#FirstLine ~ Can a human take place in photosynthesis?

Sharina Harris delivers an electrifying and suspenseful tale in Sign of the Slayer. From the very first page, readers are drawn into a world of intrigue, mystery, and danger that keeps them on the edge of their seats until the very end.

Harris weaves a complex web of secrets and lies that form the foundation of the story. The protagonist, a determined and resourceful young woman, finds herself entangled in a high-stakes battle against forces she never expected to encounter. As the layers of the plot unfold, the reader is taken on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, from heart-pounding suspense to heartwarming connections.

The author’s writing style is immersive and vivid, effectively transporting readers into the story’s setting and allowing them to feel the characters’ emotions and motivations. The pacing is expertly handled, balancing moments of quiet reflection with pulse-pounding action sequences.

Harris skillfully blends elements of suspense, romance, and supernatural intrigue, creating a unique reading experience that appeals to a wide range of tastes. The intricate plot twists and turns keep readers guessing, ensuring that the story remains unpredictable and engrossing.

In Sign of the Slayer, Harris proves her prowess as a storyteller who knows how to keep readers hooked from start to finish. This novel is a must-read for fans of mystery, romance, and supernatural fiction, offering a tantalizing blend of genres that will leave readers eagerly anticipating what Harris will deliver next.

Book title: Sign of the Slayer
Author: Sharina Harris
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Publication date: August 29th,2023

This book is a must-read for urban fantasy lovers. The story instantly draws you in with our MC Raven going from normal girl to getting thrown into the world of vampires and vampire slayers. My 90's love of Buffy really gave me that kind of vibes from this book. There is enemies to lovers, kind of more insta love than I care for though.
A fantastic choice for a good YA read and a good start to the series
Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I stayed up way too late last night reading because it’s so much fun!

Buffy meets Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets Vampire Diaries in this absolute blast of a ya read. Raven discovers she’s a slayer (and a powerful one at that) after a traumatic incident on her marching band’s way home from a game.

Thrust into a brand new world at the Slayer academy Raven has one goal, kill all the vampires. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for her, she’s been paired up with vampire prince Khamari (whose totally giving me Angel vibes) on missions. Considering he saved her life at the accident and is super cute but is also the thing Raven just declared to hate, she’s got some conflicting feelings going on for sure.

Raven is full of sass and snark and there’s a delightful cast of characters around her, some of which are oh so shady. Highly recommend.

Initially, "Sign of the Slayer" had a good impact on me. It provided entertainment, and its concept held immense intrigue. I noticed that the characters responded authentically to the events and other characters in their world. Their relatable qualities made them engaging, and the story featured some captivating twists. The narrative is presented from two different viewpoints.

However, the writing style didn't resonate with me. It's challenging to identify the exact point at which the writing style lost its appeal. The more I progressed through the story, the less immersed I felt. This could be attributed to the story feeling somewhat familiar.

This book is perfect for fans of vampires and for people only getting into fantasy or mythology books.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from Entangled Teen Publishing and Netgalley, and I willingly offer this honest review. The opinions expressed are entirely my own, reflecting my thoughts and experiences while reading the book.

Sign of the Slayer is the newest book by Sharina Harris. This book will be a dark academia in which vampires will play a role. Dark academia for me is a genre which you either nail flawlessly or ruin completly. What will Sharina Harris bring with this book? Can she nail this genre?

High school should be about studying and having fun, not fighting vampires. But when normal high school life changes due to a vampire attack, Raven finds herself at a slayer academy. Learning this about this enemy and how to use her powers to fight them. Every one must pay for killing her best friend. However she comes face-to-face with Khamari, a vampire prince, who seems intelligent and reasonable in stead of a demon. However, he is hiding something from the other vampires and Raven. But when an ancient evil is on the rise, they will have to team up to take it down. Can the vampires be trusted? What evil is lurking and what secrets are hidden?

Buffy the vampire slayer meets Vampire Diaries in this adventerous fantasy. From vampire princes to slayers, each will come around in this book. Every character has reason to be who they are and play that role perfectly.

This book has a double POV which makes you get to read both Ravens story as well as Khamari's. Ravens world is turned up side down and she has no choice but becoming a slayer under the name of Texas. She wants her revenge and is going to take it no matter what happens, even if this means working together with her enemy, Khamari.

Even though the story is mainly written from Ravens POV, it is nice to read Khamari's POV as well. He provides some information about the vampires but also more about the slayers. He has a mission to achieve and therefore is one of the few working with the enemy.

Team vampire or team slayer? You get to choose. Either way, both teams are amazing! I really loved the way Sharina Harris has managed to create the love hate relationship between the two sides. The characters are nicely worked out which just fit the story perfectly as did the many plottwists.

I really enjoyed Sign of the Slayer and have seen that this might become part of a series. I really do hope so because Raven and Khamari's story is far from done yet. I just need more of it and really enjoyed this book. This book is a dark academia I would recommend for sure!

Thanks to the author and Entangled for this ARC!

Really liked diving into this new world created by the author that connects to so many familiar things, from fiction and history and myth, while still feeling fresh.

It wasn’t perfect, and sometimes I had issues connecting to the characters. But overall I thought it was a really strong book.
My main critique is pacing and detail- there were parts of the book that felt too rushed or jumpy and left me missing how we got from A to B. Fill those details out a bit more so the unique story built can truly shine!

Would love to read more in this world.

Extremely fast paced, exciting and thrilling.

The overall plot of the story was something I had already met in other books but this was something else and that's why I think I liked it so much. It differ in places and I am glad of that.

Our characters were fleshed out with driven personalities and the reasons you should root for them are endless.

I loved it!

Rating: 4/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

When Raven and her band mates get attacked after a football game, her life was never the same. She lost her best friend and now the only other person in her life that has been there non-stop after her parents died, her grandma. All because she learns that she is a slayer, what is a slayer you asked, well she will hunt down the things that go bump in the night but mostly Vampires. After, finding all the things she thought were just fiction, she now must live with other slayers in their headquarters: American Society of Slayers, AKA: ASS(LOL) She has a hard time with what life has dealt her and will she be able to forgive and forget to save the lives of the loved ones she has known her whole life and the ones that she has come to love.

I thought this book started a little slow for me at first, but then it picked up right away and did not stop until the end. Oh, and that ending is like... how you're going to do that to me! I have to wait for gosh knows how long to see what will happen next. I really enjoyed the plot of this book, and it was a great mix of plot-driven & character-driven. It really brought me back to my Buffy loving days with this book… the fighting, the saving the world, the group of friends that might not mix well with others but does for you, the sexy but should not be touched vampire royalty male. Oh yeah it was right up my alley.

Raven is a spitfire, I loved her hotheaded, impatient, angry and hurt side but I also loved getting to see the other side of her that you know will come out more and more when she learns to forgive and accept the things that she cannot change.

Khamari is a very handsome vampire, but he isn’t just any old vampire, he is the second in line for the crown of his clan. He is also holding onto a secret that might get him or the ones that he loves killed if it ever comes out. I loved that he is so protective but at the same time a little mysterious. I couldn’t wait to dig a little deeper in the book to find out more about him and now that I know…. Wow. I really can’t wait to see what else is going to happen between Raven and Khamari and the great big evil of the world.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes: Paranormal, forbidden romance, chosen one, hidden abilities and betrayal.

I want to thank NetGalley and Entangled for the opportunity to review this book.

#SignOfTheSlayer:⁣
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“I don’t plan on dying. Got a lot of living to do.”⁣
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Thank you @entangled_publishing the gifted copy! Give me Buffy x Legendborn. Add a pinch of badassery, and a dollop of Divergent, and you get this perfect recipe. ⁣
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This book was an absolute thrill. There was amazing magic, slaying, betrayal at the deepest level, grandparent that you want to be your own, did I mention amazing magic? Y’all are not going to tell me this will be not be on Netflix next year. That opening scene with the marching band bus, that’s literally Netflix gold. ⁣
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Raven was definitely a great MC. She was witty, passionate, and I could feel her frustration and hopelessness. I just wanted to give her a hug. She carried so much on her shoulders, she was powerful in more ways than one. I love how the book ended as a great set up for book two. I loved the cast of characters and want everyone to have their own POVs.⁣
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Out Tuesday, Sign of the Slayer is one you need on your TBR!

I wanted not to love this. I failed miserably.

Let’s be honest: I’ve been reading about Vampires and their battles since Anne Rice introduced to the world angsty and brooding battles between Louis and Lestat. This YA series starter (I hope) has it all: Enemies to Lovers, Found Family, Vampires, Slayers, Alchemy and Egyptology, while being based in a modern-day Atlanta. The main character is a mouthy, reluctant heroine from Texas with some gaps in her memory and an amazing grandmother.

The world-building gets a little detailed, but I give Harris a pass because well - we’re dealing with centuries of vampire politics. There’s intrigue, mystery, battles as well as some twists and turns, not to mention a slow-burn romance you can’t help but root for.

The cadence and the perspectives of the book reminisce of Charlaine Harris (the True Blood series) and Tracy Wolff (the Crave series) and pays homage to Queen Buffy and others with pop culture references throughout.

This was a very fun read. Although Sign of the Slayer is pretty long, it doesn’t feel that way and the pacing is great. I think Raven is a very relatable protagonist for a lot of people, and for me it was that she’s a part of the marching band. I admit I’m a bit of a sucker for a paranormal romance, and I was not disappointed. Khamari was a great love interest and I found myself keeping on reading to find out more about his backstory. The dialogue took a bit of adjusting for me, but I don’t read a lot of contemporary or urban fantasies. The dialogue was good though, chuckle-worthy for sure. I hope there’s a sequel, the world-building was great!

This book was very average. I feel like the concept is great and it started out very strong, but once we got to the meat of the story it jumped around a lot and glossed over actual character and story building.

Raven is all of the sudden a trained badass after a single month of schooling (against thousand year old vampires?) and her relationships seem to pop up out of nowhere.

The pacing of the whole book was just off and I honestly wish I could have loved it.

The writing is very YA but then there are adult themes thrown in. Our FMC will randomly fluctuate from mostly common ways of speaking to random Texan sayings.

I’m a sucker for a good cover and this cover is giving me Buffy The Vampire Slayer Vibes and I’m digging it.

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.
I really enjoyed this book. The storyline for sure gave me Buddy the Vampire Slayer Vibes and it made me all nostalgic because I absolutely adore that show.
Texas is my favorite character from this story. She’s feisty, sarcastic,damaged but doing the best she can to heal from the trauma that would have destroyed pretty much everyone else. The side characters were fully thought out and helped fill out the story. I could for sure use a spin off book detailing the history of this world cause I am interested!
Overall a fun challenge filled journey for our main slayer that will have you rooting for her, laughing with her and mourning with her. Can’t wait for the next book!


Thank you the folks at NetGalley & Entangled Publishing for the ARC of this book. My review is my honest feelings towards this book.

Actual Rating: 3.5⭐

Read this book if you like;
• Paranormal Fantasy
• Vampires / Vampire Hunters
• Enemies-to-Lovers
• Forced Proximity
• Dark Academia
• A dash of Egyptian Mythology

This book sounded promising and I was immediately interested. It started out with a strong opening, the FMC was introduced to world of the paranormal (vampires, witches and slayers) immediately through combat.
The story is told in dual POVs and comes with a fascinating world building with different types of vampires and slayers.

As for the characters, they’re pretty likeable and I like Raven's sassy comments and her mysterious ability which makes her a badass FMC. I can't wait to see what more can she do if she learn how to access her ability and properly use it.
The love interest – Khamari (MMC) was a mysterious character at the beginning and it wasn’t until the last few chapters that I finally understood the reason of the quick attraction he felt towards Raven.

While I really like the plot idea, the pacing of the story is not to my liking.
It started out slow, then it picks up a little bit when Raven and Khamari were forced to work together. However, the last few chapters felt rushed because of so many information and twists revealed near the ending.
Maybe it would've been better if this was divided into two books.

Overall, it’s a pretty good and unique combination of paranormal and Egyptian mythology.
This series has a potential to be a great one, the ending also makes me want to read the 2nd book so I’m looking forward to it.

⚠️ 𝐓𝐖: Death, gore, self-harm, blood, murder, sexual content and grief.

I received an advanced review copy for free through Netgalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Huge thank you to the author and publisher!

How can everything go wrong in the span of one night? One minute Raven’s on the way home from a football game with her marching band, ruminating over petty high school drama when suddenly the unthinkable happens: the bus is attacked by none other than vampires.

But somehow Raven survives the massacre—in part of a mysterious stranger who comes along to help, and also because of her own newly awakened powers. Raven is a Slayer and must now go into hiding in the Society to harness her powers. But can she learn to control her new gifts in time for the Society to accept her as one of them?
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I couldn’t wait to read this one but sadly I DNF’d for the following reasons:

- the love interest being referred to as “Pretty Boy” even after learning his name (I don’t know why but it just irks me)
- the MC trying to validate her knowledge of vampires and Slayers by way of using pop culture references like Buffy, Blade, X-Men, etc
- there were too many factions & elements of the Society introduced far too quickly

⚔️I feel like this has all been done before and it just was super repetitive. It honestly seems like the author wanted to combine everything into one novel but incorporated way too many details too early and also made Raven’s POV come across as too juvenile. I know this is YA but it just felt too young for me.

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC before publishing. All thoughts spoken are my own.

I was a bit skeptical with the comps as full metal is an absolute favorite of mine, but I fully enjoyed my read. The beginning felt a bit slow to get into, but once it starts you wont put it down. I loved all the references and geeky humor. The plot was action packed, and the writing had me laughing.

I am pretty picky with my YA books (as I age out of them) but this was overall a fun and engaging read that I would definitely recommend.

This book hooked me from the beginning! It’s like Buffy mixed with the academic style of Fourth Wing, and a whodunnit that left me constantly second guessing. There were so many twists, turns, and shocking revelations that kept me hooked and staying up way too late searching for answers.
The world building in this book kept on pace with the story, making it easy to follow along. The idea of a society/school of vampire slayers was so cool!
The ensemble of characters was perfect. Raven was such an amazing FMC. I love how strong yet vulnerable she is. Seeing her come into her power and embrace who she is was so moving. Khamari’s love for his family and the people he cares about is so strong and I loved his dedication to them. The both of them have had to do a lot of compromising to get to the point they are by the end of the book.
I’m so bummed the next one isn’t out yet because I’m obsessed!

I had high hopes going into this story as the blurb had really captured my attention.

However, the struggle was real from there on in. Despite many attempts to keep going. I've eventually given up and dnf'd at 31%.

I'm so disappointed that this one just wasn't for me ...at least at this time.

Gotta admit, Raven is a pretty snarky character. I mean, our very first intro to her is her being snarky cause it’s hot outside. Snarky characters are my favorite; they make the best jokes and have the best internal dialogue and they just make the book better.

I’m sure this will be a very popular book come release day, especially since Raven is such a witty and relatable character.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get very far into the book. I should’ve known that I wouldn’t finish this book when it took me forever to even start it, but I mean, the first chapter was very hooking, I wanted to give it a try. Nothing against the book, it just wasn’t holding my interest and that’s on me for requesting it.

Thank you Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book! Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I was hoping I would based on the synopsis.

The story follows a main character who starts out fine, but very quickly become insufferable, egotistical, and whiny. I understand that she is technically a teenager, but her constant need to act as a know it all and disregard other people’s advice and instructions was so tiring. Having such a difficult time with the MC made getting into this story extremely difficult.

To add to this issue, the world building and overall storyline quickly became confusing and began jumping around too much. The pacing was off with the introduction of mythological concepts being included at the same time as politics, vampire lore and hierarchy, and casual mentions of other creatures/beings?? Each time I would finally start to grasp the new themes and concepts being introduced, things would shift and more information would be thrown at you. Not to mention that there were a lot of names and terms used that didn’t feel thoroughly explained.

Now, for one of my biggest pet peeves, the severely underdeveloped and cringe “romance”. The love interest was extremely bland and lacked any chemistry with the main character. The insta-love was unfathomable even when an explanation was provided for it. There was absolutely no tension, yearning, or development of feelings. at. all. It pulled me so out of the story and made me so frustrated. Anyway, this is a long enough rant at this point, but I was extremely disappointed by this book which made me so sad because I was really looking forward to it.