DNF'd at 46%

I’m sad to say that from the very first chapter, I was overwhelmingly bored. The prologue hooked me with promise, but as soon as the first chapter began, I felt as though I was cast adrift in a sea of mediocrity.

The book is plagued with typos, poor sentence structure, and clunky dialogue that make it a chore to read. The characters are flat and lack any real depth, and the chemistry between them is nonexistent. The “Friends to Enemies to Lovers” trope fell flat. The worldbuilding is minimal and underdeveloped, leaving the plot feeling disjointed and poorly paced. It’s as if the manuscript was sent out to ARC readers straight from the first draft stage without any significant revisions. The relationship between Elise and Layla lacked any believable chemistry. Their arguments seemed forced, merely to set up a relationship that never felt genuine. Their transition from animosity to romantic tension was unconvincing and poorly executed.

The mystery-solving aspect was another letdown. Elise and Laura’s attempts at solving the mystery were dull and directionless, making the book feel like it was going nowhere. This lack of engaging content made it hard for me to stay invested.

Thank you for the ARC

The entire story just felt overall bland. The plot had such potential but I feel like it failed to deliver on what it teased at. The characters for slightly unlikeable, there were no twists that I didn't see coming, and unfortunately there was nothing to distinguish this book from others that I've read.

This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings had several interesting story elements. Best childhood friends who lose each other because one ends up a vampire (aka reaper) and the other is from a family that kills them (aka saints).
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Their journey back to each other revolves around murders, a possible cure for being a vamp/reaper, and lots of family drama. I liked the mobster roaring 20s world that this is set in.
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Overall I enjoyed this unique world.
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Thank you for the eArc through NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire

This is a beautiful story of friends turned enemies who are forced to work together when one of them is accused of murder. This story is fast paced. Layla and Elise are both two strong characters who jump off the page at the reader through out this story. I will say that there are parts of the mystery that lag a bit and bring the story down, but the lows are outweighed by the highs. I am glad that this book is the first in a series as I am interested to see what happens to both young ladies beyond this story.
Thank you so much to Sourcebook Fire and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

I thought it was interesting and it had my attention. I liked Layla as a character, but found other characters to be meh.

This book needs to BLOW UP! The characters are engaging and easy to like, a great mix of history and fantasy, and such ease the authors adds in racial tensions of the Jazz age era. When a character remarks, “we’re allowed to perform there, but not be allowed to be in the club” was so poignant and poetic, I really hope they leave that line in.

I can summarize this book as a young adult sapphic reverse DayBreakers. If you have not seen Ethan Hawke’s vampire movie DayBreakers, it is brilliant, but skip it for now. A lot of the ending reminded me of that movie.

Told in dual narratives, we have Elise back from her musical career in France for her family, almost like the top crime family in charge, for anniversary celebrations and to celebrate the naming of a new progeny. Second narrative is of Layla, a “reaper” or another term for vampire, but also former friend of Elise and the mystery of their dark past slowly reveals. Part horror, part crime and detective story with a romance story not quite believable, and 100% predictable young adult novel.

Even though the story is set in the Jazz Age, It has a modern tone and language to it, so keep that in mind if the inaccuracies are something you will fixate on. Even with its predictability, the character developments and intrigue kept the page turning. The ending does drag a bit tying up loose ends. This is obviously first in a series/duology, so I’m excited to see where this goes.

Lesbians. Vampires. The Roaring 20s. Need I say more?

This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings was a fun read! I don’t think it will leave much of an impression on me, but I had a good time. I think this would be a good filler read, especially as it is a quick one.

Story wise, I feel like this book didn’t do anything very unique. It reminded me a lot of “Our Violent Ends” by Chloe Gong. It was also a little slow. I took about a month break in the middle of this book because I didn’t necessarily find myself compelled to pick it up. However, getting the audio ARC helped me a lot. It was easy to pick up after the break, and after some progress I found myself looking forward to reading it again. The narrator of the audiobook did a really good job!

Throughout the book I was eagerly anticipating seeing what would happen with the main couple. I also was intrigued to see where the plot would go.

If you love lesbians and vampires you should totally give this a shot! (and why wouldn’t you!)

Will update with social media links closer to when the book publishes.

4.5

in jazz age harlem, reapers, once-human vampires, are on the rise. luckily for the saint family, this helps their reaper-hunting business, giving them even more power. elise saint is returning home after five years in paris as the business’s reluctant heir. layla quinn is a young reaper haunted by her past. the night she was turned five years ago is also the night she lost her parents and the saints’ protection. when layla is framed for a reaper attack, she works with elise to investigate the murders and how they might be linked to a reaper cure.

i have been waiting to read this book for soooo long, and it was well worth the wait! i always love the “monster x monster hunter” trope, and i thought it played out well in this book. there was the perfect amount of angst and tension between these two! the plot was also interesting, and i like how hayley dennings put her own spin on vampires.

2.5/5 stars. DNFed at 56% and skimmed the rest.

This Ravenous Fate is a Sapphic YA Historical Fantasy that switches between the perspectives of Layla, a reaper (vamp) and Elise, the heir to a reaper hunter empire. Sounds amazing right? Eh

I, along with many other reviewers, was so excited to dive into this book. But it just didn’t deliver. I was originally going to try to push through and finish it, until I read other reviews and found that it didn’t get better.

I found the murder mystery plot to be boring, the Worldbuilding to not be well described, and the relationship between the main characters to be lacking.

The plot is slow. The first 25% sets up what the synopsis already told us, the next 25% (and possibly more) was Elise and Layla meeting every few days to search for a murderer. But this was not an exciting adventure- it was a boring few paragraphs about everything going wrong and the two of them sucking at their jobs.

This is a childhood friends, to enemies, to lovers- but there aren’t sufficient flashbacks to show their previous friendship, or even why they became enemies. Because this isn’t established, the dynamic was off putting, and also made it difficult to understand when they started to develop feeling for each other.

Elise is also pretty unlikable. I understand that unlikable narrators are some peoples jams, but she wasn’t marketed this way.

As for the worldbuilding, we’re kinda just told that this takes place in 1920s New York, but the setting isn’t really built upon. There’s a few aspects of the book that rely on prohibition, but I had a really difficult time imagining the world. The characters felt as if they were taken from 2024 and put into the 1920s.

I am truly confused by the higher reviews. I wish I could’ve loved this! I just feel like we read completely different books.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I love the Harlem Renaissance and I love vampires, but the two together and you just can’t lose!

Ok ok, I wasn’t blown away by this novel but it was a good read! The plot and story details were great, I think the execution could have been better. I’m looking forward to book 2.

This Ravenous Fate is a sapphic vampire book (called Reapers) set in the 1920's Harlem Renaissance featuring a Black cast. Elise is the daughter of the Saints, the family who has discovered weaponry to kill the Reapers, and Layla, Elise's former best friend turned Reaper and mortal enemy. They are put together to solve the mystery of a Reaper murder, where there is a Reaper boy who Layla swears was responsible, but he died a human.

The genius of this story is how the author used vampires as an allegory for the division in the Black community. You can be a Black person who is respected by the white community by knowing your place and providing a service. Not equal but in a place of authority. (The Saints/Elise) Or you can not accept that as good enough, and exist outside of that society for something better. (The Reapers/Layla).

"That was exactly how white people controlled minority groups; by making themselves out to be graceful saviors everyone was lucky to have. But there was nothing lucky about being forced to assimilate just for a chance of being given rights that you already deserved in the first place."

With the banter between Elise and Layla, the dark and beautiful 1920's glamour of the world, the politics, and the mystery, this would have easily been a five star read for me. But as an avid fantasy reader, I didn't fall in love with this as a vampire story. The Reapers were missing a lot of the qualities that made them dark and seductive, and the rules of the world and the arrangement between the Reapers and humans were unclear. I think if you go into this expecting your typical vamp story, you won't love it. But if you go into it as a historic, sapphic, mystery, you'll totally get it.

Loved the historical setting and the general concept of vampirism (or reapers, as this book calls them). In some ways, it made me think of Dread Nation, although that was quite a bit darker/heavier than this book.

Writing was extremely vibes-heavy; I think you could describe most of the important plot points boiled down into a short list, with most of the on-page text dealing with character emotions, backstory, parties, outfits, sex scenes, murders, etc. Lots of 1920s gangsters and NYC vibes. I did find a lot of the dealings with Elise’s father and the conflict with Layla to be repetitive; by halfway through the book I felt like they were just going through the same motions over and over. I’m still not really sure why Elise’s father is so protective of his family & legacy but hates Elise, nor do I really understand how Layla (and Elise??) both blame Elise for reapers killing Layla’s family. At one point Layla points out that she’s made a new family with the reapers even though they are literally the ones who murdered her family so why should she hate the Saints more but it feels like we never delved into that further. Lastly, I truly don’t understand Sterling’s character. What was the point of him? Why all that build up just to have him completely change everything about himself 70% of the way in??

I did think the romance plot, which was dominate, felt well developed. I don’t get why these two held the specific grudges that they did but if you just accept that, then slowly overcoming those obstacles made some amount of sense. I did feel like the reaper venom issue clouded things and I’m actually sure that Elise was in her right mind to consent to some of what was happening, which does put a damper on the quick switch between the two of them. But the relationship is already pretty messy so it fits.

I would recommend this for fans of A Tempest of Tea.

This was such a unique concept! I really wanted to love this book with its prohibition and mobster style spin on human vs. vampires but it was a pretty slow read and I found that while I did like it I just didn’t love it and really wanted a bit more excitement.

Sapphic vampires in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance? Yes, please!

This was such an awesome book and I loved the vampire (well, reaper in this case but one and the same) dynamic with the tensions between them and humans, specifically the wealthy families in charge of a lot of the local economy and entertainment scene. This is a legit enemies-to-lovers where the definitely think about and try killing each other. The tensions are high and the action nonstop as murders are continuously pinned on Layla, who as a reaper is found in places that link her to the murders yet she doesn't remember them. Elise is tasked in working with Layla on the mystery before she is told to kill her by her controlling father who is deep in not only bankrolling a lot of the local area, but also deep within it's crime too.

Elise and Layla's story is full of pain, suffering, and pining as they try and avoid each other due to each other's involvement in death, but they just can't seem to stop thinking about and pining after each other. There's history between them that demands to be remembered and they will have to overcome it to get to the bottom of all of the murders.

This was an enjoyable read with a unique spin that I think historical fantasy fans will love!

This was a fine story. It took awhile for me to figure out the timeframe because some things seemed out of place what the time period I thought it was set in. There is a larger cast of characters but we focus on primarily 2 FMCs. I’m not sure I was convinced of them not liking each other nor of their love. It felt more like we were just told and not shown. I’m undecided if I will continue when the next book comes out.

I wanted to love love loveeeeee this book. The premise is vampires set in 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance with a touch of race and class issues. it's marketed as sapphic angsty enemies-to-lovers with mystery and romance and fell flat.

my favorite part of the story was the absolutely the setting and the atmosphere. it was dark and beautiful. but i wish i had more in the book that made me feel like i was THERE.

the story, however, was so so so slow. it felt like not a lot happened for a while. i'm giving it 3 stars because the last 10-15% were exciting enough, otherwise it would have been a 2.5. the writing style was inconsistent through the book and it made it hard to really get into the book.

thank you to netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book just fulfills the need for female rage so well. Black queer vampires in the 1920s what more could a girl as for.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with the ARC for this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I enjoyed this story but what's not to love about a sapphic vampire love story. I'm not sure if Layla or Elise were bisexual or lesbian but either way they were awesome. I did feel like their relationship wasn't built up enough though to go from enemies to lovers. For half the story I almost thought that I was wrong and that Layla and Elise weren't endgame (there's a few vampire stories coming out around the same time so I thought I mixed up my stories). Neither of them seemed to have any feelings for each other besides animosity. Neither of them in their POV's even alluded to the fact that they felt anything other than friendship for one another. I think the only sign I saw was that Layla was jealous of Sterling being close to Elise but that could have been interpreted as her being jealous as a friend. It felt like all of their feelings for each other only came out AFTER Layla bit Elise and that made me feel like Elise was only enthralled by Layla's venom from her bite.

I was also very upset when the only asian character in the book was killed off not only by her best friend (Layla) but in the most gruesome way possible. I was so excited for her when she was turned into a human because I wanted her to be able to go find her family. Then she was literally torn to shreds and I can't forgive that.

The only other part that I didn't like was how quickly Sterling turned on Elise. They're supposed to be best friends. They seemed to have this really strong bond and yet... Sterling threw all of that away? He was so worried for Elise the whole story and when he flipped suddenly to her dad's side it just felt wrong. I didn't care for that part.

I'm not sure if I'm going to read the second novel when it comes out (because it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger) but we'll see.

I came across this author on instagram and was so excited when I was approved for an ARC of This Ravenous Fate. The book starts off with a lot of excitement, but unfortunately the pacing slows way down at about 25%. I found it hard to be excited to get back to reading this book. Usually when I’m enjoying a book, I pick it up as often as I can but that was not the case this time. I really enjoyed Elise and Layla’s characters, but felt like their backstory wasn’t delivered early enough to make their relationship/interactions interesting. Most of the other characters felt sort of lack luster for me, their motives and decisions were hard to follow. So much happened in the last 5-10% of the book that it felt like the book ended in the middle of the book. It did not feel as if the conflicts were resolved and more problems were created. Overall, I enjoyed the book and found the premise of the book to be very intriguing. The pacing was my main issue because there were too many long stretches where it felt like nothing important was happening.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an ARC of This Ravenous Fate!

Very entertaining... Set in the 1920's with Vampires. Anything with Vampires immediately get my attention. This is a new to me author. I would have preferred more action and some points in the book were slow and seemed to drag.