Jonathan Evergreen is a talented sophomore at a prestigious, isolated college in Vermont, who dreams of a career in book conservation. But Jonathan’s life isn’t as rosy as it may appear. Disowned by his family after they caught him with another boy, he struggles to overcome heartbreak and support himself through his studies. To make matters worse, his advisor and the only ally in the institution run by old money and family connections mysteriously vanishes, and a new enigmatic professor, Dacian Bathory, takes his place.

A great modern take on a classic. Would love to read more .
Well worth it .

So this book is perfect and I love everything about it. Love Immortal is a love letter to centuries of vampire lore from Byron to Stoker to Rice and beyond. It’s a love letter to old books, to literature, to stories, to preservation of the indomitable human spirit. And like all good vampire books, it’s a love letter to being unapologetically queer.
The story itself takes place in a university in a remote part of Vermont in the 80s (be still my heart) and follows a student, Jonathan, as he pursues an education and career in the preservation of human stories, while trying to make a new life for himself after a traumatic past. When the new professor, Dacian Bathory, is mysterious, handsome, and can quote ancient poetry it really only logically follows he’s gotta be a vampire, right? What follows is a dark academia mystery: discussing the classism and prejudice prevalent in those institutions, while Jonathan, Dacian, and Jonathan’s kickass BFF Fiona try to figure out who’s responsible for recent murders on campus and track down a stolen book. Along the way is a beautiful, poignant love story between Jonathan and Dacian which is incredibly swoon worthy and angsty in all the right places. The story is intimate in the most surprising ways, and things told through dreams and Jonathan’s thoughts will remind you so strongly of the classic vampire stories, it scratches that classic itch while also giving you a new hero and storyline.
Vampires, literature about vampires, and history behind the legends, has been a special interest of mine since I was a very young child and because of that I’ll be the first to admit I’m pretty picky about which books regarding vampires I actually like. This one I love. I feel like it pays proper homage to the stories this lore is built on (don’t even get me started on how Stoker used the vampire lore to be a horrible person and badly researched the late great Vlad. That’s another post.) while offering something new and bringing what’s often subtext to text. Jonathan is relatable and strong yet soft, and Dacian is the perfect balance of supernatural creature and loving partner with a scarred past himself. The setting is delicious and palpable, the story heart wrenching and hopeful. This is a wonderful story, and a beautiful book.

“That no matter how much I try to resist, I’m unable to keep myself from you? That the instant our eyes met in the theater, I saw our connection? Your heart called out to me, all ten thousand broken shards of it. How could I not answer when suddenly, in a room full of people, I could hear only you?”

I’m not really a big fan of vampire books, but that cover and the fact that it’s spooky season made me want to read this.

The beginning was a little slow for me, there were a lot of unnecessary info dumps, and not a lot of interaction between Dacian and Jonathan. This is a very slow burn story since most of the interactions are through classes and dreams.

The story was well written if a little slow in some parts but about 40% in it picked up and I was very entertained.

Jonathan’s and Dacian’s pasts are both very sad and the give a glimpse into why both of them are as guarded as they are.

I did really enjoy this story and I definitely recommend it for those who enjoy slow burn 🔥 and books that are centered around the love for literature.

Thank you NetGalley and the author for this Arc!

I am absolutely destroyed and can’t stop crying now that I’ve finished my arc of Love Immortal by Kit Vincent. This was an easy 5 stars!

It’s perfect. There’s so much nuance and complexity and underlying messages amidst this breathtaking m/m vampire romance, with an alternative 1980s, academic, Vermont-in-the-fall setting.

I actually dragged this one out because I didn’t want it to be over (and also because I added so many highlights and notes 😅).

Not only is Jonathan and Dacian’s story painfully beautiful, but Love Immortal also highlights deeper issues like book banning and queer erasure in history/literature. I am just obsessed with this book, and I refuse to shut up about it!

Kit is an autobuy author, forever and always. I had been anxiously awaiting this book’s release since they announced it, and it did not disappoint!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kit Vincent for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book is everything I want from a dark academia vampire book. I was hooked from the very beginning! I loved the moody atmosphere of a college campus in Vermont and I think it was the perfect backdrop to this story. It's been a while since I've read a book that's pulled me in so much that I felt like I was really sitting their with the characters. I felt like I was deep in the library stacks with Dacian and Jonathan reading The Raven or sitting in on a Gothic Lit lecture. I'm craving more of this story. I think the author left the door open for a sequel and I would be first in line to read that! Overall, I highly recommend adding this to your fall TBR! It's a fantastic spooky season read!

It’s no secret at all that I adore all things Vampire! This book was so good - a gothic nightmare set in the 1980’s at a secluded college in Vermont… missing people, nightmarish shadows, and a mysterious literature professor. I loved it!

Jonathan Evergreen is a student at the prestigious Camden University. He’s run away from his previous life after being forcibly outed and losing his boyfriend, the same one that haunts his nightmares. He’s studying to be a book conservationist, but when he finds his favourite professor has left he’s concerned his studies will be affected… until he meets new teacher, Dacian Bathory.

Dacian is ethereally beautiful and immediately steals Jonathan’s attention. But in the first class, he seems to hate Jonathan… but that doesn’t last for long and soon Dacian is a recurring feature in Jonathan’s dreams.

But students are going missing and Jonathan’s dreams are becoming increasingly more disturbing. Will Jonathan figure out what is going on before the whole University descends into madness?

This book draws on traditional gothic storytelling, with mystery and madness, but with a fun 1980’s setting! I loved Jonathan and Dacian and the interlinking of a very famous gothic story… IYKYK!!

Read Love Immortal for:
✨ Vampires!!
✨ Gothic storytelling traditions
✨ Professor x Student
✨ Age gap (because vampires, duh!)
✨ Isolated college setting
✨ Historical 1980’s setting
✨ Descent into madness
✨ Shedding light on a famous vampire

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kit Vincent for an ARC of this amazing book! It’s available 22nd October 2024 🦇

this was fantastic!! gay vampires, dark academia and murder ... what more could you possibly want in a good book?

this book was near impossible to put down! i immediately knew i would love it the moment i finished the prologue.

i loved jonathans character development and his friendship with fiona the most. and the way kit vincent slowly revealed plot details that had me shocked! some moments were truly jaw dropping!

I wanted so terribly to love this book, but it fell short of every expectation.

Love Immortal is my first book from this author and, though I know they've published another quite popular title, it will be my last. The writing feels juvenile, deeply reminiscent of the fanfiction stories I would publish online when I was in my pre-teens. Characters are rarely deeper than their outward presentation, and any foreshadowing is more of a glaring announcement, rather than a well-done hint.

Admittedly, the plot is phenomenal. My issues with Love Immortal lie purely within the execution. This book relies quite heavily on the telling, not showing, and made no effort to mystify you enough to draw the reader in.

Vampires, academia, and an 80s vibe, this book reminded me why I've always loved gothic romance.

There are so many things I love here. The book follows the slow, mystical buildup of the supernatural but it's set on a college campus in the late 1980s so it's never overwhelming. Beautiful genre conventions with a modern air.
To explore the theme more, we get to read a little about gothic classics like Ann Radcliffe's Udolpho and Poe's The Raven, and that's just like candy to little nerdy me.

The character of Dacian is exquisite. He's dark, mysterious, and powerful, like any gothic vampire, but he's also gentle, and kind, and good. He felt like a perfect love interest for this book.

We could say that most things with these gothic themes have been done but I'd beg to disagree. Kit Vincent clearly understood the assignment and did a wonderful job. His execution alone is incredibly immersive and full of monumentally large feelings. (I will always be a fan of huge feelings.) Add to that the sheer weight of quotable lines, I'd argue that this book is more than worth reading.
(Just ask my friends who had to put up with me bombarding them with quotes out of the blue...)

Thank you to the author for trusting me with a free advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Going into this book, I did not initially think I would like it, but Kit's engaging writing won me over. Excuse me, Dacian Bathory was too dark and mysterious to ignore. I found it enduring that he was super learned (could recite books from memory) but was pretty much a novice when it came to 20th century convivences like driving. He was so enduring about it, so I could definitely forgive him (I would forgive Dacian Bathory anything). I loved Jonathan's interactions with Dacian. Their interactions were full of longing to be understood and a need for companionship in a world that had so persecuted them both. I also liked Fiona, Jonathan's only friend and sympathetic ear at Camden. Also a total badass. Like Jonathan, I hated the legacies, just a bunch of spoiled rich kids who trampled over others. It was no surprise that after learning what lengths they were willing to climb to for immortality, I hated them even more. Their gruesome fates were entirely justified. While Love Immortal doesn't add anything new to the vampire genre, it doesn't really need to. It was a satisfying read, very atmospheric and and a nice nod to Bram Stoker's most famous novel. It's a solid five stars from me.

I’m a sucker for anything vampire/academia/80s related hehe. This turned out to be slightly different to what I was expecting but I enjoyed it nonetheless!!!

5/5 stars.. love immortal is a timeless, heart wrenching story

Love immortal is a breathtakingly beautiful story that en captures the very real themes of love, loss, resilience and hope.
Despite being set in the 1980s this book sheds light on the struggles of
LGBT people and their relationships today. The author touches on the anguish one feels when people turn away from you because of how you are. It speaks on the loss of those you love in death, in turning their backs, and in lashing out or not doing the right thing. Those themes will touch many other lgbt people who may see some of their past within the main characters of this book. It shows that times haven’t changed all that much in some areas, in some families despite the decades. Beyond the supernatural elements of vampires and magic it explores raw humanity. The life lessons and message of the book wring true despite it being a work of fiction. It speaks on the importance of sharing ones truth, and never letting it be silenced or forgotten. Like me I suspect this book will haunt you, heal you and inspire you to embrace your own story.

Did I mention gay vampire? Loosely a Dracula retelling? Teacher/student? Book nerds? Do I really need to say more?

I really enjoyed this book, I was looking for a paranormal autumn aesthetic read and that’s exactly what I got. I absolutely loved the writing style, which makes me so excited to pick more things by this author. It read fast but at the same time the writing was delightfully atmospheric and descriptive.

I did have a couple of issues with the plot though. Mostly it was some twists/ reveals that although made the story more interesting, I didn’t completely jibe with. It was a little too far fetched and made it kind of silly. I’m not sure it was supposed to be funny but it kind of was, especially the action scenes; I felt like I was watching a cartoon in my head.

However that being said, I still had a really good time reading this. The atmosphere was great and I really felt for the main character. As a whole it was definitely worth the read and I think a lot of people are going to absolutely love this book. And other than a few storyline choices I didn’t feel were necessary, or were a little overdone, this was the perfect autumn read.

3.5⭐️

3.75 stars rounded up

perfect for autumn reading and if you’re in the mood to be very lightly scared 🍂

Jonathan never expected the perfect fall semester after losing the only boy he had ever loved but he never expected this.

with increasing violence on campus, paralyzing nightmares and an obsession with his gothic literature professor, Jonathon worries that the darkness occurring on campus might not be natural

Finding himself caught in the middle of all this strangeness, there is no clear way out and he fears that if he truly trusts his professor he will risk losing more than just his life

this book can become a little monotonous in some parts but overall I found myself so intrigued by the characters and the setting absolutely drew me in (does me being a vermonter have anything to do with it … guilty)

it’s giving paranormal romance but make it dark academia, a little bit scary, queer, and set in Vermont during the fall


CW: homophobia, on page mentions of suicide, violence, tad bit of gore

I’m new to Kit Vincent’s work, and enjoyed Love Immortal. I found it a satisfying read—I had difficulty putting it down at one point. It’s a spooky, dark yet hopeful fantasy-horror romance. Great for the start of October, reflective and generally well-paced, with compelling mystery and satisfying romance. Spice level is 3/5 IMO.


Full review with mild spoilers about the plot & critiques below:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Love Immortal focuses on the young Jonathan Evergreen, a queer college student in 1987 Vermont trying to focus on the present—and his future—in a subject he loves. Yet his psyche and heart are still largely submerged in the past, in the heartbreaking pain and loneliness of being completely disowned and abandoned upon discovery of his sexuality two years earlier in a forced outing. Jonathan’s trauma over being outed, shunned, and heartbroken leaves him wary of seeking out other queer students or living more openly. Although we’re told early on that he’s now largely safe from homophobia (the state’s got a liberal reputation, and his campus hosts an active, thriving Gay & Lesbian Alliance), he balks at breaking out of his shell, with only one close friend with similar outsider status who makes a regular appearance throughout the book but largely stays out of the fantasy plot line.

To get my main critique out of the way:
I found it curious (and disappointing) that author Kit Vincent didn’t ground this very queer horror-romance more firmly in the time period—especially given the AIDS crisis. By the late 1980s AIDS was still an enormous threat to public health and queer activists were still working hard for attention, and gaining it—the AIDS Memorial Quilt was first displayed in October of 1987 in DC. I would have loved for this story to have felt more grounded in its time—what would its main characters feel about that outpouring of queer anguish, grief, death, and societal condemnation amidst so much discussion of gothic literature? Instead we get a few descriptions of 1980s fashion & cars, and an idealistic active Gay and Lesbian Alliance on a largely accepting, safe campus. The only open homophobes are the privileged & wealthy straight legacy students, acting along predictable lines. The story could have been set 15 years earlier or 10 years later without any substantial changes.

That aside, Love Immortal does a good job establishing Jonathan in his world—much attention is paid to his self-driven academic focus; his solitary nature and love for books all felt genuine, and while actual conservation never really shows up, his passions feel real, and the setting of the school’s famous rare books collection made me want to visit my local library. Jonathan’s inner life, though, is tormented. Night after night Jonathan’s dreams are haunted relentlessly by his former lover, making him relive his anguish, keeping him from recovering or moving on. When Dacian Bathory shows up on campus, hauntingly beautiful, dark but intense and alive, he and Jonathan seem to have an instant, intense connection. Much of the book focuses on their mutual appreciation of gothic literature, which Bathory has shown up suddenly to teach—potentially disrupting Jonathan’s studies and academic future. Soon disruption is everywhere—the school library is missing a rare book, the campus’ safety is shattered, and as Jonathan’s dreamscape is slowly disrupted too, he begins to feel the fantastical threatening to creep into his waking life.

There are some obvious villains tinted with an edge of fantasy too—the small friend group of privileged, extremely wealthy young men deemed ‘the legacies’ for their admission status, who don’t have to follow the rules of university life like everyone else. They’re a mash up of several 1980s movie stereotypes together in one small group: a preppy one who has bleached hair & an earring, a rock n roll one with a mullet, and a jock one, all three bathed in toxic masculinity, anger issues, and something a little bit more menacing.

Love Immortal doesn’t spend too much time in the mundane before delving into its fantasy elements and mysteries unfolding around Jonathan. Some (or most) mysteries are solved fairly quickly and easily, with clear enough foreshadowing that you can guess what may happen next, but the novel stays committed to developing its gothic vibes and chemistry between Jonathan and Dacian, and its strongest and most interesting points come when the two of them are together, interacting. For me, the weakest point in the novel hit about midpoint, when Jonathan privately lays out his theories on who the vampire is and what has been going on, and it gets a little too hammy for my taste. But the story doesn’t linger there, and Vincent does a good job making something unique and tragic out of popular Dracula lore.

The romance was developed well, for all the fantastical elements it doesn’t feel too rushed, and the stakes are high enough that when the Big Bad of the story is confronted, it isn’t a walk in the park for our protagonists.

While the story wraps up well, the ending felt a bit rushed to me, as I would have liked to see more connection between our love interests at the very end. Vincent gives us queer joy though, and that is enough for me.


Thank you to Kit Vincent and NetGalley for this ARC of Love Immortal.

thank you to the author for approving my request! i loved this IMMENSELY, i will definitely read more from kit, i'm frustrated that this was my introduction! and like i said it wont be the last, i feel like im already proud of kit on multiple levels. i love the balance of the romance with vampies and dark academia. dare i say best vampire book of the year (and i've already read a lot)?

3/5

This book is an ode to gothic litterature and the 80's. If I like the first one, the second is not my cup of tea, but it wasn't a problem to read the story. There is a lot of lore and gothic's code in this book, in how it is constructed and layed out. Our academic setting helps to give us that sense of a closed off place where the story can unfurl, forcing proximity and a great context for the intrigue and explore queerness.

I wasn't necessarily very invested in the characters or the plot, and yet, reading flowed easily, helped by the first person narrative (which isn't my favorite kind of narrative). The mystery was nice, the rhythm was a little slow at first and the instant connexion between the two love interest isn't something I can believe in easily, but it works for the setting and what the author intended to do, I think.

It brings impeccable atmosphere and vibes. Dark, broody, gothic, queer... and there's vampires. Need I say more?
While I usually don't like slow burns, I can appreciate how well it was written. There's also to be said about savoring the story and how it was developed. 100% would read more!

It's a book for book lovers, dark academia lovers. And you even get some social commentary about school elitism and the unfairness of it all.

This is Kit's best work to date!

#LoveImmortal #NetGalley

Thank you to the editor and netgalley for the arc! All opinions are my own.
I’m not a huge vampire lover, so maybe I’m not the best to judge that aspect of the book, but I found interesting how the novel Dracula played into the story.
The aspect I loved more was the dark academia one: I found everything that I search in an dark academia novel: academic setting with a huge focus on the love for knowledge ✅, dark fall setting ✅, secret society✅, m*rder✅, critic of elitism and classism ✅.
I felt it was not only labeled as dark academia but it was fully consistent with the sub genre.
The writing style was good and it kept me hooked on the story - I read all in less than 24 hours. I loved how both the protagonist were focused on books and knowledge and how this played in the story.
Totally recommend

Many thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing for the wonderful ARC of this queer, gothic, dark academia wonder of a story!

Okay I’m not gonna lie here, this book had me HOOKED. I could put it down I devoured it. Dacian and Jonathan were entrancing, especially Dacian. I loved the back and forth between them, the will they won’t they, the mysteries evolving.

I liked Jonathan’s story, he has been through so much but still always chooses to do what he believes is the right thing, he’s broken and reserved and just wants to read books and look at books and honestly? Same. For a short-ish book, I really enjoyed Jonathan’s character arc, his relationship with Dacian truly brought him out of his shell and it was so bloody good.

Now let’s talk Dacian… I won’t lie, if twilight has taught me anything, it’s that vampires are kind of iconic. He’s kind of an asshole, but we’ll let him get away with it because he’s been through a lot. But the way his eyes always find Jonathan’s? Wooo that’s the good stuff there.

I really enjoyed the story too, I liked the threads of gothic literature throughout the story and how it actually tied in so well to the story. I liked the legacies plot, I thought it was intriguing and I love me a good murder mystery.

Overall, this book has truly made me want to go out and read Kit Vincent’s other stuff. I loved their writing voice, it was easy to read but rich with character and I love that kind of stuff so I’m excited to see what else they have to offer!