I received an advanced copy for review. This is my own opinion.

*be sure to check TWs before reading, as SA is mentioned. It happens off page and nothing is graphic but the repercussions are felt throughout, though it’s not the focus of Tess’s character arc.*

Fang Fiction is the perfect intersection of fiction and pop culture and fan culture, and it is <i> so much fun</i>.

First of all, how perfect is the title? As a vampire lover and a fan fiction lover, this is absolute perfection. The tone and writing are perfect for the subject matter, and I really enjoyed the portrayal of fandom in this.

Tess is a huge fan of a vampire book series that turns out to be real, and she stumbles right into the magical vampire island. (Seriously those descriptions were gorgeous.) there she meets the vamps portrayed as villains in the books, but they turn out to be a little less evil than expected. Along the way we get snippets of podcasts, excerpts from the vampire books, and text threads. Fang Fiction is super fun, a perfect fall vampire read, particularly for those of us who love fandom and fandom culture. And for anyone who ever dressed up for a midnight book release.

Thanks to Netgalley, Dial Press, and Kate Stayman-London for the ARC!

This book had so much promise to be a fun, occultish romp, but for me, it just fell flat.
1. I didn’t really love the shallowness and hyper-realism of the writing. It was bland and read a bit like, dare I say, fanfiction.
2. I found myself skimming all the parts where somebody’s clothes were mentioned, because I just feel like that kind of stuff doesn’t add to a story much.
3. Callum and Tess’s romance was unrealistic and happened entirely too fast with barely any context. It felt like all the pining happened behind the scenes and we just got the cliff notes of it.

Overall I was super excited about this story but I feel like it missed the mark. It was elementary, and not in a campy, fun way that I wanted it to be.

That is definitely not to say this book was all bad. I did appreciate the vibes- I think the atmosphere was strong and I found myself laughing at some of the characters and comical quotes. For example, I loved the character of Hamish, and the “vampire book club.” I think my final rating of this book is a 2.75/5, which I am rounding up here.

I had a lot of fun reading this!! First and foremost; this book is for the vibes. And secondly, that vibe is millennial who used to be obsessed with twilight as a teen and now is in their late 20s/early 30s and loves a bit of nostalgia. Very Millennial Core.

The characters in this are obsessed with a vampire romance to the extreme. With refit threads, podcast episodes, themed parties and conspiracies that the vampires are real. Sound familiar? This book is an ode to the 2000s and I enjoyed every second

The story itself was fun, following two best friends and their love stories with vampires. It’s easy, a good time, and perfect for fall.

I also appreciated that the LGBT representation didn't feel forced. Sometimes i feel like authors are like LOOK IT IS A GAY CHARACTER BE PROUD, but this just felt normal and authentic and i loved that

Fang Fiction leans into all the campy vampire tropes that we see in pop culture in a fun way. While this book is a different take on other vampire novels, it still feels like watching old episodes of Buffy or even Charmed. At points, it did feel like the characters were not fully fleshed out, which made it hard to connect with them, but I still enjoyed the book and story. The format of the book is similar to Stayman-London's first novel "One to Watch", so if you were a fan of the article and social media inserts in some chapters, you'd enjoy that layout here as well.


I'd like to thank Random House Publishing and NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book.

ARC
Fun read! I didn't care for the damaged girl assault storyline. Can we not just have a rom com?

I like the premise of Fang Fiction, but the way this was pulled off was very clunky. There are extended multimedia bits at the beginning of each chapter, and they are much more interesting than whatever it is going on with the “main” character.

Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London is a captivating, humorous, and one-of-a-kind novel that showcases the author's exceptional talent. In this book, Stayman-London skillfully delves into the fascinating world of fandom, adding a thrilling twist with the inclusion of vampires. A clever and heartfelt homage to individuals who find themselves straddling the line between reality and fantasy. It is a delightful read that will surely resonate with fans of all genres.

Unfortunately i made the decision to DNF this book after multiple failed attempts to consume. I hope to pick it up again at a later time.

I’m not familiar with the world of fan fiction or paranormal romance, but I still really vibed with this book. The writing and premise felt cheesy and silly, but, at least to me, that felt intentional! A woman obsessed with a supposedly-fictional vampire series is transported into that very real universe. I enjoyed the whole “Blood Feud” universe the author created (it felt very Buffy-coded, which I loved). The characters, both human and vampiric, felt actualized, and I enjoyed my time with all of them. The mixed media added to the reading experience and the podcast transcripts were my favorite. My issues were that the POV shifts occasionally confused me and didn’t seem well-delineated and the trauma our main character is currently working through is written in a way where the tone of the novel occasionally feels wonky with the shifting between fluffy and serious. I do understand that trauma can reach out and affect you at any moment, so maybe that’s why it is written this way, but it made for a mildly jarring reading experience. Overall, though, I very much enjoyed my time in this universe.

DNF at 75% because I just couldn't anymore...

I was so excited to get this e-ARC because I gave "One to Watch" an easy 5-star rating. The synopsis is everything I want in a book too. Basically True Blood coming to life.

Sooooo the execution was not great and I am in shock right now. The first 30% while our MC was still in NY was AMAZING. Again, easy 5-stars. We had a complicated back story, a really interesting friendship dynamic, and a campy "OMG book characters are coming to life and talking to me" plot. And that 30% mark is where the entire book falls apart.

1. The romances (yes both of them) are actually so badly written that I couldn't believe it. "One to Watch" had such lovely romances and they were deep and dynamic. Fang Fiction's romances were insta-love nightmares with cheesy lines, cringe-worthy sex (although I did appreciate it wasn't graphic), and zero chemistry. Tess and Callum had no chemistry and Callum was obsessed with her almost immediately. Joni and Olivia were somewhat better until they went from 0 to 100 in one scene. It was crazy. Also Olivia was a HORRIBLE romantic interest. She was toxic and so selfish when it came to her needs versus Joni that nothing really made up for it after a certain point.

2. It was a huge mistake putting Tess into this fantasy world instead of dealing with her issues in NY. I was so much more invested in the friendship between Joni and Tess instead of the romances. Once Tess left NY, it was like reading a totally different book and it draaaaagged.

3. The villains were literal cartoon characters that took themselves too seriously. This book in general took itself too seriously for the overall plot being what it was. It's like this book didn't know what it wanted to be.

4. This just needed to simplify. Olivia and Callum should have come to NY and they all should have worked together to get the rest of the vampires out against the witches. Simple. Clean. Interesting.

This started out well enough and with a pretty cool premise.

What if the vampires in your books are actually real?? Tess is pulled into the very real world of the vampires from her favorite book series, Blood Feud.

While the premise is super fun and interesting the writing left a lot to be desired. It skips around from podcast dialogues, chapters from the fake book, even a Buzzfeed quiz. So much going on and no spark to it. Things were happening but I felt completely disconnected.

Overall an interesting premise with poor execution.

This book was so much fun! As a reader who also dives deep into certain fandoms (hello avid fan fiction reader, right here!), I loved seeing the deep dives that Blood Feud's fans went into on their podcasts, Reddit pages, and even the fun Buzzfeed quiz/articles that were added into the book to get the reader excited as well. I don't know about you, but I was a Twilight obsessed teen and even watched Buffy on repeat as a pre-teen, so this was a perfect love letter to vampire pop culture fandoms.

I definitely got pulled into the story quick, thanks to the fun adventure that the author takes us along on to discover more about vampires, witches, and portal realms. I just loved these characters, both main and side, and I was invested in what was going to happen to everyone. I did get a bit worried a few times that the story was going to not get wrapped up nicely, but it did! =]

I'd love to thank Random House Publishing Group for the Netgalley eARC of this book.

I'll also be sharing my review to my instagram (@what.courtreads) on release day, October 1, 2024

I thought the premise of this book sounded fun. Who doesn’t love a story about finding out your favorite fictional characters are real. I felt a little confused at the beginning with it jumping back and forth between the two parties. I enjoyed this book, but felt like it was missing or lacking at some parts.

Thanks NetGalley and Random House for the arc!!
4.5 ✨

I loved this story so much. It’s for the Buffy and Twilight lovers, the girls, gays and theys. A bit of the writing and scenes were a bit cheesy but if you can recognize them for what they’re worth it’s easy to get past. I adored all the extra content from the author ESPECIALLY the annotated playlist (my fav part of reading a book is finding a playlist to read it to) this does deal with some heavy content but I feel was navigated well and does include a content warning on the first pages. Overall a very fun book and I’m going to miss the characters! I feel like the reveal of the author could’ve been a bit more of a buildup or better reveal and there’s a few other things I would’ve loved background on but maybe that’s just because I wanted to read more of this story!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find out that the characters from your favorite fantasy book are actually real? That’s what Tess experiences in Fang Fiction and spoiler (not really), her fantasy crush is kind of an ass. Good thing the “villains” are pretty awesome instead. I really enjoyed how the author incorporated the fan experience via snippets of texts, blogs, podcasts, etc. into the mix of the book to get that experience. I think Kate did a good job of handling the assault elements with care as well. I think my least favorite parts where with Joni and Octavia in their less healthy periods (like the tantrum of “fine, I’ll see you when I see you”) but that may just be me. Overall, I’d recommend if you like vampire fantasy and have wondered what it would be like for your favorite fantasy world to come to life.

This is what Twilight should have been! Just kidding, but also what a fun read. Your favorite vampire novel.. is actually real?! You can travel through demensions to solve a problem and meet the most hot vampire man of your dreams?! AND .. its such a body positive, female empowering read. I can't wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this ARC. I had a fun time reading this modern day fantasy/vampire mashup. I am one of those readers who enjoys mixed format & multiple POVs, so that really made this book fly by. Give this a read when it releases October 01, 2024!

Thank you Random House + NetGalley for the ARC!

I really wanted to enjoy this - the concept and the themes are so interesting and fun. Realizing a vampire novel IRL? Unfortunately, this was. DNF for me - I made it 20% of the way in before I came to that conclusion. I understand that I likely need to read further to understand and empathize with Tess' trauma in more detail, but the jump from her using the Blood Feud series a coping/healing vessel to suddenly being in that world was too abrupt for me. I tried picking this up once in the summer and blamed the lack of interest I had initially on the season - but we're approaching spooky season and this just isn't doing it for me still. The delivery is flat and disengaging and I can't seem to be excited about it.

I was so excited when I read the synopsis for Fang Fiction, since I grew up loving vampires like Twilight, VPD. Unfortunately I just couldn't get into it, and didn't make it very far. I found it to be quite confusing, and I didn't really jive with the writing style. Super bummed I couldn't get into this one, and ended up DNFing. But I might try again closer to Halloween!

Aw nuts, always tough to write a middling review for something you assumed you’d love. That’s the predicament I’m having with Fang Fiction. It’s quite obvious this is a book aimed squarely at those of us that can recall the exact moment Buffy plunged her sword into Angel’s chest to close the portal to hell and save Sunnyvale (#neverforget). But this book sadly cannot thread the needle that Buffy the Vampire Slayer so expertly did: using a campy and corny premise as a backdrop to explore heavy and traumatic life events. Whereas BTVS always felt subversive in its blending of heavy and light, this just felt discordant.

I also found it supremely overstuffed with pop culture references and the interstitials didn’t add anything to story.

I’m left with the sense that while I didn’t love this book, the author and I would get along swimmingly.

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Cover thoughts: excellent, actually. It uses the faceless cartoon trend in a cheeky and original way! Love the fanged type and limited palette.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House publishing for the advanced reader copy!