"Fang Fiction" starts at a low point in Tess' life. She's working as a night manager at a bougie hotel and estranged from her best friend after she was sexually assaulted and dropped out of grad school. She's thrown herself into her favorite vampire book series as she lives in this liminal space, only to be forced out of it when she learns the characters and premise are real.

The plot summary should sound heavy because it is. "Fang Fiction" is a strange juxtaposition between heavy topics like sexual assault, trauma and PTSD paired with something intended to be a rom-com? There's almost a bit of whiplash in the constant back-and-forth. I often needed a moment to catch up that the author didn't provide.

I wanted "Fang Fiction" to be so painfully cheesy that it's addictive, i.e., "Twilight," "Vampire Diaries," etc. Tongue and cheek humor, sassy main character, hot and mysterious love interest… That's what the cover gives off. Unfortunately, that's not what we get and it's actually quite the opposite. It's messy and not in a way one would hope. There's simply too much happening throughout. The reader is introduced to these real-world traumas but also has to figure out the established lore of this book series. Plus, there are timeline jumps, four different POVs and interstitial media ranging from Reddit posts to Yelp reviews and Snapchat text. These stylistic choices start before we get into the meat of the story, which feels disjointed and distracted from the story's heart. There are simply too many moving parts that undercut what worked here. 
Also, Octavia and Callum felt way too close with their relationship bordering on incestual. I repeatedly felt like the twins were more interested in each other than their respective love interests. 

"Fang Fiction" is a unique and interesting concept — and that cover!!! However, it just didn't work for me in this form. Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

P.S. I AM SO OVER TAYLOR SWIFT REFERENCES IN BOOKS. It's become common in contemporary romance/romcom books and feels overdone and cliche. These "Easter eggs" are alienating for someone who isn't a regular Taylor Swift listener.