*thank you to Netgalley, Kim Turrisi and Kids Can Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*


2 stars.

I struggled to get through this. I had requested it because of the mention of there being similarities between it and Buffy The Vampire Slayer. But I just couldn't get that into it. The characters didn't appeal to me much and I kept drifting while reading it so it did take me longer than usual to get through. I also pushed through because I thought there was a hope that it might pick up further in. It didn't really and I know now that it's probably best to have viewed the webseries prior to reading this. I reckon that would make it more interesting and understanding of whats happening. Unfortunately this was not for me. But to end on a positive, I am a fan of this cover. That's what first attracted me to this book.

It was alright. I haven't seen the webseries, but I would probably enjoy it more than the book. Writing wasn't the greatest and the story seemed to flow kind of oddly. I wasn't super into the execution, but there were parts I did enjoy.

Copy came from netgalley in exchange for a review.

Who doesn't love queer love stories, especially when one of them is a vampire? I was interested in this because of the Youtube series and it stayed pretty true to the web series. Did that make it a bit redundant when reading, sure, but if I enjoyed the web series, I was also going to enjoy the novel.

Thank you, NetGalley and Kids Can Press, for the digital ARC of Carmilla!

I had previously heard of the Carmilla webseries but had never watched it. Unfortunately, I believe that if I had, I would have enjoyed this book more. What was billed as an LGBTQ rom-com mash-up of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, and Welcome to Night Vale fell short for me. While the novel did contain elements of all of these pieces of media, those elements were not executed well enough to keep me invested throughout.

The writing itself was very simplistic, which made for a quick read, but did little in the way of exposition. Rather, it felt like the reader had to be privy to certain inside jokes from the web series so that they could fully appreciate the plot. I also had little time to form bonds with certain characters in order to get invested in the plot and found the main character to be a bit judgmental, which I didn't appreciate.

I did want give Carmilla high marks for its attempt at diversity, but found that Turrisi had misgendered a non-binary character. This was something that took me right out of the reading experience, and resulted in my taking off another star in my review.

In all, I would recommend this to someone who loved the Carmilla web series, and perhaps wanted to spend a little more time in that universe. However, I would recommend the second edition, where they would hopefully have fixed the misgendering pronoun for their non-binary character.

If you love the webseries, you'll probably be able to read it and enjoy some bits (others, not so much... because it lacks of the chemistry between our girls). The webseries had a charm that it's difficult to translate here, yet... it's Carmilla. Being a Creampuff is hard to dislike this, although I was expecting something different.

I tried really hard to get into this story. At first I thought getting a little distance from the book and coming back to it later to start fresh would help, but I came to the same conclusion, that this book is not for me. I just didn't connect with the characters and I lost interest both times I tried to read this. I did love the premise of this story though.

As I saw this was a retelling of Carmilla by La Fanu, I got a bit interested. Though I liked the concept and the story, I think the book fell flat a bit as it's based on the web-series. It's one thing to make a movie adaption of a book, it's harder to make a good book adaption of a movie/series. The elements I did like was the vampire-aspect and LGBT, both in terms of lesbians and genderfluid.

I am 100% a creampuff...I even have a cat named Carmilla. That being said, this book just didn't do it for me. I think it was just really difficult to translate the actors' chemistry into written word. I think this book would be great for a younger reader (read high school) who maybe didn't enjoy reading all that much.

This telling of Carmilla is fine, but doesn't really capture the feel or quality of the web series. I don't really like the first person narrative though, even though I understand why that choice was made. It drags a little for me.
It's a reasonable book to purchase for readers who are big fans, but I'd suggest most folks stick with the web series...
I acquired my copy from the publisher.

DNF'd about halfway through. I loved the concept of a campy, vampire story -- but I struggled to connect to the characters and the story. It felt as if this written for people already "in the know" from the web series, and since I was coming to the story without any knowledge about the web series, I felt lost and left out.

This is not a bad book. It's just also not exactly a good one. It's fine to pass the time on, say, a train ride, but it's not going to change your life. And that's absolutely fine if you just want a pleasant, albeit shallow, diversion for a few hours. I'd also wager that this book did not receive the editorial input it should have (there are some pronoun discrepancies with a nonbinary character, for example) and seems to have been slightly rushed out to capitalise on the success of the webseries on which it's based. It's a shame, because the fanbase for this show is very close-knit and would probably have been entirely happy to wait the extra months for a better book. I hope there are more books in the series to expand on the universe of the series, but I hope they're better than this one.

When college freshman Laura Hollis’ roommate goes missing after a party she calls everyone she thinks might be able to help find her. Instead of help, she gets stuck with Carmilla, the roommate from hell, an aloof philosophy student who responds to seemingly everything with sarcasm. But the more Laura digs, the stranger things get. And the stranger things get, the more it seems like Carmilla knows much more than she lets on. The more it seems like Carmilla might be interested in her for less than nefarious purposes. What’s a girl to do with a mystery to solve, a very possibly vampiric roommate, and homework piling up by the day?

So, Kim Turrisi’s Carmilla is an adaptation of an adaptation, the Kinda TV web series of the same title started out in 2014 and has grown since. Being an adaptation can make things a little clunky at times, things that work well in video don’t always translate well to writing. But, it’s also not tied to a web cam anymore or just the initial script. The novel seems to tie in some things from parts of the web series’ setting that were introduced later as well as a few new scenes away from Laura’s updates regarding the missing girls mystery.

Not being tied to one web cam in one room is both a positive and a negative. The new scenes can be a lot of fun and add to the feeling of the setting and to Laura’s relationships with other characters. But, it can also feel like there’s just not quite enough to them or of them. The library scene stands out for me on this. We get Laura and La Fontaine and Carmilla breaking into the library and Carmilla knowing things that make getting where they need to be easier. That’s great, it adds to her as a character, it’s something new. Then they get into the library and things play out and are described nearly the same as they were in the web series. It didn’t feel as exciting as the characters being attacked by a flaming card catalogue should have been. It felt like I was being told what happened rather than seeing them experience it. There was a lot of room to expand or to fill things in a bit, and it feels like the author didn’t take it.

The exception to this feels like Laura’s crushes on both Danny, the TA for one of her classes, and of course Carmilla. Being in Laura’s head instead of just seeing her actress react, the reader gets a lot more details on how she feels about these two. Being into Danny because she’s sweet and straight forward in standing up for the missing girls and Laura herself. The attraction to Carmilla while still thinking she’s a terrible person and how that mellows into being into Carmilla the person. There’s a lot of internal stuff added here that makes it flow well.

There was kind of a weirdness about how some of the speech tags were done, especially when it comes to Carmilla. Maniacal laughter doesn’t really mesh with the whole disaffected philosophy student thing, or the whole aloof vampire thing, either way. Some things with Kirsch coming across as whiny, almost wimpy, in a way that feels odd given his whole friendly frat bro character. If I had to put my finger on it, I’d say that the tags that take me out of the narration feel too big for their moments or even their characters. It isn’t a huge issue, but it is a notable one.

It’s an interesting thing. I know that a lot of my enjoyment of the novel comes from my enjoyment of the web series. I know there were moments where I was left waiting for a particular bit or where something filled in a little bit more and it feeling better tied in for that. Turrisi’s adaptation does feel unfinished in places, possibly as a result of working from the script rather than the finished series, or maybe just as a result of things not translating well between one format and another. There are places where I felt thrown off by knowing there was more, and that does knock the book down a little for me. But I also want to see novels for the next two seasons and the movie as well. I’m left hoping that this is part of the lead up to something new coming, something more. I enjoyed Turrisi’s adaptation of Carmilla.

And that leaves the final score in a strange place. As a fan of the web series and knowing what they already managed, I would be inclined to give the novel a three out of five. But I also know that if I was just reading the novel on its own, knowing that the romancy aspect is a fair sized part of it, I would be more likely to bump it up to a four. So a four is where I’m going to leave it with the hope that, if there is a next book, it does all the things this one could have made this one fantastic.

Sort of a one more thing that I hope was a result of reading an ARC rather than the finished book. In the original season one of the web series La Fontaine isn’t specifically said to use they/them pronouns, it’s possible they aren’t entire out at that point, though they do go strictly by La Fontaine or Laf. As a result of this, she/her pronouns are used for them in the first season of the web series. The novel introduces them as gender queer, but still uses she/her pronouns for them in some places where the character speaking would know to not do that. It seems like the kind of thing that happened as a result of just transferring things over, but is also a sign that this could have been looked over again. That’s a big mistake to glance over.

I was very much looking forward to this adaptation of Carmilla (a web series), but I was left disappointed. I expected a rich, diverse world and that is definitely not what we got. The setting was bland, and yes you could argue that it takes place in a college dorm room, but there were hardly any descriptors. I didn’t like the character portrayals, plain and simple. There was no chemistry between Laura and any of the other characters. There was an issue with LaFontaine. LaFontaine utilizes the they/them pronouns, but the author switched back and forth between they/them to she/her. And how would LaFontaine’s friend disrespect them by using a name that is unwelcomed? There was a level of junior high behavior – sock puppets?! – and it wasn’t fitting for a college based novel.

This was a huge miss for me.

I loved the original Carmilla by La Fanu and was excited to read this retelling in a modern, queer love settings. I got a third of the way through before I got bored. The inner monologue of the main character left nothing to be guessed, and was overdone and strained. The dialogue wasn't natural, and the relationships between characters were unrealistically staged - it was like everyone was reciting lines with no chemistry whatsoever.

I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with this novel. I so expected it to be a favourite of mine because it's about sapphic vampires, but ... it wasn't. However, that being said, I probably will watch the web series.

So the things I like about this book:
The queer rep was great. The novel features three lesbian characters and a genderqueer character. Also, vampires are my favourite paranormal creatures of all time and I think the unique take on vamp lore was done really well.

However, these two things were the only things I enjoyed.
The genderqueer character, LaFontaine, uses they/them pronouns and there were many instances of them being misgendered. I'm not sure if this was intentional, or if because it's an ARC it hasn't been checked properly yet, and if its the latter, that's even worse. It takes zero effort to respect someone's pronouns and write the correct ones. LaFontaine is also deadnamed a lot. I felt like this just added unnecessary drama to the novel and will hurt a lot of genderqueer readers.

There was also no chemistry between Laura and Carmilla! Which was so disappointing. The male characters were also super sexist and I had to put the book down multiple times every time they spoke.

And I also found it super weird that whenever Laura was on the phone, we would never read the responses, we just got Laura's side of the conversation. That ... literally made zero sense. I don't get why this was included. I hope it changes in the final book.

What Pride Month would be complete without the original lesbian vampire story? The Carmilla book is based on the web series, which is itself based on the 1872 gothic novel of the same name. Fans of the web series can absolutely skip this book, but anyone who is relatively new the story (like me) may find it to be an adequate introduction.

I’m going to be pretty honest here. The Carmilla book is just not good. When I requested the title, I thought it would be an original story using the characters from the series. It is not. It is, in fact, the novelization of the first season of the web series. Depending on your reading speed, you can probably watch the series in the same amount of time it takes you to read the book. And I recommend watching the series.

For those who don’t know, the web series basically a vlog of new Silas University student Laura Hollis, who is using the videos as her journalism project as she investigates the disappearance of her roommate and ends up embroiled in a supernatural mystery involving a cult of vampires. The show was limited by the convention of its format and budget, so all of the videos take place in Laura’s dorm room and often involve her or her friends explaining something big that happened offscreen. A book is the perfect opportunity to expand on those events that we didn’t to see and flesh out the characters with whom we did not spend as much time. This book does neither.

I was highly disappointed in the juvenile writing and the lack of descriptive anything. Silas University is a supernatural wonderland in Romania with mystical elements and there is absolutely no sense of that environment in the Carmilla book. Almost the entirety of the book is just literally what happens in the series with occasional interjections from Laura – which add very little, in the end. There is a half-hearted attempt at detailing offscreen events, but it’s more just glossing over everything the way the characters did on the show, then returning to Laura’s dorm room to tell the camera exactly what just happened. Not to mention, a lot of the relationships seem very shallow when you can’t watch events unfold onscreen.

This book does not have a lot going for it, but it did have the dubious pleasure of being the catalyst to me finally watching the web series, which I’ve been meaning to do for something like three years. Basically, if you’re a fan of the series, skip this book. And if you’re not currently a fan of the series, watch the series.

I have to admit that, after finishing the book yesterday, I binged-watched the first season of the show. And that changed my perspective, and my review, of the book.

First of all, the book is really fast-paced. It seemed to be an irritant for most reviewers, but I liked it. However, it could have had included more descriptions (of characters mostly).

There are a couple things that I now understand, after watching the show, like :
- when Laura is talking on the phone, you only have her side of the conversation. It's like that on the show, but it could've have been both sides in the book;
- Laura nearly always eats snacks, except for a date. But because the book explores more of Laura's quest than what we see on the show, she could've eaten take out a couple of times while planning...

Certain things I still have difficulty with, even with having watched the show:
- the lack of surprise of knowing that Carmilla is a VAMPIRE, like it's normal;
- all the male characters are described as idiots or having issues.

Overall, I'm still happy to have received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. I devoured the book even if it triggered all the reactions from me. And I got to discover a new show, that I liked too! It certainly is going everywhere with the weird, but after watching the show, I appreciate how Kim Turrisi filled the blanks left by the webcam show.

Many thanks to Kids Can Press!
Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This book was incredible to read. It was a transcribed version of the Carmilla webseries and I felt like I was rewatching the entire thing without actually pulling up Youtube. Although some parts of the writing were a little awkward here and there, this read was full of the quirks and silliness and queerness that I have come to know and love from all the characters in the series with a healthy dose of creepy and vampires. I adore this book and I adore these characters. I am so happy it's a book now!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed and advanced copy of this book, received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

To be honest... I didn't like this at all. I already knew of Carmilla because of the webseries and, as such, I had an idea of what could I expect from this book... But I wasn't prepared for what I read. I was expecting something completely different, more like a lesfic vampire story. Instead, I found terribly childish writing, characters that felt more like a cartoon extravaganza and complete nonsense. I just don't know what to make of it.

Overall, this book just felt like a caricature of the webseries. Nothing made any sense. For instance, the characters were supposed to be inn university, for me, that seemed more like the first years of high school. Everyone had this utterly stupid reckless streak, like calling names to the face of someone they were afraid of (i.e. the Dean) or giving information about them in an anonymous vlog (investigating the disappearance of their roommate? Really?). Mislabelled genderqueer characters, flying fish (seriously, flying fish), a complete disregard for actual storytelling... Just watch the series, it's better than the book.

Having loved the web series, this really falls short. The writing is really plain and not much is shown outside of what we see in the show. So much lost opportunity to show all the weirdness that was going on. There's a lot of stuff mentioned in the web series that necessarily happens off camera that could have been explored here. Also the characters seemed to fall pretty flat on the page compared to the show. They're shadows of their actual selves. The author really fails at capturing them well. And in particular, LaFontaine gets outright misgendered by the author. Did this not get proofread at all? Admittedly I have an ARC, so hopefully the final version got fixed?