#BookReview: Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London

She’s out for adventure. He’s out for blood.

The world of your favorite fantasy novels is real, and you’re invited to visit. The only catch? It’s filled with thirsty vampires. Devour this page-turning romance from the bestselling author of One to Watch.

Tess Rosenbloom is no stranger to the dark. An assault survivor and grad school dropout, she spends her nights managing a chic Brooklyn hotel and her days curled up with her favorite vampire novels, Blood Feud. Tess even dabbles in online conspiracies that Blood Feud is real—it’s fun to hunt for clues! But deep down, Tess doesn’t believe vampires actually exist…

Until one walks through her door. 

It turns out Blood Feud is real, and the sexy villain of the novels is trapped. Eager to escape her life, Tess agrees to help rescue him, and soon she’s in a fantasia of lavish palaces and enchanted forests, on a secret island where the sun never shines and she’s surrounded by deadly vampires—and against her better judgment, she’s falling in love with one of them. (And unbeknownst to Tess, her estranged best friend is having a sapphic affair with a beautiful vampire of her own back in New York.)

Visiting the world of your favorite story is any fan’s dream, but will Tess be able to outrun the demons of her past (and vampires of her present) before it becomes a nightmare? In this darkly glamorous rom-com, Tess will find out whether it’s worth risking her neck—and her heart—for a chance to reclaim her future.

AMAZON

RAITING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

REVIEW: A woman with trauma from a past SA finds out that her favorite vampire fantasy world is actually real and that she has to help save all her beloved characters within it.

This book is a tricky one to review. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t in love with it the way I was with One To Watch, but I don’t want to base my review solely on that comparison. Right off the top, I guess I would say that the vibe of this book comes off as more of a cutesy, almost romcom-ish sort of novel, which I’ll be honest is not what I (and I feel like a lot of others) look for in a vampire romance book, so I think that’s part of what’s throwing me off a bit. The pacing feels a little off and it’s not entirely clear how and why the two leads are falling for each other. They don’t have much in the way of meaningful interactions before they’re both about to start using the ‘L’ word and it just feels kind of forced. I also feel that Tess’s personality is almost entirely her trauma and while I think that’s valid in some ways, it makes for a less than compelling character. I also feel that if you are going to put queer characters in a romance novel (even as a side plot like this one) and their romance is part of the story (like this one), you need to include love scenes for those characters (not so much like this one), otherwise it just feels like performative inclusion and not actual inclusion. I also felt that the spice scene between the two main characters, even though put off until the last third of the book, was short, non-descriptive and ultimately unfulfilling. I understand that other people, though, may like their spice light, so I try to not be too critical of that.

All that being said, I found the book enjoyable. The Isle is a very cool setting and I thought various parts of the book were pretty funny. It has an almost cozy, easy read feel which again is not necessarily my jam in a vampire romance, but I know is appealing to a lot of other people. Also, I was always a Spike girl (#TeamSpike forever) and Callum seemed to clearly be a thinly-veiled Asian Spike, which I can get behind. The Buffy references were fun, too. I can’t decide if I like the character of Octavia, but I definitely found her interesting and I loved the interactions between Tess and Jodi, which felt very natural and even fun. I felt like I knew their friendship well, even though it doesn’t ultimately constitute much of the book. Overall, an enjoyable read for others who may like their books light and cozy, but just not right for me. The three star reviews seemed harsh, so I’m going with four, but think of it realistically as a 3.8

Join the Conversation Online! 

INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | X | TIKTOK 

We would love to chat more with you! Leave a comment below or JOIN US ON  social media to keep the conversation going and remember!! 

Read What You Love & Love What You Read!

Disclaimer: "All opinions are 100% honest and my own."  Thanks to Goodreads and Amazon for the book cover, about the book, and author information. Buying via these links allows my site to get a % of the sale at no cost to you. 

FTC Guidelines: In accordance with FTC guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials for bloggers, I would like my readers to know that many of the books I review are provided to me for free by the publisher or author of the book in exchange for an honest review. If am compensated for any reviews on this site I will state that post has been sponsored. 

Posted in: Adult, Dial Books, Edelweiss, JessicaL., Review