LOVED this book!
Paranormal Romance – fade to black
Published 2024 by The Dial Press
Soundtrack: Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo
Thank you, NetGalley and The Dial Press for the free book. My candid review is below:
Tess is on the run from her life. She left her PhD program following a (see CW) traumatic event. She avoids her former friends; she prefers the night shift because she can’t sleep, and she, for lack of a better term, is not thriving in the least. Suddenly, Octavia, the female lead of her favorite fantasy series, stands in the hotel’s ballroom, asking her for help. Caveat: her favorite novel, Blood Feud, is about vampires who are most certainly not supposed to be in Brooklyn.
What follows is a mix of romance, suspense, and paranormal fiction as we follow Tess on her journey to help (and fall for) the Vampires. Along the way, she reclaims her identity, (mostly) acknowledges her trauma, and finds she is braver than she believes.
I looked forward to picking up this novel again and again because I had no clue where it was going and enjoyed the twisty route it took:
There was nothing more self-destructive than getting
Kate Stayman- London, Fang Fiction
romantically involved
with someone you actually needed.
There is a subplot involving Tess’s best friend Joni and Octavia, a coven of witches, and unclear loyalties among the vampires and Tess. Plus Some off-page intimacy adds to a mostly believable romance.
I am smitten with the concept and execution of this book. It’s an ode to AO3 writers, sub-Reddit fan conspiracies, and all of us who spent a little too much time dreaming about whether we would want Bill or Eric on True Blood. The weaving of the Blood Feud novels with the present was phenomenally executed. I also loved the integration of texts, podcast and website media. The changing perspectives made sense, and I enjoyed all the pop-culture references even if I didn’t quite know them all.
Heroes put other people before themselves, which is actually a very feminine quality. But heroes are usually men who wouldn’t be able to pull off their heroic feats if it weren’t for the support and sacrifices of women. And when a woman prioritizes herself in that way, she tends to be portrayed as a villain.
Kate Stayman- London, Fang Fiction
I must confess I never fully read Twilight (should I?), and my vampire knowledge is limited to True Blood, but I doubt I am reaching when I say fans of Buffy, Vampire Diaries, and Twilight alike will devour this book.
PS. I usually don’t mention content warnings, but this book deals with a young woman with unmanaged PTSD from SA in a detailed depiction. If that is a hard stop for you, I would skip this one. (Ps. You aren’t alone, and it is not your fault🤍)