This a book that took me by surprise as I did not think that I’d actually enjoy it, but surprisingly I did!

This took me a long time to get through. I really wanted to enjoy the story but the “quirky” chapter introductions were not it, and caused me to skip a lot. The story was oddly paced, and it was very formulaic. But not in a fun “romcom” way that I was given the impression of from the ARC.

Thanks NetGalley and the Author for the arc.

FANG FICTION was a unique and fun vampire read, but was a little over the top and didn’t live up to the author’s debut novel. The story felt long and meandering at times, and wished it was overall a bit shorter, but was still an enjoyable read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dial Press for the opportunity to read and review FANG FICTION.

"Fang Fiction" starts at a low point in Tess' life. She's working as a night manager at a bougie hotel and estranged from her best friend after she was sexually assaulted and dropped out of grad school. She's thrown herself into her favorite vampire book series as she lives in this liminal space, only to be forced out of it when she learns the characters and premise are real.

The plot summary should sound heavy because it is. "Fang Fiction" is a strange juxtaposition between heavy topics like sexual assault, trauma and PTSD paired with something intended to be a rom-com? There's almost a bit of whiplash in the constant back-and-forth. I often needed a moment to catch up that the author didn't provide.

I wanted "Fang Fiction" to be so painfully cheesy that it's addictive, i.e., "Twilight," "Vampire Diaries," etc. Tongue and cheek humor, sassy main character, hot and mysterious love interest… That's what the cover gives off. Unfortunately, that's not what we get and it's actually quite the opposite. It's messy and not in a way one would hope. There's simply too much happening throughout. The reader is introduced to these real-world traumas but also has to figure out the established lore of this book series. Plus, there are timeline jumps, four different POVs and interstitial media ranging from Reddit posts to Yelp reviews and Snapchat text. These stylistic choices start before we get into the meat of the story, which feels disjointed and distracted from the story's heart. There are simply too many moving parts that undercut what worked here.
Also, Octavia and Callum felt way too close with their relationship bordering on incestual. I repeatedly felt like the twins were more interested in each other than either of their love interests.

"Fang Fiction" is a unique and interesting concept — and that cover!!! However, it just didn't work for me in this form. Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

P.S. I AM SO OVER TAYLOR SWIFT REFERENCES IN BOOKS. It's become common in contemporary romance/romcom books and feels overdone and cliche. These "Easter eggs" are alienating for someone who isn't a regular Taylor Swift listener.

3.5

This is, without a doubt, written for fanfiction girlies. If you’ve been in the trenches of AO3, or even the before times of FFN, then you know the fic where an OC falls into their favorite fandom, learns the characters are real, and goes on an adventure. (you also most likely know that it’s a crack fic, but it’s so entertaining you’re unlikely to put it down.)

This is so fun. Thank you so much for both a digital and print arc of this. I have several lines (and paragraphs) underlined, tabbed, and my copy is well loved from being read in one sitting.

I wish this book focused purely on Tess and Callum though. I can’t lie; I didn’t connect with Octavia and Joni as much despite wanting to. It’s a little all over the place. It makes for a fast pace read in the second half of the book but I will say I’m somewhat confused by the final act. There’s a lot going on, honestly. The mesh of the fictional world colliding with the real one creates a jumble.

I love it for the nostalgia of fandom, while disliking it for being tedious to keep track with.

Fang Fiction is fun, not at all serious, and an easy way to pass the time.

Fang Fiction is written as an easy read but deals with some heavy topics. It does a good job handling the topics but I wish the novel was more clear on what it was about before opening the book.

The novel includes lots of different media within the chapters such as Blood Flued book segments, podcast transcripts, and more. This was really fun at first but by the end I was skipping reading them as they felt disjointed and disconnected from the rest of the story. These segments also made it difficult to tell whose POV the chapter was from. I wish there had been a better indicator going into each chapter.

Overall, the novel was a creatively done and a unique story!

I was provided an advanced copy of this book, courtesy of the publisher and author via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

(3.5 stars rounded up to 4)

Ex-PhD candidate, Tess Rosenbloom is now *just* the night manager at a hotel who keeps re-reading their fav series: Blood Feud. Well, she did have an article on Buzzfeed go viral about the fan-spiracy that the vamps in Blood Feud were really trapped in another dimension that was roughly located atop of Manhattan. Other than that, her life is mostly spent day-sleeping, regretting lost friendships and trying to avoid dealing with a traumatic event she experienced while in grad school.

Tess's life is forever changed when a vampire waltzes into the hotel and proves the conspiracy real. Tess must team-up with the vamp and help her reunite with her twin - the notorious Callum. As Tess travels to unknown territory, she'll learn there is a lot to learn and unlearn about her favorite series. Fang Fiction is an ode to fandom, friendship and finding yourself post-trauma.

What a fun world to spend some time in. This brought back some amazing memories of writing fanfiction myself, and I loved the way Stayman-London was able to incorporate lots of nods (and direct worldbuilding!) to fandom. It’s imaginative, fun, and feels a little different from some of the fantasy currently out there, in the best way.

There's a bit too much happening in Fang Fiction, tonally and plot wise. Tonally, you have a fairly silly and fun paranormal adventure/romance in New York City on the one hand, and a serious and sensitive treatment of rape and its aftermath on the other, and the two don't quite mesh - which is not to say that they could not, but there's a jarring quality to how the story moves from one to the other (I will say that this could be intentional or meant to represent how such trauma is experienced, but it doesn't quite feel that way). Plot wise, the story feels crowded and overstuffed. I think this is partially due to the book not knowing quite what it wants to be: it is marketed as a romance, but the romance was the least interesting and memorable part to me. In all honesty, it felt like one of those older supernatural adventure movies where we get a perfunctory romance subplot that feels more obligatory than fully realized.
Overall, I think Fang Fiction needed either (a) to lean away from the romance and into the paranormal adventure aspect with a more fleshed out world, characters, and conflict and properly relegate the romance to a subplot, (b) simplify and consolidate the nonromance plots and focus more on developing the main romantic leads and their connection, or (c) just be much longer to be able to develop both aspects sufficiently.

Thank you very much to Dial Press and NetGalley for approving this arc.

Unfortunately the author's note mentions that this story is of a sexual assault survivor and it seems like that's a fairly pervasive theme in the book. This is not a good time in my life to dive in to this type of story, so I'll be putting it on the back burner until spooky season when I'm more equipped to read it; and I'll update my review at that time.

Perhaps some trigger warnings would be good to post on the request page in future?

Thank you Net Galley and publishers for letting me read an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book, I didn't love it. The premise was fun, but there's been better written books about fictional book characters that are actually real living amongst humans. I loved the characters but didn't really connect with any of them. They were fun and likeable but I feel like I didn't really know them too well. And the bad characters from the vampires to "nice guy" Rick were kinda let off easy. I didn't get the closure that I wanted from Rick being expelled. It was just a tiny little blurb, nothing more, like it didn't even matter. It was nice that Tess learned who she was and she got her best friend back, but I wanted to know more about the side characters like Sylvie and Hamish. It was overall enjoyable but felt kinda rushed and weak writing.

This book was absolutely hilarious. It was such a unique twist to have the book characters be real vampires. I loved Tess' adventures on the Isle. I guessed pretty quickly who the mystery writer was, but it was still fun to read. This one did deal with some serious topics that I felt were a little weirdly placed.

I really liked this one. I loved Kate Stayman-London's debut book so I was super excited to find this here and even more excited when I was approved! I dove into this not really knowing what to expect and I was not disappointed. It was much different than her first book but I ended up loving it. It probably could have been shorter; it seemed to drag in places, but I'm not sure what could have been cut out. Four stars.

Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London is a wildly funny vampire adventure. I laughed so often while reading this- Tess is a wickedly funny protagonist who is really just trying her best in every situation. I loved her friendship with Joni, and the way that we see that relationship change throughout the novel. I also thought the shifting perspective was really well done- it felt necessary, and gave me a really nice picture of what was happening outside of Tess’ point of view. The little pieces of “found” media at the beginning of each chapter were really fun, too! I looked forward to seeing what each one was going to be and figuring out how it fit into the larger puzzle of this novel. Honestly, there wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about this novel- it was a fun read, and something that I would definitely pick up again! Many thanks to NetGalley, Kate Stayman-London, and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC!

Oh, “Fang Fiction” was so fun! I loved her first novel, and this one will have a special place in my heart too. Perfect for fan fiction lovers, vampire enthusiasts, and anyone who likes a fun romp!

I want to like this so badly but the narrative was just so all over the place and the characters read so much than they are. I found myself having to go back and remember characters because there was such a lack of focus here.

This book combined very heavy topics (SA, PTSD) with the lightness of a fictional world of vampires that turns out to be real. I loved the fandom of the Blood Feud series integrated throughout the book. The vampire world is over the top but I enjoyed that it was kind of ridiculous and tropey like some mega popular fantasy series are.

Imagine the world of your favorite fantasy novels is real, and you’re invited to visit. The only catch? It’s filled with thirsty vampires. Fang Fiction is an exciting enemies-to-lovers story with forced proximity that kept me hooked from start to finish! If you loved Bride by Ali Hazlewood, you would adore this.

Tropes:
-Slow Burn
-Enemies to lovers
-Forced Promoitity
-Hurt/Comfort

Arc received from the publisher; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was cute and quick! I enjoyed how it was a bit silly and campy, didn't take itself too seriously.

My biggest issue was with the het romance - I felt like it just progressed far too quickly. She went from not trusting him to suddenly trusting him 100%. Gave me a bit of emotional whiplash.

The sapphic romance was really great though! It progressed much more naturally and felt more real and likely. Truly, Joni and Octavia are iconic.

I appreciated how well the author handled the SA and the realism of the impact it had on Tess.

I don't know that all of the "interludes" (the podcast transcripts, text transcripts, etc.) were really necessary. Some of them were funny, but often times I felt jarred out of my reading flow and didn't enjoy them.

Opening this book and the first line I read being a quote that my heart recognized before my brain did was awesome. It might have also led me to realize that I am, at heart, a lover of bad boys #Spuffyforever and what a way to set the scene for this story!

Fang Fiction is such a fun and interesting read that as soon as I finished it, I was already planning on reading it again. You really get to know all the characters in a way that makes you feel like you’re right there with them in the story, and I loved every second of it. Reading this book feels like the type of gossip session you have after you get a “You’re never going to believe this,” text from your best friend out of the blue and then they spill tea that has you both screeching and unravel truths that you’re still reeling from days later.

I will admit that when I read the synopsis I was worried I would struggle to suspend my disbelief because how is a hotel manager the only one that can save the vampires? But once I started reading, I never questioned it again because I was too busy devouring it!
As a lover of all things vampire, I can truly say this book is everything Twilight wishes it was. The pacing is perfect, I loved how real the storyline was.

I do have to say thank you to Kate Stayman-London for writing this book that fed my reality tv and gossip loving brain but also for writing about so many important things.

P.S. Tell your agent that this book wouldn’t be half as good without the jokes because Fang fiction is now my #1 standalone for 2024💖

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to write an honest review of the ARC for Fang Fiction!

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice: 🌶️/5