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jmmreads's review
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Blood
booksandbotanics's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
This book tells the story of Lily, who wakes up and realizes she’s a vampire, but has no memory of it.
The next day (night) she discovers what happened and meets her Maker, Tristan.
They have one problem: it’s forbidden to make a new vampire without consent of the Grand Master. Now they have to keep eachother safe whilst (not so slowly) falling for eachother.
Lily has another problem: she has some severe body image issues and now she’ll never be able to lose weight again and she has to come to terms with the way she looks.
This story was quite entertaining. Lily was really funny in her discovery what it’s like to be a vampire. She’s quite quirky and I laughed out loud with all the Twilight-references.
The storyline of her body image issues & eating disorder is quite prominent though. It’s definitely not the main part of the book, but as it’s a big part of Lily’s life, it’s also a big part of the book. I didn’t really relate to Lily on that part, but I definitely got a better picture on how body image issues can have a big impact on your life.
Some of the character growth came a little bit too fast. For example, Lily’s mother is kind of the cause of her eating disorder, and from one day to the other, she has accepted Lily the way she is?
Lily’s acceptance of her own body came quite suddenly as well, which I didn’t think to be realistic.
I did really like the relationship between Lily & her best friend Cat. They were very wholesome. I also quite liked Tristan, but I’ve always had a weak spot for broody, self-tortured vampires.
The writing style was very fluent, what made it a very easy read. There were a few smutty scenes as well. They weren’t the best I’ve ever read, but they weren’t exaggerated or very long, which I appreciated.
To summarise: it was a fun book about vampires that didn’t take itself too seriously & it read very fluent. Body image issues and eating disorder are very important trigger warnings though!
Thank you @netgalley & @sourcebookscasa for the e-arc!
The next day (night) she discovers what happened and meets her Maker, Tristan.
They have one problem: it’s forbidden to make a new vampire without consent of the Grand Master. Now they have to keep eachother safe whilst (not so slowly) falling for eachother.
Lily has another problem: she has some severe body image issues and now she’ll never be able to lose weight again and she has to come to terms with the way she looks.
This story was quite entertaining. Lily was really funny in her discovery what it’s like to be a vampire. She’s quite quirky and I laughed out loud with all the Twilight-references.
The storyline of her body image issues & eating disorder is quite prominent though. It’s definitely not the main part of the book, but as it’s a big part of Lily’s life, it’s also a big part of the book. I didn’t really relate to Lily on that part, but I definitely got a better picture on how body image issues can have a big impact on your life.
Some of the character growth came a little bit too fast. For example, Lily’s mother is kind of the cause of her eating disorder, and from one day to the other, she has accepted Lily the way she is?
Lily’s acceptance of her own body came quite suddenly as well, which I didn’t think to be realistic.
I did really like the relationship between Lily & her best friend Cat. They were very wholesome. I also quite liked Tristan, but I’ve always had a weak spot for broody, self-tortured vampires.
The writing style was very fluent, what made it a very easy read. There were a few smutty scenes as well. They weren’t the best I’ve ever read, but they weren’t exaggerated or very long, which I appreciated.
To summarise: it was a fun book about vampires that didn’t take itself too seriously & it read very fluent. Body image issues and eating disorder are very important trigger warnings though!
Thank you @netgalley & @sourcebookscasa for the e-arc!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Fatphobia
maaike96's review
challenging
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder and Fatphobia
booksandcurlz's review against another edition
This book is too triggering for me. Made it less than 10% I honestly could not do it. I did not finish it.
As someone who has gone through a journey of finding peace with their body, this is not the type of Fat rep in books I am seeking in the books I read. To me this book does a disservice to any efforts to portray fat women as strong, independent, and confident.
Some FMC’s behaviors that triggered me:
- Self-deprecation and fat shaming.
- Stuck in Diet Culture mentality. Lots of diet talk.
- Envious of her best friend because she had a better job, "better body", and was volunteering. WHAT?
- Belief that her appearance makes her less valuable, therefore not worthy of male attention. Thank you, NEXT!
This is a DNF for me. I'm not willing to sit through several hours of listening to this woman complain about her body image. This is way too triggering for me to continue listen. 5 chapters in and we haven't even met the MMC yet.
I really had high hopes for this one. This is disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Toxic friendship
inkdrinkers's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
Lily is used to waking up each morning and deciding how little she can eat throughout the day to finally lose a few pounds. Except one morning she wakes up hungover with a craving for blood. When she discovers she's been turned into a vampire, Lily goes on a journey of self-discovery and acceptance of the body she's hated her entire life.
I was drawn to this book because as a plus sized woman who loves vampires, it seemed like the perfect pick for me. I wanted to see myself in the pages and enjoy a lighthearted story. Unfortunately, that's not what I got.
I want to start off my negative thoughts about this book by stating that, in no way, do I intend to come across as cruel or mean - but this book shouldn't have been published. As a fat woman who loves vampires, I was incredibly excited to read a "body positive" story that focused on a fat woman becoming a member of the undead and living her best life. I expected fun, flirty things to happen, a handsome vampire stranger to sweep her off her feet, and a lighthearted story about accepting yourself. Instead, what I got was a fatphobic nightmare.
Getting my surface level commentary out of the way first, I'll say that the writing in this novel isn't poor, but it needed help. The references and jokes throughout were fun the first few times, but quickly became repetitive and eye-roll inducing. I found the way Lily narrated her actions to be incredibly juvenile and unrealistic. It didn't come across as fun and lighthearted, instead I just found myself annoyed. I am only a few months older than this main character and I can't relate to her at all - we have almost the exact same background and body type. That seems like a glaring issue to me that needed to be fixed with several rounds of sensitivity reading, especially considering the author doesn't seem to be plus sized or have any experience in the matter.
Onto the fatphobia in this book; if you told me this was a novel about how to have an eating disorder circa 2004, I would believe you. The disclaimer at the beginning of the novel is NOT ENOUGH in the slightest. By the second chapter Lily is giving real-time advice for how to suppress your appetite that can be highly triggering to those with mental health, body image, and eating disorder issues. Every single scene is peppered with how much Lily hates herself, hates her body, what diet she's trying now, how it's not working, how it's never worked, and "oh god, what if I'm fat forever?" And to that I just have to ask - why? I've struggled with body image my entire life, but I've never been so consumed by it that my self image would overtake the fact I was dead and a supernatural being. The way Lily talks about herself is so harmful and it's never fixed. She just accepts that Tristan thinks she's hot and magically that's good enough for her to be okay with it. There are so many fat and happy people in the world that didn't need a significant other or partner to tell them they're attractive to suddenly see their own self worth.
Overall, I wanted to love this book, but for my own mental health and to protect my own peace - I couldn't finish it. I did read the ending four chapters to wrap up the story from the perspective of the slayers, Lily's mother being kidnapped, and understand what happened between Lily and Tristan - but it all fell so very flat. The entire novel builds to a cusp where Lily suddenly decides to love herself in the shower and then immediately goes to find Tristan for a sex scene.
I truly think this book does more harm than the good it intended on. I think that with time, severe edits, and again, many sensitivity readers it could have been the story for me. As it stands, it wasn't and I won't be picking up any other novels by Gloria Duke.
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing me with a copy for an honest review.
I was drawn to this book because as a plus sized woman who loves vampires, it seemed like the perfect pick for me. I wanted to see myself in the pages and enjoy a lighthearted story. Unfortunately, that's not what I got.
I want to start off my negative thoughts about this book by stating that, in no way, do I intend to come across as cruel or mean - but this book shouldn't have been published. As a fat woman who loves vampires, I was incredibly excited to read a "body positive" story that focused on a fat woman becoming a member of the undead and living her best life. I expected fun, flirty things to happen, a handsome vampire stranger to sweep her off her feet, and a lighthearted story about accepting yourself. Instead, what I got was a fatphobic nightmare.
Getting my surface level commentary out of the way first, I'll say that the writing in this novel isn't poor, but it needed help. The references and jokes throughout were fun the first few times, but quickly became repetitive and eye-roll inducing. I found the way Lily narrated her actions to be incredibly juvenile and unrealistic. It didn't come across as fun and lighthearted, instead I just found myself annoyed. I am only a few months older than this main character and I can't relate to her at all - we have almost the exact same background and body type. That seems like a glaring issue to me that needed to be fixed with several rounds of sensitivity reading, especially considering the author doesn't seem to be plus sized or have any experience in the matter.
Onto the fatphobia in this book; if you told me this was a novel about how to have an eating disorder circa 2004, I would believe you. The disclaimer at the beginning of the novel is NOT ENOUGH in the slightest. By the second chapter Lily is giving real-time advice for how to suppress your appetite that can be highly triggering to those with mental health, body image, and eating disorder issues. Every single scene is peppered with how much Lily hates herself, hates her body, what diet she's trying now, how it's not working, how it's never worked, and "oh god, what if I'm fat forever?" And to that I just have to ask - why? I've struggled with body image my entire life, but I've never been so consumed by it that my self image would overtake the fact I was dead and a supernatural being. The way Lily talks about herself is so harmful and it's never fixed. She just accepts that Tristan thinks she's hot and magically that's good enough for her to be okay with it. There are so many fat and happy people in the world that didn't need a significant other or partner to tell them they're attractive to suddenly see their own self worth.
Overall, I wanted to love this book, but for my own mental health and to protect my own peace - I couldn't finish it. I did read the ending four chapters to wrap up the story from the perspective of the slayers, Lily's mother being kidnapped, and understand what happened between Lily and Tristan - but it all fell so very flat. The entire novel builds to a cusp where Lily suddenly decides to love herself in the shower and then immediately goes to find Tristan for a sex scene.
I truly think this book does more harm than the good it intended on. I think that with time, severe edits, and again, many sensitivity readers it could have been the story for me. As it stands, it wasn't and I won't be picking up any other novels by Gloria Duke.
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing me with a copy for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Blood
brokenbodybitch's review
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Blood
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