I was so happy to finally get my hands on Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London! This was the first book I read in October, and it kicked the month off with 5 stars.

The basic synopsis drew me in immediately. Well, first, it was the cover, but then it was the synopsis: "The world of your favorite fantasy novels is real, and you’re invited to visit. The only catch? It’s filled with thirsty vampires." I love a good vampire trope, so sign me up!

In this book, we follow our FMC, Tess, a survivor of sexual assault who currently works as the night manager of a hotel in Brooklyn after dropping out of her PhD program in literature. Tess is obsessed with a sexy vampire series called Blood Feud, and there’s a theory going around that this series is actually true. She doesn't believe in vampires but enjoys being part of the enthusiastic community.

That is, until one night when the female vampire villain of the series walks into her hotel asking for help. Tess suddenly finds herself in the very world she’s been reading about, complete with enchanted forests, massive castles, and fields of 20-ft-tall magical flowers. This world is bathed in perpetual darkness and filled with angry vampires who haven't tasted human blood in over a decade. Against her better judgment, Tess starts falling for one of them—while her best friend is involved in a queer affair with a vampire back in New York.

A lot of the book also deals with Tess's traumatic past and her struggle to heal. She has tried to outrun her memories, but that’s not something you can easily escape.

I loved every moment of this book and didn’t want it to end. The writing is clever and engaging, alternating between different points of view, podcast transcripts, blog posts, and news clippings. The fantastical world-building was *chef’s kiss*—so imaginative! Not much spice, but there’s definitely tension and steam.

Thank you, NetGalley, Random House, and Dial Press, for the opportunity to read this ARC ebook!

After being raped at a party, Tess dropped out of college and now works the night shift at a hotel— leaving her best friend, Joni, behind to wonder what went wrong. It’s been years, though, and Tess misses Joni. They were best friends and, now that Joni is turning 29, Tess decides to attend her birthday party and maybe repair the distance between them. Because it’s a Blood Feud party, Joni and Tess’ favorite paranormal romance series, Tess is dressed up as her favorite character. She’s enjoying herself and having fun, until she comes face-to-face with her rapist and quickly leaves for home.

There, she meets Olivia, who is tall, beautiful … and a vampire. And not just any vampire. She’s the Olivia from Blood Feud. And she’s standing right in front of Tess and asking for her help. Of course, Tess says yes.

So, it’s off to a magical island — that actually exists! — to find Olivia’s brother, Callum — who actually exists! — and let him know that Olivia’s all right. Between vampires, glamours, magic, and witches, Tess is soon caught up in a plot three books in the making. And while Tess is falling in love with Callum, back home Joni, who came looking for Tess, ends up falling head over heels with Olivia, who seems to be falling right back.

This is a book that, to me, failed to deliver on a variety of fronts, and this review will go over all of them. The short version is that it shoved in too many gimmicks, and each one took momentum away from the story and the characters. The gimmicks failed to be either humorous or insightful, and instead served to be exposition, as they were used to explain things the story didn’t have the time or ability to do so itself — thanks to the constant podcasts, text messages, or inserted chapters of Blood Feud. There were ideas here, but I don’t think they were carried out effectively. As a note, this review may contain some spoilers, because these are issues that need to be discussed to show why I think this book didn’t work.

First, the book opens with an Author’s note, which I appreciated, to let readers know that Tess, was raped and that her character has been shaped by this. She is hyper vigilant about her drinks, aware of when men get too close and of their physical strength. Then she falls in love with Callum, tells him what happened to her, has wonderful sex with him, and now she’s seemingly fine with accepting any old drink. It’s not my place to comment on how or when people heal from their traumas, but this felt too fast; I’m not a fan of ‘healing through the help of mind blowing sex,’ regardless of how well it’s done. That’s just my personal opinion.

Second, the book uses a podcast format to introduce the world of Blood Feud, the vampire book Tess, Joni, and everyone else is obsessing over. The podcast is often used to explain things, rather than having them shown through the thoughts, feelings, and reactions of characters. There are also emails sprinkled in here and there, which again just feel like unnecessary info dumps and exposition devices. There’s no time for any one moment to get a good buildup of momentum and emotion because the style breaks from the podcast, to a text message, to the main story, to the excerpts keep cutting in front. It’s like reading a hiccup, and I really didn’t enjoy it.

I like the main idea of the book, which is that the fictional world of Blood Feud is real, and that the events Joni and Tess have read and obsessed about might be real … and yet biased or just plain wrong. With the excerpts from chapters of Blood Feud itself, there’s a chance to show characters and events, reactions and opinions, and how they shape how Tess interacts with Olivia and Callum. However, I found them to be cliched and adding almost nothing to the book, because every scene that happened was repeated later in a way that proved the excerpts weren’t needed.

With what felt like a good quarter or so of the book taken up with style and indifferent exposition, the story wasn’t given much room to maneuver. And then it had to set the ground for two romances, develop a plot, introduce the real vampire world, bring in the return of the big bad, and more, and there just wasn’t enough time. Scenes were compressed with so much telling. There were almost no reactions on anyone’s part, except for the moment Tess thought Callum might have made her drink his blood so he could have power over her, which brought back memories of her rape. But he tells her he loves her and would never do that, and she accepts it. They have sex and she’s fine.

It was just all so clumsy. And the vampire world lacked any — forgive me — sparkle. It was a gray box with some stale tropes inserted into it. The mystery of who was the real author of the Blood Feud books was answered by the author, and the arrival of the super big bad was so anticlimactic, I wondered if I’d missed something. I actually went back to reread several chapters to see if there was any foreshadowing. There wasn’t. He was just there.

Honestly, I feel so let down by this book. Every time I thought something was going to actually happen, the scene would end in moments and the exposition dumps would fill in any blanks. There was never a need for me to wonder about the plot because someone would come out and tell me. The true hell of it is, the writing is decent. If I hadn’t had such a problem with the style choices, this book would have been a quick and easy read. If the podcasts hadn’t been there, if more time had been given to the characters, etc. But that’s not how it went, and I’m left unhappy with my reading experience. Nothing felt real, earned, or fun.

Did not complete this title, the focal point of sexual assault did not sit right with me in this context, as I saw other people express as well. The novel seems to not be as portended to be, which I, and others, took to be a tongue in cheek vampire rom com.

I've delved into numerous vampire books, and while this one doesn't quite make my top favorites, it still captivated me. The story carries a heavy and dark undertone due to Tess's experiences with trauma and PTSD, something the author thoughtfully warns about at the beginning. Despite these intense themes, it was deeply touching to witness the characters support and uplift each other throughout their journey.

Tess and Callum's relationship was a joy to follow, despite its somewhat swift progression. Their romance, though quick to ignite, seamlessly fit into the plot, adding a delightful and endearing layer as they supported and uplifted each other. However, it was Joni and Octavia who truly stole the show for me. Their chemistry was palpable, making their connection even more compelling and memorable.

I truly appreciated Tess's development and recovery process following her trauma; it added depth and authenticity to the story. However, the book did have its drawbacks. At times, it felt a bit too repetitive, and while the pop culture references were good, they occasionally came off as a bit cringey. Despite these flaws, Tess's journey was compelling and heartfelt.

To conclude, I must mention how much I adore the cover of this book. I'll be eagerly awaiting the author's next release. After much deliberation between a 3 and a 4, I've decided to settle on a 4! Given that it was such an easy and enjoyable read, and I devoured it in one sitting, it certainly deserves the bump up.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘕𝘦𝘵𝘎𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘙𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘏𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘗𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I have to admit -- I requested this book completely based on the cover. I mean -- how freaking cute is that! But then when I realized this is the same author who wrote One to Watch I was even more excited. I quite enjoyed this book, primarily because I like how Stayman-London incorporates "mixed media" into her novels (think podcast transcriptions, text threads, emails, voice memos, etc.). I really like how she uses these to swiftly world-build and keep the pacing snappy and punchy. The characters are well-developed, it scratches that October vampire itch, and the story is fun. However, this book isn't just fun and light, it does talk about a traumatic experience the main character has in grad school (date rape) and her avoidance and eventual healing. I'd recommend this if you ever liked Buffy or Twilight, but it is its own story entirely!

4.25⭐️ - What if the characters in your favorite fantasy book series weren't just fictional? And what if all of a sudden you became a main character in their world? Oh, and did I mention there are sexy vampires

I actually really enjoyed the unique concept of this book. It gives fanfic, but in the absolute best way possible. I loved getting multiple POV's and all of the additional dialogue from emails and text messages, to podcast transcripts, and even excerpts from the book series that our story revolves around. Overall, I really enjoyed the layout and pacing of this story, and Kate Stayman-London does a great job of taking you on an adventure of healing, self-empowerment, romance, friendship and of course kicking vampire ass.

I adored all of the characters so much, and found them fun and relatable. Tess is witty and a romantic at heart who is dealing with trauma and PTSD. KSL does such an incredible job of bringing attention to the lasting affects SA survivors like Tess face daily. Definitely check your triggers before starting, but I felt that Tess's story was beautifully and respectfully written.

Fang Fiction gives us a bit of both worlds in the romance department. Tess and Callum give us sloooow burn tension, while Joni & Octavia bring the instalove. Tess and Callum's relationship was endearing and heartwarming as they grew to trust and car for each other. Joni and Octavia on the other hand was spontaneous and full of chemistry.

I would recommend this book to lovers of Bride, Twilight, Buffy, or really anyone looking for a cute and unique vampire romance. I had a lot of fun with this one, and felt it was the perfect fall read. I'm also really looking forward to reading more work by KSL!

No spoilers:

I'm in love with this book. I loved it from the first page to the last. The last line gave me chills. It was a great adventure with lovable characters. I'm a sucker for a book where your fave story/characters are real OR you get trapped in your fave story. As much as I loved Tess and Callum, I do have to say I loved Octavia, Joni, and Hamish more. This book is so funny and I found myself highlighting something on almost every page.

Great storytelling! There are two things I think the author did that were really smart. The first is using media at the beginning of chapters as a vehicle for world building and storytelling. Using podcasts, articles, emails, reddit posts, to show how popular the books are and give background info on what's already happened was fantastic. It was nice experiencing it through that as opposed to two characters talking to each other or the main character reflecting. The other thing was making the isle the vampires are trapped on a mirror image of New York City. It's familiar to the reader but still creative and different.

Things I loved:
-FMC is a size 16 and almost 30
-Sapphic rep
-Korean MMC

Some of my fave quotes:

"Cate Blanchett is the only Dark King Daddy I acknowledge."

"Did Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson get back together or did the cheating ruin them forever?"

"You're doing us dirtier than Charles did Lady Di, and you know I don't say that lightly."

"I never took orders from men as a mortal--I'm certainly not going to start in my sixth century of life."

Thank you for the arc! This was a treat.

I was so excited to receive an ARC of this book from NetGalley, Kate Stayman-London, and her publisher Random House and Dial Press! This book is a twisty take on vampires- it turns out that the vampires of a popular book series are real and the events of the book have/are actually happening- but not all is as it seems.
 
Fang Fiction follows our main character Tess. After an incident during her time as a PhD student at Columbia (please check TWs), she leaves that life (and her best friend Joni) behind. 5 years later, Tess is still recovering from what happened and continues to cope with her and Joni’s favorite book series, Blood Feud. When vampire Octavia from the series shows up at Tess’s hotel and begs Tess to go to the Isle (where the vampires have been trapped in another dimension I guess) to tell her twin brother (bad boy Callum) what happened, this starts Tess on an adventure she never anticipated. Back in the real world, Octavia is trying to adjust to being back and Joni is searching for Tess for answers on why she disappeared 5 years earlier.
 
This book was super fun and comes just in time for spooky season! If you love vampires and wish your favorite ones are real, this is absolutely the book for you.

An absolute MUST for fans of Buffy, The vampire diaries and True Blood, this fan fic vampire romance adventure was pure gold!! I loved how the bookish content was based on real life vampires, the sexual assault trauma for the FMC was all too real and the great Sapphic romance side story for the best friend was another highlight. By far my favorite by Kate Stayman-London, this was wonderful on audio narrated by Amber Benson, an actor from Buffy and includes a must listen author interview at the end. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review! Fans of Katee Roberts will not want to miss this book!!!!

A fun and sweet RomCom, and a great pick for spooky season if you don’t like stuff that is too horror -ish or too romance driven.

I loved the premise for this book, and the pacing is unusually good for a RomCom. It unfolds more like a mystery. And because these days most RomCom’s mostly forget the comedy part, I’m extra appreciative of a book like this that avoids schlocky romance tropes and is legitimately funny all the way through the story.

I loved this as a friendship story too, and while I didn’t love the protagonist’s backstory, I did like seeing two friends value and support each other this way even when their relationship was struggling.

I knocked one star off what would have been a five-star read because I really did not like the rape backstory. This has become disturbingly common in women’s fiction, and I don’t think it’s appropriate to ask assault survivors to relive this stuff over and over because it happens to make a good backstory plot-wise. Especially in what is an otherwise light, joyful read. To the author’s credit, she did handle the material well.

Despite that, the tone of the book is mostly very good, and I really enjoyed the buddy comedy vibes that factor heavily into this book’s plot.

This was a fun story to read. The writing style was different than any other story I have read. Part of the story was written in third person. Part of the story was written as a transcript of a podcast. Part was told as text messages. Part was told through portions of another book and part as other documents.

The premise of this story is that there is a very popular series of books about vampires which are separated into two covens. One has the heartthrob, Felix as its leader and the other has the bad boy, Callum. in it. Callum's favorite past times are s*x and killing. The books say that all of the vampires are trapped on a island in another dimension. The books have legions of fans who are divided into teams Felix and team Callum, Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Within these fans, there are superfans who write fan(g) fiction and think that the vampires and island are real. FMC Tess is such a fan and much to her surprise, she is proven correct when one of the vampires escapes the island and seeks her out. The next thing she knows, she is the only human on an island full of vampires who have been vanquished for eleven years and she finds herself in the company of Callum.

This story jumps back and forth between dimensions and the different casts of characters as well as time periods and the different types of story telling. At first, I wasn't certain I was going to enjoy the story telling style, but the author did it so well, that it was not confusing at all and was actually very entertaining. The story also has some fun references to other vampire series like Twlight, True Blood, Vampire Diaries and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If you liked any of those series, you will like this book and the vampires make it a perfect October read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author Kate Staymen-London for allowing me to read this one early! I enjoyed it.

This book is fun! I go in and out of my vampire moods a lot and I read this one when I was back in it.
It touches on real subjects but does a good job of working through them.
Do check your TW though.

Everything about Fang Fiction drew me in: the witty title, the premise of essentially waking up in your favorite vampire series, and an academic heroine with a penchant for pop culture. And while so much of this book delivers exactly what I was hoping for, with winks to vampire series like Buffy, The Vampire Diaries, and Twilight, as well as to fan fiction and fandom, there were times that I felt frustrated with the pacing, especially regarding the romance here.

Kate Stayman-London takes great pains to establish her vampire world, the popularity of the Blood Feud series, and her vampire characters that both lean into and subvert archetypes, and while I greatly admired what she's done with this story, there were times that the plot felt very slow—but even so, when the romance began to really kick in, it felt as if things were a little bit in the insta=love territory—a serious vampire genre trope, to be sure, but still, the romance for me felt underbaked here.

That said, I did enjoy that, ultimately, this was a story of learning how to be more than a victim. I appreciated that the book includes a note at the beginning regarding the main character's sexual assault—which informs so much of her character and the choices she's made—and that she ultimately is able to harness her inner strength and take back her own story, while also discovering that one of her favorites is not actually fiction.

I had a fun time with this book. I am a little biased because I'm a sucker for any vampire book (see what I did there) and this one was definitely enjoyable.
I think the sensitive topic of SA was handled well and I appreciated how Tess found a way to get her power and confidence back; I just wished it occurred outside of the context of another man. It felt as if another man loving her and respecting her unlocked that side of her, and I wanted to see her reach that in a different way, and then have it emphasized by the way she let love in.
This was an homage to Buffy, Vampire Diaries, Twilight and so many other famous vampire stories, and the book also wasn't afraid to make fun of itself.
There were some corny and cringey parts, yes, but it felt like in the context of an after school special type of writing.

Liked
-I know people may be annoyed by the mixed media in the book (excerpt from a fictional book, transcripts of a podcast, email excerpts, voicemail transcripts, text messages, etc) but I personally enjoyed it. It gave an aerial view to all that was transpiring in the book. I did think they did a little too much of it in the Epilogue and would have preferred dialogue and action in the epilogue instead of so much mixed media.

-Tess and Callum's love story was believable, and I stan Octavia wholeheartedly.

-I actually enjoyed 3rd person, because I liked being in everyone's heads overall.

Disliked
-The villains were kind of dramatically exaggerated, and the ending felt quite rushed to me, and it kind of didn't make sense as to why the actual author of the vampires was who it was.

Definitely a cool way to kick off the month.

3.5 stars!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

4.5 stars rounded up.

What a fun read! If you’re looking for action, some spice, vampires and having it all come to life - this is your book. Just published, it’s a perfect read for this spooky season!

Thank you NetGalley, Kate Stayman-London, and Dial Press Trade Paperback for the advanced copy!

DNF @ 16%

I don't like the writing style. It's all tell, no show. And I don't really care for the plot. Or the set up of the story.

Decent book nothing to write home about. The writing could have been better for sure. Felt a touch fanfictiony.

I didn’t enjoy reading this book due to the impetus for the main character’s conflict was a trauma she went through that she kept hidden from her friends. She had an amazing support system and blew up her life. The writing was also campy. I couldn’t tell if this book wanted to be a friendship story or a romance. I was so put off by the main character that this wasn’t really enjoyable but I did love the supernatural elements.

If you go into this knowing that it is a book about a girl that winds up literally inside of her favorite adult vampire book series, Kate Stayman-London absolutely delivers. Is it written a bit like a (good) AO3 fic? Yes, it's a book called Fang Fiction. It's also a little over the top, dramatic, cliche, and the characters accept that vampires are real a bit too fast for the real world. But it's fun, especially for a book that does contain some pretty serious themes (which I thought were handled well - the main description of the assault is vague enough to not be re-traumatizing and pretty self-contained in its own chapter [20] if you want to avoid it).

Also, I want to read Blood Feud - it's giving Buffy x Twilight.

Thank you to Netgalley & the Publisher for this e-arc of Fang Fiction.

While it was a bit slow getting started, I ended up really enjoying it. It was a great premise, vampire novels "come to life", with a twist. I definitely appreciated that the traumatic event that happened to the main character was handled so delicately.