A very fun, new type of YA vampire fantasy novel! I loved the multiple POV and great world building. Now just need book 2!

Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell has a lot of ambition — and when it works, it really works. The writing is beautiful at times, almost poetic, and the themes of grief, identity, and healing feel genuine. I appreciated how Caldwell wasn’t afraid to explore darker emotions and let the story sit in uncomfortable places.

That said, the pacing was uneven. The beginning dragged for me, and it took a while before I really connected with the characters. Some of the world-building felt a little underdeveloped, and there were moments when I wanted more clarity about the rules of the magic and the stakes. I also found parts of the emotional arcs a little repetitive.

Still, there’s something powerful in the way the story lingers after you finish — even if getting there wasn’t always smooth. Worth picking up if you like introspective fantasy, but maybe not if you’re looking for a fast-paced, tightly plotted read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I was really excited for this book; however, it fell very flat for me. I love the LGBTQ+ rep and the concept of the magical creatures that were tied in with the surrounding culture. I liked the plot and how it flowed. However, I did not like the worldbuilding or the "lore." The beginning of the book is so much information all at once; to call it an info dump would be putting it lightly. I appreciate the care that was put into each vampire family, but it was TOO much. If the intent was to help with context when you start the book, it did not accomplish that goal. I was more confused than I think I would have been without the pre history lesson. The descriptions of the settings also left a lot to be desired. I could tell what the characters were doing, but I had no idea of where they were or how the surroundings looked. I really wanted to like this book, but it wasn't for me.

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

This is the first book of this duology, it is full of vampires, other beings, great queer rep, you will find dual timelines, sacrifice for love and friendship, and a lot of buried history that people want to keep covered up.

At first, I wasn’t sure about this book, I was iffy, but I am so happy that I stayed reading it because wow. Seriously, wow is all I can say. I loved that this book was a fast read, the pace was perfect, and it was full of action, and learning about the characters and what they will be having to deal with. This book is grim, you will get the history of what happened with the world of gods, humans and vampires. I loved that this book was full of information, but it didn’t feel like an info dump and that is because the way that the author wrote this book, she made it where she would give the readers what they need but not dump it all right away but throughout the book. I found all the characters to be well developed, and you will get to know the characters that started it all and the ones that are more in the present time that are trying to fix what is broken. I do think that the romance between Leyla and Najja was too fast for me, I do wish we could have had more of a slow burn between those too.

If you read this book, be ready for a cliffhanger, but I also loved that the author wrote that the next book would have an HEA. I can’t wait to read book two.

I also received the audio of this book as well. I thought all the narrators did an amazing job bringing this book to life, and the characters. I loved that with audio I followed along on my kindle, and it really made this book come to life. I highly recommend this audiobook.

I want to thank NetGalley and SMP and Macmillan audio for the opportunity to review this book.

Where Shadows Meet offers a fresh and compelling take on vampire romance, perfect for readers looking for more sapphic, BIPOC, and chronic condition rep.
While the overall unique premise drew me to this read, what I really enjoyed more than the world-building were the relationships and character development. There were so many feels! Add action, adventure, and an immersive world (there is a family tree and glossary for reference), and this is an enjoyable read.

I will admit that it took some time to really get into the story. I stopped and started reading a few times, but it’s definitely worth the read.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, Netgalley and the author for a complimentary copy of this ebook. I am leaving a voluntary review. All thoughts and ideas expressed are my own.

First off, this COVER! Beautiful!!
The book fell a bit flat though. I wish the world building had been a bit more fleshed out. I spent much of the book either confused or bored by info dumps. There wasn't much of a middle ground. Not to mention jumping from third to first person from three different characters, including diary entries from the past interrupting the present. I truly loved the foundational concepts in the book--Vampires, Gods, Humans, and actually a new kind of vampire. It just felt....bland.

First of all thanks to NetGalley for this ARC! As far as vampire books go this one was really good! I think vampire books are coming back and it has me so excited!

Thank you SMP and Macmillian Audio for the ARC!

This book was so good! Black sapphic vampires? What more could a person want?

Well, you get more. You get a tragic love story. You get an amazing example of world-building and lore. You get complex characters, one you both feel for and feel angry at. You get great examples of friendships. You get loyalty, betrayal, and stabby women.

I loved every aspect of this book, it is exactly what the current vampire renaissance we are living in needs. It offers new perspective and lore to the story, while also keeping some of the original charm of vampire stories (burning in the light). Vampire stories are also tragic and sad, and Caldwell definitely wove that in.

I cannot wait for book 2!

The premise of this book immediately caught my attention, and the opening chapters held a lot of promise. However, as the story progressed, I found myself gradually losing interest. The storyline became difficult to follow, the pacing felt uneven, and unfortunately, the characters didn’t resonate with me. They lacked depth and emotional pull, which made it hard to connect or care about their journeys. Despite giving it multiple chances and genuinely wanting to enjoy it, I couldn’t stay invested and ultimately couldn’t finish it. It’s disappointing, especially since the writing itself is beautiful. I really appreciated the author’s prose, but overall, the execution just didn’t work for me. I’m sure this book will resonate with the right audience, but unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them.

4 stars - Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC! I was fortunate enough to immersive read this story - HIGHLY recommend the audio, the narrators did a PHENOMENAL job.

This story follows three separate characters - so definitely a great read for folks that love stacked storylines! I just want to say, while this story is a sapphic vampire fantasy, it's so much more than that. These characters balance rage, manage grief, betrayal, and so many complex emotions while carrying the fates on their shoulders. They're faced with tough choices, and loss -one while managing a chronic illness.

My only note is that you HAVE to lock in because as someone who isn't great with a ton of POVs, the switching/diff timelines was a bit hard for me to keep up with at times. That being said, I'm excited to see where things go in book 2!

The characters were interesting and the book was easy to read and follow along with what was going on. I think the length of the story was perfect and there was great pacing. Time jumps can be difficult to write and can be confusing, disorientating or take the reader out of immersion, but Caldwell really nailed it. I think going back in time for some chapters really just elevated the story and blended well, and didn't have any of the "negative" consequences that time jumps can have sometimes. Overall I enjoyed the book. I would recommend to a certain audience for sure.

Black and Sapphic! What more can a girl ask for?
This a captivating story that intertwines a tragic love story with a dual timeline narrative. The tale of Thana and Favre is both heart-wrenching and intriguing.

This dark and compelling origin story sets the stage for a rich fantasy world.
Parallel to this, we follow Leyla and Najja on their journey to find Leyla’s best friend. As they navigate their quest, they begin to fall for each other, mirroring the intense love story of Favre and Thana. The dual timeline adds depth and complexity to the narrative, keeping listeners engaged as they uncover the connections between past and present.

Overall, "Where Shadow’s Meet" is a beautifully crafted fantasy audiobook that explores themes of love, sacrifice, and identity. Its engaging plot, well-developed characters, and immersive world-building make it a must-listen.

two love stories, a thousand years apart, intertwine in patrice caldwell’s where shadows meet. once, a girl sacrificed her wings for the goddess she loved; now, a vampire princess risks everything to rescue her beloved best friend from the island of the dead, accompanied by a young prophetess whose people were banished by the vampire queen.

let me start with what i loved: the love! romantic and platonic and familial, healthy and unhealthy, tragic and hopeful. while this is, first and foremost, a romantasy, it doesn’t fall into one of my least favorite romantasy tendencies of minimizing all other forms of love and relationships. and i loved the queernormative world filled with black, sapphic love stories.

i also enjoyed the themes of mother/daughter relationships, fate vs choice, and the way history and myth are explored from both sides—present day and their origin, with a long and bloody war between gods and vampires and humans in between.

where i think this book failed is in its world building, which is so clunky and confusing. it’s obvious that caldwell put a lot of thought and effort into creating this world, but the execution is, uh, not there. this book is barely over 300 pages and too much of that is taken up with family trees, a glossary of vampire bloodlines, and awkwardly placed info dumps within the story—and i STILL had questions.

too much relied on miscommunication and various characters withholding information. miscommunication can be fun in small doses, but here it’s happening in every direction at all times. so many problems could have been solved if these people just talked to each other. on a semi-related note, one MC in particular was just painfully naive throughout the book, culminating in her (somehow) being shocked by the very, very obvious setup she walks into.

will i be picking up book 2? honestly, i don’t know. i love seeing this kind of representation in YA fantasy—it’s so important—but i think this was more of a “fine but not for me” read. i would recommend it to readers who are looking for YA romantasy or diversity in vampire fiction!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was really excited to jump into this book after I was approved. The cover is beautiful, and I couldn’t wait to see how the story unfolded after reading the blurb- vampires, gods, and multiple romances, oh my!!!

The representation for LGBTQ, Black leads, and chronic pain makes this book stand out in the fantasy genre and within vampire novels specifically. I appreciated the author making this an important feature in her work, but felt that she could have delved deeper into exploring the complexities involved here.

While I do think that the story itself is solid, there were a few things that I struggled with. One being the pacing could have been improved. It was so slow to start, and the middle of the story really dragged. I think this is in part because of the multiple narratives (and diary entries), which confused me at first. It felt like there was so much information thrusted at me. For the more experienced reader, a lot of the information in the beginning gives away some of the twists. On a positive note, the stakes in the latter part of the story were high, and I was genuinely caught up in the cliffhanger at the end.

Overall, this is an interesting blend of fantasy elements, but it didn’t fully captivate me the way I had hoped. I appreciate the effort and creativity in the world-building, and I’m still curious enough to read the next book.

I love me a vampire story, and this was one was so fun! As usual in books involving vampires, gods, and humans, the world-building is a little confusing, but thankfully it becomes clearer as you go on, and the book includes different characters' perspectives so you get a more wholistic view of things.

It's hard to distill this book into a tidy paragraph, but I'll give it my all! Essentially, a thousand years ago, after a goddess named Thana became the first vampire, she descended from the Heavenly Realms to attempt to conquer the human world, setting off a hundreds-year war. For a variety of reasons that are revealed in the book, Thana's daughter kills her, and the vampire-human war rages on. In present day, it has been one year since the end of the war, and all the vampire bloodlines are united under one queen. Leyla, the vampire princess, sees her best friend get taken by creatures from the Island of the Dead, and she goes to get her back, with the help of a seer named Namaja. Of course, these storylines converge, and chaos ensues, as it does.

This was just fun. I loved existing in a world where sapphic love was the norm, and where women were the real star of the show: almost every important character in this book is a woman, and that was so satisfying. We have two separate main romances, one of which is a bit of insta-love but is very pure and sweet, and another that is toxic and codependent and incredible lol. The juxtaposition is interesting and provides a lot of nuance, and the characters are developed well enough that you root for them and feel for them. It's more of a closed door romance but still enjoyable, and the action was exciting. I liked this one!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!

thousands of years ago, favre sacrificed her wings for her love for thana, who ended up sacrificing her love for power. ever since, favre has been waiting for her chance to resurrect the girl she loves who turned her into the creature she hates. now, leyla, the crown princess of the malichora, who survive on human blood, is traveling to the land of the dead to find her captured best friend. she teams up with najja, a seer who doesn’t seem to keen on the royal family. leyla will stop at nothing to save her friend, but the closer she gets, the more she risks awakening an ancient evil.

as soon as i hear about a vampire book, it gets added to my tbr, and this one was no exception! i was even more drawn in by the promises of a dual timeline (favre and thana vs. leyla and najja) and not one, but two sapphic romances. also, i’ve read a couple of patrice caldwell’s anthologies that she’s edited, so i was eager to read a full-length novel by her. it’s safe to say that this book did not disappoint on any of those fronts! i loved the vampire/malichora element, as this opened discussion for themes of power, sacrifice, and more. i also thought the romances were great, as they were so complex that i couldn’t help but want to learn more. overall, this was a great story. i’m very excited for the sequel!

Where Shadows Meet is a messy, complicated three person POV fantasy tale that takes place in a messy, complicated world. The different POVs are woven together to tell the tale of hows gods fell from grace and created the vampires, the vampires created, and how humans keep resisting the vampires. Each of the female leads re-asks the age old questions: what would you do for love and how far would you go for love? Large and grandiose, it does feel crammed for a duology, maybe a trilogy would have let the plot breathe better. The story and world building is full and rich of carefully thought history, creating a solid foothold that allows for the most fantastic to make sense.

Enjoyment: 2
Start: 3.75
Characters: 3.5
Setting: 3
Plot: 3.5
Ending: 2
Style: 4
Rating: 3.11

Overall the story is a good one, and I enjoyed some of it. I feel like the world is very matriarchal, which is perfectly fine, except for the fact that their are nearly no men to be found. Anywhere. Almost every mention of a race of people, or even just a clan, seems to only be women. The few men that are mentioned seem to be dead or not worth mentioning again.

It also seems to me that all the character (save for one) are lesbians. All of them. It's very unrealistic to me and made me enjoy the story less.

The start was great, then the story started lacking, then it picked up, and by the time it was over I was celebrating I was finished reading it. Every story needs a rise and fall in action and this story, while done well, seemed to be half history lesson about the world half what was actually happening. While I enjoyed learning the lore of the world, it took away from the actual world building around them.

Who hurt you? I might bite you; Princess will bite you back. This didn't read like a debut, and I can tell by reading the author did her research and invested years into this book.
The side characters were great with banter.
The romance felt young and nostalgic.
The plot was great, and pacing made it easy to read.
The writing was difficult only because going from first to third person is not fun to read.

Perfect if you want:
Who hurt you? I might bite you.
Vampires!!!! Angels!
Princess Power
Revenge against Gods
Queer/LGBTQ+
Young Adult Romantasy

Thank you so much to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this arc!

I can’t believe Where Shadows Meet is only just over 300 pages long. It felt so much longer. Part One of the books just seemed to drag. It took me over six tries to read this book. I was about to give up altogether when Part Two happened. Part Two is really good. I would have created more trevails for the girls to go through to get to the island. If the book had just been Part Two - this would be a completely different review. Unfortunately, the first half of the book had too much foundation for me. I would have preferred more action too.

Read Where Shadows Meet and let me know what you think.