5⭐!!

Thank you Sourcebooks and Netgalley for this eARC!!

This book was delicious. The setting, the tropes, the slow burn ANGST. I really think this might be one of my favorite vampire books I've ever read. I cannot wait for book 2!!

I quit. I'm SO DISAPPOINTED!!!! This was one of my most anticipated release of the year, I've been following Hayley on YouTube for so long and I've heard her talk about it at length, so yes, I was highly anticipating and just super excited for it. WELL. I just don't want to force myself to read a novel I'm clearly not enjoying, for several reasons: 1) my biggest issue with this was the LACK OF ANY FRICKING DESCRIPTIONS!!! Ma'am, you're allowed to describe buildings, places and their atmosphere, it's not because one single moron on TikTok says she skips anything that's not dialogue that you can't write descriptions for us readers who actually read and enjoy them! I mean it's 1920s NYC, prohibition era, gangs, vampires, this has a specific atmosphere in my mind, the speakeasies, the dark alleyways, meetings in the backrooms of dingy bars for crying out loud. We sometimes were told about the music or the seats, which was nice, but clearly insufficient and that meant I wasn't exactly immersed in the book, I felt I wasn't let in that very secretive world and eventually just didn't care. 2) It doesn't help that I stopped halfway through the book but I found the characters rather shallow, especially Elise, I just didn't seem to be able to fully get a grasp on her as I would a character that actually felt like a real person. 3) I don't know if it's because it's meant to be secretive or what, and the fact that, again, I didn't get to the end but so far, I had questions on reaperhood that seemed pretty basic and should've been answered early on, my main one being: does reaperhood only affect Black people? Or are only Black people affected in this book because of the segregation? And I think I would've liked to have more explanations and a deeper understanding of how much does being Black and reaper coexist in this world, the social implications of it. We are told but I suppose I wanted more on the intersectionality of those identities in this world and just how a society would work with the reapers. 4) I think, at its core, I wanted this book to be adult. It started out conversations on racism and intersectionality that I think were amazing but maybe too shallow for my liking. The themes would've been more fleshed out for my liking and Dennings would've truly been able to lean into that very horrific/ sorry vibe she had going on, plus some more spindles of homoeroticism because I could tell she wanted it to be there but couldn't because of the genre. It seemed like the world building was an afterthought, that ended up still being pretty decent or even good in some aspects, but between the lack of atmosphere and a world that still seemed pretty opaque to me despite our 2 main characters being raised and parts of said world, the immersion factor was absolutely NOT there for me. 5) The writing just wasn't good. When you have a secondary character, who grew up aware of the working of this world, asking questions for the sole benefit of the reader in the following format "reapers feed from humans, is that right?", and yes, it's the clumsiness that comes with your first novel, BUT WHERE WAS THE GODDAMN EDITOR?!? The writing was also telling and not showing me quite often, so that didn't help.
I know a lot of those complaints also come from me not finishing the book but I don't want to force myself when I'm not exactly having an amazing time and feel very disappointed because of how excited I was for this book.
Moral of the story, don't be excited for books.

Thanks so much to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC! I have been anticipating this book for a million years and it did not disappoint!!! The themes were deftly explored, the romance super well executed, and the tension was INSANE. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and I cannot WAIT for book 2. A brilliant achievement of a debut!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

When I heard the blurb for this book I was super excited to read it! But it kinda fell short of my expectations. I’ll start off with what I really liked. I liked the premise of the book, enemies to lovers but make it vampire x vampire killer. Immediately intrigued. I also really liked the setting of the 1920’s it really added to the overall ambiance and feel of the story. I thought the way the author interwove the concepts of race, class with the storyline was really interesting.

The bones were there but there were just one too many things I didn’t really enjoy. The story just progressed really slowly but also really fast at the same time? For the first 70% of the story I felt like nothing was really happening and then the last 30% everything suddenly happened and it was out of nowhere? I didn’t really feel like we got the setup to the conclusion throughout the book if that makes sense?

Overall I think a younger audience would enjoy this more than me. But I will definitely be looking out for more of this authors work!

Absolutely loved this book!

This was exactly what I wanted from this book. It’s got vampires, it’s queer and it’s unapologetically black. I loved the world building, the story and the characters. However, the plot and the ending was a little lacking in my opinion. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but there was just a little “umph” that I was missing.

I’m really excited to read more from this author and more books in this series!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for this e-arc. All thoughts are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the gifted copy.

It took me a while to get through this book. I had to keep setting it down and picking it back up . I thought the premise of this book sounded wonderful and I believe the author created some uniqueness it just fell a little flat for me. I think it just needed a little more development.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I absolutely adored the concept of this book. If it has queer vampires, I'm automatically on board. Add 1920s Harlem and I'm even MORE on board. This book was such a fun read despite not feeling quite fleshed out as much as it could be.

I think what disappointed me the most was the pacing. Some parts were very slow and dragged on, and other parts were very quick, so much so that I felt like I missed important information. Avoiding spoilers, the end was VERY sudden and felt so rushed. I felt like it jumped from scene to scene drastically in the last 10% of the book, and I was left confused enough to re-read portions to understand what had happened.

All this being said, I am quite enchanted with the love/hate relationship between Elise and Layla. I found them to be wonderful characters with a lot of depth, especially as they grapple with mental health issues, familial issues, racism, sexism, classism, and loss. I look forward to seeing where the sequel takes them and their relationship.

Publication date: 6 August 2024

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC.

The premise of this book is amazing, and I absolutely love the Jazz-Age New York setting.
The prologue also had me hooked, so I'm quite sad that I ended up DNFing.

The writing style was the biggest downfall of the book, it felt clunky and the dialogue didn't feel natural. I had a hard time immersing myself in the setting.

I was also confused by the character dynamics, and wish there had been more explanation of the backstory between the two FMCs.
Maybe it follows later in the book, but given that it is already a very big plot point early in the book, I personally felt like it would have been necessary to have a better understanding of their connection.

I'm sure this book will find its audience and I would definitely give the author another try in the future.

I didn’t love it, didn’t hate it. The potential was definitely there, just feel like it lacked in places.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. I had high hopes for this book but it was not for me. For me, it was a slog to get through the portions of Layla and Elise's emotions. The plot itself was interesting but not enough to keep me engaged. I kept putting off reading it because I did not engage with it. The historical context was phenomenal for how the reapers were created and I did enjoy the worldbuilding. It was not enough for me to recommend this to anyone else. 2 stars.

Thank you both Haylet Dennings and Sourcebooks for the eARC. All reviews and thoughts are mine alone.

Are you looking for a fantasy book with 1920s Harlem vibes? If so this is the book that you need to run and read. This book gives you all the vibes of humans, vampires, reapers, gangs and even vampire hunters. The world building was incredible and i felt like i could see the area in my mind like a movie. This book is heavy heavy on alot of the topics it presents from segregation to systematic racism.

While heavy on topics it was also light and easy to keep up with, The plot was interesting, the lesbian romance was different than most, how the characters and story developed was slow and steady. The relationship between Layla and Elise was one for the books. They were opposites, shouldn't have worked at all but did. Sure the relationship was complicated, with them being two different beings.

Overall i did like the book but i felt like the execution wasn't the best. It had a great concept and great potential, i am giving it a 4 star, cause i was able to get through it and stayed interested. I just felt like some parts dragged and some didn't feel necessary but it was by no means a bad book!

⭐️⭐️.5

🩸Sapphic
🎹Vampire X Vampire Hunter
🩸Friends to Enemies to Lovers
🎹Set during the Harlem Renaissance
🩸Female Rage

This was an ALC and E-ARC.

I really really wanted to love this one. I love sapphic romances and then add in vampires I was ready to devour. The build up took a long time. The last 5 percent was the best part of the book as far as action and shock.

The storyline was very predictable. There is a bit at the end that leads up to their being a second book. I don’t really feel any closure for first part of the book.

I think that this book was just not for me but I know a few book besties that would love it.


The narrator did an amazing job! They conveyed all emotions and kept me focused. I would definitely listen to more by this narrator.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me, mostly due to world building and a need for edits on characters.

This was SO cool! I loved the vibes of this- rich black vampires in the 20s is possibly the coolest concept for a book I've ever heard. This was a lot of fun, and the romance was so cute. I think this is such a strong debut- it's got good vibes, good dialogue, and a great cast of characters. My only complaint is that it moves pretty slow. I'm hoping the second book is a little better paced. Overall though, totally worth the read!

DNF @ 15%.

I was incredibly excited for this and hope that I can return to it with enjoyment at another time! I'm not sure why this didn't gel with me currently, but the writing style was different to what I was expecting. Will return to this another time (hopefully).

I'm going to start this review by saying that the strongest part of this book is the characters. The characters are so likable and strong that if you, like me, read a book mostly for the characters, there's a great chance that you're going to eat this one up. Especially if you, like me, are a sucker for vampires (heh sucker). What can I say? I unironically like Twilight. Anyway, all that said, there are some things that could maybe be improved in this book. It felt like there were some plot lines that could have been tightened up, and the pacing felt a bit off in different places.

DNF 30%
This book was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and unfortunately, I just didn't love it. The world nor the main characters Laylor and Elise made me want to keep reading this book. I love vampires, I love historical settings, I love reading books with Black sapphics but something about this book wasn't for me. Sometimes I like pushing through but in the case of me not even liking the main characters, it's better for me to DNF than to finish.

Too slow for it's own good. A planned duology it could have been a nice 400 page-ish standalone (I'm assuming) with some editing, focus, and tightness in the writing because conceptually I was pretty excited about it but then I couldn't muddle through the story when things were connecting snappily enough.

There's a new wave of vampires from the middle grade humor to the [book:A Tempest of Tea|59406549] but it didn't hit the right notes though the historical setting provided good atmosphere.

When is the second book coming out? I love everything about this book. The world building was excellent. The author brought the Harlem Renaissance alive with her words. I love the tension between the characters. Will they or won’t they get together in the end? And I want to know what happened with her little sister? Where is she? And her father was just plain nasty. I wish I could read again for the first time.

The plot was interesting and the characters had a lot of personality, but I felt like the efforts to create period dialogue felt forced and clunky. Overall I really enjoyed the story!