Member Reviews
Fang Fiction is a unique blend of fantasy, romance, and social commentary. While the initial premise of a woman falling into her favorite book is familiar, the execution is fresh and thought-provoking.
The novel effectively explores themes of fan culture, escapism, and trauma recovery. The characters, particularly Tess and Callum, have complex dynamics and compelling backstories. The author’s use of humor and wit helps to balance the heavier themes.
However, the rapid pacing and numerous plot points can be overwhelming at times. The book could benefit from additional character development and a slower exploration of the world-building. Despite these shortcomings, Fang Fiction is an engaging read that will resonate with fans of the genre.
This book is insane -- basically, imagine your favorite Vampire Diaries superfan opens her door to Damon Salvatore asking for her help.
The premise of this book was so interesting to me and I love the cover! Unfortunately it fell flat for me, and I ended up DNFing about halfway through. I just couldn't get past the author naming the FMC in each sentence of the same paragraph. I would love to give this another chance if it goes through additional editing.
I enjoyed this, however, it needs a content warning! SA, panic attacks, trauma, PTSD. These triggers feel like they come out of left field and I was caught off guard because the overall vibe of this book is fun and angsty. Would definitely recommend putting in a warning!
If I was a vampire and the sun rose on me right now, I'd be dust because I'm too busy processing the yummy fantasy & mystery of this book.
Tess lives a predictable no-stakes (pun intended) life. She works nights at a hotel, escapes into her comfort rereads, participates in fandom online and maintains her peace by minimizing social risks. But then a vampire, straight from the pages of her favorite book, disrupts it all like shes Princess Leia telling Obi-Wan he's her only hope.
A magical quest ensues across dimensions to a vampire realm Tess only dreamed could be real. Yet, for all the scholarly knowledge of her favorite fictional vampires, nothing quite prepared her for the real thing. Villains keep her safe. Heroes threaten death. And she has to act fast to save them all.
*
You're picking up FANG FICTION for the lure of a villain vampire romance, but the standout for me is the world building and mysteries to solve. I need to reread as soon as possible to pick up on all the clues I missed.
I loved too the mixed media storytelling - Blood Feud exerpts, blog posts, text history, podcast transcripts. Its made for an immersive reading experience just like Tess herself fell into her own immersive save-vampirekind experience.
The romance was secondary for me. More so, I felt the romance served Tess' character development rather than be the primary objective of the book. From the beginning, the Author's Note even, I was prepared to be on Tess' schedule. We see her trauma responses on page. We see her protect herself from perceived and tangible threats to her safety. You can't start this book expecting or demanding a romance to proceed as you, the reader, want. Leave that behind and let love happen when trust is earned. When confidence is restored. And when passion for the future wins out over fear.
*
FANG FICTION is for dark romance readers looking for something campy and heartfelt. Its perfect for book clubs or buddy reads because you're gonna have theories that need to be shared.
Now if Kate Stayman-London wants to write and publish the Blood Feud books as a companion series, I am seated.
Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing & The Dial Press for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.
First thank you to Kate Stayman-London & Ramdom House for allowing me to read this ARC of Fang Fiction.
I’m currently in my vampire era so this seemed like a great read to get me more into the vampy/spooky vibes.
I really loved the plot of this. Sending a crap ton of vampires to an isle in another dimension and giving them no way out (or so they think) was such a unique idea! I loved all the plot twists and turns. Towards the end I was almost on the edge of my seat with how intense things were getting.
Unfortunately where the plot soared, the character development lacked. All the characters had one major trait about them and that was made their ENTIRE personality. The relationships fell flat and it felt unnatural how they went from disliking each other to madly in love the next second. It felt like it was trying to be an enemies to lovers but all the tension was taken out.
This was a cute read for anyone a fan of vampires and/or trying to slide into spooky season!
This was so much fun! Tess is living all of our dreams when she finds out the characters in her favorite books are real and gets the opportunity to visit their world, which happens to be a hidden isle full of dangerous vampires.
I loved how the magical world was incorporated into the modern world with the “Blood Feud” book fandom and the conspiracy theories about the vampires actually being real. There are things like podcast transcripts, text exchanges, and excerpts from Blood Feud which were a really fun way to break up the chapters.
While there were a lot of lighthearted moments, there were also heavier themes such as Tess’ trauma after being sexually assaulted and how she tries to get her life back. The vampires (especially one hot vampire love interest in particular) end up being a really important part of her story and I thought it was very well done. Highly recommend this to my fellow vampire romance lovers!
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This one was really cool & unique!
Fang Fiction follows Blood Feud fanatic Tess Rosenbloom after a low point in her life — she dropped out of school after a traumatic sexual assault shook her whole world up. She left her roommate bestie Joni without any explanation and begins working overnights at a hotel.
Blood Feud fans have heard the conspiracy theories that their favorite novels may actually be based more on the truth than anyone expected - there are vampires walking among them and these fictional characters truly exist. We have fun Buzzfeed quizzes, podcast transcripts, e-mails, texts and excerpts from Blood Feud to help us tell the story. Tess even wrote a piece that explored the possibility of this reality …
I love love loved this one! I had a lot of fun exploring this world and my heart really went out to Tess as she navigated life after her trauma. I think Twilight, Buffy, & What We Do In The Shadows fans will eat this up! Dig in!!
Thank you so much NetGalley & Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest feedback. I look forward to reading more from Kate Stayman-London.
OK gonna start this out buy saying I've never read twilight, vampire diaries, or buffy (except the original movie --RIP Luke Perry) but everything I heard about this was amazing including a Podcaster I love so I shot my shot and was approved and it did not disappoint. Tess is young woman dealing with some personal stuff and she gets into a vampire show (we've all been there for me it was greys anatomy) then she starts to find out about all these conspiracy theories that it's a real world (imagine a real Seattle Grace) one of the brooding vamps shows up at her door! This book has so much in it so much representation, queer, fandoms, friendships, books- I can't say I'm a twi-hard (is that a thing) but maybe I've been missing out all these years ) I loved this book Def recommend
Tess Rosenbloom is trying to remake her life after everything she work for reminded her of a traumatic experience. She loves to read her comfort book Blood Feuds and romanticize the hero Felix.
Tess is such an amazing FMC. She's trying to survive after trauma and then gets sucked into a world of vampires. Tessa finds her voice and the courage to belive in herself and other's through ac twist of events she never expected.
Fresh take on paranormal romance! Appreciated the author’s trigger warnings. Fun read if you liked Twilight or Vampire Diaries as a teen.
When Tess is invited to her favorite fictional place, with the characters she's read about, who is she to decline?
Tess loves the series Blood Feud, so much so that she dabbles online about whether or not vampires exist, and she doesn't believe they do until one walks through the door.
Fang Fiction makes for a delicious read to sink your teeth into! You get drama and romance, with vampires and smut! I could not put this read down until I devoured all of it!
This book was good! Was is my favorite, no. But it did get me into the fall mood! Great for seasonal readers who are looking to start transitioning into the Halloween reads!
What in the name of Buffy did I just read?
I love romances, I love vampires, and naturally I dig a good vampire romance. I am 100% the audience for this. So please believe me when I say that this is an unholy mess, and not the sexy kind of unholiness you can expect in the best vampire romances.
Most critically, the relationships here suck. Again, not in the good way. There are two romances a-bloomin’: the central one features Jess (human) and Callum (vampire), and on the side, we have Octavia (Callum’s twin and a vampire) and Joni (Jess’s former roommate and best friend). The characters are paper-thin. It’s a problem when the defining qualities of your main duo seem to her trauma and his ethnicity/nationality. Jess and Callum do things because the plot dictates it’s time to do things, including suddenly having feelings for each other. I wasn’t sure until halfway through the book who Jess was even supposed to be falling in love with, and then all of a sudden, he is ready to die for her? The book is all tell, no show.
Plot-wise, there is simply too much going on, leaving the plot feeling underbaked. It’s predictable, so you absolutely won’t be surprised when someone comes back from the dead or a magical item appears. There’s no consistent logic to the world-building—things just happen because it’s time for something to happen.
So, underdeveloped characters, underdeveloped plot. Fine. But I deeply disliked having a sexual assault being the primary motivator for the heroine, not the way it was done here. It forms her entire personality and was used to drive the plot forward in a way that felt lazy or cliché. She loves the vampire books because they helped her through her assault. The love interests are anchored by her rehashing of the assault. She decides to fight the bad guy because she doesn't want to feel like she did when she was assaulted. The way this was written just felt regressive.
There are great vampires romances, great contemporary rom-coms, and great adventure romances out there. Read one of them instead.
Thank you Kate Stamen-London and Netgalley for this arc.
Starting off, this book is very solid and I am so glad that I got to read it. I love vampires, I love when women get to know vampires. The book was fun and unique. The beginning is kind of slow and I was a little confused as to the different characters, but it wraps up nicely.
I wish that the characters were a little flushed out and I wish there was a deeper explanation about the vampires to the sexual assault and why the sa was important. Nonetheless, I am excited for this book to become published and I hope others like it as much as I do.
I can't wait to see what Stamen-London does with her career and the future books!
This was a fun book with a lot of adventure. I'm not a vampire person but that did not put me off or make me feel like I was missing something. This was a fun book to read at the beach, it didn't take too much effort to keep up with the plot and there was a lot going on at sometimes with a lot of characters coming in and out and having varying roles. I'm not sure I fully connected the lesson from the vampire adventure to the trauma she faced in grad school but maybe just getting some confidence back and sharing what happened to her with her friends from the time was enough.
I legit screamed when I was approved to read this!!
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House publishing for this ARC of Fang Fiction and for allowing me to read this before its release.
I am so so so glad I got the chance to read this. It is refreshing, tantalizing and hello Vampires!! I will say mind the warnings because there are some strong scenes in this book. Overall for me it’s a solid three out of five. I wish the characters were fleshed out a bit more but I enjoyed this and will most definitely be purchasing a physical copy!
"Fang Fiction" offers a unique reading experience with its integration of various media elements like book excerpts and podcast transcripts. While this creative approach adds an interesting layer to the story, it can become disjointed and challenging to follow as the novel progresses. It’s an inventive read, though a clearer indication of chapter perspectives and purpose would have enhanced the overall experience.
I loved this author's debut novel, One To Watch, so I had high hopes I would love this vampire novel, but unfortunately, this just couldn't hold my attention. Instead of being the good kind of cheesy, it just felt.....incomplete, or too cluttered by all the POVs and excerpts. I found the writing style/dialogue too immature and could never get invested in the characters.
This book was so much fun! It follows two friends who are big fans of a vampire book series, and they end up meeting their favorite characters from the story! There's sapphic romance, heterosexual romance, mystery, adventure, all in beautiful world building! This is definitely one of my favorite authors, her books bring such joy! Please see my TikTok review for more!