This book was CUTE and steamy. Mr favorite parts were every time Alaric opened his mouth and the most poetic romantic words came out. I was a little confused by all of the characters and the background stories. I had to look up the authors other series to understand there was a lot of background info I was not aware of, having not read her other series. But overall would definitely recommend this series to a friend!! The perfect romantic vampire story.

What a fun premise! Winnie is a professional organizer with some scars on her heart but an optimistic attitude and a genuine desire to help people. Lord Alaric Valerian is an artistic perfectionist who wants a quiet life alone in his castle (minus Reginald, his loyal thrall of course). In preparation for a dreaded visit by his mother, Alaric hires Winnie to make his home presentable for a ball. They both get more than they expected with instant attraction and a sweet romance that builds over a few weeks.

There were a lot of little details to both Winnie and Alaric that made them imperfect and more realistic. Despite Alaric’s protectiveness, he really was a sweetheart. And I liked Reginald’s character and role in the home as Alaric’s “thrall”, gradually modernizing their lifestyle. It was a fun and no-to-serious take on the genre.

Most of the time though, it seemed like there was just too much on the page without anything actually happening. There were a lot of characters and superfluous information in an attempt at building the series, but the primary story felt like it got lost and bogged down. This 586 page book felt like it would have been better at 400. The plot could have benefited from more focus on the sleuthing and having a better romantic resolution to the third act breakup.

If you are looking for a romantasy that is a mixture of "Twiligt" minus teenagers and "Murder, she wrote" placed in modern times with a very good written spice, this is a book for you!

I was so confused how to rate "Fangs for nothing". When I first started reading it, I thought it was written by 15 year old me as an attempt of a vampire romance. But the book actually turned out to be very good!

The characters are mature, they are not kids or in their early twenties so they deal with the problems in a refreshing way. Of course there are drama, insecurities and mental health issues, but all of them try to change and evolve into a better person. The ladies in the book club are awesome and I need to read more about them. All the characters are lovable. The jokes are on point and I love all the references. I also very much love the way we learn how hard can it be for people to have a mental disorder that looks ridiculous and not serious enough.

Sometimes the development of the story was a bit rushed in my opinion - a situation changes so quickly that I didn't find it believable, but I was not bored at all, not for a moment! I think the cover is beautiful and it depicts the energy of the story quite well.

Thank you to Steffanie Holmes for an eARC in exchange of my honest opinion!

I adore the Nevermore Bookshop Mysteries series (which I haven't finished yet) and was so excited to realize there was a spinoff happening!
I got a few things spoiled for the rest of the main series (nothing major) and that's totally on me, but I do feel things might get confusing for someone who jumps right into Fangs for Nothing.

I devoured the first fifty percent of the book in one day, I truly couldn't put it down! Alaric was dreamy and I love me a broody but kind vampire! Winnie was very similar to Mina as a character, and I couldn't help but make comparisons. The book club meetings and group chats were hilarious.
But then, after Winnie found out about Alaric, I felt like so many new plot points were being added all at once and I unfortunately lost interest.
The wit and humour and pop culture references were fun and engaging, but they started taking me out of the narration and Winnie and Alaric's relationship.
It truly breaks my heart to say it, but it's going to be a dnf for me (for now! there is totally a chance I will return to this book in the future). That being said, I will 100% be continuing the NBM series, as three books in I was truly enjoying every minute.

I'm settling on a three-star rating because I truly enjoyed the first part of the book!

This was my first Steffanie Homles book so I had no idea what to expect but I was not disappointed! I am newer to the romantasy genre and this definitely kept me interested. A fun and balanced mix of fantasy, romance, and suspense!

Delightful cozy spooky romance, loved the authors writing style it reminded me of Molly harper, witty with just the right amount spice, there were a lot of characters but I enjoyed that it makes the universe feel authentic!

Too many backstories, too many side characters. I enjoyed the romance, when the book actually felt focused on it. I really liked the two main characters, which is why it annoyed me when the story felt focused elsewhere. Too many irons in the fire.

Oh this book… I enjoyed it quite a bit in the beginning. It felt fresh and tongue in cheek. I liked Winnnie and Alaric. But the longer it went on (and oh gosh was it long) the more convoluted it felt. I didn’t realize this book was a spin off from a previous series that had a very large cast, so when there was suddenly 8+ additional characters introduced with complex backgrounds introduced they were hard for me to keep track of. I wish Fangs for Nothing had been paired down to just the fake dating storyline because that’s where it shined. Everything else just weighed it down and drew it out. There was just too much going on by the end and I found myself less and less invested as the chapters wore on… I do not think it is a series I will be returning to sadly.

I enjoyed this book SO much! This story focuses around Winnie Preston who is a professional cleaner. After recovering from a nasty breakup where her ex fiancé is now with her best friend since Kindergarten, Winnie is trying to do her best to recover. She finds herself at a bar one evening when a man starts harassing her and won't take no for an answer. A handsome vampire named Alaric steps up and stops the harassment and he shares a passionate kiss with Winnie who doesn't know he's a vampire.


Winnie thought this would be the last time she ever met him, but as it turns out he ends up becoming a client of hers and she must help clean his castle for a party that he is hosting. As the two spend more time together, they start to develop very strong feelings for each other. As much as they try to resist, their relationship does blossom. Their love is forbidden amongst vampires, but love always prevails. They do have some bumpy patches along the way due to each other's traumatic pasts. Eventually Winnie does learn that he is a vampire and learns more about his culture and family.

Winnie also has a close group of friends through a book club that they host. Her friends also have some supernatural secrets of their own. She later learns all about her friends and they become even more close as well.

There are some very passionate and spicy scenes between Alaric and Winnie that were lovely. They really captured the emotions and bond between the two. Overall, this is easily one of my favorite reads this year!

Thank you to Netgalley, Bacchanalia House, and Steffanie Holmes for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The perfect mixture of magic, romance, self discovery! Loved Winnie and Alaric. I hadn't read any of Steffanie Holmes' other novels but was pleased to see peripheral characters have their own series!

This may be closer to 3.5 but I rounded up. I love vampire, werewolves and witches so I saw this on NetGalley and had to go for it. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC! Woohoo, just in time for Ocotber.

This read a little slow for me. I kept getting distracted so I had to focus back up and read. As a whole, this is way different from most other vampire books I’ve read so I loved the fresh take. The book club, Winnie being a professional organizer and Alaric “collecting” hobbies was truly a treat. There’s a little bit of mystery too! I was drawn into this book as I read and the way it ended! How dare you!

The premise, Winnie is hired to help Alaric clean out his castle in preparation for a ball his mother is throwing. Alaric is very much the reclusive vampire type and Winnie is the professional organizer coming from a rough relationship with her mother and a resent breakup/betrayal. Winnie and Alaric bring out so many good things in eachother and one thing leads to another…but it’s obviously complicated.

As a whole, I’m excited for the next books…there HAS to be more!! We learn so many tidbits from the book club members so I know things are about to go down! Excited to see what happens in this world.

3.25 stars

This was a really intriguing premise and I did find the characters absolutely delightful. The representation of mental health was realistic for the characters and I think well done without making anyone villainous, they are all still very multi-dimensional characters, they aren’t pigeon-holed into their illness being their defining characteristic. In general this is a book with so much necessary representation of differently abled to race, gender and sexual orientation. And in each of those characters none of it feels token or over emphasized, they are simply one facet of the character.

This did feel a little insta-love to me but Alaric is such a clueless little golden retriever I’d probably instantly fall in love with him too. Especially if there was a Reginald in the background making me delicious hot chocolate every evening. It was fun to see an out-of-touch with the modern world vampire. Another trope that isn’t a favorite of mine is the 3rd act breakup but I appreciated the complex feelings both Winnie and Alaric were having and it felt valid and authentic for their situation. It didn’t feel like it was used to include unnecessary dramatics but was really used as a self-reflection and growth catalyst.

To be honest my favorite part of the story was the girlfriends, the Nevermore Bookshop Murder and Smutty Book Coven are the real stars of this story. I now know that there is a series about them and I will definitely be putting it on my TBR, but you don’t have to have read them to follow this plot. There are references to the women’s histories but all of them are recounted enough to understand what’s going on but not in so much detail that the story felt stalled or disjointed.

I did think the story dragged on a bit, and it still wasn’t quite clear if they actually apprehended the murderer they were searching for. The Celeste bit just muddled the plot direction for me. Claire and Patrick magically showing up in this small town was just too coincidental for me. I don’t necessarily think it added much to the plot or even Winnie’s character development. Not even going to get into the reveal between Arabella and Gideon because I still am confused about that.

Overall I enjoyed the characters and I will be looking for more books by Stephanie Holmes in the future.

st POV (present) / 2 POVs / medium-length chapters / Trigger warnings (TW) below

🏰 hot murderous vampires, orgasmic bite
🏰 fake dating, insta-lust
🏰 old gothic castle "This is a castle that has seen some shit"
🏰 murder mystery
🏰 "my wife" dirty talk
🏰 characters who actually know how to communicate "I didn't want to leave without giving him a chance to explain."

❤️‍🩹 mental illness healing journey (PTSD, hoarding) – HUGE part of the story
📚Book club: group of girly friends (who may or may not have superpowers and are (good) amateur detectives) who are always there for you. <3 I didn't know they had their own series!!

● I loved Alaric and how absolutely clueless he is when it comes to modern technology (and his passionate hatred for it), I'm also relieved that his speech reflected that and he actually talked like someone who's a few centuries old (in a good way ☺️, my boy is trying his best). Also, his character growth was fantastic!
● I was really worried that I'll hate Winnie because she was this cringy clean queen but since we actually got to see beneath that superficial image, her character had depth and was very likable.
● I think the book has a good ratio of spice and plot and the pacing was perfect. I wouldn't classify it as erotica but a romance with explicit sexual scenes.
● The text messages at the beginning of each chapter were a genius idea!
● Can we PLEASE normalize the words dick and pussy? (shaft, swollen bud, mound,... give me the ick)

Can't wait for A Grave Mistake. 🥰

Trigger warnings: PTSD (hoarding), murder, sexual harassment (MMC saves the day; (view spoiler)), infidelity (not MMC, mentioned a lot (view spoiler)), blood, swearing

"Worship me," I manage to breathe.
"Good girl," he growls.

This was such a fun book! It had way more mystery than I expected, which was a nice surprise. Lots of the classic tropes, such as fake dating, which are done pretty well.
The main character, Winnie, had a lot of depth and it was great to see her work through her trauma. Alaric was a swoon-worthy love interest.

The story did feel slightly too long, and there were a few mistakes which were distracting. Some of the romantic elements felt like they took a while to get into, and once there it was a bit rushed. But overall this is an entertaining book, perfect for this time of year! It was my first book by Steffanie Holmes, I’ll definitely be looking for more.

With Halloween just around the corner, this book is an absolute MUST READ! The slow burn was sizzling, and the characters were unique, quirky, and so much fun. The plot kept me on my toes, with no dull moments in sight.

From the very first page, I was hooked, and it didn’t let me go until the end.

This was my first time reading anything by this author, and I’ve instantly fallen in love with their writing style!

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

#FangsforNothing #NetGalley.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

This, in general, was a pretty enjoyable read. It's a contemporary paranormal rom-com style featuring Winnie, a human, and Alaric, a vampire. Winnie has been hired to help organise Alaric's castle in preparation for the ball his mother wants to hold (which he doesn't). Hundreds of years have led Alaric to pursue numerous artistic interests, all of which litter the castle. Winnie is a professional organiser, driven by her need for tidiness that stems from a childhood growing up in a hoarder's home. That's also left plenty of trauma on her.

Alaric doesn't want to deal with a human but slowly becomes enamoured with her...even though it's against vampiric law for a vampire and a human to be together. Winnie is still struggling with her hoarding mum and getting over her ex-fiancé, who cheated on her with her best friend. She finds friendship in the ladies of the Nevermore book store, who have a book club/amateur detective hobby that Winniw ends up involved in. This is important, as someone in the village has been killed, and they want to find out who did it.

Overall, this was pretty enjoyable. Despite the light-hearted plot and vampires, it did deal with some serious psychological traumas, such as hoarding and why people hoard. It also discusses the trauma left on those who have to live with hoarders, and I also think it touched upon the depression Alaric has experienced on and off.

Alaric was a very polite vampire, which you'd expect for someone who's a few centuries old. He's also surprisingly open to Winnie's job, much to her relief, and his Thrall, Reginald, makes a mean hot chocolate. The growth of Winniw learning to open herself up to people and let them in, both romantically and platonically, is pleasing to see alongside her acknowledging her issues and shortcomings. Alaric does much the same, so there's a surprising amount of personal growth in a book about a fake engagement with a vampire.

My only issue was that this book felt too long. There were plenty of points that I would've cut out to shorten it down, and I found myself drifting away from it at times. A leaner book would probably have felt better in comparison, but that's not much of a criticism overall!

3.75 stars

I'm torn with this book. I enjoyed the first 40% but then it dragged on. The book felt longer than necessary and it's a series!!

The characters are all fun but Winnie started to annoy me. The fact he was a vampire could have been written in neon lights and she would have just ignored it and found it unusual. She also needed to get a backbone. The rest of the characters were holding this book together for me.

The hoarding was done really well. Especially how it affects not just the hoarder, but also the people closest to them.

I loved the coven/book club the best! They were a nice break between the love story.

3.5 rounded up

Winnie is a professional organizer. She grew up with a hoarder mother and has a whole bunch of trauma from that which seems to have manifested in some issues of her own and led to her career as an organizer. She's hired to help organize the castle of a vampire (she doesn't know this right away) who has been alive for centuries and packed his castle with crap all the while.

Winnie is a bit of a wet napkin character. Everyone in her life walks all over her and treats her like crap, and she's just kind of sat back and taken it for ages. It was irritating reading all the texts she was receiving from her clueless hoarder mother, self-absorbed business partner, and POS best friend. She never really stands up for herself, and it's grating. Like, if your best friend from kindergarten had an affair with your fucking fiance behind your back, how is this bitch able to text you? Why is this shit not blocked? Why are you just sighing and doing all the bitch work while your business partner does essentially nothing and enjoys all the spoils? Irritating. Made it hard to respect her.

The beginning had a lot of try-hard sassy dialogue that was honestly kind of cringey and over the top. The author is actually good at writing sassy/funny banter, but it was just too much for me.

There were a few places, which I of course did not bookmark, where the tense changed midsentence, and it was a bit jarring.

I find the misunderstanding trope to be irritating when you have a character who is not allowed to explain themselves, and explaining themselves would completely avert the conflict. Winnie storms off in a histrionic huff, jumps to all sorts of conclusions, and it was kind of out of character IMO.

The book is a spin-off from another series the author wrote which I haven't read. She's added (I assume) a bunch of those characters, and it reads as if we're meant to know them, but there's no mention that I can find of it being part of the same universe or whatever. There are like 6 or 7 women in the book club, and I kept getting them confused. It's quite obvious the author is setting up a bunch of other stories later to come in the series because there were a few different random moments that didn't really tie into the story at all. We have, I think, one of the baker women, either the tasty baker or the weird gross vegan baker who I assume is a werewolf or something. She gets a random single paragraph-chapter that is never followed up on and behaves in a very suspicious way that is also never followed up on. There's nothing wrong with setting the stage for upcoming books, but I didn't feel it was done very well here.

Hoarding is a pretty big facet of this book, and I thought that part was really well done. Winnie is traumatized from her experience but still able to be understanding and sympathetic. I think that people who don't really understand hoarding disorder could learn a bit from this book. It was refreshing because it wasn't simply mentioned and brushed off, misconstrued, or overly dramatic, which I find can happen when people decide to integrate mental illness into their plots. it reads as if the author has first-hand experience or really done her research.

Overall, I enjoyed it. It's a cozy little romantic fantasy that made me crave hot chocolate something awful.

I thoroughly enjoyed *Fangs for Nothing*! This lighthearted paranormal romp was an absolute delight from start to finish. The characters were bubbly and full of personality, each one adding a quirky charm to the story. While it does lean into a few clichés typical of vampire stories, it’s done in a way that feels fresh and fun, with a playful spin that kept me smiling throughout.

The plot isn’t overly complex, but that's part of the charm. It’s a great "getaway" book—perfect for when you want something easy and entertaining to escape into. Overall, it's a feel-good read that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and I had a fantastic time with it! If you’re looking for a fun, fluffy adventure with a paranormal twist, this one’s a must-read.

I absolutely adored this book!

This was such a fun fantasy/romance novel that introduces you to a really complicated world of fictional “monsters” that live among humans. The depth and complexity of the characters, including the immortal ones, was so well done. The diversity in both the humans and the non-humans was so well done.

We’ve got our human/inhuman love story here, but I also loved the lessons here. We have our characters learning about and struggling with mental health including PTSD and hoarding, how to build strong relationships and friendships with honesty and communication, and a vampire that is so ADHD coded I had to talk about it with family as his patterns hit SO close to home. There’s a lot of heavy topics in this book, but it’s still solidly a romcom. Truly a master work in toeing some darker themes while also making me laugh.

The romance is also so well done. It is tense from the beginning but the slow burn is fantastic. I also love that the length of the book gives enough time to develop the relationship beyond just lust.

This book does function as a standalone, but it sounds like there are other books in the series! I’ll absolutely pick them up. Such a treat for the holiday season, I’ll be recommending this to my friends!