This book was.. fine. My main issue was with our two main characters. They were both so incredibly immature and, as is the case with most traditionally published romances, there were so many red flags with the relationship that we were supposed to root for. I couldn't see in what world their relationship would have a chance at working out. I adore that we have a plus-size heroine but when it's constantly used as a plot device to make the character doubt her worthiness of love, it's exhausting. If I had read When Life Gives You Lemons any other month than October, I would've easily given it 2 stars. But alas, the vibes were fun and I'm nothing but a woman who appreciates theme reading.

I'll be honest, this is just not my niche.
I was a twilight girlie so I thought I would enjoy it but sadly it just fell kinda flat.
I enjoyed it but didnt love it.

Also the production on the audiobook was only ok, the narrator while reading the male parts pitched her voice very low to the point where it was slightly hard to hear. Was that just me?

I do love the realistic picture of body positivity and dieting... chewing gum and drinking lots of water who has tried it. There also was some very comdeic moments.

overall 3 Stars

I'm only going to make it about halfway through this audiobook before it archives, but I LOVE it so far. Definitely need to pick this up in the very near future :)

Title: When Life Gives You Vampires
Author: Gloria Duke
Narrated by: Meg Sylvan
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Length: Approximately 9 hours and 54 minutes
Source: Review Copy from Netgalley and Dreamscape Media. Thank-you!

What is your favorite vampire story, book, or movie?

Lily Baines wakes up one morning feeling off. She soon discovers she has fangs and a craving for blood. When she talks through things with her best friend, she regains her memories and realizes that after she left with a hot stranger, Tristan, that he accidentally turned her into a vampire. She is not happy with the situation, but after he turns up and tells her that they broke vampire law, they team up to stay safe. As their feelings for each other grow, will they find romance, and will they be able to beat Tristan’s mortal enemy?

I enjoyed this novel, but it’s hard to describe. It’s a fun and humorous paranormal romance with some steamy parts. It’s also an adventure at the end as well. I found myself laughing a lot during this book. Lily has problems with body positivity as she is overweight, and her mother makes sure she doesn’t forget it. When she realizes that she will always now remain overweight for eternity it crushes her. In the book she has to learn about feeling positive about herself and also realizing that she herself has also shamed someone else for their body. I thought it was an interesting angle. I also just liked the silly parts such as Lily being glad that she shaved her legs so that her legs will remain hairless for all time. Her thoughts as she navigates now being a vampire seemed real for how someone would think about such things. I thought it was entertaining. I also loved the pop culture references. Lily does swear quite a bit in this book.

Meg Sylvan had a fun voice for Lily in the book and I thought of her as the character.

This really got me into the spooky mood. I had such a fun time reading this book. I cannot wait until the next book this author writes.

When Life Give you Vampires by Gloria Duke is the great Halloween quick read. This was one of many Halloween themed books I have read this season.,

OMG! This book was so fun and was such a treat to listen to! When Lily unexpectedly becomes a vampire, her world is rocked. This is the fun and unexpected story of how she handles the situation and the new people she meets and how it shifts her "life" views. You should definitely listen to this one!

When Life Gives You Vampires was very cute. I really liked the narrator of the audiobook.
The premise is Lily, a plus sized women is accidentally turned into a vampire by Tristan, a very handsome man she meets in a bar. Learning how to be a vampire, her romance with Tristan and avoiding being killed by the Vampire council makes up most of the plot. It was a fun read.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to listen to this digital ARC.

I liked the concept , but lily kinda of dragged me down , being a plus size woman myself with all her moaning about her weight almost every chapter.I love these type of books with vampires , and this one had a slayer in it , good storyline just a bit to much body shaming , esp in this day and age .

When Life Gives You Vampires had me laughing from the get go. I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator, Meg Sylvan was absolutely perfect for this book.

I really adored Lily - she was such a spitfire, and her thoughts (when not focused on her body) were witty and sassy. Every time I hit play on this book, I felt like I was getting back together with a friend.

There were also some fantastic Buffy and Twilight references throughout the book that made me smile.

My biggest complaint, though, is how often Lily’s weight is brought up. I am all for a a plus sized main character, and even a plus sized main character that questions and worries about her weight. However, Lily mentions or thinks about her weight A LOT. It almost became a third character in the story.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio review copy of When Life Gives Your Vampires.

Lily wakes up hungover from a night out with her bestie to discover…she’s a vampire. She has to retrace her steps to figure out what the heck happened. From her work nemesis to her bestie to her mother, Lily discovers how to navigate her new life. Also - how to interact with her maker - the swoony Tristan.

This is a fun, semi-sweet read; perfect for spooky season, but it won’t stick with me for that long. The concept was way better than the execution.

Recommended if you like:
-paranormal romance
-Twilight/Buffy references
-fat rep
-open-door romance
-short, spooky season reads
-funny inner dialogue
-supportive besties

TW: fatphobia, diet culture, strained mother/daughter relationship

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC. When Life Gives You Vampires is out now!

I sadly did not like this book.
First off, I found it very cheesy, often cringey with the way it talked about vampires (which i admit, is very difficult to do in a non-cheesy way, but never the less.)
Also, i understand that this book is supposed to be partially about the characters weight, but oh my god it did it in all the wrong ways.
This book borders on fat-phobia, her weight and food-intake is constantly being brought up in a negative light and sometimes being made the butt of a joke.
Overall, i wish i had enjoyed this book more than I did… but sadly it fell flat for me.

I felt like this story had so much more potential! First, it started off very abrupt and to the point. Then, I felt like I was going to scream if there was one more immature reference to Twilight. Why didn’t people ask more questions and act any semblance of shocked at the prospect of vampires?

I had high hopes for the concept of this book, but am very disappointed. I found it to be funny at times and the story line was entertaining enough- even if it was cheesy. I was excited to see a vampire book with plus size representation, but it was done so distastefully. Her weight and food intake were constantly being brought up in a negative way. Very fat phobic. I also felt like there was a lot of misogyny, especially directed towards the “token air-head” best friend. I do not recommend this book.

As someone who struggles with body dysmorphia, the premise of being trapped in my current body for eternity makes me uncomfortable. It's much of the same for Lily. Despite the supernatural plot points and the (not so) high stakes vampire war, I found that the most interesting part of this book was Lily coming to love the body she has and see herself as beautiful.
In terms of the plot and characters I just felt meh. The vamp vs. vamp and vamp vs. vamp slayer felt like yet another rehash of the same story... lots of TVD vibes. The most interesting character by far was Lily and the rest like Tristan, Cat, mom, the slayer, and the villain were all fairly flat. I don't even think I like Tristan... but I also don't know his character well enough to feel good in making that call lol
Oh and she made 4ver_more her password because she's stuck with her body, get this, forever more.
I'd recommend this to fans of TVD who miss the show and its vibes, and I would advise people with really severe body dysmorphia to proceed with caution.

i thought this was a fun mix of fantasy and romance, right in time for halloween, too! i’ve never read much to do with vampires so i was super excited for this read! i was a big fan of lily’s best friend, cat, because she was so supportive and there to help lily in any way possible. she was such a fun ball of energy, and being a fan of vampires herself, was full of advice for lily. i definitely would be happy to read more about her in the further and see if she can find her own love! for the most part, i thought the pacing of this novel was fine, but i was surprised at how fast everything was resolved. lily’s father is barely mentioned but all of a sudden, he’s revealed in the end!

a message that’s made clear in this novel is the importance of body positivity but i don’t think it was conveyed in the best way. it felt more as if lily was forced to love her body, knowing she’d be “stuck” in it forever. now, for the romance… the grand gestures and dates tristan would plan won me over. BUT, being a man stuck in the olden days he’s a man focused on male-dominance and patriarchy. even lily noticed this, and i’m glad she stuck up for herself but it felt like their relationship was following the same pattern

I found this to be a fun journey featuring a plus size young woman with body issues. Love the f-bomb being thrown out there at the beginning. I really loved Lily's best friend Cat. I could relate to Cat when she flat out tells Lily that she is more than the skin she inhabits and to learn to love herself no matter how much she weighs.

I thought this sounded interesting and especially for an audiobook. Unfortunately I had to stop listening to this one. I have so much respect for authors and am constantly amazed at what they do, but I think this would be better suited under the young adult genre. thank you netgalley & the publisher for the ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

I started this audiobook book with high hopes but unfortunately really struggled with getting into it. I wanted a book that paired with the fall season and this certainly does. However, I just didn’t care for the main character and therefore the rest of the story didn’t connect for me.

In terms of narration - I think it matched the tone of the story. The narrator did a good job, the book just wasn’t a fit for me.

I was very excited for this one- vampires and October and a plus said main character, I thought I hit the jackpot. However this one was a struggle for me.

I didn’t like Lily- I understand her but I didn’t like her and I found her tactics to try to be happy by being thinner relatable but also excessive and her mentions of her size were so much that it took away from the story for me.

I adored her friend Kat- everyone needs a ride or die friend like her.

Tristan as a love interest was a bit contrived but broody and vampire do it for me either way. His romance novelist gig was an original twist.

Overall it was not a home run- I think that people seem to be loving or hating it and being polarizing is not necessarily a bad thing for a book to be.

I am putting it at 3 stars. I don’t think it will be memorable to me long term. I enjoyed the audio!

I appreciate the opportunity to check this out courtesy of Dreamscape and NetGalley.