A review by whatthefridge
Never Trust a Guy with Fangs by Mia Monroe

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book is such a mess. I have no idea why I kept reading. Every time I thought it couldn’t get cheesier, it does.
These vampires can even knot!

Character growth is nonexistent. One of the best ways I can sum it up is near the end when Leo goes “I have to figure out how to be a leader after a lifetime of avoiding responsibility” and I’m over here like show me where this came from. Augustus is also the same throughout, with his issue just being a loneliness that Leo fills. 

There’s only so many times I can hear Augustus complain about Leo being his ruin before I get fed up with the repetition. Either commit to the sin or stop bringing it up. 

And the repetition is the problem. Because instead of the two characters circling each other gradually, it’s consistently them being directly magnetized and ready except for something stopping them—either externally, like the plot intruding, or internally, with Augustus insisting on stepping back. Obviously there needs to be a reign on them going 100% too early into the story, but my god this is the sort of cockblocking that feels purposely contrived to stretch out the run time. 

There’s also a big issue with the same conversations happening more than once. Especially when it comes to decision making.
Augustus promises to bond with Leo after Sylvia dies as part of Leo coming into himself as a hybrid. But then after Sylvia dies, there’s a whole repeat of that conversation with Augustus being all hesitant again and needing consent yet again. Like, why are we doing this song and dance? It’s time to pounce.

When it comes to Fate in novels, if it becomes too heavy handed, the only thing I start seeing is the author pulling strings. That is exactly what this book feels like the entire way through. 

The whole fated mates reveal almost felt silly considering the intensity of Leo and Augustus’s attraction. They’re meant to be and they want to be together… and also they’re both compelled toward one another. It never feels like they truly choose each other. They just are. I guess that works for some people. For me it’s almost too much. 

And for a book titled “Never Trust a Guy with Fangs,” Leo ends up trusting Augustus almost immediately. There’s no real arc meant to build the trust, only “instinct” telling both of them to do it, like the author holding them both up to make them kiss. 

By the end, every choice the characters could have made is already predetermined for them. This includes
Augustus choosing to turn Leo. Because turns out Leo is a super special vampire-witch hybrid who needs the bonding to reach his full potential, so Augustus is basically handed an easy out from his dilemma
. They never have to make any difficult decisions, which means they functionally never grow as characters. 

Not even
Augustus’s guilt/grief is allowed to be something for him to overcome. No, he gets to speak to his dead lover for complete closure tied up in a pretty bow.
In a different novel I would let this go, but it’s like everything is just handed to the characters. They don’t have to do any hard lifting of their own at any point. 

Beto’s pep talk to Augustus does not bode well for Beto’s book in the series. If Augustus is a puppet to “fate”, then Beto is just a die hard romantic. For me that’s an Oh no. My only consolation is Beta saying Presley is “under my skin, like an annoying parasite I cannot shake” and Augustus quips how romantic that sounds. 

The rest of the vampire coven has their love interests glaringly telegraphed in a single dinner scene with the witch coven. Except for Geoffrey. Who I believe is the token Black guy unless the “tight black curls, dark skin” ends up retcon’d as like olive skin white dude when it’s time for his book. Geoffrey also happens to have the least screen time of all the coven. The rest of them have very distinct vibes happening while I barely know anything about Geoffrey except that one line about him teaching art. Did I mention his future love interest isn’t even there in the same scene as everyone else’s? I’m just over here dropping my expectations to the bowels of hell. 

But I’m going to push through and try to read the next book in the series. For some masochistic reason I remain compelled by the plot. Or maybe it’s just because this book ends in the middle of plot movement. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings