Very campy and heavy on the insta love. While Tess and Callum had alot of fun together in this romcom, it didn't really hit for me the way I thought it would. The book excerpts were probably the best part. Although the whole thing felt very cheesy

When I saw the blurb for this book I knew I wanted to read it. I love paranormal romance books like these, it’s the ones that you are laughing or smiling all the time, the writing style and plot is so unique, and has you hooked from start to finish. While a lot of books can’t pull off popular culture in them, this one strives with it, each TV reference, podcast, Tumblr post, and the actual chapters of the book in the book was so fun.

This is a book for any reader who loved vampire tv shows or books in the early 2000s, it’s for the pop culture lovers, those who are in fandoms and live or die for fictional characters and it was awesome.

Due to the nature of the book and the spoilers, I’ll just say I’ve never read a dual romance book where there is two main love stories. It was so fun reading Joni’s love story and the slow pace with her love interest, compared to the fast, deep love that Tess experiences. This might be my first novel by this author, but it definitely won’t be my last!

I had a great time with this! In many ways it felt like a nod to all the fanfiction girlies and boy was I one (still am)! There are a lot of POV changes and mixed media usage in this book - if that is hard for you to follow be aware that an audio version may better suit you. The premise is that a much beloved vampire novel series may be based in fact and a couple of mega fans get dropped smack in the middle of the rivalry between two rival vampire clans. It is pure fantasy escapism. I would love to see Kate Stayman-London explore more of the world she's created here. There is spice, but it is not super explicit.

One important note, this is not a straightforward rom-com. While there are certainly moments of levity, a major plot point of this story is the main character, Tess, working through her sexual assault at the hands of a fellow grad student. Some aspects of her reasoning for disappearing from her life were hard for me to understand, but I also know I am lucky not to have a frame of reference for her situation. Overall, a terrific read; I need to pick up Stayman-London's debut now!

Eeek - this should have been something I loved and it simply wasnt. The writing was quite immature and not in a fun campy way. Also, there were darker topics discussed that I felt like could have been handled better.

Thank you netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the concept of this book! Fan fiction turned into real life is what all we nerds can only dream about right? Throw in some vampires, witches, mythology, and romance to boot? Sold! It’s a great mix of fantasy, romance, and those who love pop culture will enjoy this one too. Perfect for a cozy/creepy fall read.

Highly recommend everyone adds this to their cart when it is released!

This book had some good moments, but I haven’t really connected with the plot of MC. It’s just kinda boring.
DNF 15%

Below is my review of Fang Fiction. It was posted to by Instagram page and Goodreads account. Thank you so much for this opportunity to read and review this book.

Review:
Full disclosure… I was a huge Twilight girlie growing up. I was that Millennial at midnight showings and it ushered in my Vampire reader era. I had sooooo much fun returning to it with this book.

This book had such a great campy vibe which I thought was a unique take on a vampire story. It fit perfectly with books I want to read during spooky season. Tess, the FMC finds out vampires DO exist when she is recruited into helping one of her fav book characters and a romantic adventure ensues.

I really enjoyed this book. It had the perfect combination of depth and comedy. We get to see the healing journey that Tess goes through as she heals from trauma while also trying hard to not fall for the vampire villain. I also really enjoyed the pop cultural aspect that were sprinkled throughout this book. It brought back a ton of nostalgic memories for me. This was a fun solid four star read.

You should read this book if you like:

-Vampires or if you ever wondered what it would be life if your fav book series turned out to be real.
-Multiple POVs. This book has a ton of POVs from Tess, her bestie, chapters from her fav book, podcast, fandom questions etc.,. It can seem like a lot but if you lean into the campy vibes of the book it fits.
-Twists and turns on a magical island that is connected to bar via a crystal bridge.
-An adorable sapphic side love story.

Swipe for tropes and description. This book releases tomorrow and I think you should check it out!!

Thank you Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

quite a cute fantasy, adventure romcom. our two main characters bond at a mixer at Columbia when they realize they both love the same vampire book series. however, seemingly out of nowhere Tess drops out of school, moves out of her shared apartment with Joni. She returns for Joni’s 28th birthday party themed after their favorite novel, Blood Feud. When the past comes back to haunt Tess, she runs away back to work and meets someone she literally never expected to be at the hotel…one of the main characters from the vampire books! turns out she arrived in new york with no powers and no way to communicate with her brother so she needs Tess’s help. Tess goes to the Isle, where all the vampires live, to help Octavia (the vampire). this book is an incredibly quick read that’s cute. it might not be the most well written book in the world but it was quite enjoyable. I found myself wanting to go back to it when I had to put it down. if you’re looking for a cute fanfic feeling vampire romcom for fall…I highly recommend this one. check TWs. there’s nothing graphic but there are some sensitive topics that are alluded to.

This was a really fun, campy novel that definitely hit its mark. I think any fan of Twilight or even ACOTAR will enjoy this book as long as they agree not to take it too seriously. I felt this was a fun, quick read and the tension between the characters was good. Pacing and overall storytelling were good as well, and this will likely be something I re-read as a palette cleanser.

I wasn't a big fan of this book. I was really excited about the prospect and idea of it because it's very cool but in general I just didn't enjoy it. I had really high hopes but this wasn't for me.

It was a quick DNF for me, as I simply wasn't the right reader for it. I was looking for something fun and fresh based off the blurb, but I did not connect with the writing style or the plot. There's so much to keep track of, and the third person POV didn't pull me in. There's definitely an audience for this though, as it's got such a distinctive voice.

I was pleasantly surprised with Fang Fiction! I wasn't sure if the story was going to be too hokey, but I'm so glad I gave it a try! Fang Fiction is about a woman named Tess who has some SA trauma (please read the TW) who is doing her best to live day to day. She copes by reading one of her favorite books, Blood Feud, over and over. There are rumors in the fandom who believe that the books are based on true stories and that the vampires exist. Tess is ABSOLUTELY NOT (she totally is) someone who believes the vamps are real, but she runs into Octavia (a character from the books) at a party. Octavia enlists Tess's help to get back to her brother. The story really takes off from there. Fang Fiction is a silly, steamy romantacy that will have you laughing and crying with the characters but also gasping at the twists. I highly recommend if you are a fan of Twilight or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Unfortunately, I feel like this book is having an identity crisis. There were so many subplots that none were given the time they needed to be a fleshed out story. The “villian” arc was nonsensical and relied on way too many characters to be the bad guy. The romances felt surface level and I was shocked the main characters went from very little meaningful interaction to jumping into bed and professing their love for each other. I felt the sexual assault background story was unnecessary for the lightness of the rest of the story and felt brushed over when it didn’t move the plot to be brought up again when it felt like the author remembered it was a loose end. With how long this book was, it would have been better to save page space by removing the unnecessary texts, articles, and social media posts throughout the book and add more to the body of the story to make the plot more fleshed out.

Oh this one was just delicious ;)

I adored One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London and was THRILLED to get an ARC of her latest, Fang Fiction which is out in the world on TUESDAY! Big thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for gifting me this ARC!

Tess is a former PHD student, who had to leave her job and life as she knew it ini NYC after a traumatic event. What has brought her comfort since is her favorite book series - Blood Feud - about vampires. Like other fanatics, she has gone deep - posting on message boards and reddit forums, talking for hours with her (former) bff Joni - and even going so far as to write a piece for Buzzfeed arguing that, well, these vampires are real.

And yet she can't believe her eyes when she spies Octavia, one half of the hot Vampire twins at the hotel in Brookyn where she works. She goes against everything she believes in and agrees to help Octavia try to rescue her brother, Callum. She finds herself on the Vampire Isle where she learns that you can't believe everything that you read...

This book felt like an ode to some of our favorite fantasy - fans of Buffy and the Vampire Diaries will particularly be drawn to this. Its a modern day romantasy with callbacks to all the fangirlies. It is whimsical and sexy, while also dealing with some heavier topics like sexual assault. It is an excellent fall read, especially as we enter spoky szn...

TW: Sexual assault and its mental and emotional health impacts are major themes of this book - so be gentle with yourself when picking it up.

Fang Fiction centers on Tess, who following a traumatic incident that leads her to drop out of her PhD program, discovers that the world of vampires from her favorite novels is real. It then follows the whirlwind of her interactions with that world, including a lil romance with a very hot vampire.

This book was cute, but I don't think I ever got fully invested in any of the characters. It all felt very surface level and I'm not quite sure why. I did love the incorporation of a lot of media forms (blog posts, news articles, podcast transcripts etc.) as part of the storytelling, especially since fandom culture is so deeply online, though it may have messed with the pacing of the book a bit. I think there may have just been a bit too much to follow throughout the book to ever grow too attached at any given point. As a humanities grad student I feel like the detailing of PhD program logistics was both very accurate and deeply inaccurate in places, it was never in the middle.

I thought the fallout of Tess's SA was handled really well, but I think folks who need that CW should steer very clear of this book. I went into this expecting a cute lil romcom and it was actually much heavier than anticipated.

This is for readers who’ve ever self-identified as Team Anybody or taken a quiz to find out who their fictional boyfriend is.

For Tess, finding out her favorite books are actually based on real-life vampires is not as glamorous as she had hoped. Now, she finds herself trapped between two rival vampires, and maybe those books didn’t have all their facts straight.
This was such a fun read with tons of unique formats from text chains and social media posts, to podcast transcripts.

Highly recommend if you’re looking for a witty vampiric romcom for your Fall TBR.

Fang Fiction was one of my many anticipated releases and I was so excited when I got an eARC of this book. The idea of my favorite fictional characters/world being real is nuts, but it would definitely be interesting! I think most readers have wished some fictional places or people were real. So I just had to read Fang Fiction to see how it would all play out.

Our main character Tess is a major fan of Blood Feud. I mean who wouldn't love a good series about vampires? Tess had her life on track, working on her PhD, Things fall apart for her when she's assaulted at a party. This is talked about throughout the book, and I feel that the author did this with great care. When she realizes her favorite fictional characters are real and trapped on an island, she sees this as the perfect escape.

Fang Fiction had the perfect balance of pop culture references, excerpts of Blood Feud, podcast transcripts, and different articles about the fandom. I loved how this was incorporated in this story. Tess' time with the vampires and how she helps them was so much fun to read. I also loved how much this helped Tess grow as well. She came back to fight and take her life back. Things she says at the end of the book were very powerful.

The story felt a little slow for me in the middle, but in the end, I had a great time with this book. I enjoyed the side characters and the elements of romance. I loved that it didn't take over the story. I really wouldn't mind if the author actually gave us Blood Feud books. I definitely recommend this book for spooky season.

My review will also be posted on https://thebookdutchesses.com on November 7th.

🧛‍♀️🧛 Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London 🧛‍♀️🧛
Tess Rosenbloom finds herself transported to the world of her favorite vampire novels after a chance encounter at the hotel she manages in New York. Tess is happy for the break from her real life and the aftermath of a traumatic assault years before, so she dives right in to the vampire world. Before long she finds herself enmeshed in the darkness and forming close bonds with vampires. Returning to New York seems impossible but things are too dangerous for Tess on the Isle to stay.

I have such mixed feelings about this one.. The tone of Tess’ real life didn’t match the tone of the rest of the book, and I had a hard time getting over that. The seriousness of what happened to her just did not mesh with the levity the vampire world brought in. It caused me to have a hard time connecting to the story, because the difference was just too great. It felt weird to laugh at the jokes in the podcasts and magazine articles knowing Tess had been assaulted and traumatized and never told anyone or dealt with it.

The multimedia approach to storytelling in this was really fun and unique. All of these were included:
🎧Podcast transcripts
📧Emails
📖Book within a book
📰Magazine articles
📞Voicemail transcripts
🗣️Reddit forums
🤳Snapchat transcripts

Overall I think this is an interesting and unique story that some readers will really love. It has some great elements for me but I just can’t get past the serious subject matter and the way it stood out from the rest of the work.

This book is absolutely PERFECT for fall!!!

I’m a sucker (ha, ha, ha) for anything with vampires, and this book hit the spot for me. I loved how refreshing this version of “vampire drama” was, and the way the author touched on a much larger issue (note - read trigger warnings before starting this book) was SO well done. I enjoyed every single character but specifically felt like Tess and Joni shone.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this eARC!

I received an e-copy of this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

While it wasn't really what I was expecting, I enjoyed Fang Fiction! Tess and Joni were fun characters, and I love a good girl friendship being prioritized within the storyline. It wasn't as spicy as it was alluded to being, though maybe I read that into the synopsis a little bit more than others did. Callum is great book boyfriend material, I loved seeing his true nature come out as the story progressed!