I was really excited to read this, but was thoroughly disappointed in the fat representation in this book. It is harmful to people in larger bodies and the writing was sloppy.

In When Life Gives You Vampires, our main character, Lily Baines, is the stereotypical “fat friend”, men pass her over in favor of her skinnier friends. However, after meeting the handsome, dashing Tristan Newberry at a bar, Lily seizes an opportunity for an amazing one-night stand, if not a relationship. Their tryst takes a turn for the worse when Tristan bites her and, she bites him back to get him off of her. But now, having consumed his blood, she is now undead as well. Shenanigans ensue.

The concept I found most compelling is that Lily is now left to deal with her internalized fatphobia-(she has her mother to thank for a lot of that)--for an eternity. She didn’t change into a svelte sex goddess, she still has her body and all her issues to deal with. I thought this was a fresh take and I give props to the author for coming up with that. It’s something I’ve never read before and was interested to see how Lilly would pull through.

It was nice to read about a plus-sized character that wasn’t just used for laughs and while it was heartbreaking to see how her mother’s remarks affected her view of herself I was not happy that there were some of the “skinny people suffer too” comments. Her best friend, Cat, says “Just because I’m skinny doesn’t mean my life is easy”. Nobody’s life is easy but living in a skinny body that is socially accepted does give you more than a bit of privilege, Cat, and does let you move through the world easier. I don’t know, it seemed well…catty of Cat….and I wished that hadn’t been in there.

Overall, this is a fun, rom-com. I see it as Twilight for adults with a plus-sized and much improved “Bella”. I recommend this book if you want a quirky, fast-paced book to read. Or if you need a palette cleanser between heavy reads. It’s great for the Halloween season and I would say is more plot (rather than character) driven. 3 star read.

Thank you Sourcebooks and @netgalley for this arc!
When Life Gives You Vampires is set to be published on October 4, 2022

When Life Gives You Vampires is a paranormal romcom that has all the elements of a good read. Lily is a plus-size journalist who unexpectedly finds herself undead, Tristan is a centuries-old vampire who writes romance novels, dangers and sass abound. But though the elements were there, the execution left me with mixed feelings.

Lily is twenty-five and has some serious body image issues (to anyone who may be triggered by talk of extreme diets and/or negative body image talk: this may not be the book for you). Lily’s struggle with body acceptance is hard, often damaging, and author Gloria Duke doesn’t shy away from the fact that Lily hurts more than herself. It’s more serious and given more page time than you might expect of a romcom, but for me this was the part of the book that had the most depth and consideration. It’s not pretty, it’s not fun, but it’s relatable and realistic in a lot of ways and I was all in on Lily’s personal journey.

Unfortunately, the rest of the story is where I had issues with When Life Gives You Vampires. Tristan is an uninspiring hero. He has issues with being stuck in the past and he’s overprotective because of it, but it all falls flat. I wanted to dig deeper into his character, to see him come (un)alive on the page. And the romance…just isn’t there. Attraction? Absolutely. But the love story wasn’t believable and needed more time and attention to feel organic to the characters. As for the threats to Lily that come from her being turned into a vampire without approval, those didn’t wholly work for me. The villain of the story was a bit cartoonish and the resolution was so quick that it made me wonder what all the threats and buildup were about. I wanted more from the worldbuilding and more from the characters. There were many missed opportunities in this book but the way Gloria Duke wrote Lily’s personal journey had enough promise that I’d try her work again in the future.

Lily wakes up the morning after meeting a handsome stranger and discovers she's accidentally been turned into a vampire. One of the undead, forever stuck just the way she was when she was made - bigger and curvier than she wants to be. Her unwitting maker, Tristan, is hot as hell but also a little stuck in the past, trying to protect her and save her even when Lily doesn't need or want the help. But since making new vampires without permission is not allowed, her existence is now a problem for the Vampire Council, headed by a vampire who has it out for Tristan. Not only that, but her creation triggered the transformation of her work-enemy into a brand new vampire slayer... Lily has much bigger problems than her self-image to worry about.

I mean, I am a sucker (pun not intended but appreciated) for vampires as well as romantic-comedy, so this worked for me. It is silly but oh so fun, and the sex scenes are steamy! There is a lot of focus on Lily's negative body image and how it messes with her overall perception of herself, Tristan, and others around her, which sometimes gets a little old but also highlights what a lot of women (and men) experience in modern society. I liked that Lily eventually comes to terms with herself (and her mother), even if it that resolution feels a little fast. It is nice to think that perhaps we can all get to a point where we love and value ourselves for who we are without punishing ourselves for what we aren't. The comedy and banter are fun, the slayer storyline is a good addition, and while the resolution leaves room for sequels, it also wraps things up enough to make the novel feel complete. I would love to read more from Duke in the future, even if this particular world isn't revisited!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the chance to read When Life Gives You Vampires early in exchange for an honest review!

When Life Gives You Vampires
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Romance
Format: Kindle eBook and Audiobook
Date Published: 10/4/22
Author: Gloria Duke
Publisher: Sourcebook Casablanca and Dreamscape Media
Narrator: Meg Sylvan
GR: 3.25

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley, Sourcebook Casablanca and Dreamscape Media and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: Twenty-five year old Lily Baines is used to waking up hungover, overweight, and underemployed. Waking up with fangs? Not so much. Tristan hadn't meant to turn Lily—it's against vampire law—but now that she's here, they need to team up to save their hides. They strike a truce, fending off other vampires, Lily's work-rival-turned-slayer, and her mother's tone-deaf romance and fitness advice—all while Lily faces down her insecurities about the fact that she lives in a diet-obsessed world with a body that will never age, never die, and never change. Can she learn to love the (plus size) woman she'll be forever more?

My Thoughts: I am not sure why the low GR rating as I thought this was a wonderful book. I did both the ebook and audio and it was fantastic. The narrator really did the voices amazingly and brought flare to the characters, immersing you into the moment. Part fantasy, part romance, and full vampire, just in time for Halloween! The book is reflective of body positivity and the struggles a person can have when their self worth is measured in appearance. I think Duke does a good job bringing positivity to body size and delivers an important message, it is important to not only stand in your truth but love yourself, no matter your size. Duke also brings the humor, there were times that I laughed out loud. Now I understand this book would not be for everyone but I loved it. The characters were developed well with depth, witty banter, mad chemistry, and creatively built throughout the story. Lilly is a fantastic heroine with sarcasm and kindness. While our hero, Tristin, is the perfect handsome and hot hero. The author’s writing style is complex, funny, connective, and kept me engaged throughout the story. I really hope this turns into a series as I would love to see the romance bloom between Evan and Kat. I highly recommend preordering the audiobook on this one!

Right... Let's get cracking, shall we? When Life Gives You Vampires probably has one of the most original contemporary romance premises I've come across this year. With the focus on body positivity and the promise of a romcom with a paranormal twist, there was just something about this debut that made me forget all about my usual allergic reaction to anything vampire related. I've been excited to read it, although I confess that I was worried about the lower rating and mixed reviews... Sadly, I do understand why this is the case now. I'll try to explain briefly what did and didn't work for me below.

First of all, I have to say that I still love the premise of this story and like I said before, it is probably one of the most original romcom story ideas I've come across this year. When Life Gives You Vampires had so much potential, and the New York setting was without a doubt the perfect backdrop for this story. I'm usually not a big fan of vampire fiction, but I like this contemporary take on vampires where they are at least dangerous and do not 'sparkle'. It was fun to see the main character deal with her sudden vampire state, and her trying to adapt to her new reality had once again so much potential.

Now on what didn't work for me. I think my main issue was with the writing style itself, which I simply clashed horribly with. The writing style and tone sounded like the author was trying too hard to be 'cool'; the constant abbreviations and repetitions of certain words including 'obvi' and the 'um' before the main character tries to be funny are extremely irritating. I'm serious: if I have to deal with one more 'obvi', I'm going to scream.

The main character Lily also sounded quite immature (partly thanks to the word choice), and I confess that I never warmed up to her. With her constantly repeating just how much she doesn't like her body and how others don't accept her for who she is, I think the body positivity message was kind of lost here. Especially with her basically saying that other people (including her best friend) have no right to complain about their lives just because they have the type of body she wants. Ugh. And then I'm not even talking about her stubbornness and her constantly repeating that Tristan is trying to dominate her and that she can save herself... I seriously wish I could have had a mute button to avoid having to deal with all that.

The romance itself wasn't exactly credible to me, and I didn't feel the chemistry at all. It's a mix between bland insta-love and especially Lily blaming her feelings on her new vampire urges... And I found Tristan to be quite one-dimensional in general. The way things were wrapped up in the end also felt quite rushed and a little too convenient to be credible. Like I said before, the story had a lot of potential, but that potential was somehow lost in the execution for me.

All in all I didn't exactly have a great time reading When Life Gives You Vampires, and a lot had to do with the fact that I clashed horribly with both the writing style and characters. It's a shame, because the premise is fantastic!

I thought this was a solid book for the part that I read; however, I wasn't able to finish for my own personal trigger warnings! I apologize for the publisher and NetGalley as I really do appreciate the opportunity, but I wanted to prioritize my mental health!

I really do think that if are okay with the trigger warnings that this is a great book!

I really enjoyed this paranormal romance from author Gloria Duke!

Lily is a sassy and likable character, and I enjoy her desire to accept her body, while acknowledging how hard that is when society is giving you negative messages constantly.

Tristan is adorable, and I love their relationship, except all their fights were about the same thing and it felt a bit repetitive.

But overall this book was a lot of fun!

Generally I’m a standalone book kinda gal but I have never hoped for a book to be a series more than I did after reading this novel. From the main character to the baddies ever character comes alive (err well you know what I mean) on the page.

This was such a fun, campy read. I knew going into this book that it would be lighthearted fun. What would you do if you woke up a vampire like Lily did? Tristan accidentally turned Lily and tries to protect her at all turns. Tristan really had to convince Lily to give him a chance. I’m hoping there will be another book as I still have questions.

This book had such a cool concept. Plus sized FMC? Yes please. Vampires? I need it. All in a romcom? Hot dang. However the execution lacked.

You can have a plus sized main character without making their weight their number one personality trait.

I admit, it’s realistic for people to worry about their weight especially since society hammers it down our throats with all the media we consume. As a plus sized babe and a person in general, I have a lot of insecurity that I will always be working on. Some days are better than others. So I get why Lily was obsessed with the negative aspect of her weight. I do love realism especially in romcoms. HOWEVER, I believe that if you’re writing a plus sized character, don’t you want your character to be inspiring? Even towards the end of the book, that’s what she cared about. I just think in the plus sized community, we have surpassed that. It also would've developed her character a lot more.

Other than my issue with that, I enjoyed the storyline. I love the cover. I really really wanted to love this story. It’s such a cool idea. I want more vampire romcoms. It was a really easy breezy read. There were some quirky sayings that made me arch my brow but whatever, it was Lily's voice. It was funny. I really liked Lily's character aside from the overbearing insecurity. Tristan was fine but wasn't really anything special as a MMC.

I would read more by this author. If you think this book is something you'd enjoy, I say go for it. Because it was such an interesting idea, and I know that this is the right book for somebody. It just wasn't me unfortunately no matter how badly I wish it was!

Enemies to lovers 🥊 ➡️ ❤️, vampires 🧛‍♂️, vampire hunters 🧛‍♂️ ⚔️, romance author ♥️ 📚, ancient court 👑 with a side of diet culture 🍔 💊.
Quick and fun read - Promising start to a (hopeful) new series.

Check TW*


Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

DNF. Based off of a the few passages I’ve read in this book, I am no longer interested in reading and reviewing WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU VAMPIRES in full. When the main character is changed into a vampire, she is more worried about being fat forever than being dead. I also do not like the use of the word “overweight” in the back cover copy. This concept could have been really fun, but I am only interested in spending my time enjoying body positive and empowering fat representation.

This book had me hooked from the start! A laugh out loud, and yet extremely relatable debut novel from Gloria Duke. I’ve always loved Twilight as well, so the references were interesting to see. This book was also kind of similar to Twilight in a way - MMC wanting to protect FMC all of the time, whether or not that’s actually what she wants 😅 The antagonist in this nov also had similar vibes to the main antagonist throughout the Twilight series. Very interesting to see!

Besides the Twilight similarities, I’ve never read a book before where I related quite so much to the heroine. Her struggles with her weight and her thoughts on it are exactly the same as my struggles and thought processes. This really connected with me, and I love to see this kind of inclusivity with plus-sized main characters coming into books.

A special thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for this eArc in exchange for an honest review!

I thought this book had its funny moments that made me laugh out loud. I rather enjoyed the mention of Twilight in this book having read it when all the hype was about. The romance I felt was off unfortunately. It seemed like Lily and Tristan really don’t mesh well and it was a bit rushed (which they do note in the book and I appreciate). Lily is an unsanctioned vampire and Gideon is after her. The whole time they really played him up and he really looked the part when he made his entrance. However, he didn’t really play the part for me. There was a lot of immaturity in this book all around for 400 year old vampires. I enjoyed the body positivity towards the end, but not so much in the beginning and middle (too immature for the age). However, I did enjoy the message that was being portrayed in the end. If you want an easy going vampy book with some laughs along the way, just in time for Halloween, then I recommend to pick this up!

This book is exactly what I wanted it to be. It is so fun and campy I enjoyed every second of it! Lily Baines wakes up craving blood and learns she was accidentally turned into a vampire. Now she has to work with the handsome mysterious man who turned her to save both of their lives from a vengeful ancient vampire.
I read this story in less than 24 hours. It flows so quickly and I was hooked from the beginning. As a plus-size woman I really appreciated Lily's journey as she dealt with her insecurities. She felt relatable and it was fun to also see how strongly she fought against Tristan's old-school views of women. Full of references to all of the classic vampire stories I grew up with, put a smile on my face so many times while I was reading. Seriously, the best word to describe this is fun. If you are looking for a quick, easy, fun vampire romance that will put a smile on your face - this is the one!
My only very minor complaint is that in the end there is one plot point unresolved regarding the future the vampire laws which I would have liked to see fully wrapped up.
But despite that; I had the most fun I have had reading a book in a really long time and I totally recommend this book. I will absolutely be buying a finished copy when this comes out!
4.5 stars rounded up to 5.
Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the advanced e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

I haven’t read a proper vampire romance in years, but When Life Gives You Vampires caught my attention, especially with the fat heroine prominently featured on the cover. I didn’t go in with much in the way of expectations, which ended up working out in my favor. It’s rather charming, and I appreciate the way it walks the line between navigating sensitive issues and maintaining a lighthearted touch.

Lily really spoke to me as a character. In some ways, she may be very hit-or-miss, because her arc is largely about her navigating her relationship with her body. I feel like it explores the struggle to get past the internalized fatphobia, especially when it’s reinforced by a relative who is “just trying to help,” but is actually reinforcing the toxic cycle of weight-negativity. I really liked how her growth toward self-acceptance paralleled her journey of coming into her own as a new vampire.

On a related note, I didn’t expect to appreciate the nuance to her relationship with her mom. I fully expected the mom to be a full-on toxic parent, but to see the two of them come to a consensus about how harmful the mom’s behavior could be was gratifying.

I had mixed feelings about Tristan at first. There’s a bit of non-consent that goes down in the moment where Lily is turned, and even if Tristan only meant to feed on her and not for her to complete the process for her transformation, he still confirms he uses his hypnotic powers to seduce prey in order to slake his thirst. This and the fact that he explicitly confirms the sexual connotations makes that first encounter feel a bit uncomfortable, especially as Tristan even wipes her memory so she can’t even remember it happening at first.

However, within the context of vampire living, I can also understand doing what you need to do for long-term survival and satisfaction, and ultimately his goal wasn’t to do long-term harm to any of his targets (and he would get in trouble if he did, which is another key plot point of the book). But even with context, it’s worth letting readers know what to expect.

Once the characters got past that hurdle, I did generally like them together. Are they on my list of characters who I feel are ultimate couple goals? Not really, but I did like their dynamic overall. And I love that Tristan is a closet romance writer.

I appreciated how the undercurrent of suspense and danger from the head of the Vampire Council was incorporated in the book, subtly at first and then amping up the stakes. There’s clear inspiration taken from Twilight (which is referenced many times) and other popular Vampire media while Duke also tries to craft her own iteration of the lore.

Overall this is a fun, charming book, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys books by Julie Murphy or Olivia Dade, or vampire romances.

CWs: fatphobia, body-shaming and diet culture, toxic parent, dubious/non-consent

I wanted to like this book but I hated the way the main character talked about herself and plus sized people in general. There was also a conversation with her best friend that was about how thin people have problems too. She also kept getting upset at the mmc for simply using his vampire powers and it felt weird.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I jumped into this book excited that the main gal was plus sized, but it ended up being kind of a downer. There is a warning at the beginning of the book about discussion of dieting, fatphobia, and negative self-talk, but I didn’t think it would be such a huge portion of the book.

The main characteristic of our main gal is that she is incredibly insecure about being fat and has done every get thin fast scheme to try to not be. She projects her feelings and internalized fatphobia a TON and hurts so many people due to her own self-hatred. I personally was getting tired of it being mentioned ALL the time, though there were certainly many moments I could relate to, it still wasn’t a pleasant read.

Our main man is pretty enjoyable and is quite the gentleman. He is an older vampire and a historical romance writer who tries his best to respect everyone. He is super sweet to our main gal, despite her being so difficult to be around.

The story itself and the lore was pretty good and there was some good banter. It’s quite spicy and there is a lot of sexual tension between our leads throughout the book.

Overall, the book was okay. It felt kind of wattpad-y and I didn’t love our main character, but it was good enough to still finish. It is the author’s first book, so I hope she keeps writing and gets better with time and practice because the idea was really interesting, I just didn’t love the execution. I’d rate it 3/5 stars so if you’re into spicy dramatic vampire romance, give it a shot!

I’m gonna keep this short and sweet because this was bad, so that being said: thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the arc, but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me 😬