🩸❤️ 📖 Fan Fiction is a genre-bending. Romance + Fantasy + Paranormal = I'm here for it!

As Tessa navigates her new double life as an anonymous fanfic writer, she secretly believes the vampires from her favorite book, Blood Feud, are real. But that can't be. Vampires don't exist, right? Wrong. Until one walks into her life. And they're just as alluring as in the books. Now, she's thrust into their world, but can she outrun her past, and is it worth risking a bite to the neck? I loved Kate Stayman-London's debut, One To Watch, and this has the same voice, but instead of reality TV, make it fanfiction!

If you’ve ever wanted to wake up one day only to realize Buffy/True Blood were basically documentaries, this book might be for you!

I was pleasantly surprised to discover this was a good-vs-evil-vampire-shenanigans book rather than a romance novel (absolutely minimal spice if you’re worried). It has: pop culture references, feminism, queer characters, fan fic about fan fic (it’s meta, think about it), witches, some serious topics (like sexual assault) but also some teen angst vibes (as a treat). And most importantly, an actual plot!

I really enjoyed reading this, and didn’t put it down until I was done with it. The only negative was that the writing was sometimes repetitive, but hey: I didn’t rewatch the entirety of Buffy at least twice for its literary writing.

Fang fiction tells the story of Tess Rosenbloom a grad school drop out with major insomniac tendencies. Her sleeping issues made her the perfect candidate to be the night manager at a chic hotel in downtown Brooklyn. She spends her downtime curled up with her favorite vampire series Blood Feud and even gets into conspiracy theories that the vampires in the novel are REAL. But she knows it’s just that, conspiracy until one walks into her hotel…

Turns out the conspiracies are TRUE! And the sexy villain is trapped. Eager to escape her mundane life Tess agrees to help rescue him. Soon she’s enthralled in a life of fantasy full of moon meadows and enchanted forests. Trapped in a world full of vampires waiting eagerly to be able to feast on her, Tess, against her better judgement begins to fall for one of them. Is being trapped in your dream novel an actual dream or a nightmare?

This story was so delightfully silly, scary and sexy as hell. The world building was fantastic I truly felt emerged on the isle. The characters dynamics with each other were so pure and joyous to watch especially as they repair certain aspects of themselves. Every time I thought I knew what would happen next, a new twist would pop up and I would sink even deeper into the story. It has everything you could ever want in a cozy romance perfect for fall! Witches, vampires, sapphic love story honestly what more could one want? At the same time we also deal with heavy themes of healing from trauma through love and community.

I recommend this for Buffy and Twilight lovers, romantasy girlies and lovers everywhere.

Thank you netgalley and random house publishing for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

Loved this fun vampire book so get spooky season started off right! After Tess experiences a traumatic event she’s retreats from her grad school programs where she becomes a the night manager at a hotel. The only thing she finds solace in is her favorite books series “Blood Feud” about a group a vampires banished to an island world where they partake in blood feuds between two trivial clans. Tess find these two worlds colliding when one of the characters shows up at her hotel asking her to help. This sets Tess off on an adventure that helps her find her voice again. I loved how this book combined Tess’s experiences with a fan podcast of the book along with chapters of the book to create this story.

3.7 ⭐️

This was a really unique and fun read for me! I love that not only are you reading from the main characters perspective but you also get to read sections of the vampire novel she’s obsessed with, transcripts from a podcast based on those novels, and text messages between her and other characters. Fang Fiction is about this girl or technically two girls who are obsessed with a vampire book series. Tess goes through a traumatic event in her life and has to take a break from her current reality and move, but the books are what are constant in her life. That’s until she realizes that maybe the characters in the book are not fiction after all. And perhaps she runs into a few of them.. I loved this story! The characters, the setting, the imagery was all super fun for me. I would definitely read a sequel! My only con is that I felt the ending was super rushed. The majority of the story involves finding a solution that seems near impossible, and then when they find that solution and run in to conflict it happens so suddenly and the book ends pretty quickly after. But I didn’t mind the ending! I thought it made sense and did a good job closing out the characters.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing for access to this read! 🧛🏻‍♀️

I really enjoyed the fantasy elements of this. The premise was interesting—made me think of Long Live Evil, which also came out recently—and well executed. I felt like the various real-world plot lines worked well with the fantasy ones and found the whole thing quick and compelling!

However, I didn’t love the actual romance between either of the two main couples. It’s not that I objected to the characters being together. That was fine. But it really felt like a switch was just flipped from “not romantic” to “love of my life” so quickly with minimal build up or development. The relationship with Joni was better, for sure, and had a little more lead up & complexity. But I just didn’t understand why the MMC wanted to be with Tess. I mean, I liked her! I get why someone would generally want to be with her. But he doesn’t even know her! They barely talked before the moment where he says he was falling in love with her. It makes no sense to me.

Anyway. I still had a really great time reading this and would definitely recommend it, especially to people who read fated mates type tropes (this doesn’t have that but it’s a similar timeline).

"Fang Fiction" by Kate Stayman-London is a bloody fun vampire romp, perfect for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Vampire Diaries. Stayman-London masterfully blends humor, fandom, and romance, creating a captivating and fresh take on vampire lore.

Tess Rosenbloom, a vampire superfan and Brooklyn hotel manager, finds herself swept into the dark and dangerous world of her favorite vampire series, Blood Feud, when its sexy villain crashes the party.

Will she help the vicious villains Octavia and Callum Yoo (think Gemma Chan and Henry Golding) reunite or side with her favorite fanged hero Felix (picture Timothée Chalamet)? And who exactly is the mysterious *Blood Feud* author who seems to know too much about this secret island of vampires? These questions keep you hooked as the plot unfolds, adding layers of intrigue and excitement to Tess's journey.
If you're in the mood for a sharp, witty, and utterly enjoyable vampire tale, Fang Fiction is a must-read!

Read if you like:
💚 Enemies to Lovers
🩷 Forced Proximity
💚 Vampire Fandom
🩷 Multiple POV

This is a fun contemporary paranormal type romance, which falls right up my alley. However, the characters and their motivations kind of fall flat to me? Everyone seems to just, agree to things without much discussion or convincing. It's still a fun time though.

DNF at about 20%. I really tried but this was just too cringe (and I feel bad saying that but!) for me to continue. Not for me but perhaps other people may like it more!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

4 ⭐️

Have you ever wished you could be sucked into a Sookie Stackhouse novel? What about transported into an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? What if I told you… vampires are real but they are exiled from our world? How far would you go for your favorite fictional fanged crush?

After abruptly leaving grad school, her friends, and her old life behind, Tess’s only comfort is her favorite book series, Blood Feud. Tess has found solace between the pages and the online forums until her world is turned upside down by a mysterious woman claiming to be a character from Blood Feud. This stunning woman claiming to be Octavia explains that yes, vampires are real and she’s in danger. Is Tess ready to leave the real world behind and become a heroine on a mysterious Isle full of blood thirsty vampires?

I am going to be completely honest, I LOVED this book. It was such a fun concept. It was written similar to a harlequin romance novel in the sense that there was adventure, romance, and lots of drama. However, please be made aware if you’re looking for spice this is NOT the book for you. Although sex is mentioned often, it is fade to black.

The book was written well, there were fun and interesting characters, and interconnecting storylines. I really enjoyed watching the story unfold as we received little “clues” in the beginning of each chapter from the podcast, text transcriptions, and emails. It made the fandom feel very real and engaging.

This was definitely a guilty pleasure read, but I mean c’mon who wouldn’t want a chance to be with their favorite fanged hottie?

Things to watch out for:
•Mentions of SA
•insta love
•fade to black
•many povs/interconnected storylines

This one is tricky for me. The premise and story is amazing, a fantasy book series is actually real and you get to travel through dimensions to save the day? 👩🏼‍🍳💋

But this book also has drug facilitated SA on page, and recovery/PTSD is the central internal conflict. It is handled delicately, and respectfully, and I understand that reading this story might be a healing experience for some, but for me? Frankly, I just don’t want SA anywhere in my romance novels. If not for the sexy Asian vampire and knowing there would be a revenge sequence at the end I would’ve DNF’d.

Not for everyone, but fun for some. (Title of your sex tape. Sorry, it got a little heavy there….)

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶/5
🩸📚🇰🇷🌃💻/5

CW: drug facilitated SA, PTSD, panic attacks, dissociation, working night shifts, fanfiction community drama, navigating NYC public transportation

This had all the makings for a story I would love, it just fell a bit short. I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who thinks the synopsis sounds good to them, especially lovers of teen angst and vampires.
I had a herd time connecting with the characters because POVs switched a lot and there were sections with podcast excerpts and book chapters from the main series referenced in the story. It seemed like a lot of extra things included that didn't bring a lot to the story overall.
This book definitely has a darker and heavier side as Tess is recovering from an assault by a classmate. She grew a lot over the book and it was nice seeing her become more confident and honest with herself and her friends.
Her romance with Callum lightened things up a bit but I didn't feel a huge connection between them. I was more invested Joni and Octavia's relationship because they had more chemistry and it wasn't such an insta-love situation.
This was a good read and totally different from this author's previous book so it was cool to see her try something else!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Officially my favorite book of spooky season. I love Kate's writing, and this book was seriously SO FUN! It dealt with heavy topics, but it was navigated so well and balanced by such a genius romcom - I am totally smitten - and bitten!

I did not like this book, I am sorry to say. It just felt... weird. That being said, it was a mix of Freaky Friday and A Novel Love Story. That's the best way that I can describe it. I felt that the interim emails, book chapters and podcast episodes were distracting from the main story. I didn't find myself latching on to Tess or Octavia, to be honest.

Sad to say I didn't get very far into this one. The writing was just not for me, and I'm not a big fan of the transcript/email style formats. I really loved the concept though, so I'm sad I could't get into it.

Thank you to the publisher and net galley for providing me with an arc.

I'm not really a fan of paranormal novels, but here I fell in love with the title "Fang fiction".
This book comes out October 1st, it's definitely a spooky read, perfect for fall.
This is the second book I've read by Kate Stayman-London, the first book "One to watch" didn't excite me so much.
The protagonist is Tess, after a bad episode (a very bad one), Tess finds herself immersed in work and reading. She likes books so much, especially paranormal novels, she is not an extreme fan, who believes in the existence of vampires, werewolves and witches, but she likes to"get lost" in those worlds.
One day, outside her door she meets a vampire, precisely the villain from her favorite novels.
To immerse herself even more in this world, she decides to help him, and they end up on a secret island, where there is never light, and she finds herself surrounded by vampires.
The premise of the story is very nice, but unfortunately, like "One to watch" here too I had a bit of difficulty finishing. The various POVs confused me and bored me at times, but on the other hand the descriptions allowed you to immerse yourself in the story, just like Tess. I think 3 stars is not a bad score.
Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought the way this book dealt with very heavy topics and then went into a ~spooky rom-com was a little jarring. We are told all of these things and then in the next moment it feels like we're not supposed to care about that and everything is fine. I'm not sure if that was the intention or if I missed something while I read it, but maybe it's just not for me. I did really enjoy the idea of it, I just wasn't a huge fan of the execution.

Fang Fiction will be published October 1. Much thanks to Random House and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fang Fiction was my second Kate Stayman-London novel. I read and really enjoyed One To Watch, and I was excited to pick this one up - especially because there were vampires in it!

The book follows Tess, a former PhD student at Columbia University, and she navigates life after a sexual assault. She somehow finds herself literally immersed in her favorite book, traveling to an Isle where vampires live in exile from the rest of the world. She is there to try to figure out a way to reunite an escaped vampire with her family. While there, she becomes embroiled in the dangerous affairs of witches and vampires, and in the company of a particular vampire who might just be super different from how he’s portrayed in the books.

Overall, Fang Fiction was just okay for me. It started off strongly, but the middle dragged, and I found myself rooting more for the side characters than the main ones. The ending was fun, though! I thought that the idea of being immersed into a world of vampires was really fun, and some aspects of the world building were interesting, but I wanted more development for a fantasy/paranormal romance book.

I really liked the side characters; the chemistry between two of them was fun and believable. The chemistry between Tess and Callum was a little too insta-love for me.

One thing I wish I had known before going into the read was that Tess was psychologically recovering from a SA; the synopsis only says an assault. While Stayman-London does include a TW at the outset of the book, it seemed like an odd choice for what I thought would be a rom-com. I appreciated Tess growing and morphing into a more confident woman though.

I liked the concept of Fang Fiction, and I think big fans of Buffy or Vampire Diaries may like it more than I did. The writing style was simple, which made for a quick read. I applaud Stayman-London for writing in a different genre, and can see others really liking this book.





Instagram Review to come on or near publication date - I will update with links when I post.

The concept of this book was very interesting, but I unfortunately missed the mark for me.
I found the characters lackluster. I didn't feel any sort of connection/care for them.
I was expecting more of a romcom vibe with this book.

That being said, the writing was good and the plot was interesting enough. Just not what I was expecting.

3.5/5. I loved the writing style, it was clear, moved quickly, and very immersive. Tess had a voice and it was a great mix of fantasy and real life to meld a relatable story many women go through together. The romance storylines were enjoyable but they did not seem fully developed. Because there were two alternate romantic storylines that each had switching points of view, it was hard to feel they were properly fleshed out. If Tess' storyline took prominence over the Joni's with Octavia, it would have been possible to feel the relationship between Tess and Callum was more realized and understandable rather than loosely thrown together. I loved the idea of mixing a book storylines to the real world and having characters meet in the middle, the mixing of the worlds was great. I would enjoy reading Stayman-London in the future for sure.