A sapphic vampire retelling of Dracula it sounded very much like my cup of tea. The book is filled with LGBTQ+ and diverse characters, both main characters and side characters. Something it’s great to see. Also in true Kiersten White fashion, the writing is great and the gothic atmosphere is on point. Sadly the multiple POVs in first person made it hard to follow the story. The short chapters combined with constantly jumping between characters makes the story just feel disjointed. There’s also an obsessive insta-love that I couldn’t get behind.
Lucy Undying had a great concept, but the execution left me disappointed.

This slow-paced romantic thriller with a touch of comedy is a cleverly crafted narrative that retells the story of Dracula. The story revolves around Lucy Westenra and Iris, two women from different times connected by shared experiences and encounters with Dracula.
In this reinterpretation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Lucy, Dracula’s first victim, is given her own voice. The author delves deep into her character through diary entries and therapy transcripts, portraying Lucy as a witty, determined, and inspiring figure.

The storytelling is enthralling; it evoked laughter, gasps, and even moments of frustration. The unexpected plot twist involving 'Goldaming Life' had me on edge! Kiersten fearlessly explores challenging themes, making this tale about self-discovery and personal choices.

"Lucy Undying" exceeded my expectations and quickly became a favorite read. It even motivated me to purchase Bram Stoker’s Dracula over the weekend!

For lovers of gothic, seductive character-driven fantasies with vampires and sapphic romances, this captivating read is a perfect fit.

What a fun gothic twist on Lucy’s story! Kiersten White is an auto-buy author for me and this book did not disappoint. A gothic fantasy filled with vampires, sapphic romance, memorable prose, and engaging characters - I couldn’t get enough! I loved how the story unfolded through Lucy’s 19th century journal entries and through client transcripts. It made for such a fun read. There’s female rage galore and Lucy is such a badass. I loved everything about this book!

I have really enjoyed Kiersten White's writing in the past, which is why I was excited to see this new release from her. Especially since vampires are always an interest of mine. So for the most part, I did really like the book and the narrative, but I found myself with the classic dilemma of preferring one POV over another. Or in this case, different timeline. The book follows a wife of Dracula through the ages, and I really loved following her in the contemporary era, but then felt disjointed when pulled back to when she was first turned into a vampire. Other than that note, I really felt immersed in the story and enjoyed the book immensely.

I feel like the story as a whole was really interesting and well done, but I found a lot of “Americanisms” slipping in from the narrator and main character. For example saying they use kilometres in London instead of miles which is not the case.

I need to start with how stunning this cover is. I am famously not a fan of people on covers but holy sh!t - this is one of my all time favourites. There’s so much hidden detail within that image and it fits the book so, so well.

Ok, this book. I don’t even know where to begin. Probably with the fact that I haven’t read Dracula, I’m only vaguely familiar with his story. Safe to say, you absolutely do not need to have read the classic to enjoy this book. A friend said to me, “Fuck the man’s perspective,” and I can’t think of anything more fitting.

I honestly can’t put my finger on what makes this book so great. On paper, there’s a lot of things in this book that I wouldn’t usually like; it’s slower paced, it’s filled with transcripts and diary entries, there’s not a huge amount of plot… But I simply couldn’t put this book down. The character development and the relationship development between characters was second to none.

To me, this is a story about women reclaiming our power, unlearning what we’ve been taught and saying a big ‘fuck you’ to the patriarchy. All of this wrapped up and gothic, sapphic bow!

I have to to say I really enjoyed this. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but I think blending a modern plot line in between Lucy's pre and post vampire story lines kept the story moving. I think for some, that newer story might feel like it's taking away from Lucy but I loved it and gave the book more depth.

I really loved how Lucy was written and how her voice evolved. It's been a long time since I read Dracula so I am not sure how much that voice matches the original Lucy but I loved her.

What a brilliant read! I have never read Dracula so Lucy’s history was lost on me. I did some research whilst reading this one and got up to speed.

I’m so glad the author decided to give Lucy’s story a new timeline. She deserved the ending she got in this version. We get three POVs in this story to go between. Young Lucy, Vampire Lucy and Iris.

I must admit, all of them had me hooked and wanting to get to the answers to all my questions. I think it was a good decision to write the book with the interlacing timelines. I was desperate to know who Iris was in this story and how it connected and why it was her that the author decided would be Lucy’s happily ever after.

My only point of contention was how long the book was. I felt like 15% of the ending could have been edited a bit more as it didn’t need to be as drawn out as it was. But apart from that, my love for Vampire books continue.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love a good gothic tale, and somehow White has crafter a thoroughly modern one in Lucy Undying. We get glimpses of Lucy's human life through journal extracts, and of her vampire existence through recorded therapy sessions (yes, even vampires go to therapy), but much of the action takes place in the familiar 21st century world we know. In parts a romantic gothic romp, and in others a fast-paced thriller, this was a fairly easy read I raced through in a day.

Pick this up if you're looking for a sapphic twist on the Dracula story, or just fancy a fun comparison between leeching MLMs and vampiric society.

Dracula was one of the very first so called classic novels I remember reading as teenager so I was so excited to see a retelling that took a wider lens of Lucy Westenra than was in Brams version. Utilising the same narrative devices as the original KW has used diary entries, psychiatric notes to tell the story of Lucy over the centuries since she was turned combined with Iris’ perspectives in the modern world. Not a fast paced book you need to dedicate the time to the slow pace to watch the life of Lucy unfold across the major events of history. Iris’ story was slightly harder to grasp, lacking the layers (and century+ of life) that you saw in Lucy. I think the book was a tad long in places but picked up in pacing as the timelines came together midway through.

Best line - “Dear, dear Mother, who loves like a knife, slicing me into ever smaller pieces until I’m exactly the shape that pleases her the most”

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group / Ballantine / Del Rey for sharing this remarkable fantasy novel’s digital reviewer copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

An interesting take on the familiar story of Dracula, Mina and Jonathan. Lucy is a side character in the original and here she is the heroine. However in doing so Kiersten does completely redo her character. I think if you analyse this too closely compared to the original, you would be disappointed. In trying to highlight Lucy we villainise the other characters in Dracula more than needed. But if you view it as inspired by but totally separate from the original it is a good concept. The writing has Kiersten's familiar poetic flow to it, and is slow paced but in an entrancing way.
I like idea of client transcripts and past and present merging together and what lucy got up to over the years.
Maybe a little drawn out but ultimately an enjoyable concept and well executed, but may not appeal directly to fans of the classic original. It was good seeing a feminist twist and the parallels between iris (the main character) and lucy were interesting and well laid out, and the gothic, haunting vibes were beautiful to get lost in, even if it could have been more succinct.

Lucy undying is a sapphic romance full of self-discovery and a gorgeous gothic atmosphere. For me personally, the pacing was a bit too slow and the story could have maybe been a little shorter, it felt like it dragged for about half of the book. I did however enjoy the twists and turns and especially the diary entries.

Thank you NetGalley, Del Rey UK, and Penguin Random House UK for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Ugh such poor execution of a tale based on a well loved classic. This book could've been so good but was just cringey with all the modern dialogue and phrases. I thought it would be an epic gothic inspired tale but it completely lacked the vibes of the original tale and didn't give anything new either. This is all to say that I'm disappointed in this book from White because I enjoyed The Conqueror's Trilogy she wrote so much that it is an absolute favourite so suffice it to say that I highly anticipated Lucy Undying but was severely unimpressed.

I DNFed Lucy Undying because even though I really tried to get into the story, I just haven't been able to. I have picked up and put down this book so many times over the last month because I really wanted to love this book, I wanted to love and read an epic gothic, sapphic fantasy but I found the pacing to be off and the start to be quite confusing. I still think this is a good book, just not one for me.

Summary: Lucy Westenra, one of Dracula's first victim, finds unexpected love with Iris in modern London, but Dracula's return threatens their happiness.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an eARC of this book, all thoughts are my own.

Oh sweet Lucy... your story was EVERYTHING I needed and more.

It's filled with such a dark and lush gothic atmosphere that genuinely made my soul so happy. From the very first chapter I did NOT want to put this down, it's incredibly engaging and filled with so much female rage - we love to see it!! However, don't get me wrong, this is also filled with such heartbreak and longing that you can literally feel through the page. So be prepared for that and be prepared to take it all in and trust where the story is going. Kiersten White you absolutely smashed this and gave the girlies what we wanted/needed. Especially for this upcoming spooky season!

If you're reading this I just want you to know exactly what you're getting in for because this story deserves to be read and appreciated properly... it's long, it has epistolary chapters (I know this can be decisive), and it's a character exploration! The plot will take a minute to get going and it's a such a shame that I've seen a few reviews calling this boring!? (Reading is so subjective so I guess it doesn't matter but I just want everyone to love this ok!!)

You do get to learn about Lucy's 130 years of life where she travels the world searching for Dracula and meeting other vampires on the way but this is NOT an adventure story. Like I said, this story spends time picking apart not only Lucy's life (and death) but a modern day character, Iris, as well. The dialogue change between the two of them can be a little jarring I will admit, Iris is a lot more immature and sometimes I found her to be a little cringe but... let's be honest, who wasn't as a young adult!? The parallels between their lives actually felt quite touching and made the romance that much sweeter as they learn the similarities that each other have gone through.

Even the connection between Lucy and her therapist (yep...) were SO well done and genuinely made me emotional too - especially the ending omg.

This book is a journey, it's self-discovery, and it's BEAUTIFUL - I am obsessed!!!

I think I could carry on talking about this book for a long time, so, here's some elements that it includes that I hope can give you a clearer idea of what this story entails and whether it's truly for you:
-Journal entries
-2nd Person pov chapters
-Sapphic romance
-Different timelines
-Mystery
-Lush gothic atmosphere
-Character exploration
-Female rage!!
-Medium/Slow pace
-Self-discovery
-Complicated (to say the least) family dynamics
and much more.

Note: As it's a vampire story, do expect some gross body horror elements and descriptions.

This might be obvious, but, guess what? It's my favourite book of the year so far...

-Sarah

*Thank you SO much to NetGalley, Del Rey UK, and Penguin Random House UK for the e-ARc in exchange for an honest review*

Let me begin by saying that I absolutely loved the premise of this book and the cover is sublime. And a gothic, vampy, sapphic read = yes please!

I loved the diary more than anything but unforts this story fell really flat for me, it was so slow and I found it hard to concentrate, I did finish but, because of the slow pace, it was a slog.

This was such a fun and unique retelling of Dracula and I will be telling everyone to read it. I wasn't sure what to expect exactly but this did not disappoint.

I gave this 3.75 stars! I really enjoyed this book it was the perfect gothic vampire book! I did like the changes in timeline/pov however sometimes it did take you out of the story. I do also think the book could have been a bit shorter, however I really enjoyed this book and will be recommending it !

This is a brilliantly written sapphic, gothic fantasy with romance and twists and I loved it!

You first meet Iris who is running from her life, and inheritance and comes to England to sell some heirlooms from an old house they have and make some money to disappear.

She makes some friends along the way and finds Lucy Westerna’s Diaries ! The book has all the characters of Bram Stokers Dracula but this is mainly based on what happened to Lucy and how she felt about Mina and what happened to her after she died.

This has beautiful prose and the twist at the end is fabulous.

I would recommend this and many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for my E-ARC.

This book gets an extra star just for the cover alone - it is haunting, beautiful and grabbed my eye from the get go.

I wont lie, I just did not vibe with this book. I was expecting epic gothic fantasy and it just didn't deliver. I found the pace too slow and I struggled with some of the inner monologue from the characters.