As a (young) teen who was fully immersed in the world of Anne Rice vampires, this is wholly and fully what I as a fully formed adult want out of a vampire novel. Sapphic vampires! Actually everyone is queer! Trans and gender nonconforming characters! Victorian vampires! Great spice! Several many great spice scenes! Gorgeous, immersive writing that had me thinking about this book during so many moments I could not physically be reading it!

Poppy is great, someone full of sass and love and not so much the trope she could have been in less skilled hands, and it's fun and heartbreaking to follow her on her journey of rebirth into her difficult romance with Roisin, a tortured sort of soul who despite the need for honest love and acceptance cannot easily accept it herself. Every "side" character is someone I wanted to learn more about, and although we didn't get too much of some of them, really, there wasn't too much space for it as the story progressed either, so it's not a negative thing here.

This was good, Thank you to Samara Breger, to NetGalley for approving my request, and to Bywater Books.

Now, to go order a physical copy to keep forever!

While the writing itself was gorgeous, the storyline wasn't captivating me. The story had made me laugh at certain times, and again, the author has such an amazing talent for stringing words together. I appreciated it and kept reading for longer than I probably would have otherwise because of it, but ultimately I ended up setting this one aside. I wasn't as invested as I wish I would have been.

Thank you NetGalley and Bywater Books for providing me this wonderful eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Although it was the beautiful cover that initially caught my attention, the potential of a gothic sapphic vampire romance was also immensely intriguing. A Long Time Dead has a unique love story between the exuberant Poppy Cavendish and the long-suffering Roisin, a fascinating cast of secondary characters and the repellent-perhaps slightly one-dimensional-antagonist named Cane.

A Long Time Dead touches upon abusive relationships, depression and self destruction. It is also offset by lovely friendships, tender and humorous moments and a romance that contends with struggle, but does not relinquish hope. Some of the more tawdry moments do feel as though they are a bit drawn out, but that may simply be due to my own personal preferences.

Nevertheless, A Long Time Dead is an engrossing novel and one that I would recommend for those interested in a dark romance.

What a surprisingly humorous and touching gothic story! Delving into this book was an experience that will linger with me. It is a book that lovers of gothic romance must not miss!

"A Long Time Dead" by Samara Breger narrates the thrilling journey of Poppy, who undergoes a transformation into a vampire and subsequently becomes dependent on the guardianship of a reticent and enigmatic woman named Roisin. And while Poppy acquires the ability to restrain her craving for human blood and acquaints herself with the advantages and disadvantages of being a vampire, Roisin harbors a strong resolve to seek retribution against a murderous vampire named Cane.

This novel is a masterfully crafted piece of writing. The skillful use of descriptive language by Breger is apparent from the opening page and continues to amaze throughout the book. The Victorian characters and settings come to life vividly—immersing me in their world. The dynamic between the characters is captivating right from the start, and the intricate world building brings pure delight to my experience as a reader.

However, what truly impresses me and serves as the greatest asset of this novel is the author's wit and comedic flair, which I don’t typically find in gothic romance literature. In addition to the vibrant characters, I wholeheartedly admire Breger's ability to infuse humor into the narrative. There are numerous lines throughout the book that I absolutely adore, and one of my personal favorites is: “It is my curse to be burdened with the company of Catholics.”

Truly, I am pleasantly taken aback by the path this gothic fiction has taken. I had not anticipated experiencing numerous moments of laughter—nor did I expect it to evoke heartwarming emotions in such diverse ways. Instead of simply encountering a "glamorous orgy," I discovered a sense of belonging—a familial bond among a rich array of characters—amongst vampires.

Overall, “A Long Time Dead” is a riveting gothic romance that will keep you hooked until the very end. While there are certain sections of the story that I find a tad long-winded (a few chapters are excessively verbose for my taste), the humor and the character dynamic eclipse such moments. Breger has created a truly memorable and decidedly heartwarming story that will certainly appeal to fans of gothic fiction, romance, and paranormal alike.

#NetGalley #ALongTimeDead

When Poppy is transformed into a vampire, she finds herself navigating the prospect of immortality with the help of Roisin, the austere vampire helping her adapt to this second life. The two eventually fall in love, and they’re forced to reckon with Roisin’s mysterious past and her quest for revenge against the woman that sired her.

This book felt like a fun homage to some of my favorite gothic tropes. The characters and relationships are interesting and funny. I really enjoyed the Brood's dynamic. The romance between Poppy and Roisin is simple yet beautiful. The story has a great balance of darkness and levity. Unfortunately, moments in the beginning felt rushed while the rest of the story felt slow at times. I don’t usually mind a slower paced story as many gothics tend to be, but it felt as if the pacing was a little off. There could be a case to be made about the theme of immortality and the meandering nature of time, but there were times when it just didn’t feel as engaging to read. But this also made the experience cozier because I got to spend more time with characters that I love!

I would recommend A Long Time Dead to readers interested in a gothic, beautifully hopeful sapphic romance. Thank you to Bywater Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to netgalley for providing me an arc for this book and putting this on my radar. If I wasn’t randomly scrolling and said “oohh pretty cover” I would have never known about this book and i’m so glad I do. (But like, THAT. COVER. stunning.)

The most gorgeous and lush yet dark and gritty prose and setting I’ve read in so so long. Vivid scenes that I could see so clearly. Slow paced but in a way that works so well with the gothic atmosphere. A book that had me taking so many notes so fast trying to get my thoughts down I literally crashed my kindle. The overwhelmingly british/irish/french wit and banter between characters had me actually laughing out loud with them. And then the most heartbreaking scenes that made me feel so deeply for the pain that these women had to experence.

First we have Poppy. The london prostitute who struggles to read and is inherently clumsy yet is so full of life and rebellion and revels in her sense of self. Who knows her flaws and doesn’t let them define her. That takes no shit from anyone and will say it to your face. Who can adapt to just about anything that is thrown her way.

Then her lover Roslin. A lonely melancholic vampire who has lived in her own pain for so long she barely remembers the life she once lived. Who doesn’t know how to want for more than just revenge against the one who wronged her time and time again. Who’s afraid of a life that could mean so much more but also desperately wants to love and be loved without fear.

Seeing the love between Poppy and Rosin slowly bloom was so beautiful. Watching them slowly learn how to take down their walls and open up to each other in order to heal themselves and love one another was wonderful. I could truly feel the love between these two and I couldn’t have asked for more.

The characters we meet along the way were so charming and endearing. Carmen was my favorite as she really does keep the house of quirky vampires together and in check. We only learn a bit about her past but she was so lovely- at least most of the time. Even then it was easy to understand where she was coming from as she’s such a complex character. Honestly all of these characters are so complex and so unique in the best ways which makes their personalities shine all the more. Seeing Valentin’s friendship with Poppy bloom was so heartwarming. The little lines we got from Massimo were so funny and cute. Zahrah and Karol’s relationship was so tragic yet beautiful. And Sarah deserves only the best in the world.

Honestly one of the best books i’ve read this year. It in some ways reminded me of a Dowry of Blood which is also one of my all time favorites. Sapphic vampires are all I need in life. Thank you so much to Samara Breger for writing such a beautiful book. You can bet your ass i’m buying this book physically when it comes out. It deserves a spot on my shelves for years to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the eARC of this book! This is my honest review.

I enjoyed this story. I thought Samara Breger brought a new light to the vampire tale with Poppy and Roisin. The beginning of this book started off slowly and had some areas where I wish we spent more time, but overall I found it enjoyable. I thought the end was fitting and very sweet and I enjoyed the queer representation.

It *was* a long time dead, and the cause was boredom.

I'd never left posting a review for the day before release, and I was so excited about the prospect of a lesbian vampire romance that I didn't think this would be my first time doing that. Despite my best intentions, though, it took me nearly a month to finish it. Halfway through it became a hate-read, motivated by my desire not to hurt my NetGalley stats as much as to be able to say "I read it all and it did not get better". So there: I read it all, and it did not get better.

The publisher's summary is promising, but I should have known this: it promises too much.

The story follows Poppy Cavendish, a sex worker in Victorian era England, who wakes up one day to find out she's an immortal vampire. She's being taken care of by a buttoned-up elder vampire, Roisin, in a countryside cottage. Roisin helps Poppy adapt to her new life and control her urges for human blood for a year. But Roisin is on a mission so, after the year, she will send Poppy away with a vampire family in London. The problem: Poppy falls in love with Roisin. She still moves to London and lives there several years, until Roisin comes back. Afterwards, Poppy and her new family decide to help Roisin end the threat that is looming over them all.

Everything else that is mentioned in the summary is filling, and not one I liked. The author mentions in the acknowledgements at the end that the story was pitched as a novella, but she was encouraged to turn it in a longer and more ambitious book. I think that the base premise certainly worked for a novel; however, I think this new proposal affected the structural integrity of the plot and left it a shambling mess. We spend the first third of the book stuck with Poppy and Roisin on that cottage, and while I enjoyed seeing Poppy reckon with her new reality and her new urges, most of that time is spent between the two of them talking. I appreciate a good talk, but this was too much. Worse than that: it actually didn't manage to give me feels for the two of them or why Poppy should be so attached to Roisin. So after they part, and Poppy spends over a decade pining for Roisin? It doesn't feel earned. It would have made more sense for Poppy to feel a potential fondness for Roisin, get over her, and then fall hard once Roisin comes back.

The book had plenty of smut, some of it even toying with kink but, unfortunately, it made me feel absolutely nothing because of the annoyance.

The Brood was maybe the most interesting part of it, as a group of immortal queer people supporting other, mortal and not, queer people. There is a trans woman character, and I thought she was fascinating, and that her sexuality and her backstory were handled with sensitivity - bearing in mind that I'm not trans myself. I also enjoyed getting glimpses of everyone's backstories as Poppy gets to know them.

But the pirates and opera singers and glamorous French women? They were all filling! I'm not sure why they're mentioned at all in the summary! Oh, and guess where we go, too? Transylvania! With a scene that I'm positive features in the original Dracula! Take those parts away, and you'd have a novel that is less than the undeserved +400 pages but more structurally sound.

The writing was okay, but aimed to be poetic and, unfortunately, I was so bored and annoyed that it felt laughable. This was not helped by the author deciding to mention at every turn that Roisin's eyes were silver like "tuppence". This was mentioned 13 times. Eye descriptions are okay, as long as you don't go overboard with them. When you use such a specific word thirteen times, I would qualify that as going overboard. Oh, and since Poppy was a working class English person, apparently it made sense for the author, a New Yorker, to have her saying "mate" 31 times.

I can't decide if the ending was abrupt, if it made sense or not, because I was just hoping for the sweet release. But then we have an epilogue! And by that point, I was not surprised that it was also unbearably long and pointless.

tl;dr: Look, your mileage may vary; clearly, a lot of people seem to have enjoyed this one. It certainly had some interesting elements with a lot of potential. And I admit that I'm generally bored with Gothic stories. But I did not think this was a good Gothic story, I didn't think it was a good story about vampires, and I didn't think it was a good romance. It was tedious and poorly edited, and I'm upset because that gorgeous cover feels like a waste.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bywater Books for making this book available to read in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ ~25%

I'm not sure it's the fault of the book, but I just wasn't really feeling this one. I like Poppy as a protagonist, and Roisin's immediate kindness to and care for her is refreshing in this genre, but something wasn't quite sticking with me. The pacing is a little weird, maybe; it's been hard for me to get a grasp of the characters or plot beyond the most basic sense. I might pick this up again at a later time, since I can tell there's a lot to like here, but it seems now is just not a good time for me to be reading about queer vampires. (A tragedy in itself, really.)

I personally do not enjoy smut in books so this book wasn’t particularly for me but it has beautiful writing and the atmosphere is very engaging, love lesbian vampires!!! It has absolutely beautiful quotes and a lovely gothic writing style that was very easy to fall in love with.

A queer Victorian vamp gothic romance story- what else can you ask for?!

Poppy wakes to find herself changed. She beings as a bit of an immature and unpredictable woman, but her transformation throughout this novel is incredible. I loved her developer and watching her come into her true self.

This novel has it all, lesbian romance written in a realistic and authentic way. Queer found family; misfits who love orgies. Pirates, witches, operas you name it!

My overall rating is 4 stars, the first half of the book is a 5 star read and I did feel it lost its footing a touch in the last 1/3, however it ended very well.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Bywater Books for the opportunity to enjoy this e-ARC! My review is voluntary and 100% genuine to my experience.

Rating: 5⭐️
Pub Date: 5/16/23

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Bywater Books for the free copy in exchange for an honest review!

YA'LL! 😳 This book. I will be thinking about this book for a while! It has put me at a loss for words, so I’ll do my best to make coherent sentences on why this book is so amazing. However, these are the singular words that blast through my mind in the spiky speech bubbles are: SAPPHIC! VAMPIRES! SPICY! YEARNING! GOTHIC! HEARTFUL! DEVASTATING! FUNNY! HAUNTING! AHHHH!

This book a the GORGEOUS cover has a gothic vibe with queer vampires in Victorian United Kingdom. We follow Poppy, who, despite being recently undead, is a vivacious, hopeful, and sultry former sex worker, and Roisin, a strait-laced, suppressed, kind martyr who has secrets that she keeps close to the vest, as they are changed, both physically and emotionally, as Roisin teaches Poppy how to be a proper vampire. The fact that the first thing Poppy is upset about when she hears that she’s been turned into a vampire is that she never gets to eat regular food again makes her incredibly endearing and, honestly, super relatable. The relationship that blossoms between Poppy and Roisin is one for the ages; it starts with a fizzle, plateaus with seemingly endless years of desperate yearning, and ends with a bang (pun mostly intended). Cruelly, they are haunted by a dangerous being who will stop at nothing to keep them apart.
In an effort to keep Poppy safe (and, in Roisin’s mind, happy), Roisin leaves her under the protection of The Brood, a gaggle of vampiric queers (and select humans) in London that become the most wholesome found family (the most wholesome and best found family I’ve read since The House in the Cerulean Sea), while Roisin goes after the monster ruining their happiness.

There are the classic vampire archetypes, such as no sunlight, drinking of blood, immortality, special physical abilities, some special powers, and quick healing; however, the characters bring light and laughter amongst the darkness, horror, and loneliness. They’re also able to maintain tattoos despite their quick healing, which is interesting.

A Long Time Dead is the spicy love child of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and House of Hunger who was adopted and raised by The House in the Cerulean Sea.

This is my favorite book of the year so far, and I’m so glad to have gotten the chance to get an advanced copy via NetGalley!

Thank you NetGalley and Bywater Books for providing me this eARC in exchange for my review.

I had a bit of a hard time with this book. I was in the mood for a gothic romance and although the story was good it was a bit too long for my liking. Some of the banter just went on for pages and pages. Maybe I just too high hopes that this story did not deliver. 3 stars

This was so fun and there was a lot going on but absolutely loved it. I don't really read much of vampires but I did enjoy this as the exception. The romance captured my heart.

A Long Time Dead is the most tantalizing, lushest, dreamiest sapphic gothic novel of my absolute dreams and I need the queer Dracula enjoyers and anyone who liked A Dowry of Blood to hold onto their hats and give a round of applause for Samara Breger. What a lyrical book, plushly soft and unforgivingly hard all at once. I’m not going to be able to stop thinking about this one, and I don’t want to anyway.

I unfortunately found Poppy hard to like. She says she’ll give Roisin privacy and then listens at the door. She talks her friends into an attack on someone they know is more powerful than them all and then largely stands there while the others are hurt. She argued against Roisin’s warnings and downfalls about the vampire life despite just being turned. She is angry at Roisin for keeping things to herself and also for telling the truth. She had one encounter with Cane and totally disregards Carmen’s warnings about her power. I also find it sort of hard to believe for centuries no other vampire found a way to cook safe-to-eat food. For literal centuries.

A lot of the plot is the same thing over and over again: Poppy being petulant about something someone else is doing. I think Carmen was right; Poppy does think the world revolves around her, everyone else supposed to bend to her weak and flitting will.

I don’t think this book does anything new or interesting with vampires either.

I can only take so much bad French.

I am mad because I was so excited for this book and I've waited for so long but once I was past the first part I thought this is it, this is the sapphic vampire book I wanted but it all went downhill from there.

It's because the pacing is atrocious.

I am not surprised that people DNF 25% in because the opening section is just chapters after chapters of the two main girls talking. Just talking, barely any action. The exposition is so heavy-handed we get everyone's backstory and set up the big bad for the story. And I got bored. The problem is that this is where the girls fall in love and it's crucial for you to be invested later that you believe in this falling in love. The problem is that i wanted to skip the dialogues after a while so you can see how little I care about their relationship. But the thing is that the characters are actually intriguing. Poppy is a former sex worker suddenly turned into a vampire. Roisin is an Irish masc lesbian with some repressed guilt. But it just drags on.

A Long Time Dead felt too long for its own good. The vibes and Victorian vampire aesthetic are there. It's sexy and smutty in a good way. Some common vampire tropes are there. And yet I just wanted the book to end after some point as I was not invested at all in the main conflict. A short story with the girls and the Brood (whom I loved) would have worked much better. There are also many time skips that confused me.

I have seen another reviewer point out anachronistic writing which I can't comment on because I'm not familiar enough with 19th century English but that French was both anachronistic (btw it's bite not bitte) and wrong. You can't just literally translate English for it to make sense. And there's a lot of French in this book.

My Thoughts:
We start somewhere foggy in 1837 when Poppy wakes up and doesn’t realize what has happened to her yet. Soon Roisin comes into her live and try’s to tell her she is no longer alive but poppy just doesn’t understand at first She soon learns she been bite by a women Vampire and now she’s one.
I could tell from the start I was going to enjoy this story the characters were interesting and had really interesting lives before becoming vampires. This was not your typical Vampire story it has F/F Gothic Victorian romance, vampires, blood, traveling, sex, horror and blood. What Poppy and Roisin will do to keep their love together. I would recommend this. I also have to mention this books cover I love the crackle art work on poppy’s body.
A heart that doesn’t beat can still break
Thank You @netgalley and @yesjbreg for letting me read this

Thank you NetGalley and Bywater Books for providing me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead."

I love this premise in theory. A queer vampire family, a sapphic romance between vampires where one has to navigate being a new creature of the night is everything I'd love. But despite the beautiful writing and some scenes that make your heart flutter, the pacing doesn't work for me and it's often too long-winded for what it's trying to achieve. There are pages long of dialogue that isn't very meaningful thematically but also doesn't really progress the plot. Things only started picking up a third way in, and even after that there are chapters that simply could have been trimmed. 

I think while it eventually grew on me, the way Roisin and Poppy's relationship started also isn't 't very convincing, especially with Poppy' s isolation from the rest of the world. The infatuation & adoration from Poppy' s end doesn't feel plausible, even taking into account the way Poppy changed after her transformation. There are some anachronistic aspects about it too, but I wasn't too bothered by them. Overall, it personally had so much potential for me but unfortunately didn't work out, albeit I did enjoy parts of the writing.

This book is like if you take an Anne Rice vampire novel, keep the horror parts, but then make it cozy, queer-affirming, and optimistic. It does a stellar job of keeping the feel of an old gothic novel but for a modern audience. It's full of long, lush description, metaphorical prose, and other sensory imagery. I'm not generally predisposed to this style of writing, which did contribute to the beginning of the book feeling slow and occasional descriptions sounding too over-the-top for my taste. But I'm very glad these things didn't push me away from the book. The pace of the plot picks up speed as the book goes on, until you're rushing to the end, turning pages frantically because you need to know what happens to the characters you've come to love. That's where this book shines the most. Poppy, our main protagonist, is an absolute delight, and her interactions with the others are by turns funny, poignant, frustrating, and beautiful. The many kinds of love and relationships shown throughout are all treated as worthy, gorgeous things. A perfect depiction of what a found family can and should be. I loved all the characters, whether prickly, charming, or otherwise, and rooted for them all. The villain, who twisted the love we see displayed by all the others into sometime evil is the perfect opposition to what Poppy, Carmen, and Roisin each have tried to build for themselves and those they treasure. A Long Time Dead is a stellar example of what a horror romance can be.