This is a very weird book.  I tried to like it.  I like rom-coms!  I like vampires!  But ... The author makes <i>so many choices</i> that I didn't care for!  It's as if she's actively making fun of the entire romance-with-vampires genre, but instead of this being fun or funny, it's just bad.

First of all, it opens with deception and coyness, which always pisses me off, so the book and I got off on the wrong foot.  Prologue ends with Tess leaving and ghosting her former bestie, because that's what she had to do "to survive," and she gets a job on the night shift, and since this is a book about vampires, I assumed Tess had either been turned, or was escaping a vampire named Rick.  As it happens, nope.  Rick is just a run of the mill date rapist.  Great!  This rom com opens with a date rape!  The actual rape is "off screen" but Tess's untreated trauma is very much on screen.  I was left wondering why Stayman-London  felt she had to add this to the plot. For most of this book, Tess's entire personality is "Surviving Date Rape."  Could she think of no other plausible reason for Tess to ghost Joni?  Was it really necessary for Tess to ghost Joni at all? (spoiler-not-a-spoiler: NO IT WAS NOT)  Why did Tess need to ghost Joni "to survive" when the better option clearly was to CONFIDE IN Joni and then seek assistance from therapists (or, better yet, reach out to the authorities and get Rick arrested!).  But, no.  Tess chooses Option C: Tell No One.

The tendency to make Very Bad Choices continues throughout the book - not just Tess, but all of the main characters consistently make the dumbest choices possible.  They've all got a box of rocks for brains.  At some point I just didn't care anymore - when it's OBVIOUS to the reader that the situation is a TRAP and their plan is a BAD IDEA but the characters forge ahead anyway ... well, I just didn't care when they got in trouble.  There was always an easy out, anyway.  I think I have never read a book with LESS plot tension than this one. 

Added to the coyness are the random excerpts from <i>Blood Feud,</i> the VERY uninteresting vampire romance novel that these supposed vampires are in.  (Can you think of anything more boring than a story about twin vampires confined to some magical island with no humans and allllll the magical glamours they could want??  The entire POINT of a vampire novel is that <i>vampires prey on humans!!</i>   Take away the humans and you've taken away ALL the plot tension!)  I had to take a moment to process that level of dullness.  It was impossible to believe that this series became a huge best selling sensation.

Speaking of glamours ... <spoiler>a glamour is just fake, the things they glamoured were just made from air, right? How did the food provide actual sustenance? I kept expecting Tess to be ravenous when she returned from the Isle, but she was fine. How did that work?? I also expected her to arrive back in NYC naked, since she left wearing a glamoured gown. But, no, apparently the glamoured gown survived the trip back to her apartment.</spoiler>

Vampires, of course, abide by different rules in different worlds, but almost in almost all depictions, they do not need to breathe and their hearts do not beat.  So it was really weird that the vampires in this story both needed to breathe AND had heartbeats.

There are random excerpts from voicemails and emails interspersed among the chapters, sometimes from people who have not yet been introduced in the book.  Great! More coyness and confusion!   And there are "news" articles that serve as massive infodumps (as if Vanity Fair would actually cover this crap), what a lazy way to give us more information about the characters.  Timothee Chalamet is mentioned more than once as an actor who could play the novel-within-this-novel's romantic lead, Felix, which makes this feel oddly dated (along with random references to sites such as BuzzFeed), and is also a very lazy way to describe the characters.   I don't spend time reading about Team Edward and Team Jacob irl, and I definitely don't want to spend time reading about TeamFelix and TeamCallum in a novel.

Most egregiously of all, I never believed in the romances that we were told about between Callum & Tess and Octavia & Joni (and I guess poor Flora doesn't get a romance, which felt very unfair). They meet, they fall madly in love, zero build-up, zero chemistry, zero reason to believe in it.

The writing is also oddly clunky, almost as if Stayman-London WANTED it to seem poorly written.  I don't know why she would make that choice, but here we are.  Choices were made.  

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this free advanced review copy.

The only good thing I have to say about this is, if for some reason THIS novel is ever optioned as a movie, the perfect smoking hot Korean actor to play the demon, I mean <i>vampire</i> Callum, is Song Kang <img src="https://i.mydramalist.com/Z80wgW_2f.png">

Very well done! A love story for fangirls who have wanted to be a part of the story. I'm here for the nostalgia.

Tess's backstory is heartbreaking, and if you're looking for just a light hearted rom con, this the story for you. I enjoyed watching her become the hero to her own story and her friendship with Joni. Romance was a little secondary to me, but that did not take away from the story for me.

I really wanted to push through this book, but I just can’t do it. I’m DNFing at 17%. This feels like bad self-insert Twilight fan fiction, and I cannot get into it. I don’t like the writing and I don’t feel connected to the characters. It was also really hard for my brain to wrap around the main character being assaulted and how that merged with the tone of the book. I’ve read romance novels that handle heavier topics extremely well, but this didn’t seem like the book to do so. If you’re into campy, extremely cheesy vampire books, this may be for you, but it wasn’t for me.

3.75 stars!

Imagine learning that your favorite book series is actually based in truth, their New York is just another plane of your New York, and your fandom about this world drags you face first into this alternate world. That's exactly what happens to Tess, number one Blood Feud fan, trauma survivor, and Shakespeare nerd. Out of nowhere, the vampires from her favorite book turn out to be real, she ends up in their alternate world, and she's the key to survival and freedom for all vampires.

I absolutely loved the world building of this story- from the Isle, the vampires' personalities and actions in Blood Feud vs IRL, the mix in of texts and articles and podcast transcripts, and the stories happening in parallel for Tess and her best friend Joni (stuck back in regular old New York). I also loved Tess's own personal development, in her mind aided by witchy god-ferry-mother Flora but actually by her own damn self!! She had all the tools she needed within herself to turn back and make changes, but needed the push to get her there and get her life back on track. On the other hand, the romances were not super deep and very quick to develop, but that's okay because our human gals are both so wonderful!

Thank you so much to Kate Stayman-London and NetGalley for a chance to read this in exchange for an honest review!

This was an interesting read, but it fell a bit flat for me. I really liked the FMC. I wasnt a huge fan of jumping to podcast and media. And I wasnt super invested in the romance or plot. Ultimately not for.me.

This had all the makings for a story I would love, especially as spooky season approaches, but it definitely fell short and just didn't hit the mark on most fronts.

I had a really difficult time connecting to the characters and honestly really caring about anyone. There were multiple points in the book where I didn't know if I was reading what was happening in real time, what I was reading what was happening in the novel, or what was happening in real time with the vampires themselves. Everything was felt like it was a YA fan fiction (and not in a good way). I kept hoping that it would get better but unfortunately, it just didn't.

Two stars simply because I was getting What We Do In the Shadows vibes in a couple of places.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advanced digital reader copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Fun title, fun concept. Just not for me. I liked the idea of entering the world of your favorite book series and getting to be a hero. I appreciated the mixed content of podcasts, chapter excerpts, emails, etc. and the friendship between Tess and Joni was really special. I just didn’t care what happened. Love the cover art so much. Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC

This was a very fun vampire romance that had a real classic feel to it; some other reviews have described it as Twilight or Buffy fanfiction, but in a good way, which I think is spot on. It felt like it really leaned into some of the classic, almost cheesy, vampire tropes and was indulgent in a good way.

The writing was pretty straightforward and it was a quick read. The magic system was interesting and there were some fun supporting characters as well. I felt like the author handled the difficult topic of sexual assault fairly delicately; there is an author's note at the beginning of the book with a content warning/explanation. I felt like that was handled thoughtfully, making the experience an important part of what happened to her character without dwelling on it too much for the reader and upsetting the "rom com" vibe of the book. I enjoyed the dual romance storylines (Tess and Callum; Joni and Octavia) although sometimes the POV switches were a little abrupt and in the middle of chapters. I was more invested in Joni and Octavia's romance, although unfortunately I felt like the focus was less on them than on Tess and Callum. The timeline for both these relationships was pretty compressed and with Joni and Octavia, it did feel like there was plenty of chemistry to carry that forward, but I was a little less convinced by Tess and Callum. It did feel like the level of trust between them couldn't have realistically developed that quickly. This was definitely a HFN and not a HEA since the whole will-the-human-love-interest-become-a-vampire thing was kind of unaddressed. All that being said, this was a very quick, fun, indulgent read that will definitely appeal to anyone who enjoyed Buffy, Twilight, or any other classic vampire media.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fang Fiction is so much fun!

I had a very strong feeling I was going to love this & I was right. I had so much fun with the concept and I think the author did a fantastic job executing her vision. I think this book is definitely for the readers who grew up reading fan fiction of their favorite vampire show (guilty!).

The characters are entertaining and relatable. I especially adored Tess. I feel like readers are going to connect to her the most because she's a shy, romantic attached to fictional men (also guilty haha). I liked seeing her journey throughout the book too. I felt that she grew a lot as a character by the end.

The romances here are delightful too. I found them to be romantic and swoon worthy.

A fangtastic book for vampire lovers! Highly recommend!

this was like the ultimate conglomeration of fandoms! so many references to the vampire diaries, buffy, twilight while remaining a truly individual story with cheeky pop culture fantasy twists. so. much. fun! a book truly written for the fan fiction bbs

tess is a powerful fmc! she’s an sa survivor who goes on a journey into her favorite “fictional” world and through this experience, finds the strength she needs to reclaim her autonomy. the author approached this with so much grace and wrote this beautifully and with intention! some other noteworthy points are nods to callum and octavia’s korean heritage. i like that it wasn’t brushed over one time only and the love they have for their culture was expounded upon.

the romance elements between characters are on the more insta-love side which isn’t a personal favorite of mine because of how much i love chemistry build-up. the writing also read more elementary like everything had been over simplified and chopped up and this made the characters’ age (the mortal ones anyway) really difficult to believe.

overall, i had a lot of fun reading this book and will definitely be recommending it to my bookstagram pals!

thank you so much for the opportunity to review an arc of fang fiction!

This was, extremely interesting.

Stumbling into the truth that one of your fave series is a real thing would be so cool! I loved Tess & Octavia and thought their relationships either Callum and everyone were well done.

The structure I think is why I'm not giving it 4 stars - sometimes the POV jumps were off/the placement of the chapters/texts/podcast transcript seemed weird, at times. But I WANTED to know how things turned out, and I'm glad I finished it!

Sigh. Oh how I wanted to love this book and was so disappointed. The concept was incredible, but the execution just fell flat. The first 75% was just straight up boring. It took me so long to get through the book. The ending made it almost worth it.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

ARC Review!!!

Tess Rosenbloom is no stranger to the dark. An assault survivor and grad school dropout, she spends her nights managing a hotel and her days curled up with her favorite vampire novels, Blood Feud. She even spends her time in online conspiracies. But deep down, Tess doesn’t believe vampires actually exist…
Until one walks through her door.
It turns out Blood Feud is real and all the characters are trapped.
Eager to escape her life, Tess agrees to help one of the main characters but that involves going to this fantasy world. She's surrounded by vampires and against her better judgment, she’s falling in love with one of them.
Visiting the world of your favorite story is any fan’s dream, but will Tess be able to outrun the demons of her past (and vampires of her present) before it becomes a nightmare? In this darkly glamorous rom-com, Tess will find out whether it’s worth risking her neck—and her heart—for a chance to reclaim her future.


This was such a fun read!!! I truly love and enjoyed this book. It was so fun to read and be immersed in this world. In the beginning of the book, it's apparent that something happened to Tess but doesn't outright state it. As the book goes on, it becomes a little more clear what it is (assault) and how much it affected her. Tess didn't feel comfortable telling anyone due to being scared she wouldn't be believed. When she meets Callum, she gets comfortable enough that she shared it with him and started sharing it with those around her. I love how her and Callum came to be. It did feel a little rushed but made perfect sense. The plot twists thrown in there were "woah". It was such an exciting book to read. I truly did love it.
4 stars!!!

Main character Tess is a massive fan of ‘Blood Feud’ - a series of vampire novels she uses to escape her everyday troubles. She ends up not only discovering that the characters from the books are real, but also finds herself inserted into their world and fighting to survive. This is a silly book that manages to address some really serious topics along the way. A little too cheesy for my personal taste, it will definitely be a hit for some readers though.

My ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This was totally different than her first novel and took me a bit to get into the story but the pace really picked up and the storylines all resolved in very satisfying ways by the end.

Thank you to The Dial Press for the eARC!

Fang Fiction is a contemporary fantasy romance about Tess, who ends up in a world of vampires from her favorite book series, while still processing the aftermath of sexual assault.
Stayman-London did a great job at depicting PTSD, but that also accidentally made Tess a two-dimensional character. Tess also has a very quick change to being a confident person, which felt rushed.
The world-building felt very surface-level. All of the information was told rather than shown, which was annoying when it came to characterization. It felt like there was very little nuance, where I expected more from a book dealing so heavily with sexual assault.
Tess also tends to act like a character in a bad horror movie. Despite having severe trauma, she thinks nothing about exploring a strange forest in vampire territory by herself? Very few of her actions make sense in this book.
Still, there was a nice romance between Tess and Callum. I thought their chemistry was believable. I also liked the twist on reality versus fiction within the vampire world.

CW: sexual assault; PTSD; blood/violence

Diverse and dealing with hard topics along with a very cool premise (your favorite book being real), Fang Fiction doesn't disappoint.

I loved the little glimpses inside Blood Feud and all the transcriptions of elements of fan culture that the author created. My only grip about the book is that I feel like the author focusing on both romances made both of them happen a little bit faster than I would've liked. But, either way, it was an enjoyable read.

This book was SO FUN!! Imagine your favorite characters from your favorite book series were REAL! Please do check the TW first because this book does cover SA! I thought all the characters were fun and I enjoyed the different formats of dialogue the author included. Octavia Yoo definitely was my favorite :)

I wanted to love this one because I loved her previous book and loved Twilight but this felt like it couldn’t decide if it was fully its own story or fan fiction of Twilight.

Fang Fiction

ɴᴇᴛɢᴀʟʟᴇʏ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡ || FANG FICTION [thank you to @thedialpress and @netgalley for my #gifted copy!]

Title: Fang Fiction
Author: Kate Stayman-London
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Format: Digital
Star Rating: ★★★★☆

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ:
Tess Rosenbloom escapes her trauma-filled past by managing a Brooklyn hotel and obsessing over Blood Feud, her favorite vampire novel. She never believes the online theories that the series is real—until its villain walks through her door.

Drawn into a world of vampires and danger, Tess must decide if risking her heart—and her life—is worth it, all while her estranged best friend is having her own forbidden vampire romance back in New York. What starts as a fantasy come to life may soon become Tess's worst nightmare.

ᴍʏ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜᴛꜱ:
This book was so fun! If you at all love vampires, mythical tales, and steam - then you need to check out this book! Once I started, I literally could not put it down. I was hooked!

Another review called this “like Twilight of Buffy fanfiction in the best way possible,” and I absolutely agree with that! It was all the good parts of Edward and Bella, without all of the weird sparkles and “spider monkey” comments.

You think you know who the bad guy is, you think you know who your friends are, you think you know where the story is going - but you’re wrong!

If you’re looking for a romance that’s just fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously (while also dealing with a somewhat serious topic throughout), then pick this up!

ʀᴇᴀᴅ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ:
Twilight
Vampire Diaries
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Traveling into a Book
Working Through Trauma
Unreliable Characters

ᴅᴇᴛᴀɪʟꜱ:
GR: 3.74
# of Pages: 400
Pub Date: October 1, 2024