When I heard Black sapphic vampires I was excited! The premise was intriguing, and I think the book was pretty unique. I enjoyed the backstory with the creation of vampires, and I liked all of the other magical characters as well. The big questions of what would you give up for love, and what would it cost you, what would the ones you love give up for you, etc. are explored, which is especially interesting when paired with vampires and seers.

As I was reading the prologue I was really invested in that story, and when I started the actual book I was kind of disappointed that the book didn't follow that story, and instead jumped ahead and added in a bunch of new characters. I feel like I'd have loved a whole book with the story from the prologue. I also think the world building could have been more cohesive.

3.5/5

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

The beginning of this book had me enthralled. I was swept away by the sapphic love story between goddesses and the tale of vampires. The dual timelines didn’t help the tale fro there unfortunately.

I really really liked the premise for this book. The blurb was promising. Unfortunately this is one of those books that probably has a fantastic story but I just can’t vibe with the way the author writes enough to push through the book. Lots of info dumping in a writing style that just seems, for lack of better words, juvenile. I’ve never seen so many commas on a page. Sadly, this is a DNF. Thank you Wednesday books for the early copy.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. DNF. I will not finish. I have been waiting to read this since I found out the author was writing a novel since I read one of her anthology books. I’m not really interested in what is going on. I knew it was fantasy and had vampires but the different POv’s and timelines are something that I don’t think I enjoy in this way. I’m only rating because it makes me and reviewing so it doesn’t hurt my feedback ratio.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance reader's copy of the book. I enjoyed this different take on vampires. The world building was unique and I wanted more. The main characters were alright and the events of the end were predictable, but overall it wasn't a bad book. It will be interesting to see how things are resolved in the next book. Overall 3.5 out of 5.

Gods-turned-vampires took control over the human world a millenia ago. Every ruler since has had a lasting impact on history. Leyla, next in line, worries she will not meet the expectations of her ancestoresses. When her best friend is kidnapped during an attack, Leyla knows she has to be the one to save her. Will she save her friend, or will she set into motion events that could end the world?

This millennial will never read enough vampire novels. This was fast-paced and I was immediately hooked! I loved the various POVs and flashbacks. The chapters were short and I loved how many of them ended with diary entries or excerpts from texts in the royal archives. The diary entries made me more empathetic towards Favre. It was light on the world-buiding with character development as the primary focus. It is more appropriate for upper YA.
It’s definitely set up for a sequel; I am so invested in how the story continues!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin Press for the e-ARC!

This, to say the least, is short and sweet. It definitely feels like a setup for the next book, but that doesn't stop it from being fast-paced and full of mystery. The character and how they interact really makes this story and it feels as if the world bends around them. They each have their own unique personalities and relations. The world is very interesting, to say the least and I adore the characters steeped in folklore. This novel has everything from gods to vampires and feels like a dopamine rush. The Price that the charecter pay for what they want just feals so personal as you watch it unfold. I do think it should have been more drawn out in the first few chapters because all the characters are introduced very quickly and I definitely got confused and had to back track quite a bit. In the end, I think it's a great short read I will continue the series and recommend you read it.

Okay, so I actually think there are a lot of really fun ideas here! We have an interesting take on vampires, a lot of lore, and a lot of different POVs. I think the author has some unique ideas. I did struggle, however, to keep all of the characters straight in my head, which perhaps led to me feeling a little disconnected from them and not really feeling the emotional connection I would have liked. I also felt like a lot of the lore was narrated to me rather than shown or integrated into the book in a natural way, which is a shame because I do think there were some good ideas.

Loved how queernormative it was and the focus on sapphics. I would definitely try out another book by the same author.

This could have been 5 stars for me, but there were just SO many timelines and POV's, I got confused at numerous points throughout the story. I loved the premise, the characters & everything else about it, but the feeling of being thrown across so many points, I unfortunately need to take off a star.

DNF at 23%. I like the concepts with the world building, but it’s very info-dumpy, and it spills a lot on the reader at once. The characters aren’t particularly gripping, and their POVs aren’t distinct. Granted, I’m in a massive reading slump, so I may try again when I’m in a better mood,

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into when I started reading it. I was a little confused at the beginning, but I kept reading and learned more which helped clear it up. Thano and Favre are evil vampire queens (not evil at the beginning). Thano is the first ever vampire. She gets drained and imprisoned in a tomb. Favre wants to release her and needs help to do it because she loves her. Enter Leyla, Danai, and Najia. Najia is one who can tell the future. She goes to help Leyla (the princess). They go on a journey to rescue Danai who was stolen. They learn a lot and there is some romance but it is definitely more fantasy than romantasy. No spice really, not explicit at all, more closed door. Definitely a good fantasy story and would definitely check out the next one (supposed to be a duology).

I went into this without knowing anything other than it was about vampires and it was sapphic. While the start was very lore heavy and seemed hard to follow, once I got into the meat of the story, I was fascinated by the characters and the world the author had created. If you enjoy stories about angry, petty gods, different kinds of vampires, and characters who will battle for a future that includes love (both familial and romantic), you are going to really enjoy this book!💗

As someone who was a huge vampire nerd growing up (even before twilight ahah) vampire books just haven’t been hitting for me in YEARS! When I read the summary for Where Shadows Meet, it sounded so unique! Not the typical vampire kind of read where they’re always lurking in the dark and drinking unsuspecting victims blood. The vampires from this book were from a “ancient race” who just so happened to need blood to survive lol. I don’t know, it sounded unique and cool to be with the added fact of seers and goddesses.

Instead, I felt very info dumped. Like extremely so, where I literally JUST finished reading the book and I feel like I can honestly tell you nothing about the world. Which also, for all the info being dumped, I felt like there was very little world building? I couldn’t picture it in my mind and every time I sat down to read the book, I felt confused and still more confused the more I read lol. It could most definitely be a personal problem but I’m honestly shocked with myself that I didn’t DNF it sooner but that’s just because I truly wanted to love it and see it get better.

Unfortunately this one wasn’t for me, but maybe current vampire lovers can find a love for it?

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.25
Spice: 🌶️🌶️
Tropes/Themes: Vampires, Gods, Witches, LGBT, Lesbian, Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal

Okayyyy this was cute! It took me a bit to get into but overall it was a fun story. I think the vision for this book was great, it’s just in need of some fine tuning to really reach its full potential.

Pros:
- Unique take on vampires
- Diverse characters
- Multiple sapphic romances

Cons:
- A lot of POV/timeline jumping between characters with difficult to remember names
- FMCs are all a bit whiney?
- Not enough world building

I really enjoyed the take on vampires in this novel, especially as someone who generally avoids vampires due to the repetitiveness. I would have liked to dive more into the lore of the gods/vampires to build this up, and wish some of the POVs (mainly Fevre on the island) had been spent building on this.

The story also does a ton of jumping around between the 3 main characters, sometimes jumping back in time, and with the names being difficult to pronounce and remember it was pretty difficult, especially at first, to keep track of where we were and with who. I feel like if you plan to have multiple POVs you need to spend a bit more time building up each character to make them memorable in the reader's mind.

I really did enjoy the budding relationship between Najja and Leyla though and I will likely continue with this series when the next one comes out as I really do think the story and world hold some great potential.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I requested this after reading the premise and being intrigued by the sapphic vampire fantasy plot. As the story went on, the vampire aspect started to take a backseat. We learn in the beginning that vampires can’t go in the sun because they start to burn. That gets thrown out the window later when Leyla says multiple times that she wants to leave in the morning, doesn’t want to travel in the dark, etc.

The book starts with a huge info dump of a family tree, all about the different kinds of vampires, and an author’s note stating that this book is just a “morsel” of what’s to come. Why would we want to keep reading if the author is promising that the book is only groundwork and the real action will come in the future? The first half of the book is so full of world building with barely any actual story. The main action doesn’t even happen until about 45% of the way through.

The writing felt clunky and at times trying too hard to be poetic. Characters would say weirdly prose filled sentences right before saying “my bad”. There was no cohesive style throughout. I also hope the many spelling errors will be fixed before the final printing.

Finally, I don’t believe either main love story we’re shown. Najja and Leyla are supposed to be a slow burn, but we don’t see any tension or even how their relationship progresses. The story skips ahead at times, so we’re just told things instead of seeing them for ourselves. I also can’t really believe Favre and Thana’s “love”.

I DNFed after continuously feeling confused by the number of characters/places/timelines/events that were thrown at me.

Where Shadows Meet sounded like such a unique story with cool vampires and a sapphic love story. Unfortunately, I think my expectations were a little too high. I haven’t read a book in a long time that left essentially no lasting impression on me. I am as neutral as one could be when it comes to this book. Nothing stood out and none of the characters meant anything to me as the reader. If you asked me about a single thing that’s really happened in the story, I don’t know if I’d be able to tell you much. Where Shadows Meet was super boring and as mild as one could get for a book. The entire book felt like a bunch of rambling and massive amount of info dumping with little payoff. I most likely won’t keep up with this author, but believe there’s definitely an audience out there that would like this.

Thank you to NetGalley, Wednesday Books, and the author for sending me an early copy.

Where Shadows Meet is a sapphic vampire fantasy romance that felt different from other vampire stories I've read. The story is told from several POVs, from the past and present, which made it confusing to follow at some points. I really enjoyed the MCs, Leyla and Najja, their chemistry and interactions were great. A good portion of the middle of this story felt like the two FMC were just walking and talking, getting to know each other, where not a lot else was happening and it felt like the story was slogging along and then the ending felt a little rushed. Thanks Netgalley for the e-ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The queer black vampire renaissance is ongoing and I’m so here for it. Patrice did an amazing job at keeping me invested and wanting to know what’s was happening. I loved the romance and the MCs and I can’t wait to read more from her!