I have been hyped for this book since Hayley went on sub so you can imagine how devastated I am with the fact that I DNFed this book.

I'm sad to say that I was overwhelming bored from the very first chapter (not the prologue, the prologue hooked me then the first chapter released me back to the ocean). Also, this book was pitched to me as a Sapphic Vampire×Vampire Hunter and I don't know how many times I have to say this but I hate when pitches/synopsis LIE to me. Elise is not a Vampire Hunter. She is the heir to a Vampire Hunting company but she has never hunted a day in her life. Also Friends to Enemies to Lovers? I had no reason to believe that Elise and Layla should fall in love. They lacked chemistry and most of their arguements felt like they happened for no reason but to show they hate each other and then BOOM they're fighting some sexual tension before starting another argument? Yeah I didn't believe it for one second.

Also the mystery-solving was another let down. Elise and Laura's mystery solving strategy was so boring and it got absolutely no where so I felt no reason to continue reading this book.

The only thing I could say I think was done properly was the privilege Vs race conversations that happened in this book and even then, that felt a bit lecture like at times.

I really wish I enjoyed this book.

thanks to NetGalley for the eARC

⭐️=3.5? | 😘=3 | 🤬=3.5 | ⚔️=4.5 | 14/15+

summary: 1920s Harlem ex-besties vampire girl and rich human girl have to work together to solve a mystery with some other vampires and evil gangs or something

thoughts: this is okay? I got a little lost, and there were a couple of moments i distinctly did Not Like (like the vampire MC having sex w someone who wasn’t the human MC love interest over halfway through the book??). idk. it’s fine! I love fantasy set in the 1920s or 1920s-inspired world, and I think this incorporated that culture into its story pretty well.

This is a wonderful YA queer horror fantasy that starts with a drippingly lush prologue and continues with intense world-building and some great characters. I can't wait for book 2.

I wanted to love this so much. It has so much promise and so much that I know I love: sapphic, vampires, 1920s era, all of it. That being said, it's clunky and yet I can't find a foothold in the plot or really much that's there in the first 25% to hook me. At this point, I don't really know what's going on and I'm not connecting with the characters. I'm going to try to start reading the novel again, but for right now I'm so bored I'm setting it down.

This wasn’t a bad book, it just wasn’t for me. I liked the concepts and the characters but the plot was so slow and I found the writing to me a little young for me. However I think a slightly younger age demographic will like this! And, as this is the author’s debut novel, I’m interested to check out what else she ends up writing!

Thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for the ARC in turn for an honest review.

I wanted to love this book. The vampires, LGBTQ+, the social commentary...what a great concept! Buttttt I made it 60% of the way in before giving up. Layla: great character. Elise: great character. Writing: pretty juvenile. Plot: dragged. I felt like the book tried to tackle too much at once, and was left lacking. Either way, I know someone will click with this book, and it just wasn't me....and after a month sitting on my "Currently Reading" list I had to finally call it quits.

i was procrastinating this review of what was supposed to be one of my most anticipated reads of the year.

the author was really good at marketing without the prose to support it. The twist of the story was given away months ago and i went into the story, thinking that was something we were supposed to know. Ultimately, it lacks the atmospheric vision the author had for it. The prose and writing were not delivering the story I was expecting. the dialogue felt too modern.

Our protagonist has just come back from Paris where she had a lovely time playing piano. she is traumatized by the death of her eldest sisters at the hands of vampires and her father doesn't like her. also her past bff layla who is a vampire has hurt her in the past. nothing strong carries the beginning but the last third packed a bit more punch.

i realised later it was a duology which i don't remember but okay, i mean i thought the ending was ballsy but unsatisfying so i guess it makes sense.

My problem with this book is that the author had a vision, a concept and characters but no real plot and it showed. Your characters drifted apart due to vampirism and you want to bring them together what do you do? investigation where they need to be allies due to a bigger threat, simple, basic. However for the reader you need to make the investigation interesting to read. For your characters to have a vampire hunter x vampire dynamic you need the vampire hunter to show any knowledge of vampire hunting, maybe you know show them hunting? Because Elise is a pushover and absolutely no tension comes from the fact that she's a vampire. It all comes from the fact she is a Saint. It's a story with very little tension because Elise and Layla are allies which protects both from a lot and they are never put in any real danger or caught in something they can't manoeuver their way out.

If you like vampires and a little bit of fantasy , this book is for you! It was a really good story it gives me vibes of the movie blade , with all the human and vampire interaction., it’s full of mysteries and action that will keep you entertained thru the book, from begin to end.

This lush, dark fantasy expertly toed the lines of romance, horror, and fantasy. Although it did not land on my favourites of the year—everything felt serviceable, but apart from the atmosphere and the twist on vampires, I didn't find myself aching to live in this world—I do think this is a brilliant YA fantasy that will receive so much love from readers worldwide.

4 Stars

Firstly, thank you to Hayley, the Sourcebooks Fire team, and NetGalley for gifting me an arc copy in exchange for an honest review!

To begin, the atmosphere of Jazz Age Harlem rampant with vampires, called reapers, was dark and gritty with dazzling moments of glitter and high society events. I loved how Hayley set up the world's politics and characters, depicting the underground and aboveground societies clashing. Though, perhaps they were never so far apart to begin with.

Elise and Layla were also interesting characters with their own arcs and flaws. While the mystery itself was fairly obvious, the fun was in reading how Elise and Layla navigated it and their own feelings. Though there were a couple, less obvious, smaller twists that made it more enjoyable. That said, if you're here for the mystery, this probably isn't the book for you as the plot is more focused on proving who the culprit is (and the romance lol) than actually solving it.

I will say the end felt a little rushed to me. There were times when I lost track of characters, who were formerly sitting side by side with one of our MCs and then completely disappeared. Some main moments were brushed over, and one twist (along with its following effects), seemed to have very little backing.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and recommend it for people who are more focused on a black sapphic romantasy than a mystery!

This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings

Childhood best friends turned enemies! This book is full of tropes and that’s either your thing or it isn’t. Personally, I roll my eyes every time a mascarade ball is thrown, but I’ll still eat it up every single time. I think that’s part of the fun. Like we’re here for the biting, getting drunk on venom, and confessions of love! I do, however, think the enemy aspect could’ve gone harder.

I loved the mystery that surrounded the girls’ relationship and what happened the night it all went wrong. The details were slowly fed to us, but I do wish we got more of a reveal. While reading I caught myself thinking “Oh that’s all that happened? We’re not getting more?” I also had a similar feeling surrounding what happened to Layla in the alleyway. I was excited for a grand revelation but found the reveal fell a little short.

With the caveat that I don’t read much YA fiction, one thing I couldn’t wrap my head around is why Elise would be put in charge of a murder investigation. When the adults in the room complained about her progress I couldn’t help but think “Why are we all pretending a pair of traumatised teens are Sherlock and Watson?” The writing style also wasn’t my favourite, and again, I feel the need to chalk this up to me not reading much YA.

I love a bloody mess and adored the beginning fights. I did find the final conflict happened too fast, people seemed to materialise out of nowhere to save the day or escalate the situation. This final fight could’ve worked well on screen, but in a book, I found it all very convenient. At the same time, I also found the events after the fight too slow. We lost a lot of momentum and spent the last few pages tying up loose ends and setting up the sequel. In that rush, I found it difficult to follow the logic behind a lot of the characters’ decisions.

All that to say I did have a lot of fun reading this. It’s probably the teen inside me who’s still sitting on Tumblr and watching Camilla on YouTube.

I was drawn in by the cover art and the synopsis of the book. This is my first time reading a book by Hayley Dennings. Unfortunately, I had to DNF the book after a few chapters. The story wasn't holding my attention and I couldn't stick with the story to see what would happen next or what happened in the past to the main character to find out the next part. It reminded me a bit of supernatural themed tv shows based on vampires and the undead along with some kind of "hunter". When I started reading the book it felt like I was missing a chunk of the story, and this started in the middle, so I felt pretty lost.

Thanks to NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Fire for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun read! Vampires in 1920s Harlem...solving a murder mystery with vampire hunters! (They're called Reapers but they're just vampires)

It got a bit convoluted with the solving of the mystery at the end but I still really enjoyed the book. Elise and Layla were compelling protagonists--though I preferred Layla a bit more, given her vampiric nature. I liked the twists and turns and how their growing relationship pushed the story along. I wish we had a chapter or two highlighting Layla pre-vampire and how close they used to be.

I really did enjoy this book but the writing wasn't something to, ha, write home about. It's still a strong debut in my opinion, though! I'd like to read more in this series if Dennings ever considers rejoining the world.

I was really intrigued by this book based on the premise. I'm not too familiar with many urban fantasies, but I was most excited to see that it was set in 1920s Harlem and feature black vampires living amongst humans. I think for a debut this book was okay. There were times I didn't find that I cared about the characters and what was going on. I think a big part of that was the pacing for me, but I was still interested enough to finish. This book was find objectively, but I just felt kind of bored.

This one just was not for me unfortunately. I was really looking forward to it. I couldnt connect to the characters and the mystery was not mysterious enough for me. I felt the side characters were very unforgettable. It felt like they would appear and disappear just like that with no real connection.

<i>Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC?</i>

Who edited this?

It seems like this publisher is generally pretty well regarded but I have to wonder if the editor was put on a time crunch, new, or just doing their job with their eyes closed because this is some of the most godawful editing I’ve ever seen in a traditionally published book, period. Typos, poor sentence structure, clunky dialogue, cardboard characters, vacuum of chemistry, underdeveloped worldbuilding, and poorly paced plot are all things a team of editors would pick up and revise on their own or with the author. Here though, its like the first draft was just sent through immediately to all ARC readers. I get that this is an ARC and changes will likely (hopefully) be made, but the author is preparing to be published in a couple of months and this needs at least another year worth of work. It’s that bad.

I follow the author on social media and she seems like a smart and talented creative but her writing is at the very least amateurish. Prose is basic, general plot developments are poorly constructed, and the dialogue…is something to behold alright. I think she really should’ve spent more time developing her craft and style before putting this out in the world. This book in general needed more time in the oven.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I liked that this story was set in 1920’s Harlem.
There’s just something about vampires in the Roaring ‘20s!


With that being said, this novel wasn’t terrible, but it just didn’t keep my attention or make me want to keep reading. I liked the themes and concept of the story, it just lacked better execution. It just isn’t for me!

This Ravenous Fate is a solid debut for Hayley Dennings. I was initially drawn in by the premise and the Harlem Renaissance setting.

Layla was my favorite character so I wish we could have gotten more insight on her family and her passion for dance, life before becoming a reaper, etc. This book could have benefited from a bit of cleaning up of repetitive phrases/dialogue and the ending could have been fleshed out a bit more as it seemed rushed in comparison to the earlier pacing of the book. Also, this was the definition of a slow burn but understandable since there was a lot of history and healing to be done by the main characters so I didn’t mind too much. I would have loved more flashbacks on Layla and Elise’s childhood bond and a full flashback of the event that eventually severed their friendship as we only got bits and pieces of that. Hopefully book two delves into it more as I am definitely looking forward to see how Layla and Elise navigate their new relationship.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This was a very unique take on vampires and very different from what I would typically read in the sense that I don't like stories that read like historical fiction but this was so well written that I didn't even notice.

Set in an alternate United States in the 1920's, where vampires (called reapers) and humans live. The story follows Elisa, a human, and her relationship with Layla, who turned into a reaper 5 years ago. Elise's father is extremely rich business man who wants nothing more than to kill all reapers. So there was political machinations as well as a weak murder mystery. The story was ok, but lacked excitement. I didn't care for the characters. All were self absorbed and didn't have much empathy. All the politicians were evil. The last few pages were also confusing to me.