by: Kalla Harris
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Romance
Release Date: June 3, 2025
Publisher: Entangled ~ Teen
The world ended ten years ago.
Vampires showed up, took over, and turned the whole planet into their personal all-you-can-drink buffet. The president? Bloodsucker. The government? Bloodsuckers. My social life? Absolutely nonexistent.
But hey, at least I had one thing going for me—slayer training. My twin sister, Ripley, and I were about to go pro, officially joining the ranks of the last people on earth who actually do something about the whole “undead overlords” situation.
And then X had to show up. The vampire boogeyman. The worst of the worst. And instead of killing Ripley, like any decent monster would, he turned her. Now she’s technically a vamp, but something tells me my sister is still in there. Which means I can’t slay her.
What can I do? Break every rule. Lie to my friends. Strike a deal with the most dangerous vampire on the planet: X will protect Ripley from everyone else who wants her dead—like, really dead—until I can snag the cure for vampirism. The catch? Risking my own head to help him free his good-for-nothing BFF from the very slayers who taught me everything.
If I want Ripley back, I’m going to have to play nice with the thing that ruined my life. And the worst part?
I think he’s enjoying this.
Trigger Warnings: The Ground That Devours Us is a dark dystopian fantasy that explores a post-apocalyptic wasteland called the Open in which a vampire hunter risks execution for treason when she teams up with a notorious vampire to save her sister. However, the story includes elements that might not be suitable for all readers. Violence, death, blood, gore, medical experimentation, execution, gun violence, self-harm, anxiety and panic attacks, depictions of depression, abuse, and alcohol use are shown in the novel. Readers, please take note before preparing your slayer squadron. Welcome to the Open.
In 2038, the world as everyone knew it was destroyed. Vampires took over, and people either died, became vampires, or worse, became bloodwalkers. In Charlotte, North Carolina, eight-year-old twins Ruby and Ripley Clemmons became orphans after their mother was attacked and killed. While out scavenging, the girls are saved by Barnett, founder of Vaille, the secured human compound, and commander of Hunt, its security force. Barnett lost his wife and daughters to a vampire attack, and he sees the girls as his kids. As his pseudo-daughters, he expects them to hate and be vampire slayers like him and has had them in training for years.
Now eighteen, Ruby has one more supply run mission before she’s officially able to graduate and become a slayer. The mission is simple: Take her sister, her best friend, Ginger, and a group of new recruits to the aquarium, grab some lingering supplies, and make it back to home base. But things go horribly wrong. The group encounters two of Vaille’s most wanted vampires, X and Marjorie, resulting in Ripley becoming a vampire and Marjorie being captured. Barnett deems Ruby a failure and demands that she bring Ripley back to Vaille. With her sister being a wanted vampire, Ruby strikes a deal with X. He will protect Ripley until Barnett perfects the vampire cure he’s been working on, and Ruby will help X get Marjorie out of confinement. With two sworn enemies, trust is a fragile thing.
The Ground that Devours Us kept me glued to the pages. At some point, I realized my stomach was hurting because of Kalla’s ability to make me feel so empathic toward Ruby and her emotions, feelings, wants, and desires. Make no mistake, this was a good story. But also a sad story. There is definitely a lot of blood, gore, and violence. There's betrayal and walk through fire loyalty. There's found family and friendship. I'm going to say there's a little redemption. Some characters experienced personal growth, which I loved. There’s romance, but not a lot of it. I loved the banter and scenes with Ruby and X. A negative for me was not truly understanding how vampires and bloodwalkers came to be. The book distinguishes vampires as being unalive, but still retaining their humanity, while bloodwalkers have a thirst for blood and nothing more. I have no idea how one becomes unalive, a vampire, or a bloodwalker after a vampire attack.
I don’t know if The Ground That Devours Us is supposed to be part of a series or just a single book. The ending is solid and provides some closure, but I can see where this could be just the beginning.
~ Favorite Quotes ~
“Everything’s going to be fine.”
“Never stop believing there are other journeys to be had.”
“The world will try to make sense of you and never will, so stop asking them to. Instead, make sense of yourself.”
“Manipulation isn’t love.”
“Not everything has to stay broken forever.”
“We can choose to make a better future.”
“Being alive doesn’t equate to living.”
“You don’t have to need something to enjoy it.”
“You can’t love someone when you don’t know how to love yourself.”
“We can’t change the past, but we can change the future.”
“Friendships are like seasons.”
“Trust is something that is built. Earned.”
“Hope, more than anything, is the greatest power of all.”
**Received a copy of the publisher and voluntarily reviewed it. Also personally purchased a paperback copy.**
Rating: 5
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When she's not writing high-stakes young adult books with lots of kissing, you can find her curled up with a good story, perfecting her mac and cheese recipe, or rewatching The Vampire Diaries (Hi, Damon!). Kalla resides in the Upstate of South Carolina with her husband.
Places to find Kalla Harris:
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