BE STILL MY UNBEATING HEART by Josh Winning – Review

I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Be Still My Unbeating Heart by Josh Winning
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on August 4 2026
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 336
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: A vampire decides to vacation in Italy but runs into a heap of trouble in Be Still My Unbeating Heart, an uneven story with some great ideas.

Be Still My Unbeating Heart is another case of “the cover is better than the book,” unfortunately. I so wanted to love this more, but it was just an average story for me, although there are elements I really enjoyed. 

Bastian Emerson is a vampire, but he’s been “clean” for five years, meaning he hasn’t fed off humans in that time. He and his cat companion Whitby (who talks, by the way) are vacationing in Vernazza Italy for one specific reason: Vernazza has been declared “vampire free,” and Bastian is looking forward to the peace and quiet. But one evening while strolling on the beach, Bastian and Whitby stumble upon a dead body. Unfortunately, it looks as though a vampire killed the woman, and when the police show up, it doesn’t take long for them to put the pieces together. Bastian is accused of the murder, taken away in silver handcuffs, and informed that the dreaded vampire council, the Obliterati, have been notified and are on their way to execute him. What a way to spend your vacation!

But obviously, Bastian is innocent, and he intends to prove it. The detective on the case, Nico De Luca, reluctantly agrees to help him. And it doesn’t hurt that De Luca is the handsome, brooding type. As more bodies start to pile up, Bastian and De Luca work furiously to clear Bastian of the crimes. Is a vampire the killer? Or are the bodies staged to look like it? The Obliterati are on the way, and time is running out.

Let’s start with the positives. First, Whitby the cat absolutely steals the show. She has the best, funniest dialog, and her banter with Bastian was so much fun. I suspected early on that Whitby is more than she appears, and I was right! I loved the backstory about how the two met and the reasons they hang out together, and I would have liked even more of a focus on that relationship.

I also loved Winning’s main themes of overcoming prejudice and finding acceptance. Bastian reflects on how tough his life has been, living through the 1980s when being gay was dangerous (the AIDS epidemic is never mentioned but I’m assuming that’s part of what the author was referring to). He compares being gay to being a vampire, in that both groups of people are often shunned and hated, although for different reasons. Bastian and De Luca eventually find common ground while comparing their experiences. De Luca starts out as a gruff, unfriendly man who obviously dislikes Bastian. He’s also never met a vampire before, so he has his own prejudices to overcome, and it was nice to see that happen over the course of the story. The “found family” theme is also present, as neither man found acceptance in their own families, and so they’ve had to forge new ones instead. They also bond over a love of music, which I thought was a nice touch. And I did love the way Winning uses “heart beats” in some clever ways, which also ties into the book title.

As for negatives, I thought the mystery was rather lackluster, not to mention chaotic and confusing. The never ending list of red herrings and suspects made my head spin, and I was a little disappointed in De Luca, who is in fact an actual detective, and yet he seemed just as baffled by the murders and evidence as Bastian—who is in fact not a detective. I will say the second half of the book is much better than the first, since the pace picks up considerably, but it was slow going in the beginning, trying to keep all the characters and events straight.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like Bastian that much, which is a bummer since he’s one of the main characters. He has a habit of ending every sentence with “darling” or “love,” no matter who he’s talking to, and this repetition really got on my nerves. Even De Luca gets tired of it when he says at one point “Don’t call me ‘love’!” But Bastian never takes the hint and continues to do it anyway. Sigh.

Some of the world building didn’t make sense either. Vernazza is supposed to be “vampire free” yet Bastian felt it was the perfect place to visit? Also we learn there are “secret” vampires already living there, so the whole “vampire free” thing didn’t fly. My least favorite world building element, though, was the Obliterati, a clichéd group of antagonists who came across as sort of ridiculous. They reminded me a lot of the Oracles from Angel, who also finished each other’s sentences, but without their depth. They are supposed to be judges and take action if a vampire has killed someone, but in Bastian’s case they jumped straight to “guilty” without any solid evidence.

I did like the romance between Bastian and De Luca, though. They go from zero to sixty quite quickly, and honestly, I would have preferred a closed door sex scene, but their relationship has some interesting challenges, and their backstories made them much more likeable. But overall, Be Still My Beating Heart didn’t do anything new for the vampire trope, and it lacked the emotional depth and writing finesse that made me fall in love with Winning’s The Shadow Glass. A lot of readers love it, though, so do give it a chance if it sounds like fun to you.

With thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy.