This was a mostly fun, oops I'm a vampire now, story. However, it deals quite extensively with issues with body image. As someone who has dealt with those types of issues my entire life, I am the target audience, but parts of this were tough because of my own issues. It can be tough to live in someone else's head who feels so negatively about the skin they are in. Especially when that person should be completely focused on that who vampire thing! It was fun, but hit a little too close to home for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me this eARC to review.

I wanted to like this so bad because I thought the concept was interesting but I really did not like how the book was written. Some people will love how it is written but I don't like how the word 'obvi' is used and how there would be instances where it felt like I was being talked at.

The story was easy to follow, particularly due to the author’s writing style. While this is her first novel, you can already see her style start to flourish. You’ll find humor, action, a little sizzle and spice, Twilight references, interesting side characters, and much more.

Body image is a vital part of the story. A vast amount of insecurities impact the MC’s journey, both past and present.

Now, it did feel repetitive with a slight lull here and there, but over all still a good read. I’ll always be down for a ride to the paranormal! Can totally see this world expanding and seeing more Lily & Tristan in the future.

This book will forever live in my mind. It was fantastic and a new take on the whole vampire story. I fell a bit in love with the main character as she was no shrinking violet. Definitely one to check out if you like a fast moving, super natural story,

I am absolutely in love with this book!

Lily Banes wakes up after a night out with her friend only to find she is now a vampire. A seriously confused and curious vampire, who is now in some serious danger. In her search for answers she finds the man who turned her, Tristan Newberry. Tristan didn't mean to turn Lily, but now that he has he is going to do everything he can to make sure she gets to live her full undead life.

**Trigger warning: Negative body image, unhealthy dieting **

First and foremost Lilly, our plus-sized female main character. I absolutely adore her character. She is witty, sarcastic, and minus the vampirism extremely relatable. The way Lily's narrative describes the impact of her relationship with her weight, and the influence it has socially and emotionally on her life, as well as the way she interacts with others is a wonderful comment on how different body types are viewed in society. Throughout the novel the negative relationship between Lily and her weight is carefully discussed and broken down, as well as her own perspective and comparisons between her own body type and other people in her life.

Tristan is a fascinating character who plays on both the moody broody vampire and the lost hero attempting to right a wrong tropes. The way he reacts to situations emphasises the way he responds to the changing times from when he was first turned to modern times. He is both infuriating and lovable through Lily's eyes and her added commentary on him is just spectacular.

The multiple references to pop culture vampire shows and books had me enjoying every moment of this story. I couldn't help but giggle at the Twilight and Buffy jokes throughout the conversations between Lily and her friend Cat. Especially as they were used in wonderful ways to further the plot and make light of the way each character responds to the situations they are faced with.

Overall, I am in love with this novel. It is a spectacular debut novel, and I look forward to reading more works from Gloria Duke.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

I really liked and enjoyed this book, the only thing I didn't enjoy is that she only enjoyed food after she realized that she could never gain weight and that she learned to love her body only after she realized she was stuck with it forever. I will definitely read more from this author.

ARC given by NetGalley. I love me some vampire stories, I mean it all started with Twilight lol, I enjoyed reading this story but it wasn’t my fave. I found the heroine annoying at times, that is my only complaint/opinion. Other than that the story was good. It has spice and us size heroine. It was alright for me.

Oh my God...this book, I want to give this book a million stars! THANK YOU GLORIA DUKE! First off, congrats on your first novel, well done!
"When Life Gives You Vampires" caught my attention because the title reminded me of "When Life Gives you Lululemons" - then I started reading.
Lily, our main heroine, is turned into a vampire, and our Edward Cullen, I mean, Vampire dreamboat, is Tristan Newberry.
The author explores the emotions and personality of a modern, plus-sized woman. Her insecurities, fears, and expectations are thanks to a society that champions thin women. I got the same feeling I got when I read Twilight which was basically my first Vampire love story (yep, I'm a millennial, sorry Anne Rice) and it was pure bliss. Lily is witty and fun, and Tristan is an old-fashioned romantic.
They have their share of trouble they have to handle and problems to solve, but they have 4evermore to figure it out. Eternity is quite a long time after all.

When Life Gives You Vampires releases on 10/11/2022!

Thank you Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for my eArc in exchange for an honest review.

My blog post will be published on 9/4/2022 at www.jourdanawebber.com/blog
My Instagram post will be published on 9/4/2022 at www.instagram.com/jourdanawebber

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw the cover and description of this book, I was very excited, but ultimately I had to DNF at 30%. Y'all, I was just not enjoying this book at all. Hyper modern dialogue in a book isn't exactly my favorite thing in a book, and every bit of both out loud and inner dialogue in this book was just so clunky. I hated that Lily's personal thoughts kept addressing the reader with "am I right?" and "you know?" and the like. I was immediately exhausted with Lily's constant self-hate and worries about her body. And even in just what I read, the love interest seems to have some issues with the matter of consent. Maybe this book will be for other people, but it definitely wasn't for me.

I liked this book. That’s it. That’s the review. Just kidding. But really, this is a good book, however, it could’ve been better. It’s a solid 4 out of 5. I enjoyed how the story unfolded, it was fast-paced while still giving room for the characters to grow. I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek humour, the Twilight references, and how the book didn’t take vampirism (or itself) too seriously. It was excellent reading about an FMC who is “plus-sized,” and has body image issues. I felt represented and enjoyed seeing her divest of those issues as the book unfolded. Now, onto the things that I didn’t enjoy as much. I found the climax quite anti-climatic, the “villain” in the book was underwhelming, Lily’s mom changed drastically from how she was in the beginning and I found that a tad rushed. As well, the ending wrapped up way too quickly, the epilogue wasn’t needed, and it took almost the entire book for the MMC (Tristan) to grow on me. I wasn’t a fan of how Lily was turned into a vampire and for those reasons, the book got knocked down from a 5 to a 4. Overall, this was a solid debut and I’m looking forward to reading the next offering by this author. I recommend this book if you like open-door rom-coms (but be warned, it wasn’t super spicy), vampires, and an FMC with body image issues who finds herself. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 STARS
I found this to be a really cute and entertaining paranormal contemporary romance about a woman learning to love herself and her body. It’s a fun twist on vampire lore, and I was happily along for the ride.
I never really connected with the characters but I still enjoyed the story.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Life Gives You Vampires was absolutely enchanting! Gloria Duke wrote a story that was so well written I found myself flying through the pages, unable to put the book down, pondering what would happen next. My favorite piece of this entire story was how believable the characters were.

The writing is clear and clean, and very immersive. The book hums along at a good clip, but the pacing makes sure we're given time to breathe between plot-intensifying moments. The story was absolutely engaging and the work that went into the settings was noticeable and superb. I felt absolutely transported and I'm so incredibly glad I was able to read an arc of this story

Thank you, Sourcebooks Casablanca, for allowing me to read When Life Gives You Vampires early

I was lured in by the beautiful cover featuring a fat woman and the mention of vampires, but alas this wasn't for me.

TW/CW: Dieting, eating disorders, fat shaming, negative self-talk, mention of suicide, fantasy violence, sex

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

When I started this book, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish it. While the story seemed interesting, the uber-“hip” language was more than a little annoying. (“Obvi” had to be in there a million times, just for one illustration). Thankfully, though, I was able to break through it and pretty much keep it in the background and enjoy this book regardless.

Because when I could ignore the annoying language, I really did like this book.

When Life Gives You Vampires is a fun and exciting story of a fat girl who has spent her entire life believing that her weight defines everything about her. When she’s turned into a vampire against her will, and finds herself trying to survive at the same time she’s got the hots for the guy who turns her, she finds herself having to evaluate her life and her body which now will not change whatever she does.

The vampire story is cute and fun, and I think it’s successful. The body positivity part…well, it’s nice to see people trying to address the fat shaming issues. Because they are very real and very destructive. I just wish she’d been able to do it for herself instead of for a man. But I guess you can’t have everything.

thanks NetGallery and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC!

3/5

When Life Gives You Vampires is a na paranormal romance written by Gloria Duke.

Lily gets accidentally turned into a vampire, and she will have to face other vampires that want to kill her, vampire slayers, an old fashioned man and her own insecurities.

This was definitely a fast paced book and an easy read.
I wasn't particularly fan of the abbreviations, which would've been totally fine and well accepted if they were used in texts, but in mc's thoughts didn't make much sense.
While the humor sometimes was funny and made me genuinely laugh, other times was definitely overused and thrown in the wrong parts, other than clearly forced. Honestly I couldn't laugh at the jokes the mc made while she believed her mother was murdered, y'know.

With a not exactly the best start, that seemed to me overall too humoristic and unbelievable for the mc's reaction (as I said, some of her reactions to important events or gaining of crucial information just didn't feel realistic) the book definitely becomes better and better. I would've prefered if they spent more chapters about the whole vampire's situation. The ending felt cutted out too soon, and I genuinely hope this will be a series because a ending with all those situations (human/vampire, the dad) suspended can't be the ending of a standalone.

I thought the characters were okay, they weren't that deep but I'm fine with that.
My favourite parts where definitely Lily dealing with her body, they were absolutely the deepest part of the whole novel, they felt like from another book. I think the author was really good and describing that aspect, and I think is what she (the author) does best.
Tristan felt very flat and was definitely annoying, but he wasn't the worst guy in romances ever.

The romance was definitely insta-love, I couldn't find the chemistry or the reason why they fell in the first place, considering the fact that the novel takes place in less than a week.

So, overall, a good debut novel, I seriously think Gloria Duke has very good qualities in her writing, despite her flaws, especially in talking about themes such as dealing with your body, so I'll definitely be looking forward for her next works.

(my Goodreads profile --http://www.goodreads.com/friend/i?invite_token=ZmM4Y2MyZTQtZjIzOC00YTkzLWI2YjgtNGJkOGJlNGQ1MTMx

When Life Gives You Vampires is the debut of Gloria Duke and this book is a romcom vampire romance.

The protagonist Lily is living her normal life until she meets Tristan and when they get close she gets bitten by him and turned into a vampire. This brought some new challenges for her and made it such a good romcom. What I also liked was the presentation of a plus size woman who struggled with it in a realistic way. Sometimes Lily was so into her body issues that she forgot about the people around her and their feelings. That was quite sad to see and I’m glad that she later reflected on that and in the end the character of a person matters and not what they look like.

Tristan has been a vampire for quite some centuries and he is old school and stuck in the past in many ways. One thing to deal with this is that he writes historical romance novels and that was amazing. In general he is a good man who just wants to protect and love Lily.

At first Lily and Tristan seem like an unlikely pair but because of the vampire situation they become a great team. Over time you can also see the romance developing more and more, but it’s definitely slow burn. I also liked Lily’s mom and best friend Cat as side characters.

Overall, I need to read more romcom vampire stories and this was such a good one and if you want a romance with a bit more bite, check this one out. 4 stars.

(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

POV: Single.
Genre: Romance/Comedy.
Triggers: Negative Body Issues/Fat Fobic Characters.
Spice: 1.5/5
Format: eBook.

Twenty-five year old Lily, wakes up with unsatiable hunger - and fangs! Once all of her memories of the night before start coming back, she remembers the stranger at the bar, Tristan. Tristan loved neck kisses a little too much and accidentally turned Lily into the wonderful vampire she is. Now she has to deal with her newly minted vampire hunter work colleague and the vampire council who want her dead, since Tristan broke the law in creating a new vampire. When Life Gives You Vampires is a journey of self-acceptance and self-discovery, mixed with some comedy and some love.

This was written to be conversational and fun. I laughed so many times in the first half of the book, mainly because I found a lot of similarities between myself and the FMC. I adored the light hearted, spoofing of the other famous vampire books and movies. Negative body image is something a lot of people struggle with, and finding acceptance in oneself is usually a really hard thing to do. Most of the read was written to be self-critical (who wouldn't growing up with a fat shaming mother) and then into a realisation that bodies are amazing, strong and wonderful no matter how many rolls you have. My biggest gripe, is the word "obvi". Used 25 times through the book, and not sounding fun at all - just kind of lazy.

If you're into vampires and want to have a good laugh - I recommend snuggling in with a glass of wine and doing a full read through. Don't take this one too seriously, I really do think it's meant to be fun and lighthearted while dealing with some very real and deep issues that press a lot of us every day.

Ever had a bad night out you didn’t remember? One of those nights that bleeds into the next morning, and you’re sure the hangover will kill you this time? Well, something similar happened to Lily. Except on top of feeling like she was dead, she was actually dead. Or undead. That’s right, Lily wakes up with no memory of the night before and two new companions: blood thirst and fangs.

Reading as Lily discovered her new life (death? undeath? Whatever) was an adventure to say the least. This book was refreshing because it touched on a very popular subject - vampires - while maintaining its originality. I loved the banter and chemistry between Lily and her hot vampire master Tristan. Overall this was an enjoyable and easy read! I look forward to checking out other works by this author.

Oh, this was good. This was so good. And as good as the eBook was, I can see this making a really, really good audiobook. The way it was written just made me think of how amazing the story would sound being spoken. It felt like Lily could have been a friend telling you this story. I loved that.

Just based on the description (and the cover! I love this cover so much), I went into this book expecting to really like it. And sometimes that’s a recipe for disaster, because then there’s expectations. Except all my expectations were at the very least met, but even more so exceeded.

This is one of the funniest books that I’ve read in a long time. I was grinning like an absolute idiot for so much of the story. I adored both of the main characters and their interactions.

Did I love that Lily struggled as much as she did with body image? No. Especially with someone who seemingly has a pretty similar body to her, some things weren’t ideal to read. However, I really appreciated that the author wrote a note at the beginning of the story giving a heads up about this, and I don’t fault it. And honestly, it felt real. On that topic, I’ve seen reviews not loving the way Lily spoke throughout the book, and my opinion differs from that. I really enjoyed it, and again, it was another thing that felt real. I’m not very far removed from 25, but the way I spoke & thought about my body when I was Lily’s age was very similar to how it was shown in this book. So it worked for me.

I think if you live in New York, or enjoy visiting, you’ll really appreciate the setting. I also can see fans of Twilight liking the references to that in this. But I don’t think you’re missing out if you can’t relate to those things. While I’ve been to NY, I’ve never seen or read Twilight, and still thought the references were really fun.

I’m so glad that I read this. I can’t wait to pick up a physical copy when it comes out in October, and I’m definitely going to be looking up if it’s going to be available on audio so I can check that out too.

Thank you to SourceBooks Casablanca & NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book!

This was just adorable and heart-breaking.
Lily has been accidentally turned into a Vampire and will be the same size she is now for the rest of eternity. She is trying for body positivity but as she says "How am I supposed to embrace my size when everyone from so-called experts to my own g*damn mother has told me I should want to reduce it."
As a plus-size person I really felt for her and knew how hard it is to get out of your own head. But Tristan was such a great advocate, he saw her and not her size ad did his level best to shore up her confidence.
The action and mystery were just right in between the sweet and the smutty.
Genuinely enjoyable.