I really wanted to like this book. The concept and book description sounded so amazing, but I found myself struggling to read it. I made it about 25% through before I decided to stop reading because I just couldn’t justify reading something I wasn’t enjoying. There are minor spoilers in here.
It has some amazing concepts.
The main characters themselves are fascinating and add to the setting. They are not the kind of characters you would typically expect from a Victorian gothic vampire story. I especially love the details that the author put into them such as Roisin practicing her Irish Gaelic after centuries of being unable to. I love that the author had an explicitly fat character in a time period that many regards with everyone being thin. I also thought it was interesting that Poppy was (or at least seemed) dyslexic from the way that she is said to struggle with reading and writing. Roisin and Poppy's interactions are mostly great and there are some very good moments between them that brought me genuine joy.
The book had a major pacing issue though. The writing sometimes gets clumsy and long which makes it hard to get through. It also doesn't really match up with what you would typically find in an adult book. The writing itself reminded me more of a YA. The plot is also nonexistent in the beginning and I genuinely do not understand why it is dragging on with no sign of what is going to happen. I feel like this is partially to do with the way that the author structured the development of vampires as Poppy was unable to leave the grounds of the house they were staying at which made them feel pretty static.
I don't feel as though I can give a star rating as I have not finished the book, but I feel as though a 3.5 would be accurate for what I did read. I hope to read this again in the future and finish it.

Classic romance victorian of vampire and human.
The writing here is beautiful and have gothic humor what I loved. The romance this two woman vampire is slow parced, Poppy, newly-turned vampire and Rosian, mysterious vampire what who takes care of her

But unfortunately, I could not get beyond some characters aspects because the slow pace of the tale. I Struggled to finish the read.

I mostly enjoyed this book. The writing style is beautiful, the MC is lovable, and the romance is steamy. My favorite part of the book was the ending (tension filled but happy ending). What stopped me from completely loving the book was the slow pacing, lack of action and some details which didnt make sense to me (for example, Cane's motivation).
Rep: ♣ Queer characters (sapphic MC and love interest), trans lady, gay male side character and more
♣ plus size rep
♣ sex work portrayed in a positive light
♣ found family
♣ pining
♣ grumpy x sunshine
TWs (18+): sex scenes, body horror/gore, profanity, abusive relationship, forced institutionalization, death

The premise of this book, 19th-century lesbian vampires, drew me in. It delivers on that front with a cast of unique and delightful queer characters. The writing was gorgeous and poetic though certain words (*cough* tuppence) were overused.

However, there is a severe lack of plot or any action on the part of the main character, Poppy. The first third of the book follows the year after Poppy is turned into a vampire where she must remain cloistered away from any humans. This section of the book is mostly dialogue between Poppy and Roisin while nothing else happens. The middle third of the book follows Poppy who is now living with the Brood (a found family of fellow queer vampires). Poppy literally sits around and does essentially nothing while Roisin's activities (she actually has a goal, unlike Poppy) during this time period are backfilled in a single chapter. For two-thirds of the book, there is absolutely nothing driving the plot forward. As a result, everything moves at a snail's pace since there is no sense of urgency, no goal, no plan, no motivation, etc. Many pages could (and should) have been trimmed to improve the pacing.

Further, I'm honestly confused about why Poppy was even the POV character since she is absent or a passive observer for most of the action. For example, when they are searching for a super-powerful ancient vampire, Count Vlad, Poppy is literally assigned the task of moral support. That is not a joke. Everyone else is actively participating in the search in different ways while Poppy bakes and cooks food.

I also remain baffled as to how I'm expected to like Poppy as a character. She treats other people incredibly poorly whenever she gets upset or angry (which is quite often). She deliberately hurts people, including her love interest Roisin, to get an emotional reaction from them. Everyone who receives this horrid treatment either forgives her (despite receiving no apology from Poppy) or even encourages it "because they can take it." She believes that everything revolves around her, a fact that is pointed out multiple times by different characters but is never addressed by Poppy or the narrative itself.

Finally, the novel spends so much time bashing you over the head with its themes but also drops them on the flip of a coin. For example, Poppy refuses to drink human blood for the first half of the book due to her struggles with addiction but when put into a situation that forces her to drink human blood, she recovers with no lasting consequences and this issue is never brought up again.

In conclusion, if you enjoy slow-paced low-plot morally-grey character studies, this book is for you.

If you like vampires, sapphic romance, and gothic tales with a twist of humour, you might like:

🧛🏻‍♀️ A Long Time Dead by Samara Breger 🧛🏻‍♀️

In this Victorian vampire romance novel Poppy wakes up one day and discovers she has become a vampire. For reasons still unkown she finds herself in the care of Roisin, a kind, older vampire who wants to teach her how to live this new eternal life. The two quickly feel attracted to each other, but their growing love is threatened when a dangerous, powerful vampire from Roisin's past shows up again. Before they can truly be together, Poppy and Roisin must embark on an emotionally and physically taxing journey which leads them to all kinds of peculiar people and places...

🕸️

A Long Time Dead is a very unique vampire novel with its original take on vampirism, the queer love at the heart of it, the found family theme, the focus on healing and the balance between darker scenes and humour. Poppy is such a life-affirming, good-hearted and funny protagonist, which is refreshing to see in a vampire character. Roisin is more reserved and struggles with trauma, but has a strong moral compass. They complement each other beautifully.

These two characters and Breger's flowery writing that perfectly brought to life the dark, flamboyant Victorian atmosphere were my favourite aspects of the book. Some other things unfortunately didn't work as well for me. While I loved the found family and the inclusion of so many queer characters, the supporting cast and the main villain didn't feel three-dimensional enough to be invested in. The story also wasn't always well-paced for me, making some parts engaging, but others a bit dragging.

However, I still enjoyed A Long Time Dead and appreciate what it taught me about unconditional love, healing from trauma and the importance of earthly enjoyment. If you're interested in the book I highly recommend reading Breger's article "On Reclaiming Vampires as Queer and Jewish" (heyalma.com) to know more about her motivation behind the story!

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

Thank you to NetGalley and Bywater Books for the eARC.

I really struggled with the writing style of this book. I found the pace to be a bit too slow and the chapters slightly too long for my preference! But I enjoyed the overall theme!

Maybe this book would have been more suited for me on a rainy, gloomy winter night?

Oh wow, this story.  To start off, I would not recommend this book to everyone – this story is meant for those who love the descriptions and the wordiness of a classic Victorian romance but want to see it depicted in a sapphic pining vampiric relationship.

The story does start off slow as we’re introduced to our main character – Poppy – who wakes up realizing she is no longer just a curvy sex worker, but she’s now a vampire destined to out-live everyone she knows. The story progresses over her first year with her companion Roison and time-hops as she meets more vampires and finds her own little family (the Brood). Poppy’s character lightens the story perfectly as she’s constantly saying and doing the most inappropriate things for her time period that made me consistently LOL. So many of the characters are ahead of their time and their queerness and bonds gave my heart so much life and joy.

The plot kicks in after the first 30% of the book and there were shocking moments that I didn’t expect to evolve in this story. The spice and underlying currents of sexual energy were very apparent from Poppy’s POV, but what I loved most was the bonds Poppy continued to form with all of the characters and how their love for each other stands out through everything.

This is a book that I plan to purchase and mark up and re-read over and over again. I don’t believe it was meant to be binged, I truly think the author’s intention was to create a work that will stay in the reader’s mind long after you set the book down.

5 stars!

Thank you to Bywater Books and NetGalley for an E-ARC copy of this book.

This is going to be a short review because, while this book wasn’t poorly written, it just wasn’t for me.

We follow Poppy, a former sex worker turned vampire, and her journey to becoming a fully realized and functional blood sucker. She’s uneducated, so we have Roisin (her vampire guru and heart flutterer) attempting to educate her in everything from literature to properness. Cain also exists, the dark Regina George, and is a danger to both of our main characters.

Simply put, I didn’t like Poppy. She’s pretty crass, and not endearingly so. My face did a lot of scrunching, but not in a fun way. The descriptions are descriptive in a way you wish they almost weren’t. I found Poppy kind of annoying, and I just didn’t care about her journey, her development, or her relationships.

Like I mentioned before, this could be one for other types of readers. Just not for me.

Maybe next time!

Vampire fans! Come here and listen to me enthuse about this absolute joy of a book! If you’re a fan of sapphic vampires, romances with a healthy side of found family, the emotional downsides of immortal life, and the gothic, PLEASE do yourselves a favor and check out A LONG TIME DEAD!

This book centers around Poppy, a sex worker in Victorian London, who is transformed into a vampire after an encounter with a mysterious woman, a vampire named Cane. She spends the first year of her new life in seclusion with a woman named Roisin, another vampire, and then the story follows her over many more years of her immortal life as she gains new family, comes into and out of Roisin’s orbit, and eventually becomes involved in a plot against a powerful enemy.

This did a really lovely job with the “vampire romance” genre. It’s gothic and gorgeously written, the characters are wonderfully developed (even the side characters!!), and the author really has an excellent grasp on how to write a proper immortal slow burn (years of longing. YEARS OF IT!). While at times the pacing felt a little wonky, and ultimately I do think the book could have been a little shorter and tighter, I was really delighted with all the time I got to spend with Poppy, Roisin, and their immortal family. (Also, lovers of spicy romance rejoice; there’s much for y’all to enjoy here!)

A LONG TIME DEAD is out now and highly recommended, especially to anyone who loved A DOWRY OF BLOOD. Thanks so very much to Netgalley and Bywater Books for the ARC!

So delightfully sexy, Gothic, and sultry. Its made my Top 5 for the year so far.

Breger really bringing back that vampire love story we've been miasing for awhile.

Thank you to Bywater Books and NetGalley for providing an eARC for a honest review.

This book is described as a gothic and lush sapphic fantasy book. It is written and reads like a classic, which for some is great, for me, not as much. It is simply something I cannot vibe with, this book was easier for me to read than an actual classic but I felt my self struggling and getting distracted. I appreciated the angst between the characters but they felt like such opposites and maybe shouldn't have compromised. I wish this style of writing was more for me but it isn't. I do however want to get this at my library for others to read.

So I’ve been thinking about this book for a week now and I just don’t know what to make of it. On the one hand, there were elements I adored – Valentin and Carmen were wonderful characters (Carmen was some of the best casual transfemme representation I’ve ever seen), and there were some really beautiful found family moments. On the other hand, the actual plot felt kind of unnecessary, and seemed to resolve too fast – like there was never a real point to it anyway. The vignettes of Poppy’s life learning to be a vampire were far more interesting to me, and I would have liked to see more. But on the other hand, without a plot to anchor it I think it would have felt adrift and meandering. Which is something I know some readers enjoy, but I personally don’t. I realize this doesn’t sound like much of an actual opinion, but like I said – I just don’t know what to do with this book. I think it will appeal to a certain kind of reader, and I happened to like plenty of it, but I definitely don’t know that it will appeal to everyone. Yet I still think from a craft perspective, it’s very well done.
Side note: I can only assume the person on the cover is meant to be Poppy, who is canonically not delicate and skinny like this art. Please put plus-sized art of plus-sized characters.

I'm not sure what drugs were put into this book, but I loved it! From the first page, I had this intense/spooky feeling in my chest from how well the writing was. It definitely set an eerie ambiance. And the characters, especially Poppy and Roisin were complex and... human, for lack of a better word. This was incredible. I mean it's gothic. sapphic and sinister, what else could I want?

Rating : 2 / 5 (DNF)

Received an arc from Netgalley and ended up DNF'ing. I couldn't tell you a lot about this book seeing as I couldn't find anything interesting in this book.

It's been a REALLY long time since I've read a vampire book. I mean, I did listen to Interview with the Vampire a few years ago after reading it back in the 90s but I don't think that counts.

So, just to get it out of the way, I fucking loved this book. Loved everything about it. The blood, the love, the angst, the humor, the characters, everything. I absolutely love the author's voice and style and want to read her debut now. And then maybe A Long Time Dead again. And then wait for the next book.

And I should have known that the gorgeous cover was an Ann McMan creation. I love McMan's writing but I think her true gift might be her book covers. With covers like this and Bev Prescott's 2 Degrees, she honestly has the most beautiful covers I've seen in our little WLW publishing world.

Thank you to Bywater Books and NetGalley for giving me a chance to discover a new-to-me author who I encourage everyone to read. This book! So much!

I had really high hopes for this book but unfortunately the story was rather boring and non-progressive to me. Just not my cup of tea. Thank you to NetGalley though for letting me read the ARC.

This is a queer character-driven vampire novel about the love between two women over decades, as they face the vengeance of a jealous powerful vampire. Poppy is brought into her vampire existence by the soft-hearted Roisin, who teaches her how to survive her new existence. I liked the banter throughout the book, especially between Poppy and Roisin. This book also did not pull its punches on the wonderfully sexy moments between these two women in love. However, even for a character drive book, I felt the plot was lacking. Cane should have been a threat earlier in the novel and I would have liked to see more of this conflict rather than just the absence of Roisin in Poppy's life over the years. The found family dynamic was heartwarming, but I would have liked to learn a lot more about how each of them knew Cane and how they come to love Poppy enough to risk everything. We read a lot about the past Cane and the horrors she has caused, but there isn't enough current atrocities to make her feel like a looming presence in their lives. Overall, I did enjoy the book and liked the cast of diverse characters we were given. I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates books with heavy vibes and spice.

This book was really fun. The main character was extremely amusing and the character dynamic was so much fun. I just love how the characters were written, that was probably the best thing in the book.
I do wish the pace was a little bit faster but that didn't affect the story too much.

This was a truly wonderful book and a fun twist on a vampire story! It follows the upbeat, newly turned vampire Poppy, and the stiff, victorian-esque love interest Roisin. The story is beautiful, with language that is both rich and descriptive, with some funny banter/thoughts of Poppy.

This book is incredibly original even though it plays on the stereotypical vampire "guidelines" and I could not put it down. I was completely enveloped in this world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this story.

“𝙋𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙤𝙛 𝙋𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙤𝙧𝙖, 𝙤𝙛 𝙋𝙨𝙮𝙘𝙝𝙚, 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙙’𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚 - 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙋𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝘾𝙖𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙝. 𝙉𝙤 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧 𝙣𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙝𝙚𝙧. 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡, 𝙨𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙.”

Vampires.

That one word is all it will take to at least peak my interests.

Gothic vampire queer romance?! Absolutely.

The main character, Poppy, is a fat prostitute and proud of it. One morning she awakes to find that she has been turned into a vampire, her biggest devastation? That she’ll no longer be able to eat food. I’ve never related so much to a character. 😂 She is hilarious and is possibly one of my favorite MCs.

Poppy is in the care of a fellow vampire, Roisin, who is there to help her transition and learn to resist human blood. Soon Poppy realizes she has become quite attached to Roisin, and the real story begins. Over the course of the next few decades these two must fight and suffer and see if they can one day find peace, together.

I will note that this book is spicy 🌶️. I’ve been in my cozy fantasy groove and so it was a bit of a shock at first, to be honest 😂

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and am so grateful to have received a digital arc from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

4/5 ⭐️