A queer retelling of Rupunzal?? What more could I ask for! I loved this book so much. Witches and vampires are something you see together in books too much so this was an exciting read. Thanks netgalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

Thoughts

When will 2023 offer me some good fantasy? Not yet, apparently. I wanted to love this. I didn't.

Pros
Tangled Touches: This book is Rapunzel-inspired, so of course it will bear similarity to Disney's Tangled. But the similarities go beyond that. The wicked-witch-slash-captor-mother here also siphons power from her daughter, just like in that iconic Disney film, and the similarities don't end there. The Tangled vibes are obvious. And I think that's a good thing. If you're a Tangled fan, you might just want to take a peek at this witchy vampire tale.

Not-So-Hidden: Our Rapunzel in her tower isn't quite so hidden as her counterparts tend to be. And I like that. I thought, heading into the early chapters, that a lot of that beginning tension would revolve around Kaye discovering Ava--or somebody else discovering Ava, maybe. But Kaye already knows. She's already seen, and she's been watching. And I love that. I love that this book revolves around not discovering a hidden vampire but instead centers on a vengeful witch who has her eyes on the vampire that has been under her nose all this time.

Consuming Forest: I've read a lot of spooky forest stories. I've read a lot of spooky forests in the last few months alone. But this one really takes the cake. It is ultra creepy. Something is wrong. Something is rotten. Something is hungry. Ultimately, this is one of the most goosebump-inducing forests I've read in a while--vampires not even included.


Cons
Veggie Vamp: I'm sorry. I just don't like it. It was fine in Twilight, but Twilight was a long time ago, at least as publishing goes. "Vegetarian" vampires had their time. They still have their place. But I'm over it. I really want some good, vicious bloodsuckers back in my fiction, and that just wasn't the case here. Ava wants to be a good person. She doesn't want to hurt anybody. And I'm tired of it. This book doesn't improve upon the "vegetarian vampire" subgenre. In fact, it might make the overall picture worse.

Magic Vamp: I guess a vampire who can also do magic adds an interesting element to this world... but it doesn't play out that well. Turning a witch in her prime helps her keep her power when she's a vampire, but this isn't common knowledge. And yet, everybody seems to know and recognize what Ava is right away? Nobody is supposed to know about this loophole, and everybody does. Also, it does feel very much like a loophole, a loophole purely intended to make Ava a cooler vampire. Add to this my hatred of "young" vampires or "young" witches being more powerful than their aged counterparts, and I just wasn't here for it.

No Chemistry: Look at that cover! There's supposedly a significant romantic subplot here, and yet... There's no chemistry between Ava and Kaye. They don't play well together. And they also don't play well separately. In fact, none of the characters are particularly well-rounded, and for a group that all have complicated histories with each other, there isn't any banter. There isn't any chemistry, romantic or otherwise. I would like to say that this book has some of the flattest characters I've read in a while, but it's actually just in keeping with this year's fantasy, unfortunately. Disappointed all around.


Rating
⭐⭐⭐
3/10

Fans of the magical misfits of Kaylie Smith's A Ruinous Fate will enjoy this new quest through a cursed forest. Those who loved Janella Angeles's Where Dreams Descend will like this cold, dark realm of magic and monsters.

A friends to enemies to lovers Rapunzel retelling with witches and vampires was everything I didn’t know I needed in my life.

Kaye is a flame witch hell bent on revenge after vampires killed her mother. Ava is a reluctant vampire confined to her mothers’ home with a cruel stepfather. They find themselves both searching for freedom and redemption, and reunite in order to reach their destination. As they begin to embrace who they truly are, deeper betrayals are revealed that might ruin the relationship they just started to rekindle…

This book was dark at times but I couldn’t put it down! The magical world-building and imagery was amazing. I felt for Ava so much throughout the book because she had been through so much trauma and still managed to want to do the right thing. Kaye was a bit single-minded and was great at jumping to conclusions, but I couldn’t really blame her given her past. I think both characters were great examples of what it means to be morally gray. I didn’t quite understand everything that happened at the end with the heart tree (spoiler: it seemed like Casieopia gave up too quickly after being so adamant about keeping the tree?) but I still enjoyed the ending.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this arc!

I really wanted to like this one a gorgeous and compelling cover! A shaphic retelling of Rapunzel sounded wonderful. The plot fell flat and the characters lacked the definition to tell them apart. I had trouble picturing the world due to lack of world building and descriptions. I felt my self zoning out when listening and reading it. Not my cup of tea.

I’m always here for sapphic fantasy, and the friends to enemies to lovers was a pretty solid base for tension between our two MCs. However, the worldbuilding felt pretty sparse and the climax was both overdone (like to the point of melodrama) and also paper thin. I didn’t feel particularly engaged and instead kept reading out of inertia. It was a far cry from Florez’s fast-paced debut.

I didn’t understand how the magic worked. There were some hand gestures (like how they couldn’t use magic if their hands were tied behind their backs) but the rules felt super loosey-goosey, like the worldbuilding was bending itself over backwards to allow our MCs to be powerful. I couldn’t figure out the catalyst for Kay suddenly being able to use her invisibility (perfectly and while gravely injured, covering not just herself but two other people as well) or any of the reasons Lysander did what he did. It felt like a handwavey backdrop for the love story.

And then there was the ending. Again, not sure why the MCs just suddenly did a total about-face, but I guess good for them?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

I didn't know what to expect with this book - I'm not a fantasy reader typically but was so intrigued by the premise. It was more YA than what I read also but I had a great time with The Witch and the Vampire. Flores builds the world so richly, especially at the start where we're thrust into a prisoner dynamic we don't have access to. I loved this book and it really ignited a love for fantasy I didn't know I had.

Although it didn't exceed all my expectations, it was still a fun read. Ava and Kaye's relationship was my favorite part. It was a slow burn with just the right amount of tension, and I was rooting for them the whole time. However, the pacing and world-building could have been smoother. Overall, while it had its flaws, The Witch and the Vampire was still enjoyable and made me smile.

3.5 stars

TW: Blood, death, murder, prejudice, parental abuse, abuse & pain.

Starting this book, I loved the magic/mythology of vampires & witches. It was a fresh world with slight inspiration from Rapunzel. I loved the characters' emotions and the complication of their friendship, relationship & situation as they deal with a hungry forest and a plan to ruin both species.

However much I loved this, halfway, I felt it disconnect from me, and I couldn't pinpoint why; the plot developed a little faster, but that's the story's point, so I'm not sure. I did find the biting scene with Ava a little out of character and just there for the betrayal. So it declined then, sadly.

a very sweet book about love, family, friendships, preconceived notions about the world, etc. I was not sure what I was expecting when I read that this was inspired by Rapunzel. It makes sense though, we learn about Ava, our main character, who has had so much taken away from her and she is now trapped in her own home. Then she breaks free and had to realize what the world is like now and how she fits into it. She has her own fairytales that she believes in and she needs to realize that the real world isn’t necessarily the same as the world in fairytales.

I liked the character development of Ava, Kaye, and Tristian (and Nuria too). Especially Ava and Kaye though. My only wish is we got more about Tristan- I feel like there was a lot going on under the surface with him.

This is a book that gently reminds us all to question why things are the way the are. It also challenges us to remember who writes history and why they might be recording things in a certain way.

Will this be a series? I hope so.

Ava has been confined to her room in her house for two years. She has unwillingly allowed her mother to steal her magic for two years. For two years, Ava had to hide that she was a vampire and was turned when vampires overran the town and killed her best friend’s mother. When her mother goes away on business and leaves her with her diabolical stepfather, Ava makes a break for the forest surrounding her village. Meanwhile, her best friend, Kaye, is channeling her grief into her Flame witch training. Fire is the only thing vampires are afraid of, and the villagers use it to their advantage, killing them with fire. Seeing Ava for the first time in two years, Kaye realizes she is a vampire. Channeling her rage and grief into capturing Ava, Kaye soon discovers the girl she was best friends with isn’t a heartless beast. Convincing Kaye that her only escape is through the woods, they travel. But they are being tracked by other vampires, vampire hunters, and Ava’s stepfather. Will Ava and Kaye make it through the woods? Will their friendship and budding romance rekindle? What truths will they find during their journey?

I was super pumped when I read the blurb for The Witch and the Vampire. I love fairy tale retellings and will go out of my way to read them. So when I read some reviews for this book and realized that it was a Rapunzel retelling, there was no way I wouldn’t read it. Have you read a good Rapunzel retelling? Well, until this book, neither did I.

Before I get further into the review, I do need to put up a trigger warning paragraph. The Witch and the Vampire do have a few trigger warnings. The trigger warnings are:

Blood (not surprising, this is a vampire story)

Death of a parent (Someone turned Ava’s father into a vampire, captured him, and then murdered him. Kaye’s mother was murdered also. Both are vividly remembered)

Animal death (Ava drank the blood of squirrels and rabbits to sustain herself)

Physical abuse (Ava by her stepfather, and it is graphic)

Torture (Ava by her stepfather during his experiments. Also what the Flame witches do to the vampires to get information. I considered both to be graphic)

Child abuse (Ava by both her mother and her stepfather. Her mother emotionally abused her and turned her into a vampire against her will. Her stepfather physically and verbally abused her when her mother was gone)

Vomit (Kaye threw up a few times but nothing overtly graphic)

Child death (off-page there were several murders of teens in the village and a preteen being used as a sacrifice)

Murder (so much murder)

If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading this book.

The Witch and the Vampire is a fast-paced book. It took me no time to read because of how fast the plotline was. I enjoyed that!! It is a dual POV 3rd person storyline, which was great because I got to see what was going on in Kaye and Ava’s heads during the book.

The main characters in The Witch and the Vampire broke my heart. They both had suffered so much loss and had their innocence taken from them at an early age. I do wish that there were more flashbacks to when Ava was human. I would have loved to see more of her and Kaye’s interactions.

I liked Ava, and I loved that the author used her as a comparison to Rapunzel. Right from the beginning, I could tell that she was just done with being in the attic, and she was done with being used as a magical sippy cup for her mother. Ava’s main focus was survival for the first half of her storyline. Once she escaped from her house, she knew she had a limited time to get to the woods. Running into and getting captured by Kaye was not part of her plan. Her character growth throughout the book was terrific. I loved seeing her go from a scared child to a woman who wouldn’t be treated like she had been. Of course, the events in the last half of the book helped that along.

I feel bad admitting this, but Kaye annoyed me until almost just past the book’s climax. She refused to believe Ava about anything until it smacked her face (i.e., Ava and herself getting caught). Kaye made decisions based on emotion and not rational thought. She was a powerful witch, though. I also thought that her immediately putting Ava as her mother’s murderer was awful. But, like Ava, her character growth was remarkable. I liked seeing her misconceptions about vampires torn down. I also liked that she changed enough to admit she was wrong. That is when my annoyance with her disappeared, and I started to like her.

The lore in this book was unbelievable. I would have loved for there to have been a glossary with some of the more critical bits of lore added to it. Because I needed help keeping track of everything thrown at me, lore-wise. I also pray that there is book two because I have questions about the other lands mentioned in this one.

Kaye and Ava’s romance was very low-key until almost the end of the book. I liked that they had an adorable moment before everything went berserk. I also loved the flashbacks that showed how close they were friendship-wise and how close they were getting romance-wise. What happened at the very end of the book was an act of love by Ava. That was very clear to me, and Kaye knew it.

The storyline with the vampires, Ava, Kaye, and the journey to leave the woods was well-written and kept my attention. I couldn’t believe how vampires were treated and cringed reading those scenes. I also cringed at how Kaye treated Ava after capturing her. There was a very neat (and heartbreaking) twist to this storyline that I didn’t see coming. It involved Casiopea (the Queen of the Vampires) and how vampires were created. Again, I didn’t see it coming. Ava’s role in this was also a surprise.

The storyline with Ava, Kaye, the Flame witches, and Kaye’s mother’s murder was well-written and heartbreaking. Everything about this storyline was a twist. My heart broke for Kaye several times throughout this storyline. I also was a little mad that she couldn’t get her revenge.

The end of The Witch and the Vampire surprised me. There were deaths that I didn’t see coming and one that made me so angry that I had to put down my Kindle. I liked how the author wrapped up the storylines, and I had a huge smile when a certain someone got their just deserts. I hope the author writes another book in this universe because I would love to know more about what Kaye and Ava will do.

I would recommend The Witch and the Vampire to anyone over 21. There are no sexual situations or language. There is graphic violence. Please also see my trigger warnings.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, NetGalley, and Francesca Flores for allowing me to read and review The Witch and the Vampire. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

Very enjoyable read. I liked the Sapphic rep and the story flowed well. I would definitely recommend this book for library patrons.

This was an interesting read about a world where witches hunt vampires but they are all in the dark of what is really going on around them. The story follows Ava and Kaye, their friendship, their "falling out" and their second opportunity to be friends and maybe more. It was adventurous and the twists and turns keep the reader captivated.

I'm so sad - this is one of the most gorgeous covers for one of the most boring books. There is almost no world building and no real help understanding the magic system and that is just now how I want to enjoy my fantasy books. I mean come one...this is the first time I've encountered a witch vampire who got to keep her witch powers once she had been turned....that is an extremely cool premise but such a horrible way to package it. I think I will just go and rewatch VE Schwab's "First Kill" on Netflix because it will fill this need for me. However, this could be okay for younger readers who would read with less expectations.

This was just okay for me. Ava was turned into a vampire by her mother who keeps her locked in her room, stealing her magic whenever she can. Kaye lost her mother on the same night that Ava became a vampire and blames Ava for her death. Ava turns to Kaye for help when trying to escape her home and Kaye ends up learning that not all vampires are evil.

Unfortunately, I never was completely invested in this story. Even when things were going horribly wrong for the characters, I just didn’t feel a whole lot for them. I was quite curious about how things would work out for the characters. It was a nice enough tale but ultimately rather forgettable.

I listened to the audiobook and thought that the narrators did a good job with the story. I believe that this is the first time that I have listened to Bailey Carr’s and Mary Helen Gallucci’s narration and I was impressed by their work. I believe that their narration only improved my reading experience.

I think that a lot of readers will enjoy this one more than I did. I would encourage anyone who thinks the story sounds interesting to give it a try.

I received a review copy of this book from Wednesday Books and Dreamscape Media.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books for the opportunity to review this e-arc.

This book held so much promise that it did not live up to. I liked it, but never loved it. I found the pacing to be quick and the content to be clean enough for a middle grade reader. It was ramping up to a solid ending and then fell flat.
The ending felt like it was being set up for a second book and then the author changed their mind at the last moment and slapped one last paragraph to wrap it all up. So many storylines left unfinished and too many things rushed. This either needed to be a longer book or more than one.
Overall, I would compare it to a less well written version of Susan Dennerd’s The Luminaries.

This was a book that I did not finish.

I made it a good 28-30% through the book hoping that it would get better or that I would finally find myself liking it but it was so repetitive that I couldn't bring myself to keep reading. The same things would be reiterated over and over again and then the info dumping about everything just slowed things down.

It also didn't feel like a Rapunzel retelling to me, it felt more like a "loosely based" type of story.

I wanted so badly to finish this book and to like it but I did not connect with this book. It sadly just wasn't for me.

I received a copy from NetGalley for Review.

So I found this whole book to be mid-tier. It's very much giving "First Kill" but make it rural vibes, but somehow so much worse. Do I think there is someone out there who will like Kaye and Ava's story? Yes, I just wasn't it.

This book follows Kaye, a flame witch, and Ava, a vampire/root witch as they discover the truth of the people around them and rediscover their friendship/love. Prior to the start of the story Ava is turned into a vampire and kept away from the world by her mother, who steals her powers. I know this is a Rapunzel retelling, but I think it relied too much on the story of the mother being the villain. At times, I really enjoyed it, but majority of the time I found myself just waiting for it to be over. I had to constantly remind myself that these are essentially teenagers and teens usually see the world in black and white. It really took me out of the story.

"You are so much stronger than you know."
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This is a sapphic rapunzel retelling with quite a twist and I enjoyed reading it so much! Even though many things were fairly predictable for me it didn't take from my enjoyment while reading. I do wish there was a bit more world building overall but I think we still get a pretty good idea of what's going on. One of my biggest grievances with this book, though, is that we are told things instead of shown.
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We are given alternating viewpoints of the MCs, Ava and Kaye. Two girls, once best friends, now turned enemies who have to rely on one another to survive. I really liked the story being told this way and found that the chapters flowed well into one another. I was able to easily connect to both characters and loved seeing their growth from beginning to end.
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There was a good amount of action and adventure throughout the book but I did hope there would've been more romance. I think the author focused more on their individual growth than their growth/relationship together. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. One of the biggest points of this book is finding a place where you belong even when you feel like no such place exists and I think the author did a great job of portraying that.
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Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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*Trigger warnings include but may not be limited to: abuse, captivity, torture/experimentation, death of loved one(s), murder/dismemberment, narcissistic parent(s).*

I had been eagerly anticipating the release of The Witch and the Vampire, thank you so much NetGalley and the publisher, I was thrilled to receive an advanced reader copy. Overall, I found the book to be an enjoyable read. While the story offers some moments reminiscent of a supernatural retelling of Rapunzel, I do wish that the world-building had been explored in greater depth. There were moments where I had to re read some parts because of some grey area's and I was confused. Pretty much the atmosphere of the story lacked, there were many characters that I found to be unlikeable but was still interesting enough that grasped my attention to the end of the story. That being said, I appreciated the book's focus on character development, magic, and vampires, and found these elements to be well-crafted and engaging. My most anticipated read of the year and I enjoyed reading it, even when there were some things that didn't work for me. For those who are interested in reading it—give it a chance!

DNF at 22%

I made the decision to abandon this book. I tried, I swear I tried. The premise of the book promised something incredible and when I read the synopsis I said "I need this book in my life". But in the end I found a book with which I could not connect at any time.

I firmly believe that this was not a bad book, it just wasn't a book for me. I'm disappointed about that but it is what it is.

If you don't mind slow pacing in books and flat characters, you like retellings of Rapunzel (Tangled) and amazing worldbuilding, give The witch and the vampire a try!