence of vampire novels, I love Bram Stoker’s Dracula and I was so looking forward to a retelling from Lucy’s point of view. She’s such an undervalued character, the spoilt rich girl who becomes a victim of Dracula as he attempts to get to Mina.

To be fair this gets off to a really good start. We have a few different POVs. Primarily Iris, a young heiress who is trying to break free from the clutches of her overbearing family and Lucy – who has a number of different storylines. One that is told in journal format and covers the years before she falls victim. One that takes us back to her long haul through history as a vampire. And finally, Lucy in the current modern day world.

Iris has arrived in London, with her family’s approval (although they are still observing her not so surreptitiously), she is visiting on the pretext that she’s going through family property. As such she spends time in a dilapidated mansion where she is putting things in to order – or more to the point searching for anything small and valuable that she can sell for quick cash to help her finally disappear. She requests help from a museum in relation to the valuation of certain items and the next day a young, beautiful and elusive woman turns up on her doorstep.

Anyway, let’s take a look at what did and didn’t work for me.

Firstly, I didn’t mind the different POVs and quickly got into the groove. I enjoyed that we had Lucy’s journal to take a look back at her life prior to becoming one of Dracula’s victims, this is a great reflection of the original novel and was a good way to get an insight into Lucy’s true inner thoughts.

I loved the way the story started and the time spent in the old mansion, this had such great gothic vibes.

The writing was good, it was easy to read and in actual fact I had no problems completing this. I was curious and always keen to get back to the story. BUT.

Well, firstly, as a reimagining White turns a lot of the characters on their heads. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this, I don’t really mind the characters having different and new motivations, just that it all felt very flimsy.

Then, the hidden agenda with Iris’s family and the connections to other elements of the story felt so over the top and convoluted. For me, I was rather hoping that this was a new chance for Lucy, perhaps she’d meet Iris and help her to disappear and it would be this exciting relationship between the two as they forge their own story. As it was, I didn’t feel any chemistry between Iris and Lucy, their instalove was a little cliched and the whole inclusion of trips to haunts from the original work, plus the inclusion of Dracula just felt unnecessary. I wanted the story to become its own ‘entity’ but that never really happened. I never felt fear or dread for the characters and I couldn’t help wondering when did vampires become so dull.

I don’t know, on the face of it this book kept me entertained and it might work really well for others, but, it didn’t quite work its magic on me. I was hoping for more and I thought this was Lucy’s real chance to shine.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinioin.

For a while I was worried that this book was not going to be for me, which seemed insane given the it is a Sapphic Dracula retelling which couldn't be more up my street!
I pondered DNFing up until around the 30% point and god am I glad I gave it the chance and kept on reading. This book was everything I didn't know I needed when it comes to the story of Dracula and particularly Lucy's story, because if you have read Dracula you can't deny that Lucy definitely deserved better, this book is her better, the ending she deserved away from the men trying to control her life very much for their own ends, a life she never could have dreamed of in her time period.
Vampires tic
Sapphic tic
Cult behaviour tic
Multi POV tic
Honestly I am now recommending this to everyone I know who enjoys vampire novels and honestly, looking forward to reading it again myself!

“Her teeth are small and white and perfectly sharp, and I love fanged Lucy best of all, I think. We’re going to do great and terrible things together.”

It’s an undeniable fact that Lucy Westenra is the most tragic character in Dracula (Quincy Morris, beloved cowboy, you’re a close second). So when I saw a retelling all about her, I pounced, and I was not disappointed. The book borrows elements of the original while straying far enough to make it feel like a whole new story in the same epistolary style. Its fragmented, mixed-media format was really enjoyable: starting with a second-person, predatory account of Dracula’s hunts; moving to a secret, second version of Lucy’s diaries detailing her life; contrasted against the Interview With the Vampire style therapy transcripts detailing her afterlife; all sandwiched between the main portion of the plot following Iris Goldaming, runaway cult heiress, as she meets present day Lucy. Although I’m not usually a fan of instalove, I thought it was handled very tactfully here and the sapphic vampire/human relationship managed to keep plenty of ups and downs in spite of it. In places the overall pacing felt a little bit wonky, as the opening half—taking place mostly in the past—built up very slowly, then caught up to the present very quickly, then slowed down again, then sped up right at the end. The final plot twist was one I caught onto quickly at the beginning, but so much happened towards the end that I completely forgot all about it, so it still came as something of a surprise. Overall, this was a wickedly fun read perfect for those who, like me, are ready to see the women of Dracula seek their retribution.

Lucy Undying by Kiersten White was a fun and completely unique paranormal book that took the term vampire to new heights. This was a reimagining of the tale of Dracula and Lucy, something I had no knowledge of before reading this book. But we don’t meet Lucy at the beginning, only insight into Dracula’s process of enticing young women.
We then meet Iris, a young woman who recently lost her mother and has travelled across the world to handle some estate business so she can get away from the toxicity her mother left behind. Before we find out she’s dead, Iris consoles her father who thinks he’s seeing his wife clawing at the windows in his assisted living accommodation. Iris is a fun character to get to know. You can tell she’s been through it and her arrival in London is not the happiest event for her. She meets an ethereal randomer when she almost gets hit by a taxi and sparks fly but that’s it and she vanishes. Something doesn’t seem right though. Calls from mystery lawyers, weird culty statements like “the blood is life” and a level of paranoia that doesn’t match the situation she is in. After arriving at a mysterious mansion her mother owned, Iris is determined to sell any valuables, get as much money as possible and then vanish from the clawing grasp of her mothers minions.
The other chapters finally introduce us to Lucy, a young girl approaching adulthood, dealing with the pressures from her mother and the impending forced marriage she will have to eventually face. This is from the perspective of her diary so you can really get to know this young girl. What is a fun time is that Iris also discovers these journals and as a reader we know the information a little before Iris but we can see her reactions to some pivotal moments in Lucy’s life.
And then there’s the interview transcript from a woman who wakes in a cemetery not knowing who she is or where she came from and how she is guided through her transformation as a vampire and the manipulation it entails. I kind of gathered who this was but it was still fun to read. As a reader the diary eventually catches up to the transcript and we can connect the dots as to who’s life we’re learning about. In present day chapters that follow Iris, the ethereal stranger that saved her life has stumbled on her doorstep after Iris requested an appraiser to help sell the valuables. She is thrilled! Their friendship is great and the introduction of Rahul the queer taxi driver and his adorable husband Anthony become integral parts in Iris’s journey to freedom.
Between the diary, the transcript and Iris’s journey it leads to a whirlwind story that I was desperate to continue. The mix of historical and current plot points kept my interest and I’m definitely interested in seeing Kirsten White’s other work.
Thank you so much for providing the eARC for me to enjoy!

Firstly that cover.......it is to die for!! What a great gothic and beautifully written book and the fact that Dracula was in the story as well fantastic. A must read for those dark cosy autumn night. Thank you for my advanced kindle copy.

Move over, Dracula. There’s a new vampire queen in town, and her name is Lucy. Lucy Undying by Kiersten White takes one of gothic horror’s most overlooked characters and gives her the spotlight she deserves. And let me tell you, Lucy has a lot to say.

Now, full disclosure: I’ve never actually read Dracula (don’t come for me, horror purists), but after reading this, I’m ready to sink my teeth into the original. Though to be fair, White’s retelling makes Lucy’s story feel fresh and modern.

Most of the novel is told from the perspective of Iris Goldaming, the heir to a multi-million-dollar family business built on corruption and shady multi-level marketing schemes (think vampires, but worse). After her mother dies and leaves the whole mess to her, Iris does what any sensible person would do—she runs for it. She hightails it to London to sell off the family’s assets, hoping to grab some quick cash and disappear into the sunset. Along the way, she picks up some friends, a love interest (because what’s a gothic novel without a little romance?), and stumbles across Lucy’s old journal, which is tucked away in one of the houses.

Here’s where things get interesting. In Lucy’s 19th-century journal entries, we meet a teenager stuck in a world run by men, specifically the suitors who keep buzzing around her like needy mosquitos. What they don’t know is that Lucy’s heart belongs to her former governess, Mina Murray, who’s too wrapped up in friendship to realize Lucy’s hopelessly in love with her. These journal entries are juicy. Lucy’s diary is where she spills the tea on her suitors and vents her frustration at being stuck in this patriarchal nightmare. The more we read, the more we uncover about her tragic death—and her even more tragic rebirth as a vampire.

But wait, there’s more! In the modern-day chapters, set in 2024, we get therapy transcripts from a very different Lucy—one who’s been a vampire for over 130 years. She’s sitting on a therapist’s couch (so to speak), dishing about her past, including how Dracula turned her into a vampire and then ghosted her (literally). Lucy’s been on a quest to find Dracula ever since, and let’s just say it’s been a long, strange trip. These transcripts are a fascinating peek into Lucy’s evolution as a vampire, and honestly, I was as curious as she was to figure out why Dracula did her dirty.

Then there’s the whole theme of female rage, which had me cheering from the sidelines. Both Lucy and Iris are done with the nonsense thrown their way—whether it’s creepy dudes with proposals or corporate greed on steroids. Their determination to take back control of their lives? Absolutely glorious. This book is packed with moments of rage-fueled empowerment, and I was here for every minute of it.

Oh, and did I mention the romance? It’s not just gothic doom and gloom here. The love story is beautifully done, adding a sweet layer to all the bloodsucking and corporate chaos.

Overall, the way White mixes different storytelling formats—diary entries, therapy sessions, modern narrative—feels like you’re piecing together a mystery, one diary page at a time. It’s a clever way to build the story and let us really get inside Lucy’s head (and Iris’s, too).

Even if you’ve never read Dracula, Lucy Undying stands on its own as a gripping, gothic tale about power, identity, and survival. And if you’re a Dracula fan, you’ll love seeing Lucy rise from the ashes—or rather, the pages.

Kiersten White’s writing is sharp, witty, and, at times, poetic. She perfectly balances horror, emotion, and dark humor. It’s not just a vampire story—it’s a deep dive into what it means to wrestle for autonomy and find your purpose, even if you’ve been dead for over a century.

If you’re into gothic fiction, psychological thrillers, or just love a good twist on a classic tale, Lucy Undying should be at the top of your reading list. And if it makes you want to finally read Dracula, well, welcome to the club.