Whenever I read a disappointing book, I sometimes wonder, "How did this get published? Who picked this up?" In this case, the answer is obvious, since the author in question is an experienced literary agent.

The thing is, though, I can almost make out Caldwell's vision for this book. A deeply entrenched fantasy world with gods, vampires, seers, and humans all duking it out. All the while, it's quite queernormative (For sapphics, anyway. There weren't any major achillean nor trans/nb characters. But most of the prominent women were hella gay). I have no doubt that this world Caldwell created has been something she's fully sunk herself into for the longest time; I'm the same way with my own writing. We get so insane with the fictional people inside our heads, but it really takes a specific skill to get it on paper and have its intended readers become insane about it, too. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Caldwell didn't achieve that in this book.

The first thing you're greeted with when you open the book is a giant family tree of gods and small paragraphs about the subclasses of vampire. Then you're further bombarded with info-dump after info-dump, all of it worldbuilding. As someone who just read the whole book, I barely retained any of it, and I'm certain all of it will have left my brain by the time I wake up tomorrow. It was so boring and tiresome that I contemplated dropping the whole thing, but my stubbornness won out.

The characters aren't much better. Favre had the potential to be interesting, but, in the end, she's nothing but the big baddie who monologues her evil plan and constantly repeats her intentions/motives in her inner dialogue (She also has diary entries?? They read the exact same when it was just prose. I don't understand why Caldwell did this other than to imply historians/archivists have collections of these documents?? It's all so confusing, and thinking about it too much is not worth the effort right now). I found Najja to be very irritating, and Leyla felt so forgettable and bland. Hell, Leyla didn't appear til chapter 5, and it took half of the book to get to inciting incident only for our main characters to dawdle around with each other (It's not a slow burn. They kiss at the ~250 page mark, and they have their third act breakup 15 pages later over something very stupid). We're constantly being told how sad these girls are and all the pain they went through, but I could not muster a single ounce of caring for any of it.

I dunno. Vampires have been making a comeback, which I don't mind, but this just was not it. I'd rather read the other sapphic Black vampire book that came out this year again rather than finish this duology. I just wish I was able to enjoy this more than I did.

3.0 / 4.0

Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell is a YA vampire fantasy. It builds a sometimes-complex, sometimes-simple world of gods and vampires, and humans and sea-born oracles, that has an interesting story, but weak character development, loose plotting, and an unsatisfactory ending. It also incorporates a queer accepting world view and features a matriarchal queendom.

There are several significant plot holes that are not resolved in this book. It concludes, but is obviously the first book in a series, so a reader is left with very little to carry them into the next book. The author goes on and on in each of the three main voices, but they are all essentially the same voice. Their trauma all bleeds together and is so redundant. Every time the voice switches, the reader is subjected to an extended monologue about their mommy issues. It’s exhausting.

Additionally, the writer’s mastery of their craft is a step down from good. Perhaps the next book will show an advancement in style and composition, but overall this book could have done with more polishing and editing. The story is intriguing and could easily be twice as long as it is, with fully developed characters that stand on their own and do not all sound like the same voice, world that explores more of the other vampire empires in their journey, and plot that does not drop single chapter of characters and side quests in but never to tie it to anything or return. For a book about bloody vampires and vengeful gods and war, there is no real bite to the writing. This story really felt like it should be NA and not YA because so much of it was glossed over or skipped entirely. Whole chunks happen off page. It might be overlooked in a younger reader, but I tend to think the YA demographic is more observant and would feel the ways this book is lacking.

Recommendations? For a YA audience I can see the appeal, but for older readers I do not think this will be more than a one day read. It has a good story but is poorly executed.

Also, this book needs trigger warnings and content warnings at the beginning. All of the characters have severe trauma, one speaks openly about grief driven suicide and another about the literal abusive relationship she is in, so that’s something to be aware of before going into this.

Until Next Time,
MC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to the eARC of this book.

is this the most groundbreaking ya in the world? absolutely not, but queer girls of color deserve to have their cheesy ya stories as much as anyone else, and i am here for it!

My new favorite take on vampires! I loved the worldbuilding in this book, especially combined with Caldwell's exquisite voice. Definite recommend.

Where Shadows Meet is about gods and vampires and the choices made for love. It was a little slow for me and I had a hard time relating to the characters.

Where Shadows Meet is a darkly enchanting debut that masterfully intertwines romance, myth, and fantasy. Patrice Caldwell takes readers into a world where the gods, vampires, and mortals clash, and the sacrifices made for love reverberate across centuries. At the heart of the story is Favre, a once-winged girl turned vampire, who sacrificed everything for Thana, the goddess who ultimately betrayed her.

A thousand years later, Leyla, a vampire crown princess, must journey to Nekros to rescue her friend, but she soon finds herself entangled in a past filled with betrayal and heartache. Caldwell’s writing is haunting and deeply atmospheric, exploring themes of love, loss, and destiny. Where Shadows Meet is a beautifully crafted story that had me invested from the beginning.

A very quick read. Author provides great detail to build up the history and world right at the beginning. Recommend for those looking for love, vampires, and diversity.

The dark and thrillingly romantic debut vampire fantasy that questions what it truly means to sacrifice for love.

You have no idea what I’ve done for love. Just as you have no idea what you may one day do.

Once long ago, a girl named Favre sacrificed her wings for love. Thana, the young goddess she so willingly gave them up for, sacrificed that same love for power. But everything has a cost.

Favre never got over the loss of her wings. And Thana’s choices led to a life of eternal night, and later, their destruction. Favre has bided her time ever since, waiting for the chance to resurrect the girl she loves who turned her into the creature she hates.

Now, a thousand years later, Leyla, the crown princess of a vampire nation, must travel to Nekros, the island of the dead, when her best friend is captured during an attack on her nation’s capital. But nothing is as it seems. The closer she gets to her goal, the more she risks awakening an ancient evil and destroying everything she holds dear.

Set in the aftermath of a war between vampires, humans, and the gods that created them, Patrice Caldwell’s devastatingly romantic fantasy debut, Where Shadows Meet, centers the heart-wrenching pain of loss and the struggle of self-discovery to ask: do we choose our fates, or do our fates choose us?

The description of this immediately had me hooked and the book was no different! I really enjoyed this story, the writing, and the characters! If tou like vampire books, I'd definitely recommend this one!

Thank you to NetGalley or the arc!

This book started out strong but found that it kind of lost the plot a bit by the end. A strength of this book was the world building!! It was very well written and I felt completely immersed into the world. It explained the realms, bloodlines, history, and more. Multi POV is always hit or miss for me because it can be confusing and I found that the situation here. I didn’t connect with a lot of the characters and frustrated by others. I found that the real plot of the book didn’t start until around 50% in and since I wasn’t connecting with the characters it felt like it took me a while to be interested in this book. I found the plot twist predictable and not worth the entirety of the book because it felt rushed!

This book had a lot of depth. It is a dark and twisty tale, with a vein of hope and love swirled within. It deals with issues of coming to terms with one's identity, facing trauma in your past, love, loss, toxic relationships, feelings of inadequacy, and the corruption of power. The overarching theme of "Fate" and whether it is good to know or not know what is in store for your future is woven throughout beautifully. I truly enjoyed the journey, the world was interesting and the characters had unique personalities. The composition of the world was very intriguing, a different take on how Vampires came to be and what effect they had on the world. The make up of the different clans of vampires and how they came to be was very intriguing, as were the yamaja people and how they function.

I enjoyed the pairing of Leyla and Najja on their epic adventure to the land of the dead, it had a lot of throwback feelings to Greek Mythos. The juxtaposition of the young vampire and yamaja's story of adventure and discovery vs the origin story of Favre and Thana was enticing and made you long for more content along the way, as well as forming some parallels between the two couples. Ultimately, it is a story about finding one's self, accepting who and what you're capable of, what is worth fighting for, and what you're willing to do for love.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

This was a pretty fast-paced and interesting take on vampires. Loved the Gods and vampire lore that we get in this. The overall tone of this was a great atmosphere building experience. I thoroughly enjoyed each POV, which sometimes in multiple POVs, it's hard to like them all honestly. A great cliffhanger at the end keeping me super interested and ready for another!

Ignoring all the typos, this book was just okay. The world building left a lot to desire. Pacing was very fast, and the plot twist was predictable. The idea of the book is great, I only wish there was more flesh to it, to really bring it to life. Of the main characters, I really liked Najji, but the rest were forgettable. I love the idea of a sapphic love story in a YA novel, but it felt rushed and lacked nuance.

Not a lot can be accomplished in just 250 pages. But knowing it’s part of a planned duology, there’s hope that maybe the next book will make up for it. But I won’t be jumping at the chance to pre-order the sequel.

Thank you Netgalley/Patrice Caldwell/St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this! As always, there are some definite strengths and weaknesses, and while the negatives sometimes outweighed the positives, I did feel like this was a decent, solid read, especially for a debut. This was a close book, there's no way around that. I put this book down more times than I could count but picked it up as I wanted to review it properly. If you prefer breakneck action in your books, I might recommend looking past this one. However, I quite liked the world building--vampires, gods, and so on, all woven together seamlessly in a way I enjoyed. This book felt like one of those duologies where you know the sequel is likely to be better, for, without giving spoilers, there was a lot of setup and foreshadowing, likely to culminate in a well put-together sequel. However, I felt that elements could've been sped up or streamlined in terms of scenes to be more enjoyable to read; it's possible this book will lose readers shortly after the engaging beginning.

Absolutely amazing. Loved every page. Interesting and unique story concept, loved the world building

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday books for the arc! It’s a shame when a book with such a strong start peters out by the end. That’s what I got here, unfortunately. Here are some thoughts I had:

The world building is well done and immersive. In my opinion, it is by far the strongest aspect of this book. The yamaja, different bloodlines, ancient tales and epigraphs, the realms, prophecies, vast history -fucking delectable. However, strong world building cannot make a book alone.

The sapphics are out in full force, and they are TOXIC. I love that for them

Multi POV in first person is definitely a choice that this author made! Was it successful? In my eyes, not really!!! I struggled to connect with the vast majority of the characters. Only Favre was distinct enough and characterized enough for me to latch onto. I did find her lore fascinating, even if some of the choices she made frustrated me. Of course, she is a victim even if she is also a true villain. I felt for her. Najja I liked at first, but was mostly apathetic to by the end; that being said, she has fascinating abilities. Leyla annoyed me the entire time, and that’s not completely intentional, unfortunately.

The plot didn’t fully kick in until almost halfway through. This I could stand if I was engaged with the characters, and the first half was very much character focused, but I wasn’t. As a result, I was apathetic and bored. Honestly, even when the plot did kick in I was apathetic and bored. Even if the world building was strong and immersive, it wasn’t enough

The ending and its twists were lame as hell. The payoff wasn’t there for me at all, and I was left frustrated as a result. It also seemed rushed. The amount of bombastic side eyes and eye rolls I did nearly gave me a migraine

In conclusion, this was sadly disappointing. There’s nothing that kills me more than a book with a strong start and weak finish. That is very much what we got here, so I am very much going to give this a middling rating -3 stars

Wow wow wow! What a thrilling fantasy. Absolutely loved this one. I'm not always the biggest fan of vampires in stories but this one drew me in! I'd 100% recommend this fantasy book to fans of the genre.

I'm a simple girl. All I want are vampires and lesbians. And girl do we have vampires and lesbians here!

Plot: a vampire princess and a death seer travel to the underworld, one to save her friend and the other to save the world (maybe). There are good lesbians. There are bad lesbians. There are mythical lesbians. This was just about everything I was in the mood for on this rainy fall day. I read this in one sitting, curled up like a shrimp in my chair.

I feel like I've aged out of the hero's journey plotline after binging YA fantasy when I was a teen, so whenever I sense a "journey" about to take place in a novel, I can't help but cringe a little. But this was exciting! We got vampire politics, vamp bloodlines (shades of The Masquerade with different powers), civil unrest, the scars of war, university activists, monsters, ghosts, mommy issues! Honestly I'm scared this is a duology because I want more and more, and most of this felt like a set-up for the sequel. The set-up was excellent though and I can tell the finale will be explosive.

This book was amazing I couldn’t put it down was completely drawn in from the first page and hooked. I loved the characters the writing and the plot so sad it ended

A wonderful love story that combines gods and vampires (it's so fun!), Caldwell shines in this expansive fantasy. A great addition to YA romantasy.

I was completely captivated by Patrice Caldwell’s stunning prose and emotional depth. From the moment I delved into Leyla’s world, I felt every pang of love and loss. The characters are richly drawn, and their struggles resonate deeply, making it impossible to look away. Caldwell’s exploration of sacrifice left me breathless, every twist had me questioning my own understanding of love and fate. This book is a dark, romantic journey that truly ignited my imagination and tugged at my heartstrings. I couldn’t put it down, and I’m still reeling from its impact. A must-read for anyone craving a powerful YA fantasy romance.