paranormal – UnapologeticallYA Book Reviews!

I’m so happy to see that this webcomic has been turned into a book! I randomly stumbled across it online a few weeks ago and absolutely loved the concept and characters. Then when I realized that the author was Sarah Andersen, whose Sarah’s Scribbles books I love, I was even more excited. This comic is certainly a departure from her previous books, but it still has the same heart and humor running through it despite its differences!

Fangs really plays on the cliche of vampires and werewolves by depicting an unlikely romantic pairing between the two in a modern day AU setting. Each page of the book is one simple scene where the two main characters interact. Reading it in the book bind-up setting, I felt like the storyline was nicely continuous and showed great development as the pair explores their relationship. Initially, reading it as disparate comic strips every few days, I hadn’t noticed the flow between the scenes as much, but this way it all really hit me in a super effective way. By the end of the book, I was extremely attached and didn’t want it to end!

This brings me to my main critique: I felt like the ending fell flat. Not that there was anything wrong with it but it didn’t seem like a needed conclusion. I wish there had been a bit more of a resolution or glimpse into their future. Instead, it just sort of ended abruptly to me. Like it was just for the sake of finishing the book, but I could foresee there being so much more interesting content in their relationship moving forward that *the world* is denying me!

Overall, Fangs was so fun and quirky. Although the panels are short, it becomes really easy to get attached to the characters. Whether or not you’re a big comic/graphic novel reader, I would definitely recommend it for a quick read or even something to get you out of a reading slump since it’s mostly visual and fast moving. I honestly haven’t read so many comics before, but it’s something I’ve been getting into a lot lately. I can’t think of any direct comp titles in this genre, but I would say that it has the spirit of Carry On mixed with Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (and yes, I know those are sort of wild comparisons, but think of it in *spirit* and *humor* and *satire*… and just go with it!).

***I received an e-ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

In preparation for the release of The Damned in a few weeks, I wanted to review Renee Ahdieh’s The Beautiful. This novel had a lucious, historical setting in New Orleans in 1872 with the twist of paranormal creatures roaming the streets of the vibrant city. I found the atmospheric writing of the setting to be the most compelling part of the narrative (not unexpected, considering how lovely Ahdieh’s writing is in The Wrath and the Dawn and Flame in the Mist series) and it’s what is bringing me back to anticipate the next book!

The protagonist Celine Rousseau is a force to be reckoned with as she has no problem subverting expectations for proper ladies of the time to get what she wants. The circumstances of her society force her to become confident and independent, yet she still manages to find trust in her friends (and sometimes, unfortunately, her enemies).

I actually quite liked that the paranormal elements of the plot were left vague throughout most of the book. In fact, it felt a bit strange to me when the term “vampire” was mentioned toward the end of the novel. I know when this book was first being hyped a lot of people made the inevitable comparison to Twilight, but I really don’t think it ended up being the classic vampire story most of us were expecting.

The potent tension between Celine and her love interest Bastien was really fun to read, especially with the great dialogue that felt straight out of a telenovela at times (but in the best possible way—this coming from a major Jane the Virgin fan). However, the many minor characters felt underdeveloped. Since this is the first book of the series, though, I’m sure there will be much more room for these other characters to grow.

As a side note, every time I hear Camila Cabello’s song “My Oh My” (which coincidentally just started playing as I’m writing this review), I think of this book. So I think that goes to show how successful Ahdieh was at establishing the deliciously dark tone of the novel.

I’m interested to see where the sequel will take this story!

Comparable titles:
The Diviners by Libba Bray
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
A Love Like Blood by Marcus Sedgwick

***My review is also posted on Goodreads and Tumblr!

Tag: paranormal

FANGS by Sarah Andersen

THE BEAUTIFUL by Renee Ahdieh