The Witch and the Vampire is a very straightforward title for what was a pretty straightforward book. Told in dual POV by Ava, our vampire, and Kaye, our witch, both 18, former best friends who haven't spoken in two years. We quickly get our only reference to Rapunzel, of which this book is supposedly a retelling: Ava is locked away in a "tower" (top floor of their house) and has really long hair. That's it. It feels more like an "inspired by" than "retelling of," but that didn't really bother me. On to the plot:

Ava is desperate to escape and get back to Kaye; Kaye hates Ava, believing that she killed her mother. They happen across each other due to various circumstances and although Ava is happy to see Kaye, she realizes she doesn't really know her anymore and should be cautious. Kaye realizes she can use Ava to stay safe in the woods which are overrun with vampires, and turn her in once they reach the next city. But they both miss their friendship, and wonder if things had been different, could it have been something more?

There is a lot of telling in this book, which doesn't usually bother me, but it felt almost like an extremely detailed outline at times, like maybe the author was going to come back and give us something a little more exciting. I only mention it because there are several seemingly random and unimportant facts thrown in. They do end up all being relevant, and the story pulls together beautifully by the end, but it did feel very out of place with the writing style. I actually ended up loving it, it's just that the journey was a bit of a struggle.

4 stars, a little higher than I might have rated it in recognition that I am not the target age group and probably would have enjoyed it much more as a teen.
Thank you to St Martin's Press/Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the eARC.

I like that the MCs have parallels based on mother-related issues. Kaye’s motivation is strong and makes total sense on all fronts.

Based on the cover and title, I was immediately invested but I had a hard time getting immersed in the world. I think the introduction to Kaye was far more gripping than Ava, and I found myself wanting to be in her head more. It might be much more compelling if we started the book with her competition with Tristian. But I’m not sure I understood what the Bone Wall was truly comprised of.

Ava’s voice tends to take me out of the story after Kaye draws me in. There are parts she dwells on like justifying self-defense against her stepfather but then she glossed over part of the escape. Some of the aspects of Ava’s situation in the introduction didn’t track for me when it came to her stepfather, like she wasn’t strong enough to overpower him as a vampire but was strong enough to access magic? Or how are coals related to root magic? I am curious about her keeping her powers—in a lot of lore magic tends to go away when people are turned and in this case, it might be hard for people to sympathize with a character with double powers.

This book was pretty good. I enjoyed it but not as much as I had hoped to. The plot was promising but the execution fell flat for me. I found that I couldn’t relate to any of the characters and I just couldn’t get wrapped up in the world that was being created. I wish there was more imagery and less descriptions. Overall I wouldn’t read this again but I don’t regret reading it. It was a very middle ground book for me.

The Witch and the Vampire is a retelling of Rapunzel. It sucks you in from the beginning. It has a slow build, but I enjoyed reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

Book: The Witch and the Vampire
Author: Francesca Flores
Rating: 3 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Wednesday Books, for sending me an ARC.

Let me start out by saying that I enjoyed the author’s other two books Diamond City and it’s follow up. I thought that they both had great character development and a well developed world. I was expecting the same thing with this one, but I found that it was lacking in both. I was highly disappointed by this one. Had things been a bit more fleshed out, I would have enjoyed this title a lot more.

This is a retelling of Rapunzel. In this world, there are witches and vampires, each with their own powers. Witches hunt vampires to stop them from killing people. We follow two ex-friends, Ava and Kaye. These two used to be unstoppable. They were witches and on their way to high places. Then, Ava becomes a vampire, the worse thing in Kaye’s mind. Now, Kaye has mostly completed her training as a witch killing vampire and will kill them all, even her former friend. Ava has been locked in a tower for two years and has finally made her grand escape. She and Kaye find each other and start out on an adventure-only Ava doesn’t know that Kaye is there to kill her. From here the girls find themselves in situations that require them to trust each other.

This is an amazing set up. I don’t know how many of you feel the same way, but I love retellings. I love seeing others take on classic fairy tales. I like the idea of the prince being female too. It’s different and will make this one stand out. However, I felt that the overall plot was lacking and underdeveloped. There was this disconnect that I kept feeling between what was happening. I think that a lot of this has to do with the fact that the events that got us to this point have already happened. Whenever we do get things explained to us, we are told what happened and not really shown. This takes away from the emotional impact that we are supposed to be feeling. Had we been shown why these things had such an impact on the characters, the punch would have been more meaningful.

The characters have been through a lot. Their pasts should have had more of an impact on who they are today. I know the author can do this. Her first two books do this so very well. I felt that the events in the past had no impact on the characters, which is fine. If this is the case, though, I don’t understand why their past events keep being brought up. I would have liked to have seen both Kaye and Ava fleshed out a little bit. Other than them being a witch and vampire, I felt they were very difficult to keep separated. Their voices were one and the same. Had it not been for the fact of knowing who had what powers, I probably would have been able to remember who is who.

The magic system was okay. Again, I would have liked to have some more details about it. Had we gotten a little bit more information about it, it would have been a cool system. Like so many other things in this book, I felt that it was underdeveloped and shallow. Had we gotten to see the very complex nature of it, it would have been a home run.

Overall, I was disappointed by this title, having greatly enjoyed the author’s other two books.

This book comes out on March 21, 2023.

The misunderstanding that leads these friends into enemies is sad. Manipulation and plot twists keep the excitement going from the first page. Of coarse character development is so important in a story and I wasn’t disappointed. Great ending even if it isn’t the normal fairytale.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Witch and the Vampire releases March 21, 2023

First off, the cover art is STUNNING.

Dual pov, Sapphic Rapunzel retelling with vampires and witches.

Francesca Flores's The Witch and the Vampire is a queer Rapunzel retelling where a witch and a vampire who trust no one but themselves must journey together through a cursed forest with danger at every turn.

Ava and Kaye used to be best friends. Until one night two years ago, vampires broke through the magical barrier protecting their town, and in the ensuing attack, Kaye’s mother was killed, and Ava was turned into a vampire. Since then, Ava has been trapped in her house. Her mother Eugenia needs her: Ava still has her witch powers, and Eugenia must take them in order to hide that she's a vampire as well. Desperate to escape her confinement and stop her mother's plans to destroy the town, Ava must break out, flee to the forest, and seek help from the vampires who live there. When there is another attack, she sees her opportunity and escapes.

Kaye, now at the end of her training as a Flame witch, is ready to fulfill her duty of killing any vampires that threaten the town, including Ava. On the night that Ava escapes, Kaye follows her and convinces her to travel together into the forest, while secretly planning to turn her in. Ava agrees, hoping to rekindle their old friendship, and the romantic feelings she'd started to have for Kaye before that terrible night.

But with monstrous trees that devour humans whole, vampires who attack from above, and Ava’s stepfather tracking her, the woods are full of danger. As they travel deeper into the forest, Kaye questions everything she thought she knew. The two are each other's greatest threat—and also their only hope, if they want to make it through the forest unscathed.

Overall the book was good I’d rate it a 4/5 i just think the world building could’ve been a little better but I’m obsessed with the story and idea of it.

Very interesting Rapunzel retelling and a vampire book I actually like - not a combo I thought I would like but it worked!

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
The Witch and the Vampire releases March 21, 2023

2.5/5

This was marketed as a sapphic retelling of rapunzel… and while, sure, technically? I also feel slightly mislead, like it was only the bare crumbs of it to reel you in.
If you’re going into this hoping for a romance, just know that it is an extremely minimal subplot.

The Witch and the Vampire is a fast-paced YA fantasy packed with some action, told in dual POV from our main characters Ava and Kaye. They go from best friends, to enemies, to… lovers? (I’m using that term loosely here, folks).

I liked how there were vampires, witches, and magic involved, however, some of the logistics surrounding vampiristic traits did not make sense in this, or contradicted themselves entirely.
The Bone Wall barrier fascinated me, as well as parts when the ground of the woods opened up and swallowed people whole.

Even with the intended age range and demographic in mind, this would have benefitted from more development and depth in terms of worldbuilding and for all characters involved. There’s a lot of potential laying underneath the surface level bones of this just waiting to be brought to life. This suffered from a lot of telling, and not showing, and was pretty linear in my opinion.

If this novel is still on your radar, I would caution you to go in with lowered expectations.

The premise of this book (a queer Rapunzel retelling) was so promising, but much of this book fell flat for me. The book is told in dual POV, alternating chapters between Ava, the vampire, and Kaye, the flame witch. Ava was somewhat of a complex character between her longing for her former best friend and her refusal to hurt people despite being a vampire, but Kaye lacked depth in comparison. She has a very black and white view of vampires being bad and humans being good, and I didn’t feel like she had much character growth throughout the novel. At times I also had a hard time remembering whose POV I was reading because there was very little difference in their voices. The characters often cut away to flashbacks of their childhood relationship in a way that didn’t feel natural at all. The story relied a lot on “tell don’t show”— in their internal thoughts, the characters would tell us about their change in attitudes and beliefs without actually showing us how they’ve changed. Lastly, the promise of a queer Rapunzel retelling felt a bit misleading; the only resemblance to the story was the fact that Ava was trapped in a tower by her mother and that she had extremely long hair (which served no purpose to the story). The novel and the slow burn romance was certainly enjoyable to say the least, but the writing could still use some editing.

I think this is a good book for younger readers (12-16) who love vampire stories. It's one of the only vampire books with LGBT+ representation I've seen for this demographic. The world was interesting and both main characters powers were as well. I assume this will be a series and it might be interesting to read the next one. I think the enemies to lovers was done well.

That being said as a 25 year old this felt on the younger side due to the choices the characters make and their thought processes. It felt a bit predictable. I also didn't like that both characters didn't really seem to care too much when there supposed childhood best friend died.

A great queer retelling of rapunzel, this book will keep you entertained through all of it. A great twist to the original tale!

I'm extremely happy to say that The Witch and the Vampire didn't disappoint!

The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores was a stellar-paced, highly entertaining book.

Flores had me at page one and never let go with her amazing character development.
Ava and Kaye were just fantastic strong characters.
Their journey and story kept me engaged and reading.
I was thinking about this book when I wasn't nose deep inside it.
The world building is superb, dark, and expertly crafted.
Full of action-packed, non-stop intrigue and a bunch of exciting shit.
The writing is so engaging and detailed, I felt like I was a part of this fascinating world with these incredible characters.
Highly entertaining, creative and incredibly mesmerizing!
Fantasy retellings, adventure loving readers will be sure to enjoy this story.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Wednesday Books,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Witch and The Vampire is sort of a Rapunzel retelling. But Sapphic! Ava is a vampire, turned by her own mother yet she has witch powers as well. Ava's mother keeps her locked in the tower (her home) because she doesn't want it getting out that Ava and she herself are vampires. Kaye is a witch who once was close friends with Ava until Ava disappeared. Kaye believed this was Ava's decision and doesn't realize she is basically kept prisoner by her mother. Kaye guards the fence surrounding town that keeps the vampires out. Well she thinks it keeps the vampires out but Ava and her mother are still inside. Ava's escape sets off the story as she finds herself crossing paths with Kaye again and they are forced into an uneasy temporary alliance. I won't give anything else away except to say that this story was unlike most other paranormal and fantasy books I've read and I appreciated that. I liked the two main characters and I enjoyed the political intrigue and power plays going on between the vampires and witches. That said, the book's pacing itself felt off a bit to me and the book seemed to drag a bit in the middle. The ending was exciting and I finished the book on a high note.

The Witch and the Vampire was an okay read. The description on the back promised a lot of potential I don’t think the story actually succeeded in achieving.

The two characters of Ava and Kaye are told in first person and as the story goes on, every other chapter they are realizing something poignant about themselves or the world around them and waxing philosophically about how they are going to change and become their true selves. The messages they convey are good, solid messages but having the characters just think them, so many times and in so many ways without actually showing the characters doing the work to get to these revelations has them coming off as false and overdone.

The world-building is passably done, with the magic and lore of the old gods being some what explained, but the politics and world makeup being referenced without much clarification. It made the story feel messy and half thought out. It also made things over complicated, especially when the Emperor and anything to do with him was never really of consequence in the plot.

I found I didn’t really enjoy Kaye’s point of view chapters. She was very one note and her reasoning and logic behind her hatred of her friend didn’t make much sense.

The vampire chapters were more intriguing for me. I think this was because more is explained of her reasoning and experiences.

The “Rapunzel” connection was there, but a lot of the aspects that were Rapunzel you could have removed from the story and it would have changed nothing from the plot, which meant that every time there was one of these references, it felt hamfisted into the narrative. For example, her mother insisted she keep her hair long but no reason is ever given as to why.

The racial issues of which cities or countries they were from had potential but was kind of confusing. The reader doesn’t get enough of the backstory of the world to really add clarity. I kept forgetting which was the country that people didn’t like and which they did. Also, because the reader never sees the discrimination that Kaye experiences as half Sarenian, it is only told to you in Kaye’s POV, it distances you from feeling the affects of it. Also, Ava’s character is full Sarenian but never once discussed any discrimination from the town or it’s people for being that way. That absence detracted from Kaye’s issues feeling serious.

I really didn’t buy the friendship between the girls. It was all told to you in half referenced memories. But if they were truly such good friends, the way Kaye reacted to Ava’s disappearance doesn’t float.

Nearing the end, how a few of the enemies die is very unsatisfactory. Their ends just happen, not through agency of the main characters but just through happenstance.

I am happy the book reads as a stand-alone as even though more could come along in a second book. I don’t feel the material in this book would really support a second well.

2.75 stars.

DNF at 67%
I’ve been reading this for 5 days and I can’t go any longer. I’m so tired of Ava constantly moaning about morals when it comes to survival. As if humans don’t kill animals for food, fun and whatever reason they want. Kaye can’t get past this dumb moral dilemma and it’s stupid. These girls have no personality. Literally nothing is distinctive about them except their fear. They aren’t funny, charismatic, clever, shy, goofy. Nothing. Ava is still the same person she was before. All that’s different is that she needs blood. Simple. I was really hoping Ava would finally get over killing but she didn’t & it’s ridiculous. If I was a vampire I might just snap her neck because of how pathetic she is to be near.
What I did like what the magic system & the lord behind the forest. This book did well with describing just how ancient this world’s history with paranormal/magic is. There were also a good amount of fights and running away. It kept the reader on edge.

I was super excited about this book. Vampires, witches, and sapphic romance? Count me in! For the first half of the book, I was sold—ready to give it five stars. Unfortunately, the story kind of lost its footing halfway through. The end was really messy and confusing with the same information repeated over and over again.

If the same energy had carried throughout the entire novel, I’d be a lot more psyched. The romance wasn’t satisfying when it reached its peak, and the villains were completely evil with nothing likable about them. I much prefer a villain I love to hate.

Overall, this was a very quick read with some fun and interesting elements, but ended up being pretty predictable and unsatisfying toward the end. Would make for a good beach read.

Posted to goodreads 10/25

I really enjoyed this book. I read it just in time for Spooky Season! The cover immediately caught my attention. I wanted to get to know each of the characters, their worlds, and their histories more! Even in the midst of the conflict and complexities experienced by the characters, I wanted to live in this world. I loved the way the forest is described! I'm hoping there will be another book that follows this one!

The cover and initial blurb are what caught my attention; however, I have to say that I was a little disappointed with the idea of a queer Rapunzel retelling. Aside from Ava spending a few chapters locked in a tower and having long hair (eventually cut short), I felt this was a stretch to say it was a retelling.

The romance is a friends to enemies to lovers and Flores portrayed the tension and chemistry between Ava and Kaye quite well. The book is heavily focused on worldbuilding and plot that it sometimes felt that Flores was telling you more than showing you. I would’ve loved more depth from the characters to allow the reader to truly feel what they were going through.

All in all, I loved the idea of this book but if it wasn’t for it being fast paced, it would’ve been a DNF for me.

Ava and Kaye used to be best friends until two years ago, when the vampires from the forest broke through the magical barrier in their town, leaving Kaye's mother dead and Ava turned into a vampire. Ava has been hidden away in a tower by her mother, who needs to siphon her witch powers from Ava, whereas Kaye is now reaching the end of her Flame witch training, and will ultimately become a vampire hunter and killer. Ava finds out about her mother's plan to destroy the town, so she escapes in order to find help from the vampire in the woods. Kaye follows her, only wanting to turn Ava in, until the feelings they had for each before that fateful night are rekindled. Will they make it through the forest safely together?

This is supposed to be a queer retelling of Rapunzel, and I really liked the way that the author chose to retell it. It is a very loose retelling where Ava is locked away in a tower away and isn't allowed to cut her hair. The writing transported me to Arborren and the sick woods surrounding it. The only thing I disliked was that the ending was a bit predictable, and there was one plot point that was not fully resolved in my opinion.

I highly recommend this for spooky season!