4.5

in jazz age harlem, reapers, once-human vampires, are on the rise. luckily for the saint family, this helps their reaper-hunting business, giving them even more power. elise saint is returning home after five years in paris as the business’s reluctant heir. layla quinn is a young reaper haunted by her past. the night she was turned five years ago is also the night she lost her parents and the saints’ protection. when layla is framed for a reaper attack, she works with elise to investigate the murders and how they might be linked to a reaper cure.

i have been waiting to read this book for soooo long, and it was well worth the wait! i always love the “monster x monster hunter” trope, and i thought it played out well in this book. there was the perfect amount of angst and tension between these two! the plot was also interesting, and i like how hayley dennings put her own spin on vampires.

2.5/5 stars. DNFed at 56% and skimmed the rest.

This Ravenous Fate is a Sapphic YA Historical Fantasy that switches between the perspectives of Layla, a reaper (vamp) and Elise, the heir to a reaper hunter empire. Sounds amazing right? Eh

I, along with many other reviewers, was so excited to dive into this book. But it just didn’t deliver. I was originally going to try to push through and finish it, until I read other reviews and found that it didn’t get better.

I found the murder mystery plot to be boring, the Worldbuilding to not be well described, and the relationship between the main characters to be lacking.

The plot is slow. The first 25% sets up what the synopsis already told us, the next 25% (and possibly more) was Elise and Layla meeting every few days to search for a murderer. But this was not an exciting adventure- it was a boring few paragraphs about everything going wrong and the two of them sucking at their jobs.

This is a childhood friends, to enemies, to lovers- but there aren’t sufficient flashbacks to show their previous friendship, or even why they became enemies. Because this isn’t established, the dynamic was off putting, and also made it difficult to understand when they started to develop feeling for each other.

Elise is also pretty unlikable. I understand that unlikable narrators are some peoples jams, but she wasn’t marketed this way.

As for the worldbuilding, we’re kinda just told that this takes place in 1920s New York, but the setting isn’t really built upon. There’s a few aspects of the book that rely on prohibition, but I had a really difficult time imagining the world. The characters felt as if they were taken from 2024 and put into the 1920s.

I am truly confused by the higher reviews. I wish I could’ve loved this! I just feel like we read completely different books.

I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I love the Harlem Renaissance and I love vampires, but the two together and you just can’t lose!

Ok ok, I wasn’t blown away by this novel but it was a good read! The plot and story details were great, I think the execution could have been better. I’m looking forward to book 2.

This Ravenous Fate is a sapphic vampire book (called Reapers) set in the 1920's Harlem Renaissance featuring a Black cast. Elise is the daughter of the Saints, the family who has discovered weaponry to kill the Reapers, and Layla, Elise's former best friend turned Reaper and mortal enemy. They are put together to solve the mystery of a Reaper murder, where there is a Reaper boy who Layla swears was responsible, but he died a human.

The genius of this story is how the author used vampires as an allegory for the division in the Black community. You can be a Black person who is respected by the white community by knowing your place and providing a service. Not equal but in a place of authority. (The Saints/Elise) Or you can not accept that as good enough, and exist outside of that society for something better. (The Reapers/Layla).

"That was exactly how white people controlled minority groups; by making themselves out to be graceful saviors everyone was lucky to have. But there was nothing lucky about being forced to assimilate just for a chance of being given rights that you already deserved in the first place."

With the banter between Elise and Layla, the dark and beautiful 1920's glamour of the world, the politics, and the mystery, this would have easily been a five star read for me. But as an avid fantasy reader, I didn't fall in love with this as a vampire story. The Reapers were missing a lot of the qualities that made them dark and seductive, and the rules of the world and the arrangement between the Reapers and humans were unclear. I think if you go into this expecting your typical vamp story, you won't love it. But if you go into it as a historic, sapphic, mystery, you'll totally get it.

Loved the historical setting and the general concept of vampirism (or reapers, as this book calls them). In some ways, it made me think of Dread Nation, although that was quite a bit darker/heavier than this book.

Writing was extremely vibes-heavy; I think you could describe most of the important plot points boiled down into a short list, with most of the on-page text dealing with character emotions, backstory, parties, outfits, sex scenes, murders, etc. Lots of 1920s gangsters and NYC vibes. I did find a lot of the dealings with Elise’s father and the conflict with Layla to be repetitive; by halfway through the book I felt like they were just going through the same motions over and over. I’m still not really sure why Elise’s father is so protective of his family & legacy but hates Elise, nor do I really understand how Layla (and Elise??) both blame Elise for reapers killing Layla’s family. At one point Layla points out that she’s made a new family with the reapers even though they are literally the ones who murdered her family so why should she hate the Saints more but it feels like we never delved into that further. Lastly, I truly don’t understand Sterling’s character. What was the point of him? Why all that build up just to have him completely change everything about himself 70% of the way in??

I did think the romance plot, which was dominate, felt well developed. I don’t get why these two held the specific grudges that they did but if you just accept that, then slowly overcoming those obstacles made some amount of sense. I did feel like the reaper venom issue clouded things and I’m actually sure that Elise was in her right mind to consent to some of what was happening, which does put a damper on the quick switch between the two of them. But the relationship is already pretty messy so it fits.

I would recommend this for fans of A Tempest of Tea.

This was such a unique concept! I really wanted to love this book with its prohibition and mobster style spin on human vs. vampires but it was a pretty slow read and I found that while I did like it I just didn’t love it and really wanted a bit more excitement.

Sapphic vampires in the midst of the Harlem Renaissance? Yes, please!

This was such an awesome book and I loved the vampire (well, reaper in this case but one and the same) dynamic with the tensions between them and humans, specifically the wealthy families in charge of a lot of the local economy and entertainment scene. This is a legit enemies-to-lovers where the definitely think about and try killing each other. The tensions are high and the action nonstop as murders are continuously pinned on Layla, who as a reaper is found in places that link her to the murders yet she doesn't remember them. Elise is tasked in working with Layla on the mystery before she is told to kill her by her controlling father who is deep in not only bankrolling a lot of the local area, but also deep within it's crime too.

Elise and Layla's story is full of pain, suffering, and pining as they try and avoid each other due to each other's involvement in death, but they just can't seem to stop thinking about and pining after each other. There's history between them that demands to be remembered and they will have to overcome it to get to the bottom of all of the murders.

This was an enjoyable read with a unique spin that I think historical fantasy fans will love!

This was a fine story. It took awhile for me to figure out the timeframe because some things seemed out of place what the time period I thought it was set in. There is a larger cast of characters but we focus on primarily 2 FMCs. I’m not sure I was convinced of them not liking each other nor of their love. It felt more like we were just told and not shown. I’m undecided if I will continue when the next book comes out.

I wanted to love love loveeeeee this book. The premise is vampires set in 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance with a touch of race and class issues. it's marketed as sapphic angsty enemies-to-lovers with mystery and romance and fell flat.

my favorite part of the story was the absolutely the setting and the atmosphere. it was dark and beautiful. but i wish i had more in the book that made me feel like i was THERE.

the story, however, was so so so slow. it felt like not a lot happened for a while. i'm giving it 3 stars because the last 10-15% were exciting enough, otherwise it would have been a 2.5. the writing style was inconsistent through the book and it made it hard to really get into the book.

thank you to netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book just fulfills the need for female rage so well. Black queer vampires in the 1920s what more could a girl as for.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with the ARC for this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

I enjoyed this story but what's not to love about a sapphic vampire love story. I'm not sure if Layla or Elise were bisexual or lesbian but either way they were awesome. I did feel like their relationship wasn't built up enough though to go from enemies to lovers. For half the story I almost thought that I was wrong and that Layla and Elise weren't endgame (there's a few vampire stories coming out around the same time so I thought I mixed up my stories). Neither of them seemed to have any feelings for each other besides animosity. Neither of them in their POV's even alluded to the fact that they felt anything other than friendship for one another. I think the only sign I saw was that Layla was jealous of Sterling being close to Elise but that could have been interpreted as her being jealous as a friend. It felt like all of their feelings for each other only came out AFTER Layla bit Elise and that made me feel like Elise was only enthralled by Layla's venom from her bite.

I was also very upset when the only asian character in the book was killed off not only by her best friend (Layla) but in the most gruesome way possible. I was so excited for her when she was turned into a human because I wanted her to be able to go find her family. Then she was literally torn to shreds and I can't forgive that.

The only other part that I didn't like was how quickly Sterling turned on Elise. They're supposed to be best friends. They seemed to have this really strong bond and yet... Sterling threw all of that away? He was so worried for Elise the whole story and when he flipped suddenly to her dad's side it just felt wrong. I didn't care for that part.

I'm not sure if I'm going to read the second novel when it comes out (because it does end on a bit of a cliffhanger) but we'll see.

I came across this author on instagram and was so excited when I was approved for an ARC of This Ravenous Fate. The book starts off with a lot of excitement, but unfortunately the pacing slows way down at about 25%. I found it hard to be excited to get back to reading this book. Usually when I’m enjoying a book, I pick it up as often as I can but that was not the case this time. I really enjoyed Elise and Layla’s characters, but felt like their backstory wasn’t delivered early enough to make their relationship/interactions interesting. Most of the other characters felt sort of lack luster for me, their motives and decisions were hard to follow. So much happened in the last 5-10% of the book that it felt like the book ended in the middle of the book. It did not feel as if the conflicts were resolved and more problems were created. Overall, I enjoyed the book and found the premise of the book to be very intriguing. The pacing was my main issue because there were too many long stretches where it felt like nothing important was happening.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me read an ARC of This Ravenous Fate!

Very entertaining... Set in the 1920's with Vampires. Anything with Vampires immediately get my attention. This is a new to me author. I would have preferred more action and some points in the book were slow and seemed to drag.

I have to be honest I made it 60% of the way before I realized I didn't really care what happened. For me, it felt like there was SO much packed into the book that it made it hard for me to really sympathize with any characters, The primary plot of trying to solve the murder mystery was great, I did like the childhood friends to enemies to lovers storyline, I thought it was set up really well and the moments of tension were there but the book as an entity just didn't grab me. I kept reading however because I really, really , REALLY wanted to love this book.

3.75 Stars

A riveting and blood-soaked vampire tale set in 1920s Jazz Age Harlem, starring two queer black women who need to overcome their fraught past to try to save those they love most.

As soon as I had read the synopsis for this book, this was INSTANTLY on my radar and I knew I had to snag a copy as soon as I could. The second I started reading this, I was hooked into the story and finished this during only two reading sessions, since I had to know where the plot was going.

We star Elise Saint, the heir to an empire dedicated to eradicating vampires (called reapers) within Harlem, and the world as a whole. And on the opposing side, we have Layla, one of those very same reapers who has sworn vengeance against Elise and her family for being the very cause of her change to a bloodthirsty creature. They have to fight through their past betrayals, current loyalties, and ongoing hatred and feuds to try to uncover a deadly plot that will have far-reaching consequences - not just for reapers, but the United States as a whole.

I loved the descriptions in this book, and really felt like you could get a real sense of the world around the characters. The placement felt real and grounded, and the worldbuilding created was in-depth and had layers. Getting a glimpse into the life of Elise Saint, who has lived her life essentially with a silver spoon in her mouth thanks to the steel her father makes that can kill reapers, and the empire he built around them. This privilege almost protects her from the racism of the world around them, as she has enough money to generally go and do whatever she wishes. On the other hand, we have Layla, who after her violent turning no longer has these same privileges - and yet, her strength as a reaper also, in a way shields her from much of the racist violence in their world. And yet, it’s Layla who is more in-tune with noticing this double-standard, since she can’t simply kill anyone she desires whenever she feels like it.

This novel had a wide array of characters within it, but as a whole I don’t think it was too difficult to keep track of them all. Each one had their own unique characterization and plot, so (as someone who gets easily confused when there’s a lot of characters to keep track of) following along to the plot and each character wasn’t difficult. Also, I was surprised by how much I loved Jamie as a character, and I really hope he continues to be a big supporting character in the next book.

The only pitfall I noticed while reading is that there were a few spots where I thought the conversations between the characters to be a bit rough, as well as a few plot points/character actions that didn’t fully make sense. There were a few times where character conversations felt too much like plot narrations, and not an actual conversation, that when I got to them I found a bit distracting. As well, there were a few times where a character would do something that I didn’t think quite made sense, or where their decision to do such a thing seemed to come out of nowhere as a plot device to move the story along. However, none of these things were overly distracting, and to be completely honest were not any worse than in any debut novel.

A huge thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Sourcebooks Fire for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank-you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the arc. Black, sapphic, enemies to lovers, set in Harlem, in the 20s. I was so excited for this and sadly it didn't measure up to my expectations. It's an interesting read overall, but it's very slow paced and it felt longer than it was because of that. The world building was also weak, something I hope will be fleshed out more in the sequel. And the ending was very rushed. Together that made the climax unsatisfying.

There is a lot of potential here, I quite liked the characters, it just didn't all come together for me. If the elements were better executed this could have been great. Given that it's a debut, I’m interested to read the sequel. My hope is to see this author grow because it's all there, it just needed more work.

I really hope that Hayley Dennings will come back and blow me out of the water with the sequel.

This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings is a lush and evocative fantasy set in Jazz Age Harlem in an alternative timeline where vampires, or Reapers as they are called here are real and on the rise. Elise Saint is eighteen, newly from school in Paris and the reluctant heir to the Saint empire which has been built on reaper hunting. Spurred on by the death pf his oldest daughter at the hands pf a reaper, Elise's father is determined to rid the city of the monsters at any cost. Of course the Harlem reapers are not going to take this lying down, especially not Layla Quinn . Before she turned five years ago she was Elise's best friend, practically another daughter to the family but now she has lost everyone she was ever close to. As rumors of a cure start to surface and bodies of reapers turned human again start to appear in the city morgues Layla and Elise are forced to work together to figure out what is going on .
I really enjoyed thisbook, I loved the setting, the author did an incredible job in transporting me as a reader to another time and place. The pacing is quite fast and there is not a lot of lore or info dumping , in fact I wish there had been just a little more of an explanation about the history of the reapers, but since this is the first book in a planned duology perhaps that will be explored more in the next book. The characters are engaging, initially I found myself connecting more with Elise but very quickly I grew to love Layla too, I enjoyed the friends to enemies to reluctant colleagues to lovers dynamics of their relationship, and I thought the author did a wonderful job of threading the needle between love and hate at times. I also really appreciated that the author gave Elise OCD and thought it was well handled and made sense in the context of her past trauma.. Race plays a key role in this book and there were several interesting allegories comparing how Reapers and Black citizens were treated. To quote Layla "I will never be grateful for being treated like a second class citizen, or barely human. "... " But there was nothing lucky about being forced to assimilate just for a chance of being given rights that you already deserved in the first place. ...there was nothing lucky about only being acknowledged while you are on your knees." I found that this really added another dimension to the story and made me think while I was reading.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

3.5⭐️ thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This Ravenous Fate is about ex best friends Elise (the daughter of an infamous vampire hunter) and Layla (a vampire turned against her will). They have to work together to uncover secrets surrounding a vampirism cure. This is a classic enemies to lovers YA book, and while the pacing was very fast, I didn’t think this book needed to be any longer. I think the story would have benefited a bit from some more world building surrounding vampirism, how they came to be, how they survive in this world where they’re hated, etc. I liked how we slowly uncovered the two FMC’s past, and how Sterling factored into their history.

There were a few plot holes that made me go “hmm that didn’t make sense” and the mystery factor was not surprising at all. I hated the father and mother, and I still don’t know what happened to Layla’s family. This felt like two
books in one, but I did enjoy the overarching plotline, and the ending seems to have set the next book up pretty well! Recommending to anyone who wants an easy-to-read sapphic enemies to lovers YA romantasy

If the movie Warm Bodies had a baby with Alberta from the show Ghosts you would probably get this book. Or something, anyway.

I am always looking for new vampire stories and chasing the high of a rare Historical Fiction book that catches my attention. The Ravenous Fate is very atmospheric and at times fast paced. It's a really unique take on vampires as well. No offense to the Interview With a Vampire show, but this book would make a (better) binge worthy show.


Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with a review copy.

The premise was so good, but it missed the mark a few ways. The world building was rough to get through...between gangs and vampires and humans. there was just so much going on. I did enjoy the characters, they had depth and it was easy to root for them. i wanted to love this, but it was hard to get through.