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A review by kayhush
Fang Fiction by Kate Stayman-London
3.0
This book had aspects I adored and aspects that made me want to DNF, but we are going to start with the positives!
First off, the writing was straightforward and certainly lends itself to an easy "read it in one sitting" style. Dialogue was logical, no one was saying anything that I thought was out of left field or completely unreliable. The humour is a rom-com style that is filled with one-liners and funny side characters.
There were three aspects I didn't enjoy as much. First, the POV would change often and within the same chapters. I wished that the chapters were shorter and had POV headings because I often had to take a paragraph or two (or three or more) to figure out what POV we were in and where in the timeline. It was jarring and would result in me losing immersion. Secondly, I did feel quite a middle-book slump. There was one primary plot conflict and that left the middle of the book feeling like quite a slump. It focused on relationship development, but I did feel disinterested for the middle 150 pages or so.
Lastly, I had difficulty with the tone of the book switching rapidly from the light and fun rom-com to a much darker tone when the triggering topics came up (trigger warnings for SA, PTSD, panic attacks, and trauma recovery). These topics are critically important to discuss, but they did feel out of place in a paranormal rom-com. I would go from laughing to feeling moderately triggered within pages. If the reader is not triggered by these topics, I would say that they likely wouldn't feel a tone shift nearly as much. But if this is something that the reader is indeed triggered by, then it can be quite the whiplash going in and out of those topics.
Overall, I would recommend this book to lovers of the classic teen-angst vampire stories. It has a level of nostalgia, but it also feels fresh. However, as stated earlier, I would heed the author's note and the content warnings given.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advanced digital reader copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
First off, the writing was straightforward and certainly lends itself to an easy "read it in one sitting" style. Dialogue was logical, no one was saying anything that I thought was out of left field or completely unreliable. The humour is a rom-com style that is filled with one-liners and funny side characters.
There were three aspects I didn't enjoy as much. First, the POV would change often and within the same chapters. I wished that the chapters were shorter and had POV headings because I often had to take a paragraph or two (or three or more) to figure out what POV we were in and where in the timeline. It was jarring and would result in me losing immersion. Secondly, I did feel quite a middle-book slump. There was one primary plot conflict and that left the middle of the book feeling like quite a slump. It focused on relationship development, but I did feel disinterested for the middle 150 pages or so.
Lastly, I had difficulty with the tone of the book switching rapidly from the light and fun rom-com to a much darker tone when the triggering topics came up (trigger warnings for SA, PTSD, panic attacks, and trauma recovery). These topics are critically important to discuss, but they did feel out of place in a paranormal rom-com. I would go from laughing to feeling moderately triggered within pages. If the reader is not triggered by these topics, I would say that they likely wouldn't feel a tone shift nearly as much. But if this is something that the reader is indeed triggered by, then it can be quite the whiplash going in and out of those topics.
Overall, I would recommend this book to lovers of the classic teen-angst vampire stories. It has a level of nostalgia, but it also feels fresh. However, as stated earlier, I would heed the author's note and the content warnings given.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an advanced digital reader copy. All opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.