I really enjoyed the way that the narrator brought these characters to life. The performance was emotive and well paced. However, the pause in between scenes was too short. It made it seem as though there were sudden leaps in time, but then I realized that we were in an entirely new scene. Without the visual breaks to follow along, the audio breaks needed to be more significant. Likewise, the two main characters are young black women of similar upbringing. They were voiced so similarly that I had to make a concentrated effort to follow the dialogue tags to figure out which of them was speaking.

Story rating: 3⭐
Audio rating: 4⭐

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an audiobook arc!

1920s, Harlem, fantasy, sapphic romance…do I need to say anything else?!

Elise Saint is returning to New York after spending years in Paris working on her music. Elise is still haunted by the death of her older sister, Charlotte, and carries the same hatred of reapers that the rest of her family has. Especially for one specific one-Layla, who used to be Elise’s best friend.

Elise’s family is in the business of hunting reapers, and they’re pretty much the most powerful family in the city. Elise plans on going back to Paris, until she learns that her younger sister has been given the task of being the Saint heiress, keeping the family’s legacy running. Elise wants a normal life for Josie, so she instead volunteers to be the heir, sending Josie off to Paris.

As mysterious deaths start occurring and some reapers somehow appear to still be part human, it becomes Elise’s mission to figure out what is going on in Harlem. She is tasked to team up with Layla to investigate. The two quickly find out that everything is not all that it seems, and are determined to find out if there truly is a cure for the reapers or if it’s just a trick.

I really enjoyed this audiobook. I thought the narrator did a great job, and the story itself was so interesting. Reapers are essentially vampires that have been around for centuries from experiments and other bad things, so the fantasy in this book wasn’t too complicated.

I do recommend this one to anyone looking for a fantasy that’s not too overwhelming.

Rating: 2.5-3/5
Dedication: For Black girls everywhere— you are enough.

A bystander to carnage does not a saint make”

What to Expect
🩸Sapphic Vampire Romance
🩸 Friends/Lovers to Enemies
🩸 Vampires (Repeapers) vs. Humans
🩸 Jazz Age Harlem
🩸 Dual POV
🩸 Mystery/Political Intrigue

**sigh** I wanted to love this so bad but it just fell flat for me. I found myself trying to skip through the FMC's POV just so I could read about Layla - she carried the story for me and is the <i>only</i> reason I finished. My heart broke for her and I found myself drawn to her character and story. [sorry in advance for this buuuut...] Elise could kick rocks barefoot and I do not think I would care 🙄 Unfortunately the plot felt very predictable and boring. I think this book has a great premise and promise of a great story but it was not there, yet.

With this being a duology, I may read the second book just to see how to story ends but I'm sadly disappointed with this 😭

It’s easy to do anything when you love someone. Even if it’s the hardest choice you’ve ever made.”


NOTE: This book takes place in an alternative 20's-esque Harlem setting. The book features social and political commentary that would have been present during that time. Please read the content warnings before starting this book.

I received an e-ARC and ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review - this in no way affects my review or opinions outlined throughout.

I got to read the e-arc and this audiobook. so this review will strictly about the performance. The story review is on the e-arc.

Tamika Katon-Donegal did this book such justice.
I loved their voice acting with characters and the emotional turmoil they portrayed the anger and pain from Layla's pov. They showed just how heavy doubt, guilt, pain and PTSD built the Elise we know now.

NOTE: I say this about every audiobook with 1 narrator and 2 or more povs. I wish we could have either another narrator OR a CLEAR difference between the two characters as It can become confusing with who is 'speaking'.

I'm soooo bummed this was a DNF for me at 25%. I was pushing myself to finish, because this really sounded like an amazing story with potential. But it's so clear this publisher did not provide this author with the editing they needed in order to ensure their debut was a success.

There were simple issues with grammar, sentence structure, and dialogue. Then there were bigger picture issues with world building (I got no sense of atmosphere, even though this was supposed to be 1920s Harlem renaissance), character development (only one of the main characters seemed to have any nuance to her), pacing (it was tediously slow), and plot development (the murder mystery was severely under developed). It truly read like the publisher just rushed to publish a first draft. I am interested in seeing more from this author, as I felt there were good ideas here. But I did not think this was a strong debut.

Specifically in regards to the audio: I would not recommend this one on audio. There was not enough transition between the POVs and the timelines to clearly let the listener know what was going on. Maybe it would have benefited from chapter headings (name of character, five years earlier, etc), or maybe the narrator needed to differentiate their voices a little better. But as a listener, I needed a better cue when things changed.

The only good I haave to say about this novel is the narrator. She always narrated greatly anaad because of the narration, that was the sole reason I was able to finish this. I loved the cadence aanad how she was able to bring the emotions to life to these charaacters. Because without the narrator that fell flat completely.

I originally picked this up because of the vampire element, sapphic relationship, and the setting of the Harlem Renaissance. First of all, the harlem renaissance was not in the room at all. I actively had to imagine these characters in thta type of setting with the clothes, atmosphere, etc. The "vampires" are not reaally vampires but rather monsters and thata irritated me so much as that was or is the selling point of the novel along with the relationship. Which leads me to these characters... They wereso one dimentional and boring. The only character thata I enjoyed somewhat wwas not even aa main character.

Elise anad Layla are so whiny and childish. The back and forth was almost way too much and nothing happened romantically until around the 90% mark which is ridiculous when it wasa marketed completely differemt. And the conflict wasa just so asinine. Overall I would not recommend this one. Which is dissapointing but this was such a let down.

⭑ ⭑ ⭑ ⭒ ⭒
3.5 stars

♰ black queer characters?? Sign me tf upppppp


╰┈➤ The audiobook was so good and captivating!
It was my first audiobook which I was able to listen to whole heartedly. I tried an audiobook once and realized that I kept on listening to the same sentence over and over again, struggling to understand. After that I decided audiobooks weren’t for me. But the narrator in this book did a very good job. I fell in love instantly

╰┈➤ The characters were so unique, especially Layla. I found her very compelling and funny. She was easily one of my favorites.
₰ I wasn’t a fan of Elise. I found her bland and a whiny, privileged brat, although I loved how her trauma was handled perfectly.
₰ I loved Jamie and Mae so much and lived for their small appearances

╰┈➤ As for the relationship between Layla and Elise, it started out so good, but by the end, all the chemistry I felt in the beginning was gone. Especially after I got to know the reason for their hate? The only person I could sympathize with was Layla. She basically trusted her friend, and her friend, whether unconsciously or not, led to the demise of her parents and turned Layla into a vampire. Because of that, Layla harbored hate against her (dare I say rightfully so) and then attacked her. When Layla was spilling her heart out, Elise managed to make it about herself and her petty love confession? I’m sorry, but that didn’t sit right with me at all.

╰┈➤ It got to a time Layla started having chemistry with her fangs than Elise. Dare I say I was going hard for she and Mae than I was with Layla and Elise??

╰┈➤ I liked how it also emphasized race and didn’t completely leave it out. That speech Layla gave about oppression ate. It was handled in a perfect way.

Overall, the book was good, a promising start. I can’t wait to read the next book!!!

I would like to thank NetGalley and the author for providing me with an eArc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and RBmedia for the gifted copies.

🎧Narrator: Tamika Katon-Donegal🎧

This book had such potential. Vampires, reapers, queer rep, jazz era Harlem and the roaring 20s, enemies to lovers, a murder mystery… so many good things! It just did not deliver for me 🫣

I think the author had a great premise here and it could have been a really great YA read, but the editing needs/needed a lot of help. The flow was very clunky, the transitions between things happening and/or relationships shifting were really lacking. The world and character building doesn’t need to be super deep for me in a YA novel but it needed to be deeper than what this book offered. The dialogue was just ok and often times the POV or timeline would shift very abruptly, leaving me confused about where we were.

The author made a nice effort to shed light and bring attention to the racial divide and disparity, but it felt a bit too much like we were being told but not shown.

That being said, this was a super fast and easy read and the story itself was interesting enough for me to keep reading. I did mostly audio but finished with my eyes and I feel like I preferred reading with my 👀. The narration wasn’t terrible and I’m seeing many positive reviews on it so this might just be a preference issue for me, but it felt very over acted.

If you’re looking for a super fast, easy, YA read and are a fan of vampires and queer rep and aren’t feeling super critical, this might be a good read for you 💛

I was very interested and extremely excited for a Black Sapphic vampire story and Hayley Dennings did not disappoint. This story was so good.
Amazing tension and stakes and extremely entertaining. And while I did really like the book, there were some slower moments but ill attribute that to the necessary world building.
I loved the dynamic between Elise and Layla and I though Josie was just precious.
This book was my first experience with an audio book and I do wish there was a different voice to distinguish between Elise and Layla. Sometimes I thought I was still with one of the main girls and had to go back a few times.
I will definitely continue with the series because I am extremely interested in Elise and Layla's journey.

This Ravenous Fate is the debut book by Hayley Dennings. It is a sapphic vampire story set in 1920s Harlem that’s follows Elise, a reluctant heir and Layla, a “reaper” which is this world’s vampire. Due to some strange happenings, the two have to team up to solve a mystery that will involve them uncovering their past.

This was a fun book. I found it to be compulsively readable and I stayed interested most of the time. I will say there are parts that feel very slow and I think this book overall could have been fifty or so pages shorter and it would have worked a lot better. I am happy to see that this is going to be a Duology so the story won’t be dragged out for a long time.

I really enjoyed Elise and Layla as characters. I felt a lot of tension developing between them throughout the beginning of the book. I liked how they developed through the book.

I wish there would have been a bit more lore. I feel like a lot of time was wasted on other things and I was most intrigued by the stuff with the reapers.

I listened to this via audio and while I think the narrator did a great job for the most part, sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the main characters because the voice didn’t really change. I would recommend anyone that wants to listen to this on audio to just make sure you really pay attention to who is speaking.

I’ll definitely read the sequel and probably other stuff from this author. I know that the target audience will love this book. I’m so excited for this vampire renaissance that seems to be happening!

I am so here for this vampire Renaissance that's happening and this one is sapphic! I really enjoyed this fantasy and I'm excited for the sequel! Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for my audio ARC!

This was a perfectly fine book. I know I wasn’t the target audience but after hearing all the incredible praise of this book I expected something a bit more world changing.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review.
It had me at a story about queer black women in 1920s Harlem, in a world with vampires (reapers), humans and a possible cure for the reapers to become human again.
I enjoyed the plot quite a bit, and angst in the love story because of their situation was great. There were some brutal viscous vampire attack scenes.
However, I think this book was a bit too long. It took a very long time for me to really get into it and I found myself not wanting to pick it back up at the beginning, once we got to the halfway point it really started to pick up.
The audio narration was not my favorite besides the 2 main characters the voices done for some of the men sounded kind of weird and took me out of the story.

I actually ended up not finishing the audiobook and switching back over to the e-book version and here's my biggest reason:
With this being dual POV (including POV changes within the chapters), they should have had two separate narrators because, as it stands at the 20% mark, the single narrator is doing NOTHING to differentiate between the two FMCs. This is making following along a little difficult as well as making the dialogue run together.

It did take me a minute to get into it in the beginning because of the quick switching between characters but once I got a handle of who was who I thoroughly enjoyed the story being told. The characters are very well written and the story is exciting and mysterious and everything I could've wanted it to be. This is definitely a book that I would prefer to have a physical copy to read along with just because a lot happens and at times it was tough to keep up but overall, this was fantastic. I can't wait to see what's next!

This book has a lot of great ideas, just failed to hold my attention. Maybe could've benefited from a tighter plot and shorter page count? Tamika Katon-Donegal does make for great listening though.

Elise and Layla team up to solve a serious of violent murders in Jazz Age Harlem. This is a challenge because they used to be friends but became enemies when Layla turned into a reaper (similar to a vampire). They must overcome their past and confront some brutal truths before the truth is uncovered.

Thank you Netgalley and Hayley Dennings for an arc in exchange for a honest review.

I was really excited to read about a black sapphic vampire story . Especially being set in the 1920s prohibition era in NY. Now this was a true enemies to lover slow burn and I loved the romance portion. I love the historical events added throughout the story. I didn’t rate this higher as the plot became repetitive and was too long. I think 100-150 pages could’ve been taken out and the story would still flow. At the end still don’t know exactly how all of the world building worked but maybe it’ll be explained better in book 2. The narrator knocked the story out of the park, she really had me hooked !

This book is set in a world full of reapers, vampire like creatures, that were born out of a failed medical experiment.

You get the perspective from both the human and reaper side with Elise and Layla. Elise is the daughter of a prominent family, which she is the heir to take over their business (and corruption)). Layla shows us the dangers and realities of being a reaper. I liked how reapers still had a lot of human characteristics and they weren’t rabid and unhinged. Except for the rogue reapers- who had no respect for human or reaper law and killed and fed only off of humans.

Elise and Layla used the best friends, but with Elise’s family, the Saints, being a head advocate for eradicating the reapers and developing a cure to eliminate them, and Layla turning into a reaper, they are now enemies who want each other dead.

Elise has endured multiple reaper attacks, one claiming the life of her sister. And Layla wants another shot at claiming Elise’s life. She’s held back by her clan leader who is trying to prevent an all out war with the Saints and human world.

Elise starts to question the truth about her family and their goal with the reapers and she teams up with Layla to discover more about a potential cure for the reapers. But can they trust anything produced by the saints?

I loved the Harlem, jazz club, prohibition era, civil rights vibes mixed with this vampire read. The narrator was expressive and made this a fun story to listen to!

4/5 stars for me !
Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Get this title on 8/6/24!

I'll start off by saying that the narrator for this audiobook is fantastic! She had so much range and different performance for each different character that she completed added to the experience of this book for me. I will look forward to listening to more books with her as the narrator. On to the book. The premise of the book is great. Vampires (reapers) in the Jazz era of NYC, yes please! I loved the strong character dynamics with each other, the family bonds and the feelings of being true and loyal to what you need to live up to. This book is good, but I really think the book could be great with some more editing. There were phrases that were repeated several times, grammar that just needed a bit of an edit and perhaps some of the story edited it to make the pacing move a bit faster. I felt that the entire book was slow and I do think that with some editing
that could be fixed. I also thought at times that the pacing seemed to slow because the author took too much time really trying to spell out every single aspect of what was happening, rather than relying on the reader to interpret what was happening in the story. I'm hoping that in the final product, the editing and tweaks here and there will help to make this book a big hit.

Thank you author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!!

Ok the beginning dragged a bit but DAMN! Is it immersive. There were parts where I got a little bit confused and had to go back but it wasn't too bad.

I heard lesbian vampires and that’s all I needed to know so I went in pretty blind. It was crazy! I felt like it had a little bit of everything I could want in a fantasy book!

Also Tamika Katon-Donegal is such a god tier narrater choice!