I loved this book! The storyline was pretty great, nice development. I wish we could see more of their relationship! I love Khamari that ending was incredible I cannot wait to read what comes next!

"Full Metal Alchemist meets Vampire Diaries in this fun and clever dark academia series...

High school is supposed to be about studying, socializing, and marching-band practice. Not fighting vampires. Then one night flipped my world inside out - now, my life sucks. But it isn't all bad. I'm at a slayer academy, learning things like the real origin of vamps and how to make serious weapons out of thin air.

Every last one of them will pay for what they did. I'm doing great.

Until I come face-to-face with the actual vampire prince...and I'm not sure of anything anymore. Vampires are supposed to be soul-sucking demons. But Khamari is…something else. He's intelligent and reasonable - and he seems to know things about me that could change everything.

He's also hiding something big, even from his own kind. And when a threat from an ancient evil is so extreme that a vampire will team up with a slayer to take it down, it isn’t just my need for revenge that's at stake anymore.

It's the whole damn world."

Yeah, it's not Buffy, do I care, no. Yeah slayers and dark academia!

I enjoyed all the pop culture references. As well as the code names. I was laughing out loud constantly throughout the book. The action and fighting kept me on the edge of my seat.

Raven was wonderful lead. She had so much wit about her. As well as questioned everything (as she should in her situation). You could feel her pain and anger as she was experiencing the loss and betrayals.

Khamari's abilities were so much fun. Loved the dreamwalking. I loved getting more history and more details of Khamari's past. I was shocked and surprised. And so sad about the ending. Enjoyed getting his POV. So many secrets and he cares so much about his brother and Raven.

I'm excited to see what happens next!

Wow! I did not want to put this book down. It reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Shadow Hunters and Vampire Diaries. A teenage girl has her life turned upside down. She's thrown into an unknown world and tries to figure out how she fits in. Enter handsome, mysterious, brooding man. Now you've got a story! This book had me feeling all the emotions. I was laughing, crying, cheering, shocked, heartbroken and angered. An action packed rollercoaster ride. I would definitely recommend to friends. I can't wait for the next book, sign me up!

Thank you EntangledTeen for my complimentary arc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Well that was a wild ride for sure.
Rounding up to 4 stars. The beginning and ending of the book was a bit much (for me personally)
I enjoyed the middle the most.

I liked all the pop culture references, but since I have not watched Buffy, I am sure a lot went over my head.

Great story and action, a bit of mystery and a lot of information to process. Looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book, because that ending!!

I cannot stand the two main characters. Some people might like their personalities and banter, but both came off as try-hard tropes, and too much insta-love romance, with insta-hate of vampires on Ravens side so there’s “tension” at the beginning. The fact he hides he’s a vampire for a quarter of the story just feels contrived.

And that’s most of the story for me. It feels forced and clunky and like it’s trying to get at my emotions but it utterly fails.

I could see this as a fun read, especially for vampire lovers and teenagers.

I was instantly drawn to the awesome cover and Buffy vibes this books gives off.

I read it in one sitting! I just couldn't put it down, it's so good!

The alchemy was very cool! I found the use of magic very intriguing. And the way the Vampires were intertwined with real world history was so clever!

I loved all the banter and tension build up. The romance was a fun bonus to all the action. I really liked Raven and Khamari's connection.

If you're a fan of Buffy or The Vampire Diaries this book is for you!

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled for allowing me to read an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this book, the storyline was very interesting and the action scenes were very well done. I felt myself not wanting to put it down a lot while reading. There was a point where it slowed down alot in the middle and then all of a sudden everything happens in the last quarter of the book but there wasn't any point where it got boring or was too much. I think fans of shadowhunters and vampire diaries will enjoy this alot and I can't wait to see what happens in the rest of the series.

Sign of the Slayer would be a good choice for young adults (ages 14+). It feels like it was written for fans of popular vampire series. If you love Buffy, True Blood, and Interview with a Vampire; then you will enjoy this. There were time the story felt a bit too slow, but you wont think so if you enjoy reading about vampire slayer school training.

Sign of the Slayer is an adventure from beginning to end. I loved the premise and the storyline. The characters are really good and easily connected with them. The chapters are short with super catchy titles that make you want to keep reading. The back and forth with Khamari and Raven is glorious and even with the secondary characters as well. She’s funny as hell.

The downside was trying to connect the story during the middle part of the book. Sometimes the story jumped or we moved scenes or locations and it was hard to follow or picture where we were or even who was talking (even though the chapters tell you). I was able to catch on but it took me a bit. Overall it was an easy read and I cannot wait to read more about the slayer society.

I was given this eARC for an honest review.

I had to DNF this.

This felt like a very Buffy the Vampire Slayer style centric story (nothing wrong with that), but it was just too campy for me. There were moments, for example, the bus attack and it's subsequent outcome that left me confused. I felt like the author wasn't very attached to the idea of her own main characters emotions in times like that and just simply moved on, with little to no regard on how it might have actually played out.

The "insta-love" that I could tell was brewing was something that I usually take in stride, but I just couldn't. I felt this was the straw that broke the camels back. No fault of the author's as I had just read a book with it in it before I started this one.

Aside from the insta-love, it was the "campiness" that I just couldn't do. I found myself rolling my eyes...a lot.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to this arc.

4.5 stars / 5 stars

Things I loved:
Was hooked from the beginning
Basically like a flash back of watching buffy the vampire slayer
Writing was amazing
Loved the multiple pov
Things I didn’t love:
Wished the relationship of khamari and raven progressed a bit more.

The chatty, relatable writing style is a nice change of pace, but feels a little inexperienced at times. There is definitely some plot convenience happening to pull the vampire story into the intro plot, but maybe some conceit is always necessary in a supernatural-meets-real-world plot line.

The Chosen One and Philosopher's Stone call-outs feel like weird Potter references, but I enjoyed the way the slayers' powers were introduced and how they varied from one slayer to the next. The story develops really well and the vampire mythology, while nothing groundbreaking, is well though out and feels like a fresh retelling of familiar stories.

As the story gets more complex, it looses the sense of predictability and becomes a really good read. Overall, I thought the characters were well developed and the story took some pleasantly unexpected twists. There were a few predictable elements to the story, but nothing that made it a bad read.

There were some elements brought in near the final fight that felt religiously inspired and out of place, and a definite plot conceit with an out-of-body scene where the main character gets all the answers at once. Those details could have been better woven into earlier parts of the story instead of the big reveal trope. The ending was very abrupt and unresolved.

I'm a sucker for most vampire fiction, so still glad I got the chance to read this one.

On p. 289 it says "stand on the shoulders Amun-Ra" and should instead say "stand on the shoulders of Amun-Ra".

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Black vampires are always going to do it for me. We really need more representation like this when it comes to folklore and myths. A very enjoyable read.

This book was an absolute ride for me. The first couple of chapters pulled me in quickly, and I got comfortable until the very end. I know the premise is around Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but this definitely also gives Shadowhunters vibes, too, and I mean that in a good way. I highly recommend it to readers who need a Black vampire slayer not named Blade in their lives.

This was a roller-coaster from start to finish. The author writes action well and that is something that is quite difficult to do. I was engaged throughout even though I’m not that into love stories. Happy I read this, a nice little summer read.

I received this eARC in return for an honest review. Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The premise of this book is amazing: hunters, supernatural beings, a bit of magic, and a lot of science. All the organizations and societies, the systems, the academia feel, the way there’s plenty of ties to past historical figures, involving different cultures and legends; all of these have incredible potential. As a history and fiction fan, I liked the author’s new ideas on how a supernatural/hunter society would be like, it was the reason I requested this advance copy!


*Spoiler Alert*

However, for a fantasy book, I kept waiting for the world-building— it felt as if I was jumping in-between scenes with no cohesive storyline. There were moments when I couldn’t even try to picture the settings the characters were in. The plot definitely has a lot of holes to go over (i.e.: what exactly are slayers?), it was hard to get immersed or even truly involved with the characters that lacked a lot of depth and constantly contradicted themselves, even a paragraph later. The dialogue mostly had one tone: extremely casual and blunt, it was hard to add any nuance.

Overall, it felt rushed and a bit over the top. A lot of redundancies and time jumps. I would’ve enjoyed it more if I’d had more insight into the characters’ thoughts and feelings, I kept waiting for a bit more growth, not just a back-and-forth and whiplash— the romantic storyline took me almost by complete surprise. I felt like there were so many contradicting feelings all the time, but almost no actual exploration or just breathing time with any of the MCs. Also, it may have been easier to read if the characters’ accents weren’t made so present all the time, as well as the slang. It was fun at times, but it always takes the fun out of picturing the character if you don’t have that accent.

I give this book a 2/5🌟 rating. I went into it with very high hopes, but it was really hard to get through. If it becomes a series, I hope the next one expands a lot more on all these points!

Thank you to NetGalley, Entangled Teen and the author for granting me an advance eBook in return for my honest opinions.

Magic, Vampires, vampire slayers, and forbidden romance! This book has it all!

Loved this book from start to finish. Read it in one sitting! Could not put it down! It is a must read!!

Loved the characters Raven and Khamari. Loved the magic, loved the world, loved the plot, especially loved the Vampires and forbidden romance!

Just loved absolutely everything about this book!!

This book had such an interesting premise, but lost me with the dialogue. I loved the academic vibes but the over explanation of everything at times just felt like an info dump. Love the slayer/vampire Romance idea, simply needs executed differently. This very much gave shadowhunters vibes in a good way and he way the characters are named felt like Zombieland (Dakota, Texas, place names, etc.).

This book is just wow, if you're on team Vampire, team Slayer, or even a team shifter you need to read this book.

Not only is it an instant flashback to the feelings of watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer we have a world full of amazing characters you either love, hate, or love to hate, sometimes all three at once.

I will say that there's a tiny bit of a lull right after the first big scene but it's just giving you time to catch your breath before the world goes crazy. At one point or another, everyone is something other than what they seem and I loved it.

The only negative I have is the code names, I understand the need for them, but cities and states? Maybe it will make more sense in the next book... I'm assuming there will be a next book because this is fantastic.

Speaking of fantastic, the writing in this is just phenomenal, every character has such a distinct voice and motivation for what they're doing and why, it all just seemed effortless while shocking me at every single turn.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for providing an advance copy of this E-Book, I have voluntarily read and reviewed it and all thoughts and opinions are my own.