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!

Aside from being a vampire story, I wanted to share a few content notes before reading. If you’re sensitive to sexual assault, panic attacks, and PTSD, then you might want to skip this one. If you can handle it, then you need to sink into Fang Fiction.

This story follows Tess, a huge fan of the book series: Blood Feud which is a long-spanning book series following two vampire siblings: Callum and Octavia. When the story starts, Tess is struggling and dealing with the aftermath of leaving her graduate program and being assaulted. I will say that we do see how things start before her assault and the aftermath of it if you're sensitive to that.

After leaving school, she gets a job at a hotel and that's where she meets Octavia. At first, she can hardly believe what's going on as it's a character from her favorite book series. However, it's clear that Octavia needs help and she enlists Tess to go back and find Callum to help her. Of course, Tess isn't going to pass up the chance to visit the Isle.

Octavia gives Tess simple instructions on what to do but things quickly go sideways as Tess meets up with her fictional crush: Felix and she ends up not getting along with Callum. Plus she's a human in a vampire world so that's no picnic. However, the amount of growth that both Callum and Tess do together is truly incredible and I loved how Kate Stayman-London paired those two together.

However, that's not the only budding romance we get as Octavia meets up with Tess's best friend, Joni and the two are working to get Tess back. Aside from the romance, Fang Fiction also covers topics of trauma, sibling bonds, friendships, and figuring out the right path for yourself. Aside from the storyline and romances featured inside, the author did an amazing job of adding some fun extras. Whether it was chapters from Blood Feud, quizzes, or more fun little extras, it truly felt like you were reading Blood Feud and rooting for these characters. Overall, this book was intense, fun and suspenseful, making it the perfect read for the spooky season.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book officially publishes on 10/1/24!

Although not my typical genre, I really enjoyed the author’s last novel so I was excited to read this one. I found the premise to be unique and engaging, with a little bit of adventure, action, and romance thrown in. There are a lot of characters here but the development of them was well done. I thought the pacing was solid throughout and enjoyed the excerpts of other types of media that were thrown in to some chapters. If you are looking for a fun and cozy vampire book this spooky season, I would recommend giving this one a read! Please read any trigger warnings before doing so.

This one's for my fandom, conspiracy theory-fueled, over-the-top readers. I have the perfect fun October read for you! Thank you, Kate Stayman-London and Random House Publishing, for the ARC of this novel!

In Fang Fiction, we follow Tess, her friends, and her allies as she uncovers the secret vampires living under humans' noses and on the other side of a magic bar. These being the same vampires she's been reading (and theorizing) about for years in her favorite book series, Blood Feud. Imagine her shock when the villainess of the series turns up at her job looking for her.

I didn't know what to expect in a fan fiction-inspired vampire book (other than Twilight references), but I am obsessed with how it was written. It's like everything I love about fanfic, polished up and done with such a fun and even exciting concept! Bonus points for the queer representation!

The dialogue and humor are campy and very unserious, the characters are all distinct and interesting, and there's even a gentle handling of sexual assault that was done surprisingly well given the greater concept of this book. Then again, some of the best sensitive content I've seen was done by fanfic authors, so fair enough! This was kind of in the vein of the book Voyage of the Damned that I read earlier this year - gives me Avatar the Last Airbender vibes in the mix of silliness and seriousness blended together.

If you love a fun read that will take you to unexpected places, this is a total winner. It is also highly recommended for anyone in a fandom rife with conspiracy theories. Thank you again so much for the ARC! This book is out in just a few days, on Tuesday, October 1st, so make sure you get out and pick up a copy!

I just cannot get past the constant switching in this book of POV, book, and what not. I was skimming the Blood Feud sections cause they were boring. I also think it’s really weird that Joni is Tess’s best friend and she can’t tell her what happened, even years later. Tess needs therapy. I wanted to love this one but it is not for me. Onto the next!

DNF at 29% - I've been trying to get through this book for months, it's time to give up.

The mix of the book between cheesy (vampires from a fictional series actually being real) and heavy (the MC dealing with trauma from a past SA) just didn't work for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

3.5/5 ⭐️

This book was both a fun time with some pretty dark moments (check the TWs at the start, sexual assault). It's a love letter to Buffy/Twilight/True Blood, so if you like those then you will probably enjoy this book. I liked the characters but I did find it a bit jarring how often they switched POVs. It made it difficult to fully connect to the relationships between Tess/Callum and Joni/Octavia. The book also just felt long. I don't know if the pacing was off or I was just having a hard time getting into the book at times but it just read slow for me. There were also a lot of pop culture references (Twilight, Buffy, True Blood, Taylor Swift, Timothée Chalamet). So if that's not your vibe, then I would probably skip this book.

Overall, I would recommend it. It was a fun read and the idea of visiting the place of your favorite story was cool.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Stayman-London, and Random House Publishing Group - Random House for my early access to this.

This is totally out of my wheelhouse (I've never read or watched vampire romances) but...I thoroughly enjoyed it! I know fan of the genre don't need to be told to just let go and enjoy it but I told myself that and was I glad I did. Tess fell apart when a classmate in her Phd program assaulted her but she's pulled herself mostly back-working at a hotel in Brooklyn but living cautiously. The joy in her life comes from the Blood Feud novel about a group of vampires stuck on an island in a parallel universe of sorts. And then through a series of totally implausible (go with it) events she finds herself there, trying to help Olivia a vampire who escaped and wants to help her brother Callum do the same thing. There's good world building on the island, where Callum and Felix are engaged in struggle for power. Back in Manhattan, Tess's former room mate Jodi falls hard for Olivia and works the issue from their side. No spoilers from me on this one. I liked the characters (what a treat they are, right down to Sylvia) and the plot zips along. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Don't miss the after-material (including a playlist). A fun read.

Enjoyable to say the very least. What a great read! I truly loved every minute that I spent with these characters.

Fang Fiction is a fun romp into a easy to understand fantasy world. Tess Rosenbloom is an introverted former PhD student who is struggling to land on her feet after a devastating assault. As a mega fan of Blood Feud, she's shocked one night to find herself standing in front of Octavia Yoo, who is supposed to be a fictional character. Finding her way into the world of Blood Feud, she's shocked to learn that not everything is as it seems on paper. Fang Fiction is a great read for anyone looking for a more fun True Blood, fanfiction come to life, and/or dangerous, yet sensitive baddies.

Okay, overall I thought this was a great read. I liked the vampires in this world. Like so many little things about it were fun, entertaining. The fanfiction spot on in some moments. It was funny. I just think it was too long for me. FOR ME. It's good. I do recommend.

I got an e-arc of this book on NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Imagine if Alice Cullen showed up at your work, told you vampires and Twilight were real, and enlisted you to help her get back to her brother ‼️ That's basically what happens to Tess one night while she's working the night shift. She decides to take a shot and help this infamous (if not also fictional?) vampire, and gets sent to another dimension. There, she meets the rest of the vampire clan and realizes the "villain" of her favorite novels is a real guy, with real layers. It's fun, it's sexy, there's action, but there's a ton of heart as well. If you like Twilight, Buffy, or Vampire Diaries, this is probably for you - it was definitely for me!
Kate Stayman-London's first book was one of my favorites, and I have been not-so-patiently waiting for her to write something else ever since! This was completely and totally different than One to Watch, seeing as it's sort of romantasy, but the writing is the same. She is smart and funny and accessible and so engaging. I loved all of the different POVs and different ways she told the story (podcasts, texts, emails, book excerpts). This would have been 5 stars for me except for the insta love trope, which I wasn't a fan of. I was able to overlook it though because the rest is so wonderful. This book does have a content warning for sexual assault and has an extremely thoughtful author's note at the beginning of the book. I personally thought it was well done and not triggering for me. I highly recommend picking this one up, especially during spooky season!
Thank you to NetGalley and Dial Press for the ARC.
ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 40%
I was not hooked by the story at all
The characters were a bit flat to me
There was also too much in between each chapter with all the podcast and stuff that it took me out of the story
I just couldn't bring myself to pick it back up

This was a super campy yet highly entertaining vampire romance. Basically, the main character Tess discovers that the characters of a super-popular vampire series are actually real and only she can save them. While I don't think I'm the target audience of this book, it was still quite entertaining and a quick, fun read, if you don't think too hard about some of the plot holes :) 
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This was deeper than just the campy vampire romance, and deals a lot with a character struggling after a sexual assault. I thought the way this was handled was really powerful and brought a lot of depth to the story. 
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If the premise sounds good, I would definitely recommend this! 3.5 stars

if you love twilight or any other vampire books and you want to pretend to go back to that era and join the vampires, this is for you

if you couldn't care less about vampires and think that meeting fictional characters is dumb, this isn't for you

i'm somewhere in the middle but i had a relatively good time so take that as you will!