wdianasheppard 's review for:

Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste

3.0

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"Reluctant Immortals" by Gwendolyn Kiste is a serviceable take on two jilted women of fiction: Bertha, from Jane Eyre, and Lucy from Dracula. While it dips its toes into the horror genre, this book is more interesting in the interdynamics of abusive relationships: how does one move on when one is an immortal, as is your abuse perpetrator? I've heard this described as "Taylor Jenkins Reid tries horror" and honestly, that is the vibe - it's a pretty, psychedelic 1960s take on two literary antiheroes just trying to make it work. The characterizations of Lucy and Bertha were weak - that is this novel's biggest problem. They don't have distinct voices, and as a result, it's hard to really engage with their struggles. The concept was more intriguing than the output.