Stories featuring Dracula, or his victims, or his descendants always make for a great plot, and so I was fascinated to see yet another modern take on this epic theme.

It could all work out so well, but for some reason I felt zero connection to the romance between Lucy and Iris, even though the secret of how Iris's family maintains its power is an interesting feature.

Interesting theme, but zero connection.
2 stars

I’m quite torn about how to rate this one and think I will settle on 3.5⭐️

The actual story itself? Dark, mysterious, alluring. I loved Iris as one of our FMCs. I’m so glad that Lucy had such character growth. I didn’t understand all of the POVs and time jumps initially but it all made more sense at the end and I love the variety of characters we get in all of the side vampires - “the Lover, the Doctor, and the Queen”. I’m a sucker for a good sapphic love story, especially one that involves vampires. I also love cults which was a lovely addition - the whole MLM thing was great! Were there some twists that I saw coming from a mile away? Absolutely! But there was a huge plot twist at the end that I didn’t see coming which I enjoyed.

My biggest complain is the length. It felt unbearably long at times. I feel as though it really should have been cut down. That would have probably made it in the 4-5⭐️ range for me.

I will also say, I was pretty annoyed that Dracula’s POV was written in 3rd person while all the others were in 1st person. It was hard to read his chapters.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Dracula, vampires, and sapphic love, give this one a read this spooky season!

Unlike anything I’ve ever read and just as difficult to describe without spoilers. Having never read Bram Stoker’s Dracula myself I can’t attest to how much is taken or twisted from the original story but Lucy Undying takes one of his first victims and makes her the main character in this reimagining. Filled with interesting characters and an engaging storyline across multiple timelines, there is a lot to this queer gothic story. It fell short for me in the structure though, jumping from different writing styles and then just when I thought I was over the whiplash and fell into the rhythm a new pov of a yet unknown character would be thrown in for good measure. It’s wacky, and all over the place, and I think that is part of it charm for some readers but the mishmash writing style detracted from an otherwise engaging story for me.

Lucy Undying by Kiersten White introduces a Dracula reimagining where Lucy does not die but instead spends a century trying to find a way to kill her maker.

Since gothic literature holds a place near and dear to my heart, this was one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year.

But oh, boy! This book suffers from inconsistent writing—both in terms of quality and characters' voices. It felt almost like I was reading two different novels that were haphazardly stitched together, and the tonal whiplash kept throwing me off. It vacillates between gorgeous, biting prose and some of the most juvenile, cringe-inducing dialogue scenes I've had the misfortune to read (like who on Earth calls their partner "my little butter chicken")?

It's a shame because the book's cover is a breathtaking masterpiece. I just wished that the interior reflected that.

I really enjoyed finally getting to see a Dracula story where Lucy wasn't only an agentless victim. I will say though that if you are incredibly tied to the original Dracula story, just be aware that everyone but Lucy in this version is a terrible person. I enjoyed that difference and thought it was a fresh take on the story, but I've seen that it upset some people.

The format of the book took me a bit to get used to, but once I did I really enjoyed it. In a callback to the epistolary nature of the original story, much of the book is told in journal entries and transcripts. The story is split between the other protagonist Iris in the modern day, Lucy's journal from the events of the original story, and then transcripts of Lucy describing her adventures in the time between the two. I liked getting to see Lucy telling her own story, with her unique voice flavoring the events.

I enjoyed both protagonists and how they were drawn to each other. Lucy is obviously one, but the other is a new character. Iris is the unwilling heiress to a sketchy health cult who is seeking freedom. I thought their love story was really well done, although sometimes the pacing in the middle of the story was slow.

Without giving any spoilers, one of my favorite parts of the story was its treatment of Dracula as the sad little man he is lol.

Overall, this was a fresh take on an old story that's a favorite of mine, and I appreciated seeing a new side of the story.

Thanks to the author and the publisher for the copy of the book. This review was left voluntarily and all opinions are my own.

📖: Lucy Undying-a standalone

🖋️: Kiersten White-new to me author

🗓️: Publication 9-10-24, Read 9-10-24

⭐️: 4/5

🌶️: 2/5-closed door

📔: e-book 452 pgs.

🌍: mainly London

⚠️: murder, illegal fertility treatment (h has eggs involuntarily taken), parental abuse

Tropes, Topics & Themes:
✨Dracula retelling
✨LGBTQIA+ rep/sapphic romance
✨vampires
✨historical fantasy
✨mystery
✨paranormal
✨Women's Fic
✨journals/psychiatrist sessions


This is an account told by Lucy Westenra (19), Iris (25), and Dracula of their journeys within the vampire world.

This retelling dealt with Lucy making peace with her death, exploring her sexuality, and falling in love. Iris was on a mission to take down her family business Goldaming Life while reading Lucy's old journals about her life and death.

I loved Lucy's adventures with the Doctor, the Lover, and the Queen. All these women taught her about being a vampire and became her companion for a time. Even Mina gave Lucy an education on female friendship, ambition, and deception. The side characters of men Jonathan Harker, Dr. Seward, Quincey Morris, Arthur Holmwood and Dr. Van Helsing were portrayed as predators who schemed and killed Lucy for their own profit.

Dracula was elusive until the last 20% where he hunted and tried to lure Lucy and Iris back to him.
This book kept me interested because of the secrets, backstabbing, and betrayal. I loved the few surprises and Lucy and Iris's HEA!

🙏🏽Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine/Del Rey for this ARC 🧛🏽‍♀️! As always, my review is my opinion and thoughts.

There is so much about this book that i really loved, but the things that didn't work for me really didn't work.
Lucy as a character is the absolute reason to read this novel. Spanning the centuries of her life we get her story through her diary entries and also through some modern day therapy sessions as she reflects on her time after death. There is so much depth and juicy goodness in this story for her that i really loved unravelling. Dracula's victims being given the chance to fuck his shit up? Very much my jam. Sapphic i'll destroy my world to protect you storyline? I will eat that up every time.
The things that didn't work for me were the chapters told from Dracula's perspective - they felt a little overwrought and i didn't really need them to further the story at all. We get a good picture of him from the other POVs and i didn't need to give him any power in this story. There were also moments of writing that felt disconnected from the overall tone of the book that jarred me out of the reading experience.
Come for the sapphic vampires, stay for the found family/MLM as religion allegory/healing your inner child of it all.

This is a story about a girl you might have read about. She was one of Dracula's first victims but that wasn't really the end of her story.

Lucy Westenra has wandered the globe in search of Dracula and a reason for her existence. A young woman who never fit into her place in the world or understood her own self. Now in her new life, Lucy seeks to help those like her.


This story is an urban historical fantasy. Due to this, we will speak of the atmosphere rather than world-building. Possibly I am not the best one to talk on this either. The settings will jump from London to Asain and journey the lands of Europe through the great wars until we reach modern America. Most of the scenes in the book take place in the same or similar indoor locations. Even still the way the scenes were written still left me able to picture them playing out. All the characters were given life through the ways they moved or acted. There could have been more descriptors or depictions at times to fully bring it to life.

While there are vampires there is no other type of creature or magic. The magic is solely what abilities vampires possess. In this novel, most seem to be able to change their form at will during the night. There also seems to be either a form of charming or beguiling mortals. Over time they are able to regenerate to heal. We will get to see Lucy display these for us throughout the novel. Also, they seem to have the uncanny ability to sense where their own grave was and it is the best resting spot for healing. Outside of these though nothing else is known.

From the description, I really thought this was going to be a single-POV story. Then to start it and find that there are not only multiple characters but also several timelines as well. The elephant in the room is Dracula whose chapters are spread out. These are also written in the second person.

Our first main character we see isn't even Lucy but instead Iris Goldaming. Iris is on the run from her troubled family. She has come to London trying to sort out older properties to get a fresh start. While Iris seems to be an untrusting person and we do see her go on high alert later, pretty much everyone she meets at the beginning she trusts right away. Several things are alluded to about her family and the issues with them but you will not find out much until a ways in. Iris is a pretty self-sufficient and intelligent woman.

Then we get to see from Lucy Westenra. Lucy's perspective is different for most of the book as it is told in multiple ways. We are first introduced to her through her diary from 1890 before she was turned. These are the worries and trials of a young woman with a difficult mother who only wants to be with her Darling. Then we see Lucy again in 2024 through client transcripts where she is speaking to her therapist Vanessa. Through both of these, we get to see two very different times in Lucy's life and how she changes.

The plot without spoilers. Lucy has been living mostly alone through the centuries. She has had one driving purpose to find Dracula and get answers. Now in 2024, Londen Lucy finds Iris, another lost girl running from her own demons. As information is uncovered can their growing feelings for each other survive the danger they face?

I find this book so hard to classify. The author wrote it as a horror romance so maybe that fits. It just didn't give me horror vibes, though vampires never really do I suppose. There was a romance and while it does get brought up a fair bit I feel that it wasn't to overdone. Did it happen really fast yes, however when you're in life-or-death situations that can happen. I felt that from Iris's side especially there was a gradual building due to how she is getting to know Lucy. Situations are mentioned without getting graphic or steamy. For the type of book this is, it worked well.

There are a few drawbacks to the story. There was a bit of a slowness to the story outside of the scenes we see of the past. Normally I would say that the historical time this was set isn’t my favorite but I found those parts of the story more engaging. In our present timeline, things just didn’t mesh as well leading to figuring out the late-end plot twist early in.

Overall I feel that the story worked well, I really enjoyed the glimpses into the past to build Lucy into her present self. The ending left things in a way that this could maintain as a stand-alone but also leaves room for another entry which is always appreciated. Thank you very much to Netgalley for the ARC to be able to review.

This is an interesting vampire slow read, but I couldn't get into it. I still love the cover so much. And will recommend it to my readers.

(I still want to give it another try later and make sure. If so I will update my review here and post it publicly.
Posted spotlight post on instagram.and blog for now. Links below)

"I'll start at the beginning. The beginning is, as all beginnings are, soaked in blood and shrouded in darkness. The end will be, too, but we'll get there together. My name is Lucy Westenra, and this is my story."

ooooouuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh I REALLY liked this one.

murder mystery? check. ✔
gore? check. ✔
vampires? check. ✔
cheeky humor? check. ✔
romance? check. ✔
sapphics? check. ✔
cult-like groups? check. ✔
weird MLM scheme parallels? was not looking for this, but check. ✔

Lucy Undying is a stand-alone story that primarily follows the store of two young women. Lucy Westenra as a young heiress in love with her governess and being targeted by Dracula, and Iris Goldaming trying to escape the cult-like empire that her mother has built.

eventually, their paths cross and while they begin to have feelings for each other, they also come to realize that their histories are more similar than they ever could have imagined.

I was so absorbed into this story. the storytelling method of using therapy transcripts and old journals alongside both characters telling their own stories worked really well for holding my attention and keeping me wanting to know what happens next. I will say that the pacing kind of shook me in the final 20%-ish of the book. it felt like we kind of skidded to a halt and then were creeping our way to the finale, but also doing MASSIVE time jumps along the way. the loss of time felt super jarring to the story after we had been moving day-by-day for so much of the book prior to the final stretch.

plot: ★★★★★
the plot is fun. I’m obsessed with how interconnected everything is AND how everything came together at the end. there were a lot of moving parts and a lot of questions that I worried wouldn’t get answered, but I felt satisfied at the end of the story.

writing: ★★★★★
I loved it. period. I read the first book of Kiersten White’s other Dracula series, And I Darken, and was obsessed with that as well when I read it, so I’m thrilled to see that her Dracula story-telling skills are still as strong as ever. which reminds me, I NEED to circle back and finish reading that series—now more than ever.

pacing: ★★★★☆
the pacing was incredible until about the last 20%-ish of the story. once the Big Plan was in action and we started skipping ahead in time, I was struggling to keep myself immersed in the story. I think the day-to-day story worked so well because it felt like knowing Lucy and Iris at an intimate level, and once we started looking at them from more of a distance, it felt like I lost my connection to them.

romance: ★★★★★
Lucy and Iris are so f*cking cute together. did their nicknames for each other make me want to groan audibly whenever I read them? absolutely. but what kind of happy relationship doesn’t have weird inside-joke-level nicknames? they deserve it!!!

I love that we got proper yearning and flirting for them. I feel like a lot of times when I read sapphic love stories, they move things along soooo quickly and we miss the build-up of them falling for each other. if anyone deserves a romantic happy ending together, it’s Lucy and Iris.

characters: ★★★★★
Lucy is actually so f*cking funny. I love how she explains her morbid and grim situations, and then immediately turns it into a joke somehow (e.g. joking about another vampire’s head being cut off). she’s so spirited and just genuine and pure (I know, weird to call a vampire pure, but stay with me) and I just want to keep her safe forever. it was brutal at times to watch her be hurt over and over and over again by people she loved and just wanted to be loved by. I think Lucy is officially added to my list of “favorite book characters”. she is soft and sharp. she wants to be held and be loved, but she’ll also rip someone’s spine out of their body. she is everything. I also love that when Iris got mad at her once, she pointed out that she’s forever 19 and her emotions are forever as intense as any 19-year-old’s emotions would be.

Iris was fun as well, but her goofyness wasn’t as endearing to me. I loved that she was finding humor in everything, but at the same time it was like... girl?? NOW??

the side characters were also *chefs kiss*. Rahul and Anthony??? love!! the Doctor, the Lover, and the Queen? soooo good. and I’m so glad that they kind of had their own character arcs, as small as they might have been. I kind of wish we saw a little more of Mina though.

over-all: ★★★★★
I loved reading this book. I could see myself rereading it during spooky season just to set the mood. and to visit Lucy and Iris. I wouldn’t be mad if we got some short stories of them exploring the world together someday. with all the themes revolving around self-sacrifice, I was really nervous that the ending was going to be a suckerpunch to the throat. happy to report, it’s a perfect and fitting ending.

Lucy Undying is the Dracula reimagining I didn’t know I needed! The book flips between memories and present day. In today’s world, Iris is the heir to a creepy multi-level marketing cult that is obsessed with her blood. In the past, Lucy juggles a strange trio of suitors and is targeted by a predator who steals her life as she knows it. As Iris uncovers the secrets of the house she inherited, she meets Lucy. Can Lucy and Iris team up to take down the shadowy predator who stalks their nights?

Lucy Undying is a much-needed sapphic take on an overlooked character from the tale of Dracula. I enjoyed how Iris got to know Lucy through her journal entries. Kiersten White weaves in powerful themes of agency, sapphic romance, and the downfall of a nightmarish monster. But in Lucy Undying, some of the scariest monsters are the humans. The pacing felt a little slow at first, but at a certain point I was hooked. The side characters of the Queen, the Lover, and the Doctor were very interesting and I enjoyed learning about their history with Lucy.

Lucy Undying is a clever re-imagining of Dracula. Perfect for spooky season!

Thank you to Kiersten White, Del Rey, and NetGalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

Lucy Undying contains the more expected luxuriant prose typical of vampire novels, alongside a modern approach and setting. In how it chooses to explore its sometimes-epistolary narrative style, Lucy Undying falls somewhere between Interview with the Vampire and Dracula, and is similarly told through several perspective characters (accounting for the variance in prose and tone). At times the prose is very compelling (“I cannot bring myself to care about or trust in a distant God, fickle and unreachable and unknowable.”), but at other moments falls quite flat (“Calm your tits, Iris.”), generally faltering when attempting modern inclusions.

The plot is promising in all of its facets, but Lucy Undying suffers from attempting to fit such varied plotlines into one novel. What begins as gothic horror ends as a sci-fi thriller, though it takes a somewhat abrupt turn rather than feeling like a natural transition. Despite this, the novel is nearly 500 pages (and 112 chapters), but due to the rotating cast of perspective characters, there is relatively little time dedicated to this shift in genre.

The characters themselves are incredibly charming— and in particular, Lucy. A novel just following Lucy’s journals and Lucy’s faux-therapy session(…s?) with Vanessa could honestly have been captivating enough, narratively, to stand on its own. It is within these sections that (I think) author Kiersten White’s writing is strongest and most engrossing.

Ok, listen, I think we all needed this new take on Dracula. Lucy Undying is a masterpiece and a perfect fall read. What a phenomenal book! I loved the multiple perspectives and how each character came to life on the page, I think these characters will live rent free in my brain for eternity. The lore, the friendships, all of it, simply delightful! The way this story transformed from beginning to end actually changed my brain chemistry and daresay I may never recover. This isn't a retelling or even a reimagining of Dracula, this is a story of women taking their power back and refusing to be controlled by anyone.
Thank you Random House Publishing and NetGalley for sending me an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc<3
2.5 star
I was really excited to read this. I read the original Dracula just last month for the first time and loved it, so when I heard of a sapphic Dracula reimagining, I was all in. Plus, the cover is stunning.
The actual book was not what I expected (in a bad way)
I thought it was a cool idea to completely change the original characters, until it became "everyone except for Lucy sucks ass." None of the characters were changed in an interesting way, they were just all rewritten as horrible people.
The multiple POVs were heavily confusing in the beginning as well as feeling completely unnecessary towards the end, making the whole story feel disjointed and incredibly slow paced. As soon as I started to like one storyline, I started to dislike another. A lot of this book slogged for me, and I ended up skimming the last 30%.
There were some parts of the book that I enjoyed, but more often than not, I wanted to DNF.
All in all, this just felt messy and surface level.

Told with multiple POVs and timelines Kiersten White does an amazing job of bringing life to a character I always wondered about. Now while I did like learning more about Lucy's past and how she ended up a vampire with a vendetta against Dracula, I really enjoyed the chapters of Lucy in the present, I also absolutely adored Iris's POV and how she saw Lucy, especially after reading the diary she wrote as a young woman. The way she viewed Lucy showed a lot more facets to Lucy's personality, and she caught some interesting tidbits about the people in Lucy's life that she didn't / couldn't see at the time.

While this book is a Lucy retelling I really think Iris is where this book shined, she just has a way of bringing everything around her to life, making it brighter, and bringing a level of sass that constantly had me grinning while reading. There was a bit of insta love between our couple, and a few slower parts in the beginning and middle, but I was completely entertained and loved watching both Lucy and Iris realize what is most important, and really coming into their own.

Thank you for a copy but unfortunately I DNF'd at 15%. I needed more character action or plot action to be invested more.

Dracula reimagined meets Interview with the Vampire (the interview/therapist confessional part) meets the recent We Love the Nightlife.

The prose is wonderful, and Lucy's POV is very interesting. She is sarcastic, self-deprecating, and lovely. The convergence of the storylines and characters is a bit on the nose, but it does work - if the book was not so incredibly long.

I did enjoy it, but the Iris chapters almost sound like YA, probably because she is supposed to be the "modern and hip" to Lucy's all-knowing and wise (ish?)

That said, there are plenty of beautiful parts, and the book lures you in despite the uneven pace. I loved the themes of loneliness, what it can mean to different people, and how the desire to be seen and loved can push us to self-destruction. The sapphic romance throughout was lovely as well.

"What would I give, to be seen? To be carefully studied and perfectly understood? Would I let someone carve me up, if it meant feeling like I was loved? I knew the answer was yes, because it had always been yes."

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, for sharing an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review. The book is out on September 10.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

This book. This book has my whole heart. I absolutely adored this! From the incredible characters, to the plot, to falling in love with everything so quickly- I couldn’t put this down. I highly recommend this! It really just sucks you in and makes you never want to leave. In my opinion, those are the best books and I couldn't get enough. Kiersten has a way that sucks you in (pun intended) and I was ready to flip back to the beginning and start all over once I finished.

𝟯.𝟱 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡
A book being over 100 chapters should be illegal.

That aside, I have very mixed feelings about this book. I wish I had read the original Dracula before reading this because I feel like I would've understood certain references more had I done so. I also feel like it was a major part of why I didn't quite connect fully with the characters. I liked them and they were well written and fully fleshed out, there was just something missing. Which is obviously totally on me. However, I did enjoy my time reading this book overall. I loved the different perspectives and the time jumps. Also a HUGE YES TO THE SAPPHIC ROMANCE! The writing was extremely descriptive without being overly-flowery and annoying.

I guess my main complaint would be that it was too long. This book is edging close to 500 pages, which wouldn't have been a problem, had it not dragged in various places. Also, as I said before, it had over 100 chapters...113 to be exact. Granted, most of the chapters are fairly short but it makes the book automatically feel as though it has been going on FOREVER.

~ Chosen One
~ Damsel in Distress
~ Forbidden Love
~ Found Family

I found this book to be an exciting take on the classic Dracula. I loved that this book helps us take a peek into who Lucy is and the fact that she just wants to feel something. The character development in this book is top tier which I found very essential to the story because our two female main characters in this book needed a strong background to explain their grappling with trauma and assertion in their society. The bridge of the two timelines kept me hooked, allowing me to see how Lucy evolved into who she is now. It gives you a deeper exploration of legacy, autonomy, and resilience in the face of darkness. This is a good read for those who are gothic and contemporary lovers.