I think the premise of having a vampire plus size character is interesting considering I have yet to read one where there's a vamp who's actually a plus size nor a shifter one, so that one was a plus point for me. I think my only problem is the characterization and the words used here which I find really cringed at times. I think if this was written better with a well written holistically novel, I would have enjoyed this more,

I was interested at the start but as I read more I was less and less motivated to finish this book. It has potential I’m just not part of the audience it was meant for.

When life gives you vampires by Gloria Duke
After a boozy night out Lily wakes up to find she has fangs . Well can life get better for Lily as being a more curvaceous lady and constantly trying to get thinner - not now she’s stuck as she is forever. Tristan Lilly’s previous date was not supposed to turn Lily and now they both are being hunted by slayers. A fun characters , humorous rom com and easy read . If looking for a lighthearted book give this a try. 3.5/5

When Life Gives You Vampires is the 1st book in the Slaying It series and is a paranormal rom com that follows a curvy heroine as she learn to adjust to her new life as a vampire, all while learning to love herself inspite of the negative self image she has due to being overweight.
I loved Lily's body positivity journey towards self acceptance and I enjoyed her romance with Tristan.
The story was humorous, with great character development, witty banter and I loved the Twilight reference.
This was an entertaining read and I would recommend it..

Literally couldn’t put this book down. Well done and I really enjoyed the characters and the plot. I mean who doesn’t like a good Vampire story? I especially loved Lily’s personal journey to self love and acceptance. Wish this book was around when I was younger. Looking forward to Gloria’s next book!

When Lily wakes up with fangs, she tracks down the previous night’s hookup. Tristan hadn't meant to turn Lily-it's against vampire law-but now that she's here, they need to team up to save their hides. They strike a truce, fending off other vampires, Lily's work-rival-turned-slayer, and her mother's tone-deaf romance and fitness advice.

This was so stupid. I kept hoping it would get better, and it just didn’t. HARD PASS.

I really wanted to see more growth from Lily. I didn't feel this book had any body positivity and that was disappointing. It's hard to get into a story when you find both MCs unlikeable.

Fun & funny - loved the development of this supernatural relationship, though the stakes/conflict was less interesting to me. A jaunt of a story but not one I'd read again

I picked this book up because there really are not that many plus size heroine books out there. In most of them that I do find they almost always are fantasy as well just like this one (or the alpha shifter stuff). Sadly, again this book was well….bad. The FMC never really grew in the story from start to finish; it feels as if she still dislikes herself in some way at the end. I also hate that these books always put these heroines as “shocked” when an attractive male wants them. Lastly, the story was just horrible. It could be that the writing style maybe just didn’t suit me. I don’t know but I can't say I would recommend this book.

This rom-com is a total standout with its unique twist! Meet Lily Baines, who unexpectedly wakes up as a vampire, with no memory of how it happened. Determined to piece together the puzzle, Lily eventually discovers that Tristan Newberry, a heartthrob she encountered in a bar, is responsible for her vampiric transformation. But there's more trouble brewing, as they're both now targets of the vampire council for breaking their strict rules.

Lily's journey to adapt to her new life is filled with humor and zest, making for an incredibly entertaining read. I couldn't put the book down, finding myself laughing frequently at the witty writing. Beyond its entertainment value, the book is a masterclass in storytelling structure – a must-read for aspiring writers, regardless of their preferred genre. Each scene is meticulously crafted, and the pacing of revelations is spot-on, making every moment of the story a pleasure. If you're looking to learn about effective narrative construction, this book is a brilliant example to follow.

A very fun book with spooky silly vibes. Really enjoyed it and recommend that others read it! I loved the inclusivity of this book and I’d like to read more from this author.

Sometimes, a book just comes to you at the right time, and When Life Gives You Vampires was one of those books for me. It's a silly paranormal romance that still welcomes in big feels of all sorts -- the hallmark of a great work in the genre. At the beginning of the book, Lily wakes up after too many margaritas with no clear memories of the night before, no reflection, and an intense hankering for blood. She and her best friend, the pop culture fiend, Cat, muddle through with vague ideas about vampire culture until Tristan turns up. Through mistakes on both their parts (but mostly his), Lily is now a vampire. And not only is undeath inherently overwhelming, but Tristan informs her that this unsanctioned turning means they're both marked for death by Vampire Law.

Before I get into the romance and humor goodies that populate this book, I think it's important to note that the fatphobia and negative body image content warnings are warranted, and that's a major part of why this was such an emotional read for me in between the jokes and goofiness. While we certainly don't want to see fat people in books only have struggles regarding their weight or appearance, I think that a) it can be powerful when done mindfully and empathetically and b) this book is a positive example because of the path Lily takes and the fact that it's only one aspect of her story if a major one. Lily is self-aware and real. She doesn't buy into the mindset that's been ingrained in her, but still, the internalized fatphobia (nurtured by her mother) wins. It's honestly an example of how body positivity is not the answer to negative body image that we hoped it would be because we see Lily support the movement as an idea and for others even as self-loathing leads her to diet culture and prevents her from living the full, joyful life she deserves. She'll have to question her mindset and have a lot of upheaval in her life to push forward into a new era. But this isn't one of those yucky books where true love magically fixes all her insecurities and mental health issues. This is a journey about and for Lily, so she's at the helm throughout. And that's a good opening for me to comment on the fact that this is a great example of a single POV romance. Tristan has his own arc as the love interest rather than existing as this one-dimensionally perfect creature that we only see through a love-drunk protagonist's POV. In fact, Lily is only too happy to enumerate his failings to him directly. But by staying firmly in Lily's head throughout, the focus stays on her experiences and growth, and her voice shines through.

This book is so funny, amplified by Lily talking directly to the reader (i.e. she gives us the SparkNotes version of long conversations she thinks are too boring for someone else to sit through... usually because she also found it boring in its entirety). Informal speech and slang that could be annoying in another context suited the situation, so I enjoyed it. It emphasized the feeling of hearing a very dramatic story from a friend, one of my favorite pastimes. Lily's foul mouth and judgy remarks helped with that impression, too. The humor also comes from the approach to the paranormal. It depicts a vampire society that smacks of What We Do in the Shadows in its irreverence, which obviously I love. Cat uses Twilight as a reference to help Lily when they have nothing else to go on, which is also hilarious. The cherry on top is Lily's fury at antiquated vampire traditions, vampire abilities that cross the line of consent, and assumptions about power in general. She's not the type of heroine to be bold only in theory or as a vague but frequently mentioned personality trait. She's untrusting and has a no-bullshit response to platitudes that I wish came out of my mouth more often. She doesn't plan to leave Tristan or Vampire Law the way she found them. And the kicker is that beyond the obvious vampiric changes she's already sustained, there's way more in store for Lily on this adventure that will leave her altered, as well.

Beyond Lily's romantic journey and grappling with her self-image, there are other big emotional beats. I genuinely wanted to cry along with Lily when she stares down immortality and realizes what it means for her friendship (which I loved, by the way) and everything else she'll leave behind. The friendship and family plots take up their own fair share of the story, which I loved. Some of Lily's relationships need work, some get better, and some are missed opportunities Lily must consider. But in the end, you have this sense that a stronger sense of self-worth has opened Lily's eyes to a lot about her life, one that affects and bolsters many relationships that she'd been taking for granted or ignoring in some way. And the ability to welcome more people in will do more for her immortality than anything else.

This book was a bottle of feelings and ultimately joy that I desperately needed. I can't wait to see what else is in store in this quirky, paranormal universe. Thanks to Sourcebooks for my copy to read and review!

I was not the biggest fan of this book. I liked the elements of plus-size reputation. I felt like the romance was rushed and forced. I did enjoy the friendship dynamic.

When Life Gives You Vampires could be a good book if it were not for all the body shaming/obsessing. Protagonist Lily wakes up after a night out but instead of the hangover she is expecting she turns out to be a vampire. Lily struggles to remember what happened to her while her bestie fangirls over her being a vampire and in true BFF fashion steals her some discarded blood bags. Tristan is a romance author/vampire with a dark past and a not so promising future having broken vampire law in turning Lily. There is action, romance and humor and an unique premise but the protagonist is incredibly self deprecating on her body image that it not only spills onto other characters but is triggering for the reader. She faces fatpobic family members which increases her negative internalization until she forms assumptions of others based on their looks while complaining how no one will treat her as (insert description here) because of the same behavior she is exhibiting. I imagine the goal was to show the transformative powers of realizing self worth outside of body image but the method that it was done does not sit well with me.

Special thanks to Netgalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lily wakes up with a hell of a hangover, not remembering anything from her night before getting margaritas with her best friend Cat. She is even more surprised when she wakes up craving... blood.

And so begins her shocking realization that she has been turned to a vampire but the cutie that walked her home last night. And it turns out the Vampire Council isn't too happy about a newborn Vampire walking around New York.

This book had all the bones of a great read -- fun characters, interesting premise, but something just wasn't quite there. The plus size representation didn't feel very positive and the writing style veered into YA quite often ("natch" is not a good abbreviation for "naturally"....). There were parts of this I really enjoyed but the conflict (i.e. the vampires that wanted to kill her) felt lackluster and condensed to the very end of the book. I was left with a few loose ends I would have liked answers to.

Overall, cute but not the best vampire rom-com out there!

This was ok but I had to force myself to read it and still couldn’t finish. .
I know some would love this book .

This was a DNF for me unfortunately!
I tried to go in with an open mind after reading some pretty unfavourable reviews but unfortunately I just couldn’t do it. Thank you for the opportunity to read NetGalley & the publisher, but just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of When Life Gives you Vampires.

Definitely a fun, quick read! I really enjoyed the characters and storyline. Not my typical go to, but enjoyed it none the less.

The premise was fun and I really wanted to like it, but it just wasn't for me. What bothered me the most was the pacing of the story. As soon as it got exciting, there was a series of chapters where nothing happened. I was looking forward to a story with a plus-size protagonist, because that is far too little represented, and then I was very disappointed that it was just another book about internalized fatphobia and low self-esteem. I knew it would be part of the character in the beginning, but had hoped it would come to a positive development earlier in the book. In fact, I have more of an impression that the portrayal of obesity is harmful.

I was really excited for this book. I wanted to like it but it fell flat for me. I had a hard time believing the romance between the main characters.