This Ravenous Fate

Title: This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Romantasy, Gothic
Culture: Black
Themes: Queer romance, Family drama, Racism, Survival, Vampire forced proximity

From Paris to Harlem, queer love wins

A deadly game of survival and love, This Ravenous Fate by Hayley Dennings is the perfect gothic horror story set against the backdrop of jazzy 1920’s Harlem. It's 1926 and reapers, the once-human vampires with a terrifying affliction, are on the rise in New York. But the Saint family's thriving reaper-hunting enterprise holds reign over the city, giving them more power than even the organized criminals who run the nightclubs. Eighteen year-old Elise Saint, home after five years in Paris, is the reluctant heir to the empire. Only one thing weighs heavier on Elise's mind than her family obligations: the knowledge that the Harlem reapers want her dead.

I loved this intense and sultry novel of 2 strong women, friends to lovers to enemies and back again, who fight not only for each other but also their community which is plagued by racism of the 1920s and people determined to eliminate them. Spanning two cities, Paris - the city of love and Harlem - the mecca of black renaissance, Elise and Layla find their way back to each other despite devastating odds and deadly circumstances. For a young adult novel, there is just enough sultry spice between them that keeps the reader interested in not only them as a couple but the plot as well. From Elise, who can’t seem to get anything right according to her father, to Layla who had her whole life up ended and is now torn between love and found family. There is much to love about both of them. Elise and Layla are both intriguing, compelling and complex characters; I was able to empathize with both of them as Dennings dived deeply into their inner struggles with self and race as well as their relationships with the people around them. Elise navigates the complicated and hurtful relationship and dynamics of her family while Layla continuously searches for a new family and a place to call home. Over the course of the novel, each will struggle with their identity (and alliances!) that shapes their growth into womanhood and their survival.

With a medium paced flow, the plot of This Ravenous Fate is full of twists and turns that kept me guessing on where alliances lied between the characters and their groups - the Saints and the Reapers. Throughout the novel, the Saints are determined to rid the world of the Reapers but Elise and Layla’s tumultuous relationship complicates everything forcing them and others to create new alliances. Full of betrayal and romance, it is difficult at times to determine who is being true to themself or playing games to get what they want. I do wish the ending had been different; it seemed to ramble on and become too lengthy and should have been wrapped up more quickly. Despite this, I believe it appropriately set the scene for a second novel. Themes of segregation and systemic racism are at the forefront of the story with Dennings doing a wonderful job exploring each of these themes in a supportive way that supports the queer vampire romance. She deep dives into the hearts of her black characters as they try to save themselves from organized and targeted elimination.

Overall, I think this was a great debut novel and recommend it for anyone looking for tense queer romance with diverse characters and vampire vibes.