"There is no power when everyone knows your weaknesses." I really enjoyed this sapphic YA romance. The author took the classic Rapunzel and morphed it into a vampire vs. witch feud. Now if you're expecting a full blown Rapunzel vibe, this is not it and I'm glad it wasn't. It's a unique story that takes fantasy elements that focus on themes of prejudices and racism with witches, vampires and humans. There's an ancient secret in this world and the action with the vampire hunting and powers were exciting touches. The mother/daughter dynamic was an area where my anger came to the surface with how Ava was treated. It's an abusive relationship and Ava's growth was done well. Kaye was more secondary for me but I still enjoyed her as a character. I recommend the audiobook version because it's narrated beautifully but you'll also need a physical for that gorgeous cover.

This was a dnf about half way through. This book was so slow and nothing happened. It was very disappointing

This was an interesting standalone fantasy that has lots of action and moves at a quick pace. It’s really not a Rapunzel retelling so I was disappointed by that. I enjoyed the dynamics between vampires and witches, but could have used a lot more world-building.

I enjoy a good romance trope. As an enemies to lovers, this kind of works since there is a lot of hostility from one side. As a friends to lovers, this was not it. We are told repeatedly how much the two spent time together and were close, but we aren’t shown that. There are a few flashbacks when I saw glimmers of warm and fuzzy attraction, but they weren’t enough to give this trope a good foundation.

Overall, this was just okay. I enjoyed it and flew through it. I liked how easy to digest the story was since I read this when I was feeling slumpy. I would also recommend the audiobook version.

The cover gets 5 stars though. It’s so prettty.

Rapunzel meets Twilight.

Now I am going to come right out and say that Twilight has never been my jam, my jelly, or even my marmalade. However, objectively, it is one of the few series that I can liken The Witch and the Vampire to. You get alternating first person POV between two young witches coming of age in a world of magic and vampires. Both come from unique backgrounds striving to prove themselves worthy of the roles they have inherited. Their 'tragic origin stories' may have been on the side of garishly cliche, but Flores makes it work. Once the story begins to unfold there is no putting it down.

I can't say that I was surprised by any of the novel's twists and turns, but then again you do develop a sixth sense for prediction when you read enough YA. Fortunately, I was more invested in the characters. Ava and Kaye were an excellent contrast for one another, one naive and the other bull-headed. I wouldn't call them grumpyxsunshine, but it wouldn't be far off from the mark either. If you can stomach some teen angst in your queer literature The witch and the Vampire will not disappoint.

[Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]

"rapunzel retelling" is definitely a bit of a stretch. overall, this was an ok read for me. a bit slow, the writing didn't quite resonate with me nor the love story. there were some interesting aspects to the worldbuilding, but i needed a more driving plot or stronger character development for this to really work for me. it also felt a bit on the younger side of YA.

I really really wanted to like this book. Witches and vampires are my favorite things to read about but I couldn’t get into this one. I didn’t understand the world. I would definitely love to give the author another shot and I’m sure alot of others would love this one.

This was requested when I first found out about NetGalley and I had requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before they were archived. I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it! I am giving this book three stars, as I don't want to give it a good or bad rating, since I did not get to it and we have to leave a star rating.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book, as this book has already been published, I will not share my review on Netgalley at this time.

Thank you to the Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy. This honest review was based off my experience reading this eARC, which in no way biased me. All opinions are my own.

I was very excited to read this one. A sapphic Rapunzel retelling with vampires and witches? There were so many of my favorite things in this one, but unfortunately that’s where my excitement for this book ends.

It was a wonderful concept that had boatloads of potential, but in my opinion the execution of the concept fell very flat to me.

While I was expecting a rapunzel retelling this felt more along the lines of a twist of Disney’s Tangled movie, which don’t get me wrong is my favorite, but again the execution made this a very poor “inspired by Tangled”.

The main characters were best friends, then Kaye’s mom is murdered by vampires, and Ava mysteriously disappears the same night. Both Kaye and Ava were raised as witches, until Ava is turned into a vampire, and is locked in a tower by her mother for a two years. Tell me how this girl’s hair grew this fast in only 2 years? And also there’s not a single reason her hair wasn’t cut for 2 years anyway. The second she got out of the tower she chopped it.

Ava feels like in the 2 years that she was locked in a tower she regressed to acting like a child. She was 16 when she was locked in said tower.

I really did not enjoy the main characters who felt very shallow and one dimensional, the pacing of the book that seemed to drag on and on, or the lack of information on the magic of the world. Don’t even get me started on the constant repetition of this book. Like no you don’t have to tell me every single chapter how you are natural enemies and you need to kill her because shes a vampire and that’s you job. I get it, I got it the first time, I really got it the fifth time, I don’t need to hear it fifty times.

I wish I liked this book as much as I was hoping I was going to like it, but alas I did not.

This was an okay read. I really liked the first halk of the book, but the last half dragged on a bit. I feel like the book was rushed and slow at the same time...all the fun bits were in the first half. The characters and romance were cute and this felt like a fun read. The ending could have been better, but this was good as a stand alone.

This was a clever retelling of Rapunzel but with a vampire twist. While I love the premise of this one it fell a bit flat for me. With that being said I am excited to see what else this author writes!
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Thank you #wednesday and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

So this was sold as a Rapunzel retelling but is actually a Tangled retelling? When Tangled is already a Rapunzel retelling?

Throw in vampires, witches, and queers, and you'd think this would be right up my alley, but it was not as exciting as it sounded. The girls are friends-to-enemies-to-lovers, which again, sounds very exciting, but was quite poorly executed.

The plot was easy enough to follow when there was one. There wasn't much of one in my opinion. By the time we made it to the twist, I yawned, and then skimmed the rest of the way through.

Don't be like me. Don't be fooled by a pretty cover.

This was quite good but a few elements felt a little unpolished or incomplete. Maybe it was a slight weakness to the worldbuilding or maybe the exposition was a touch lacking here and there. I can't say this was a perfectly entertaining read because there were several instances of major scenes happening, especially at the climax of the book, that just left me confused. Some things just didn't make sense or weren't explained very well, it seemed. And the book has a somewhat open ending, which is not my favorite outcome, I have to admit.

Still, I loved the characters in this book. Ava, who is both a witch and a vampire, has a very complicated relationship with her mother. She also has a very complicated relationship with her love interest, the witch Kaye. They go from friends to enemies to friends again. But I was hoping for more romance in this book and didn't realize initially that it is YA, which is fine. I read a lot of YA. But the leads kiss I think twice in the entire book. There is some great romantic tension between the girls as they traveled together through a forest and have to sleep side-by-side, even though they are mistrustful enemies at the time, but the rest of the story seems to lack the same excitement. Seeing their bond grow as they come to understand one another is nice, just not very romantic. I would say this book is a lot more about friendship, and not just between the girls; they also have a witch friend from school called Tristan. This is really a story about the three of them being driven apart and finding each other again and reigniting old friendships. It should be called The Witches and the Vampire. If you like the trope of found family and childhood friendships surviving until or being rediscovered in adulthood, this is the book for you.

There are a lot of well-written battle scenes in this book and the vampires feel realistic. They don't seem to be affected by the sun, which I tend to find bothersome because half the fun of a vampire is that they are creatures of the night, but they have serious bloodlust in their hearts. The witches didn't feel quite so fleshed out. The witches discussed in the book are fire witches, but it is hinted that there are other types of elemental witches, too. I feel like if that was going to be mentioned at all, it should play some role in the story, but it never does.

There are plot twists and backstabs and newfound friendships throughout the entire story, and I think the character relationship development in this book is excellent. The book is very plot-heavy and I can't say it all made sense to me. Still, this was pretty original and action-packed, and it is really gory and violent, and I loved that about it. I think this book would be very appealing to horror and vampire fans, as opposed to readers primarily interested in a sapphic romance.

Blog Post goes up Oct 27th

TL;DR - Nah.

This was a huge miss for me from almost the first page. Ava and Kaye are two friends separated for years after Ava is turned (unwillingly) into a vampire and Kaye's mother is murdered. Ava knows nothing of the murder of Kaye's mother, instead she has been locked in her parents home abused and tortured by her family. Kaye has decided, after glimpsing Ava with blood on her face in a window, that Ava murdered her mother and has spent two years planning her revenge.

The plot is fairly simple, I'd venture so far as to say basic. The writing verges more into the simplistic style of middle grade novels with the amount of telling instead of showing, and the… stupidity of the characters. Kaye is for me the most frustrating, she makes assumptions and from there forward they are her facts. She has no room for critical thinking, and is incredibly frustrating to read about. Ava is unfortunately just as weak with very little personality.

Additionally there were a lot of topics and themes in this that were just handled poorly. From parental abuse to the racism and into the humans vs vampires feud. All of this could have been examined and broken apart, looked at and studied but it felt clumsily shoved in for some depth to the world.

This one was not a winner for me, I was left mostly annoyed while reading it so I unfortunately can't say I recommend it.

This was a good idea. Lots of story that kept me in gaged the whole time. I did feel like everything ended abruptly. Also Kaye’s reaction to her situation at the end was uncharacteristic of her. Ended like there could be more books, but this kinda fell a little flat for me at the end.

Vampires but not really a Halloween feeling read.

Older ya. Sapphic. Tension/ confusing feeling. Descriptions on how they felt with each other.

Check content warnings.

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC.

I enjoyed the beginning of this book the buildup for the story was good but a bit of a heavy info-dump that ultimately felt rushed in the end. I was super hyped for this novel having heard about it from several people and advertised on social media. Though I enjoyed most of the book, it felt over hyped. The book is unique from other vampire and witch novels however, I found myself putting it down repeatedly in favor of other reads. I found the magic system interesting and would have loved to have see this explored even more. There was quite a bit of back story that was hinted to but never got fleshed out. Ultimately, I think that if the book had a bit more editing, it would have been a pretty solid YA fantasy novel. It was good though I don’t find myself looking to do a reread a solid 3 star read.

This was a really intriguing read! I loved the characters and the world building. Everything felt so real and I could see myself stepping right into this world. My only complaint was that the pacing was a little slow in the beginning, but I still had a great time reading this book!

I tried to like this book. I wanted to love it. The beautiful cover, the intriguing storyline... but it fell flat for me. It felt very, Juvenile? The story went on and one but the characters didn't seem to grow or develop beyond the surface.

Read is your enjoy:
• witches
• vampires
• retellings
• forbidden love

While the cover drew me in this was unfortunately not for me. The lack of world building — something absolutely essential to a fantasy novel — made it hard to get into.

So so good I can’t wait to pick up a physical copy!

I will definitely be reading more of Francesca’s work