I was excited to read this book set in the jazz age- it seemed to be dark and gritty and unlike other fantasies.

Overall, the mood and the world building were done well, but the plot fell a little short for me. There were some confusing elements about why Layla killed humans all the time when there is an agreement in place that reapers wouldn't, and the pacing of the mystery seemed to drag in several places.

Sapphic vampires. Best friends to enemies to lovers. Jazz Age Harlem. An instant all-time favourite book.

I loved this book. The imagery of Jazz Age Harlem is beautiful and makes it very easy for the reader to place themselves within this world. Hayley Dennings has a magical way with words.

Both of the main characters are very complex and I loved the exploration of female rage. Elise and Layla carry a lot of trauma and have a series of complicated relationships. This makes for excellent character development for both characters as they discover the strength behind their own voices. This makes the enemies to lovers journey all the more powerful. Both Elise and Layla show a lot of strength whilst struggling significantly with their identities, morality, and where they fit into their society, and I found I was rooting for them both equally throughout the book.

We get to see very clearly how Elise navigates her complicated relationship with her family, and the one thing I would have liked this book to explore more is Layla's backstory and the relationship between the Quinns and the Saints.

I LOVED the anxiety and OCD representation. This was very well constructed and felt very real. Elise struggles a lot throughout this book and we get to see clearly what her struggles with her mental health means for her, how this manifests and and how she uses her support networks.

The perfect book for sapphic readers who love vampires and the enemies to lovers trope.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hayley Dennings, and Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I value the opportunity I was given to read this in advance, but I still haven't read this. With so many books ahead of me, I cannot return to this title.

Vampires in Harlem in the roaring 20’s ? I loved the concept, and I was excited to read this one. At its heart, this book was a supernatural suspense. The mystery, the twist and the turns all felt like a good noir crime drama. Overall, it was a solid story, though at times, the historical context didn’t feel as immersive as I would have liked.

The vampires were interesting, but what really made Denning’s work shine was the exquisite, multifaceted characters. The main characters were top-tier, their relationship and their circumstances were complicated and messy in the best way.

Based on the ending I hope there is a sequel, and soon! I feel like Dennings is just getting started and book 2 is going to kick it up a notch. I’m looking forward to reading more of her work.

Thank you to Sourcebooks, Netgalley and the author for a complimentary copy of this ebook. I am leaving a voluntary review. All thoughts and ideas expressed are my own.

I'm absolutely loving the resurgence of popularity vampires are experiencing right now, and I was particularly intrigued by the queer romance and 1920s setting of This Ravenous Fate. Unfortunately, it seems like this book just needed a little more time in the oven. I would have loved to see more development of the characters and tighter plotting.

This book had all the right tropes and showed great promise, but it felt like it needed more editing. There were several moments that just didn’t resonate with me. I plan to read future books from this author in hopes of seeing improvement in her writing. I would recommend this book to others with the caveat that it has some issues, but overall, it is still a good read. I just can’t overlook some of the aspects that needed fixing. Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this. I can't wait to see more from this author.

I tried a few times to get into this one and for some reason I just couldn't - I'm hoping that I can come back to it when I'm fully in the mood for it but for now I will have to put to the side.

This book was interesting, but it wasn't for me overall. However I did love the 1920s setting & the idea, but it came up short to me.

This was such a clever and well-written version of a vampire tale. And yet it was also even more than that.

Elise and Layla were once best friends but now they are on opposite sides. One belongs to the group of vampires that used to be human and the other belongs to a class of humans who basically have no trust in vampires at all. To complicate things, there are even worse things that vampires out there. Reapers are even deadlier and more frightening.

This book had some great world building, well-developed characters and interesting twists. I look forward to the next one so I can see what happens next.

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: The audio version was also really well done. The narration really fit the characters and the mood of the story. 4 1/2 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for early copies of the ebook and audiobook.

Thank you to the publishers for this eARC to review.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me, the pacing just did not work for me (I have ADHD and if I get 20% in an struggle, I cannot allow myself to give it any more time than that). I do believe this is perfect for a younger side of YA, as the dialogue was definitely geared towards the lower side of YA from what I could tell. Please take this with a grain of salt, as I am a 33y.o. adult.

I had high hopes for this story, but it ultimately fell flat for me. The characters started out interesting but were never fully flushed out. They were rude to one another and I found myself questioning why I should root for them at all. The writing was fine, but the plot dragged and I was bored. An example of "great idea, poor execution" in my opinion.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings offers an intriguing premise with fantasy, suspense, vampires, and romance, all wrapped in a young adult package. The world-building is vivid, and the character development stands out, making the world feel rich and alive. The concept has a lot of potential, and it’s clear that the book tackles deep, relevant themes like segregation, systemic racism, and class struggles, particularly through the experiences of the Black main characters. However, the execution didn’t quite live up to the potential, leaving me feeling like it could have benefited from another round of editing, especially on the developmental side. The themes were strong, but at times, they felt underexplored or could’ve been handled with more depth. Overall, while it had moments of promise, it didn't fully deliver on its potential.

This was an engaging read and atmospheric setting. I liked the unique take on vampire lore, noting its fresh perspective on familiar themes. The dynamic between Elise and Layla, was tense and a little trying for me but it mostly worked towards the end.

The pacing felt a bit off but I think as a debut, it was good. Would read more from this author.

The Ravenous Fate takes place in the 1920's in Harlem and the vibes and setting are well thought out and written well. In this world, there are vampires, reapers, humans, gangs, and vampire hunters. The main characters Layla and Elise are opposites and have a complicated relationship as they are 2 different beings that normally shouldn't work together. The chemistry and tension between them was so good especially them working together to see what was happening to the vampires in their city. I liked how their relationship developed and I'm rooting for them so bad.

Initial reaction: I wanted to like this much more than I did, but alas. If you are coming through the gate boasting a YA sapphic, historical PNR, that is what I expect. The romance in this between leads is not strong (has moments, but ehhh) and the link to the Harlem Renaissance is so threadbare, I'm like "How apart from some very minimal references were we supposed to get that here?" I'm frankly disappointed in it for that, but what keeps me wanting to read on in this series is for some of the darker plot elements, character work, and wanting to know where it goes. 3 stars.

Full review:

I'm being generous giving this book 3 stars y'all - this will probably make my most disappointing reads list of 2025 and were not that far into the new year. (It released last year in 2024, but I'm getting to it a bit belated.) This is probably going to be more of a rant review, fair warning. I want the author to really step it up for improvement in the next book in this series, so I'm going to be blunt in this overarching review.

We need to talk about matters of "expectations" vs. "reality" when it comes to books and marketing. Granted, there were parts of "This Ravenous Fate" that intrigued me. I even liked pieces of the darker turns of story this offered. But if you're promising a YA sapphic romance set during the Harlem Renaissance, and you give me two leading characters that have far better chemistry with other people and a barely there backdrop to take from? (I agree with others that it probably would have been better set in a fantasy setting. We're going to have problems. And it's not that I mean this to sound pointed, but I can't tell you how disappointing it was to read this and feel not only like it was a slog to get through (despite good moments! Like the bare bones and intention of this tale wasn't bad!), but feel like it was weaker than the promise of what it was selling.

Even if you're promising a "enemies to lovers" focus, I would expect the characters to at least have chemistry that's believable but...we get this? A lot of back and forth over however many pages (480 pages in my galley copy, but I also listened to the 14 hour and some change audiobook, which had a meh narrator, unfortunately)? *sighs* Let's talk then.

"This Ravenous Fate" tells the story of two girls - Elise Saint and Layla Quinn - living during the Harlem Renaissance (1926) in New York. Elise is from a very prominent family that is trying to combat the reapers (vampires) overrunning the city. She's just returned from a long trip to Paris, and set to inherit the family empire (protecting humans from reapers) from her domineering, high expectations father. Layla used to be friends with Elise, but having become a reaper and having lost everything she loved, Layla has understandable bitterness towards Elise. But the girls end up being forced together in proximity again as Layla is accused of a crime and Layla can't remember the events of what actually happened. So the narrative toggles back and forth in the animosity between the girls as they try to discover the details surrounding the crime, and reapers becoming human again before they die. Also wondering if there's a possible cure for the vampirism overtaking the city. And there's a "romance" between Elise and Layla. That's the long and short of what this book is about.

Let me tell you what I liked in this first before I dig my nails into what I didn't: I liked Layla's character, least for backstory and key character moments. She was a Black girl who had every reason to feel as bitter as she did considering the things that happened to her. She's a reaper who had lost so much of what she loved, including her humanity, shunned by the family of the friend she used to know and love, tries to fit in with a coven with expectations set for her, tried to do her best to help those around her where she could. The moments where her anguish and rage were on the page were *chef's kiss*. It took a while getting there, but in the moments I felt it - felt for her - I *felt* it.

I liked the central idea of the novel for the conflict. You can tell that there are shady happenings happening in the background and when the reveals "drop", I at least appreciated with respect to where it wanted to go and attempted to do. I could get behind it for intent.

The dark pieces of this story were intriguing - when they landed, landed well. I especially liked how brutal it was when we came to the moments where that was played out on page. It might have taken a while getting there, but when they landed, I saw the potential where it was.

Now let me talk about all the bad parts because...whew. Elise and Layla's chemistry was very forced and threadbare. They were assumed to have a previous relationship, but there was barely any warmth and the moments we got were info dumped. Elise had greater chemistry with Sterling of all people over Layla. Like you can tell that there was antagonism in the relationship between him and Elise, but there was also the warmth. Where was that with her and Layla?

Elise was also so shallow and privileged that it was very hard to be able to see her perspective, longing and confliction on Layla without it feeling inauthentic. If you want me to believe in a strong sapphic relationship between these characters, make me - readers - feel it. Put it on the page, dig deep - the moments of hinted, vague lust and forced proximity were not it.

The lack of setting details really disappointed me. This is supposed to be during the Harlem Renaissance in New York of all places. The music, the culture, the immersion - that was all missing. If you're talking about the richness of Black culture during this time - dig as much as you want and play it out on page. Vague mentions of jazz and some of the clothing and no kind of detail for anything else made this feel underwhelming. Had the narrative been as long as it was and had that detail done well, I might've been more inclined to forgive it. But it felt even underwhelming on the worldbuilding. I agree with some perspectives that it would have almost been better to have it not set in a period and just gone in a fantasy world direction, but even the fantasy world would have needed better building up for this to work. Some parts were okay, but it needed more cohesively.

The withholding of information for the larger reveal of the conflict, which did feel like it was forecast before it landed also made the narrative feel more drawn out than it had to be. Some twists in this I didn't expect and I'll admit they provided decent conflict towards the end, for the set-up of the next installation in the series, but was this really a romance? Was there any thought to what Elise did in that last bit that she didn't think would have an impact on Layla (at least Layla was morally conflicted!)?

And the pacing in this was the last bit I'll say that didn't work for this novel. It was too long. Needed much more trimming and streamlining so it didn't feel like the characters were either bickering for too long or they spent too much time in a place. More polish could have helped this narrative a lot.

I think that's where I'll leave it. I wish it could have been a better experience. I am at least curious enough to read the sequel, but I want it to stick the landing more. The ideas are there. The execution was not.

Overall score: 3/5 stars.

Note: I received this as an ARC from NetGalley from the publisher, but I also listened to the audiobook.

This book was fantastic. I loved Elise and Layla as enemies to lovers. Or friends to enemies to lovers. The setting was so fun, I don't think I have read a lot of books in this period so it was great to read something different. I loved the mystery. I also really loved and hated the relationship between Elise and her Dad. Overall 5 out of 5 stars for me.

Summary: New York, 1926. Reapers - once-human vampires - stalk the shadows. Layla is a newly turned Reaper who has never forgotten that Elise Saint betrayed her. When Layla is framed for a brutal attack by a Reaper who appears human in death, Elise offers the chance for Layla to clear her name if she helps Elise get to the bottom of the real culprit of the attacks.

Review: I loved this book as much as I thought I would. This is the hardest review I've had to write because I don't think I can put into words how much I liked this book. The setting of 1920s New York is immersive with the jazz and the parties. The complicated relationship between Layla and Elise is so interesting to read about, and their journey from childhood best friends to enemies to lovers was so well done. The slow burn in this book is so good. If you want real slow burn and real palpable tension between the main characters, then this book is for you. The mystery part of this book was interesting as well, and despite Reapers being vampires who drink human blood, they're not the villain of this story, which I also really enjoyed. The side characters are also fun to read and stand well on their own, as well working to move the plot forward. This book had me hooked from start to finish, and I can't recommend it enough. If you've been following me for a while, then you'll know that I've been waiting for this book to come out for so long. I've followed Hayley Dennings since her Booktube days, and her recommendations were amazing, and now I've read her book. It was so great to watch her journey to becoming a published author, and I can't wait to see what else she writes in the future

It’s 1926 in Harlem. Eighteen-year-olds Layla Quinn and Elise Saint were once best friends, until Layla was turned into a reaper. Layla blames Elise’s family for her fate. Reapers, humans turned to vampires, have existed since the first enslaved person in the country. Terrifying and cruel experiments on Black slaves created the first reaper. Meanwhile, Elise’s dad leads the charge against reapers, never able to forgive them for the death of his eldest daughter and heir to the Saint legacy. But when a newly turned reaper dies, attacking people employed by the Saints, Layla and Elise will find themselves working together. How could a reaper turn back into a human after his death? At the same time, rumors arise about a cure that can change reapers back to humans. This is Layla’s greatest wish, but Elise fears her father is helping develop something much more sinister.

Elise lives a privileged life, and so faces harsh truths while working with Layla and seeing the gritty edges of Harlem. With each turn of the page, a dark, bloody, sapphic romance burns hotter. Marked by the tragedy that turned Elise and Layla into enemies, desire still beats in their hearts. Some of the murder investigation gets lost in the middle section as the evolving, angsty romance takes center stage. However, Dennings weaves the current (1920s) and flashback narratives expertly, highlighting moments before and after Layla’s transition while also deepening the girls’ characters. The first book in a young adult duology, This Ravenous Fate tackles the topic of racial injustice that’s existed in America since its founding, using the violence perpetrated on another race as the creation of a much worse affliction still plaguing the country. A vibrant, violent, and twisty urban fantasy tale.

Review originally posted via the Historical Novel Society.org at: https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/this-ravenous-fate/

I unfortunately didn’t love This Ravenous Fate, despite being so hyped for it. I found the writing style to be intriguing, but unfortunately the characters felt disjointed, their motivations unclear and wishy-washy, and the romance was ultimately uninteresting and lacking in chemistry. I’ll be interested in seeing what comes next for Hayley Dennings, but this series is a no-go for me.

Such an interesting, fresh setting. I always enjoy the fashion and dynamics of women in fantasy set in the early 1900s. Interesting relationship dynamics and I liked the plot of this vampire world. Intrigued to read the next book!