Title: Real Fangs

Author: Amanda Meuwissen

Rating: 3/5 (subjectively. I can see it get 4/5 from somebody who likes the style of the story)

Is this book for me? It’s a light, slice of life supernatural novella. Some vampires, some werewolves. No wars. No psychological drama. Not much plot, either. If you’re looking for something fun and almost fluffy, this is it. If you’re looking for something engaging or deep… not so much.

I made a mistake with this book when I started reading it. I thought it would be a traditional sort of supernatural novel, with the drama of being turned, or with bad people needing to be hunted down, or that sort of thing. It’s actually slice of life. It’s not so much about the newly-turned vampire Chris going through huge issues concerning the meaning of life or the meaning of fighting evil, but about the just out of college Chris needing to find his way in life.

After that, my vision changed. Instead of being annoyed with the book that it’s not really pushing the plot anywhere, I started taking it as a sitcom (especially since the Big World Network likens its stories to television series). Which it really works as, actually.

The story doesn’t really do it for me (not a big fan of sitcoms), but it has a few points in which it shines. The ideas about what a number of vampires and some witches do all day are quite plausible as well as amusing. And you can feel the characters. They’re real people, living in a real city and going about their real day-to-day business.

I recommend it for sheer fun.

P.S. The audio version is read by Amanda Meuwissen herself. Her accent is a bit unusual (…said the Romanian, I know), but her voice acting and narration style are quite enjoyable. I think I could rate the audio version 4/5. Her reading it makes the difference.