A rom-com that certainly kept me guessing! I thought some of the trauma elements were a little heavy-handed, but I still thoroughly enjoyed! As someone who was always more Twilight than Buffy, I still found so much to love in Fang Fiction! Recommended!

Have you ever wanted to jump inside your favorite novel? If your answer is yes, then Fang Fiction is a must-read! I’ve always been a vampire girlie, and I shamelessly devour any and all media pertaining to them. Needless to say, I have absolutely wanted to jump into the world of several books, movies, and shows. Fang Fiction scratched that itch for me and more!

The world of our MC’s favorite novel, Blood Feud, is real, and through a series of events, she ends up tangled in the world she has read about over and over. She has to work alongside Blood Feud’s villain to try to find a way to get him and the other vampires out of the world they are trapped in and back home. But what happens when she falls in love with one of the vampires from her beloved series? And can she work through the trauma she has experienced in her past to save herself and the characters she loves (and who just happen to be real)?

This was the most fun paranormal/fantasy rom-com that I’ve read in a long time! I loved the unique take on the vampire genre! Come on, we’re all readers here and we’ve all wanted to jump into our favorite books at some point! I suddenly have the need for more books like this. I also seriously appreciated the genius way the author tied in all of the Blood Feud lore without info-dumping! Seriously, it was such a unique and fun way to go about it! The attention to detail and world-building was descriptive and beautiful. I loved the romances, and not gonna lie, I’d totally read more about these characters. Overall, this was an amazing and seriously fun read as a self-proclaimed vampire nerd!

Also, the interview with the author and the book playlist at the end were spectacular touches! Kate, you’re a mastermind. (See what I did there?)

Thank you so much NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC! All opinions are my own.

I loved the premise and all of the pop culture references in Fang Fiction - especially the call out to the now defunct Six Brothers Diner in NJ. I really liked the ideas and the characters of this story, however I feel they all needed a little more time being fleshed out, and the Isle/fantastic settings needed more world building. As a NYC area native, no world building was truly needed for the human world. While I understand the inclusion of the fandom aspects, the bits of podcast felt a bit unnecessary, even with the quick link they got to one of the main characters, and would have been more successful as more buzzfeed/enews articles. All in all the story was enjoyable but felt a little shallow and needed more in depth development for the character and the worlds.

This fun read is a story within a story. Buffy fans will love this dark rom-com with LGBTQ+ major characters.

The protagonist, Tess Rosenbloom, had been a PhD student until she was assaulted. She is haunted by this experience when she stumbles into a fantasy world similar to her favorite guilty pleasure vampire novels. Now, she must take control of her own story and survival, which means assessing who she can trust, mend alliances, and fight back.

This novel kept me guessing who I could trust and what was next. Though the MC has been sexually assaulted, the author handles this topic sensitively and non-graphically. She also models consent, because consent is sexy.

I recommend this read if you are looking for a story you can bite into! Solid fang fun.

Thank you to Random House and Net Galley for the ARC.

#FangFiction #NetGalley

No, because this book had no business being this good. When I first read the blurb, I was bit skeptical because I’ve read arguably too many bad vampire urban fantasies but this was such a unique take on the genre.

The slow burn romance between Callum and Tess *chef’s kiss*

The intense, you’re annoying but I’m weirdly into you romance between Octavia and Jodi *chef’s kiss*

The story of hope and healing for our FMC *chef’s kiss*

The sexy, misunderstood villain *chef’s kiss*

The lovable side characters *chef’s kiss*

The unique world-building and magic system *chef’s kiss*

The reveal of the author had me shocked but it was honestly perfect. The only slight is that the ending felt a bit rushed and anti-climatic. I wish we saw more of Tess and Jodi resolving things instead of just being told it happened.

Thank you to Kate Stayman-London, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for this e-arc of Fang Fiction in exchange for an honest review!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Received as an arc from Netgalley.
What happens when your favourite vampire novel is based on real vampires? This is what happens to Tess when she finds herself inside her favourite novel Blood Feud.

I found the concept of this book unique compared to other vampire stories I've read in the past. I enjoyed Tess as a character to begin with, although she seemed to lose her way midway through.

The pop culture references were appreciated, it made me curious to read Kate's first novel as it takes place in the world of reality tv.

I am such a love of vampire television and lore that I had to request this book.

What worked for me so well was Tess’s backstory and her real world relationships. I enjoyed the interactions with the vampires and the dual stories with Joni and Octavia versus Callum and Tess.

What didn’t work for me was the added stuff. The extra pieces like the podcast and chapters of the book pulled me out of the story and were extremely repetitive. There was one point where a couple chapters before they talked about how Felix was big mad about being not as favored as Callum and Octavia by Konstantin, only to have another chapter from the Blood Feud books repeat all that information.

It was just not tight with plot and consistency along with pacing. Characters were excellent, but this felt like a first draft that was pieced together rather than a final novel. It was fun and I would recommend it to people, especially if they are obsessed with vampire shows, but it just missed the mark to be my favorite.

Thank you so much Netgalley and the Publisher for a chance to read this eARC!

The minute I saw this book I knew I wanted to read it. Thank goodness it did not disappoint! It has a great, unique spin on vampires and is so much fun!

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing for this eArc!

This book was great! It was such a unique and different
on any vampires book I’ve read and I loved the modern world twist with the book tie in!

I do wish the relationship development with the MMC and her love interest would have a little more depth. I found myself wanting more! However, I still loved the book and I am really hoping there will be another in the series!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Random House Publishing for the ARC of Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London.

I really liked the concept of the book - a young woman being able to enter the world of her favorite vampire romantasy novel for an adventure with love affairs and intrigue and life changing possibility.

Unfortunately, I really struggled with the writing style within the first few chapters - and not just parts that I think will be corrected because this is an ARC. From my reading, I was actually surprised to see Stayman-London had previously published a book that was nominated for several awards because the prose of Fang Fiction felt so immediately entry level. I was further shocked because oh my god, she is so accomplished! Writing for Obama, Malala, Anna Wintour, Hilary Clinton --- wow, wow, and wow. I don't know why for me her talents just did not translate for me in Fang Fiction. The prologue is just an info dump / complete telling not showing. I know it's trying to lead us into a time jump, but it reads in a very rote fashion, "Tess got into Columbia. Tess ate sandwiches. Tess talked about Dickens. Tess moved out."

There are also whole conversations with multiple exclamation points and question marks and exclamatory statements that are a huge pet peeve of mine - it makes it hard to take the story seriously. I saw another few reviews mention that the novel just feels like someone writing fan fiction, and I am in 100% agreement there. That's not a bad thing, there's a reason so many fan fictions have become international best sellers and global movies/tv shows/phenomena. It's just, not the flow I needed from what I thought the book would be.

Past that, which I could have pushed through, I think I'm unintentionally the wrong person to review this novel. I have worked in higher education for 15 years, including as the head of a student conduct office, which meant I dealt directly with Title IX cases like Jess's for three years. And I truly appreciate the trigger warning at the beginning of the novel, but the way parts of that are discussed with how the university handles them are not in line with national best practice and writing them this way, to my mind, is actually harmful to readers. Some of the things said by people in faculty roles are also violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). I currently manage a PhD program of over 150 students, and the conversations around that are also far from the norm. I can't get out of my work brain for that entire integral part of the novel, and so that whole story line just completely ripped me from enjoying the novel itself. I like to be far away from my work when I read.

Because of my own bias/concerns here, I'm going to give this 3 stars, but I would give it 1 otherwise.

4 stars.

I haven't read a vampire story in a while so this one was definitely a good palate-cleanser. I would consider this a cleaner read compared to other popular rom-com books that I've read (especially off of booktok). It is still very cute. The author does an excellent job at giving both Callum and Tess and Octavia and Joni's stories equal attention while connecting everything together. I also really loved the description of the Isle and feel like it's illustrative enough for somebody to draw out.

The characters were also well-written. However, I found myself caring more about Joni and Octavia compared to the main character because their dynamic was just better, and I believe they should get their own book. I even liked the side characters like Sylvie, Flora, and Hamish. I enjoyed reading Tess's story but, her actions got sort-of 'predictable' at one point. I also wish that we had gotten to see more of Felix because I thought his character was really interesting. However, I liked that there was an air of mystery in this book that kept the reader hooked.

For me, the only real drawback was the transportation. It was a minor detail that stumped me, but I don't understand why the vampires didn't just use glamour some transportation rather than fast-walking.

This book was a humorous read that gave off mystical vibes alongside humor, romance, and a nice plot.

Also, thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for sending me an e-book ARC.

I ended up not finishing this one, stopped at 71%. I was initially very excited for this book, and was drawn in by the first third. But somewhere around the halfway point I realized I didn’t care at all about Tess or Callum, and was only interested in the story when Joni and Octavia. The backstory with Felix and Constantin took way too long to flesh out.
I enjoyed the small pieces of texts, podcasts, etc before some of the chapters, they were very fun.
I did not enjoy the very pointed descriptions of the characters based on current celebrities. I definitely prefer to imagine my own faces/bodies for each character and not have them so cut and dry.
I wanted to like this book. Maybe I’ll come back to it at some point and it will click. But it’s just not there for me currently.

A huge thanks to Kate Stayman-London, Random House Publishing Group, and NetGalley for this arc of Fang Fiction in exchange for an honest review.

Fang Fiction is a modern vampire novel where our FMC Tess Rosenbloom winds up in alternate dimension of her favorite fantasy novel.. that's not quite fantasy. It turns out Tess's favorite novel is real, and her fictional crush and the story's villain aren't quite who she thought they were. Tess is looking for an escape to try and heal from some of her past trauma, and visiting her favorite story to try and help some of her favorite characters seems like the perfect opportunity.

I though this story was fun and fresh. The pop culture references were very smart and made me laugh out loud frequently. I loved the LGBTQ+ representation. However, I just did not feel attached to the characters. I felt a bit bored, because I wasn't really rooting for anyone and the romance happened so quickly. The plot was a bit predictable, which I think is OK in a story like this. Overall, fun story.

This was such a unique vampire book and overall, fun. However, I didn’t absolutely love it. I didn’t really have any strong attachments to the characters and I found it a little slow in places. Having said that, I think a lot of people would enjoy this book. It just wasn’t necessarily for me. But check it out if you enjoy funny vampire books!

Thank you to Random House Publishing for the Netgalley ARC!!

This was a breath of fresh air. I really enjoyed the quirky plot, it's really every Twilight fans dream come to life. I enjoyed the body inclusivity and how it wasn't made a huge plot point. The characters were interesting, though, I didn't find the chemistry between the two MC's very convincing. This is definitely a good read, just not 5 stars.

If you're in your modern day vampire era, this book is for you! This book scratches the entertaining, campy vampire trope itch but also touches on some heavy stuff that provides depth to the characters. I highly recommend this fun book! I devoured it in one sitting!

Fang Fiction was a truly original and modern vampire novel. Set between two dimensions, New York City and The Isle, Tess escapes her life in NYC in order to help the vampires of her favorite series, Blood Feud.

The format in which author Kate Stayman-London wrote Fang Fiction (including excerpts of Blood Feud novels, podcasts, and internet references) made the world building and character development enjoyable.

Please be sure to read the Author’s Note prior to reading Fang Fiction. As fun as the concept for Fang Fiction is, there is depth as characters have experienced and are healing from trauma.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Random House, and Dial Press Trade Paperback in an advanced copy of Fang Fiction in exchange for my honest review.

Review posted on Goodreads following reading on 5/19/2024.

One of the funnest and most original concepts I've read in ages. 10 million stars for that.

But the book has a very heavy and dark side to it with trauma that Tess has experienced and her resulting PTSD. The author does have a warning at the start of the book.

It's almost like two books in one. I signed up for the campy vampire book not a survivor's healing journey.

Just be aware going into this book. That being said, I definitely recommend it and would love if these characters made a return appearance.

I received a complimentary e-copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. Thank you, Random House Publishing Group.

Who hasn't dreamed of becoming a main character in their favorite book? Well in Fang Fiction, main character Tess gets to live out all of our collective fantasies when she discovers that her favorite series of vampire romance books are actually based on real life vampires! Tess quickly gets sucked into a whole new dimension and learns that the real people her favorite characters are based on are a whole lot more complex than they seem.

This book feels like a huge love letter to fandoms, pop culture, and all the girls who were maybe a little too invested in the Edward v. Jacob debate (I'm calling out myself with this post, team vampires for life 🧛🏻). Crossing my fingers that this isn't the last that we see of Callum, Tess, Joni, and Octavia 🤞🏻

Thank you NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group, Dial Press, and Kate Stamen-London for giving me an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review! 🥰

ARC Review-

This was definitely an interesting concept for a book. I did find it entertaining to read at parts, but thought that it did read like a fan fiction.

I thought the modern day vampire idea was a fun one to explore. And I appreciated Tess’ growth and healing journey after her ordeal. I thought the author handled the topic with gentle care. Hamish was definitely my favorite side character with his wit and one liners.

Overall, it was entertaining but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to people.