This is a hilarious and heartfelt dive into fan culture, obsession, and friendship.
She does a great job capturing the chaos of teen fandom with wit and charm.
It’s a love letter to fangirls everywhere—funny, relatable, and surprisingly deep.

Kate Stayman-London has done it again! A story full of fun and fresh characters that seemlessly blends multiple genres with a book within a book storyline. Between the multiple POVs, the different inputs from podcasts, excerpts, posts, etc. could have been confusing but was done so well it kept me hooked and engaged. I do wish there was a bit more build up from the beginning of the story as I found it a little difficult to connect with the romance but overall a great story with a healing message.

“𝗜𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲, 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.”

Rating: 4.75/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Pub Date: 10/1/24

*Thank you @NetGalley and Random House for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Tess is forced to drop out of college after a traumatic event, unable to sleep at night she starts working at a hotel. This works perfect because she is engrossed in the super popular vampire book series Blood Feud. In fact, its so popular there is a whole "Feud-dom" of fans online. Including speculation that the books might actually be real. Tess knows thats just crazy talk, until a very gorgeous woman appears at a hotel event taking her by surprise. Suddenly, everything Tess was so sure of is turned upside down. 🧛‍♀️

𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗜𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗟𝗶𝗸𝗲:
*Vampire Romance 🩸
*Buffy the Vampire Slayer
*Stories within a Story
*Sapphic Romance
*Feminism

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
I don't understand the low rating on this one, I absolutely LOVED it. I was a die hard Buffy fan back in the day, so this spoke to my little Vampire loving heart. I couldn't put it down, I had to know what was happening next. I laughed with the characters banter, and I cheered on the FMC in working through her trauma. If you have ever wondered or wished that your favorite fantasy story and characters were real, this is for you!

TW: SA

#FangFiction

FANG FICTION is one of those books that you just simply fly through because it's easy to read, the pace stays at a gallop, and the romantic elements are so teenage swoony it will make you combust. This book felt like a love letter to us girls who read Twilight in middleschool and are still fantasizing about Edward. I loved it.

This book had me excited, but ultimately I didn’t end it feeling that way. I didn’t really enjoy the other “media” that was included in the story. I found I wanted to skip the blog or podcast parts. I feel there was too much going on but at the same time, nothing I found exciting.

I wanted to love this book and I gave it a good try but it just wasn’t for me. Ultimately, I did not finish it. I still think it will be well-received by lots of people because of how creative the story line is.

Thank you to Kate Stayman-London, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to like this book but I found the first few chapters to be very slow, a bit repetitive and I kept waiting for things to move forward. I ended up skipping sections of the book to see if I would like it further in, but nothing really grabbed me.

Tess abandoned her dream of a literary PhD after surviving an assault and became the night manager at a swanky boutique hotel in Brooklyn. She's pretty amuch ccepted a life of fear and insomnia where her only peace is reading her favorite vampire novels over and over. Until the night when one of the characters from those novels walks into her hotel and demands her help. She's suddenly thrust into a world where vampires are real and she's the only one who can help them. But not everything is as the novels say and Tess will have to face the fact that fiction and real life don't always match up.

It's been a while since I'd read a fun paranormal romance so it's entirely possible that part of why I liked this one so much was the nostalgia hit of a well-done vampire story. But Stayman-London managed to make a well-rounded vampire story also be a fun ode to those who love vampire novels, and I love how well both things come through in the story. The fact that it also centers on a woman who lost her dreams because of what was done to her and how she manages to retake her life and her agency adds to everything there is to enjoy. Tess really is a great character to lead the story, with Octavia and Joni being close seconds on the interesting character scale.
My one complaint is that both the main love interest, Callum, and the crush, Felix, felt very one-dimensional so the romance there feels insubstantial. I get that Tess and apparently millions of people love them and have a deep connection because of the books, but the actual reader doesn't get to see much of them and is basically told exactly how we're supposed to feel about them. I would have liked to see more of them interacting with Tess and other characters to make them a more rounded character.

Very happy thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press Trade Paperback for the fun read!

I really enjoy the idea of a character learning that the books she has read are all true, being able to meet and fall in love with the characters she has read about in her true world.

I found that maybe it just wasn't intriguing enough for me, I wish it was more action focused with everything she knew. I felt it too be a little too slow in most parts.

I will still recommend the book to customers whp want vampire stories, considering eeting our book characters is a common situation we all daydream about from time to time.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. Fang Fiction follows our main character, Tess, who is a megafan of the series Blood Feud. Blood Feud, whose fans refer to themselves as Feudies, often speculate online about whether this series is based on real people. It’s fun to join online discussions about it, but Tess doesn’t actually believe in vampires until Octavia, a main character in the Blood Feud series, shows up at the hotel where Tess works demanding help. Tess gets thrust into the world of sexy vampires and warring clans and has to learn to trust herself again.

There were many parts of this book that I adored. First off, Tess is a sexual assault survivor and I think the author handled it perfectly. We learn about it almost right away so we aren’t blindsided by this, however, the author slowly builds Tess’s backstory and our understanding of it throughout the book. I also thought the world-building of the vampire’s island was so well done and I could clearly picture it in my head. I also really enjoyed the caring and loving sibling dynamic between Callum and Octavia. Finally, the mixed media interludes between chapters were a fun way to mix things up and give more information to the readers without info dumping.

My only real critiques of the book were that the relationships felt a bit instalove even though we were almost halfway into the book when they happened, it felt like the characters went from being annoyed and distrustful of each other to being in love very quickly. I also wasn’t quite as invested in following Octavia’s storyline in the real Manhattan as I was in following Tess in the vampires’ world. However, I do understand why Octavia’s storyline was essential to the plot.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it! If you’re looking for a romance that doesn’t take itself too seriously but is still hard hitting you should definitely pick up this book!

3/5 ⋆｡°✩

I have such mixed feelings about Fang Fiction. On one hand it was just camp enough to be a fun vampire novel on the other hand, some things felt like they were a little too serious. The tone was all over the place and it made the more serious stuff a little less believable.

I want to have more to say about this book but I unfortunately just don't. It was a fun read that in no way needed to be as long as it was. If you like twilight, buffy, and overdramatic vampires, this would be a fun one to pick up (bonus points for sapphic vamps!).

Thank you Netgalley and Random House for an acr in exhange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for this review copy.
Such a strange book but I loved it! Portals, vampires, witches, and everything in between! Definitely worth the read.

3.5 stars

This was a cute romance with vampire girlies at the forefront. We follow Tess as she is drawn into the world of the supposedly-fictitious novel series about vampires. Along the way she heals from past sexual assault and finds herself.

Overall I enjoyed this one! It was very predictable and about 30% too long for my liking, but was still a fun read. The writing was well done and the characters felt familiar.

I’d recommend this to fans of romance and anyone who had an Edward Cullen poster in their childhood bedroom.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for a copy of this work. All opinions are my own.

I dnfed this at 33% it was not for me. Unfortunately I was bored and nothing had really happened to make me care about what came next.

A love letter to fic writers everywhere! I’d totally read the sequel. Packed to the brim with fandom chaos!

I thought Fang Fiction had an interesting premise - who hadn’t dreamed of diving into the world of their current read?!

I liked the chemistry between all characters and that the MC’s view/opinion of who the white knight would be wasn’t necessarily how things worked out. Plus we’re always here for a FMC who fights her own battles and takes on real and theoretical demons.

There was some trauma that the FMC was working through but I liked that Kate Stayman-London didn’t have her be afraid to try the hard stuff like reconnecting with old friends and finding a new normal in life.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kate Stayman-London and Random House for an early review copy we. These are my honest thoughts.

I had so much fun reading this book. What happens when a fandom actually comes true? As one who is not well versed in the world of vampires or highly specific fandoms, I still found the tongue in cheek humor in Fang Fiction to be like a breath of fresh air. The level of world building both for the book series Blood Feud, and the actual characters from The Isle was so well done. This book is unlike any I have ever read, and for its uniqueness alone I give it all the stars.

Tess has dropped out of grad school at Columbia, works the night shift at the Georgian hotel in Brooklyn, and has suffered some trauma. The Blood Feud vampire series is escapist delight for her and so when she finds herself face to face with an actual character from that series, she has to use her knowledge from the books to help save one of the main characters. This is campy, gleeful fun and I loved the double romantic interests. I do think this book is marketed wrongly if advertised specifically as a romance. There are two love stories that emerge (and they do get an HEA), but I felt that the story was more about fandoms, coping with trauma, and how your world would be rocked if vampires were real. Don’t get me wrong, this did not bother me in the least—I thought this was a fantastic book, just one that’s tough to categorize. Staymon-London does an exceptional so job at creating a very realistic reaction to sexual trauma—please check your triggers—and I appreciated the resolution found through Tess confiding in Callum and Joanie as well as further actions taken. I also loved the queer love representation and diverse cast of characters (vampiric and not) in Fang Fiction. I would HIGHLY recommend this on audio. Amber Benson pulls off a full cast of dialects and inflections effortlessly and also humorously when needed. I am confident the book was even better because of her narration. I received this as an early copy, all opinions are my own.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Steam: 🪭 (open door, limited adjectives)
World building: 🔝

What would you do if you found out that the world of The Vampire Diaries was real? And not only was it real, but the main character has enlisted YOUR help to save one of the love interests?

I present to you: the plot of FANG FICTION.

This is kind of cringe, but also kinda awesome. And, honestly, I think if this book had more heavily leaned into the “cringe” aspect of the plot, it could have been a lot better. Or more com and less dram. And that’s saying something, since I’m usually a huge fan of emotional/heavy side plots. BUTTTT, in this scenario, recovering from a harrowing SA experience felt HEAVILY out of place contrasted against the likes of transporting yourself to a Temu-Damon Salvatore.

Subplot even put aside, I was shocked to find myself detached from this novel, considering how much I adored One to Watch. Here, however, the side characters blended together and the main character was interesting, but I also didn’t really care who she ended up with (I just wanted this girl to heal). Everyone was just kind of “meh.”

I had started, stopped, and re-started this book at least five times over the course of 5 months. And, even now that I’ve pushed myself to finish it, I can’t say I’m glad I did.

Perhaps it doesn’t help that I’ve probably read about a thousand alternate universe fanfictions with a similar premise, but this didn’t really bring anything original to the table. Plus, there are a lot of things that work in favor of fan fictions that didn’t work for this (or even a story loosely based around a book, e.g., Carry On.

For example, with a fan fiction you have a disposable set of characters that you’ve already grown to love as a reader from the get-go. Whereas with FANG FICTION, you’re expected to connect to the “love interests” because the main characters have this established connection to them.

The world building was cool and original (the most similar magic I could think of would perhaps be in The Mortal Instruments), but by having something entirely original, you’re investing your readers to imbue a lot of brain power into a rom-com that’s supposed to be a (very) light fantasy.

Finally, all the parts of this book put together just didn’t mesh well with one another. You have the outlandish (but cool!) idea of meeting your literary heroes, only for the book to ultimately be about recovery. In all honesty, I wanted this to be a lighthearted read and I could not put myself into such an emotional mindset. Overall, I’d best describe my feelings as: I’m happy with the conclusion of Tess’ HEALING journey, but not the overall journey it took to get there.

While I’m eternally grateful to Kate Stayman-London, Netgalley, and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book, I fear I found it to be a bit of a stinker.

Imagine your favorite fantasy series is more like a non-fic and one day you’re thrust into the center of it. A dream come true, right?

I wanted to love Fang Fiction more than I did, but this took me so long to get through I’m just going to get right to it: this wasn’t for me.

That said, there was a lot I genuinely enjoyed. The premise was irresistible—discovering that your favorite book series is real, meeting the characters you’ve long loved, and finding out that not everything bound in a couple hundred pages is the truth? Incredible! I also really enjoyed some of the different ways the fandom was included. The sprinkling of podcast transcripts and website posts was a refreshing change of pace.

However, there were enough drawbacks that made this a struggle for me. The writing felt inconsistent—sometimes smooth and interesting, other times stilted and awkward. The character dynamics had potential, and there were moments in the middle of the book where their chemistry felt believable. But as the story progressed, the relationships lost depth, and the characters themselves felt increasingly one-dimensional. The pacing also dragged in several places, making it difficult to stay engaged.


I liked where the author was trying to go with this, but it didn’t land for me.

Thank you to the author and Random House Publishing via NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Fang Fiction is an easy, entertaining read that embraces fandom culture with humor and heart. The premise is engaging, the writing is witty, and the book delivers plenty of fun, especially for readers who love stories about internet communities and the passionate world of fan fiction. It’s a lighthearted escape with a fast pace and plenty of pop culture nods that make it an enjoyable ride.

That said, the romance left me wanting more. It leaned too heavily into insta-love, making it hard to feel truly invested in the relationship. The chemistry felt rushed, and without enough build-up, the emotional stakes didn’t land as strongly as they could have. While the romance is meant to be a key part of the story, it often felt more like an afterthought compared to the book’s exploration of fandom, friendship, and self-discovery.

Despite that, Fang Fiction is still a fun, breezy read, perfect for when you want something light and engaging. It doesn’t quite hit the mark in terms of romance, but for fans of fandom-based stories, it’s still worth a read. Three stars!