I read this ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review of the book. Thanks NetGalley! There are spoilers once you get past my Pro's section so stop there and skip to the Overall section at the end if you don't want to read them.

Pros: I love a supernatural story, and the witch turned vampire plot with sapphic elements made me want to read this. Happy the characters had easy names that didn't try too hard to be unique (I tend to find that distracting) Also can we just appreciate the beauty that is the cover art for a moment? Gorgeous. Unfortunately that's the best part of this entire book. It's pretty.


Cons: … everything except the cover.

TLDR: Sloppy writing, queerbaiting and literally nothing in this story makes any sense. I struggle to understand the high ratings I see after reading this and drafting my review, did we read the same book? I feel like the majority of the reviews loved the cover and didn't read the book.

There just wasn't enough proper story/world building to make this story matter or to get me invested in any of the characters previous lives. We just dive into it randomly with no real foundation. We are over told so many things but never shown how they matter or why. I kept waiting for it to all snap together and make sense…but it just doesn't. The writing is repetitive and the author really loves the color burnt-orange because it's overused. Speaking of shades, both girls are looked down upon for being darker skinned. This is an entirely different world than our own so why do authors STILL make the darker skinned characters outcasts. They never switch it up where pale is not the desired and frankly it's just insensitive and in this case unnecessary. For the love of all things stop with this, it reeks of white supremacy even in fantasy land.

The Forest: It is too dangerous to get food from the forest so they grow it in greenhouses… ok, what the heck food would they have been getting in the forest to feed a whole town? Wouldn't they have already been using fields and greenhouses to grow food generally? It's just weird how this comes up over and over again considering it's just another thing that makes no sense. The forest is "hundreds of acres large". Hundreds of acres is pretty small when talking about a forest that stretches from the sea to mountains. In chapter 10 they have 30 miles to go…that's like 19 THOUSAND acres. How do so many vampires live trapped in a forest with minimal humans to drink from? No one wants to go in the woods, oh but they do, often and apparently there's also an entire city in the woods. They tell stories to keep kids out of the woods but take vacations in the woods. Make it make sense!!!

Ava's Character/storyline: She is constantly tripping on her hair. Someone get this girl a ribbon to tie it up on this journey. It quickly went from hey! It's Rapunzel to hey! This is annoying and beyond unnecessary. It felt like a stolen element of Rapunzel to draw you in and then it just went…nowhere. The hair and the tower were the only similarities but for some reason this is being sold as "Repunzel retold". Her father is almost entirely addressed in a singular paragraph about his death with zero context, just starved to death in a trap, so like the rest of the characters you just can't care about him. Ava heals with sleep we are told ...however in chapter 1 we are told she like her mother NEVER sleeps. Ava is consistently described using human terms that just don't apply to dead people. Like when her skin "goes clammy"…she's literally undead pretty sure it's already clammy. It's just such sloppy writing I question if editors even read this. She's a root witch with earth magic but can't get any water out of plants or roots or the ground for Kaye? She's starving but managed to not drink from a guy who tried to kill her because no matter what it's "wrong". But then later does kill a random guy and drinks up. Also she took none of her blood back stock with her so of course she's thirsty but what was her plan when she arrived to Caseopia if she never intended to drink from humans. How did she think she was going to survive and what made her think the other vampires would accept her when she's so freaking condescending about it. Again, this entire journey is absolutely pointless.

Eugenia's/Zenos character/storylines: If turned witches lose their power unless they are in their peak timeframe…how did she retain her powers to leech from Ava? She became a vampire a full year before Ava but Ava just carried on no big deal until her mother turned her? Where was Eugenia in the year before Ava's power became available to her. If leeching Ava's power is the only way to hide she's a vampire what did she do before then? It makes NO SENSE. The creepy stepfather thing was bizarre, he hunts down Ava's former classmates for her to drink their blood…what? Why?

Caseopia character/storyline: So the vampire queen and her subjects are trapped in the woods but Ava is on her way to tell her that barrier will soon be gone and she wants Caseopia to keep the barrier up to protect them from humans, except the vampires clearly are stronger than the humans and the humans already come into the woods hunting them anyway and then we find out Caseopia put the barrier up herself so this entire journey seems absolutely pointless yet again. We find out she's one of the original gods but humans and witches of her own creation were able to stop her? Then randomly in the span of 2 pages Caseopia just gives up, gives away her power and is on her way.

Kaye's character/storyline: I struggled to relate to the Kaye character, her chapters felt rushed and haphazard leading up to finding Ava. Her character is supposed to be obsessed with being the best to prove herself but she doesn't chase down a vampire that attacks her and instead searches for Ava? She sees Ava in the tower with blood on her face but says nothing to the council about this but yet will scale rooftops to try to "break in" to council to be the first to tell Tristans dad she found a hole in the barrier (only to then not take the credit for finding it)? It just seems very opposite of what she supposedly stands for. I also found it odd that she assumed Ava killed her mother and that's what set her on a path to revenge. I found it odd because wasn't Ava attacked when there was a break and a bunch of vampires on the loose? Why would she think Ava did it instead of Ava was turned at the same time her mother was attacked. The plot surrounding her anger felt like a sloppy attempt to build interpersonal issues between them. She believes she's ready to graduate and is the best but can't remember what an important berry for night vision looks like, come on. Then after deciding not to turn Ava in she does and is super happy she's going to get to graduate early. But she STILL doesn't tell Liander that Ava's mother is also a vampire. Gives no warning whatsoever. By this point I'm screaming mad at the inconsistency in this character since she clearly has no real love within her for Ava. She's worried they won't believe her about Eugenia but all they have to do is touch her with silver to see so again why doesn't she immediately turn in Eugenia.

Flame witches in training: The author tells us several times how students are at risk for losing control but then they find one hole and some vampires get through (which also appears to be a regular occurrence hence why the flame witches are all working there to begin with) but this time suddenly a singular council member decides to forgo protocol and sends them out to do their own thing to see if they can graduate early? Even though at any second they could lose control and burn the whole forest down. Like…what? We are told vampires avoid drinking from witches because of their power glow but then later vampires just start snapping witches necks and draining them dry. I again ask did anyone edit this for consistency? Obviously not.

Tristan's character/storyline: Another rushed and disjointed useless character/relationship. This seemed like some random side character with interpersonal issues with Kaye was thrown in here for no reason other than to make Kaye seem further alone/antagonized. He refers to Ava as Kaye's blood beast and asks if she has a grudge knowing they know each other. He then talks to Ava but a chapter later Kyr and Tristan are back to talking about Ava as if they don't know her, but two chapters later he's ready to risk it all to help Kaye save Ava. It's confusing.

Sapphic Elements: This was the most dry uninteresting lesbian relationship I have ever read. The tension wasn't there, it didn't build. It's just Kaye waffling between caring for and hating Ava and they think about touching each other's wrists and hair. They kiss ONE time. I feel queer baited by this novel as there was no epic delivery of a love story, it was an afterthought to try to create (extremely shallow) representation.

"Plot twists" and the Ending: Again, sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. The twists aren't really twists. The twists also do not make any dang sense. They are so convoluted and rushed that it's hard to follow. Liander killed Calluna for being a traitor but he is also a traitor. He wants to free Vampires to make flame witches more valuable except they already ARE valuable. The ending is rage inducing as Caseopia just decides after all this to change her mind, give up and die in the matter of 2 pages and transfer her powers to Ava because…who knows. Ava hellbent on saving this tree and the barrier suddenly says F it and destroys the barrier herself…because again, who knows. She unleashes vampires on the innocent world that for the last 80% of the story she's been so worried about. After all this moral superiority and refusal to drink from humans, Kaye turns and then the two of them drain the life from Zenos. It's not even a hero turned villain arc, it's just NONSENSICAL because Ava then goes on to say she will teach the vampires to not be consumed by blood, but also roam freely of their own will, which means they have no reason to not be consumed by blood thirst now that they are free.

Overall: This was a very discombobulated and disconnected read. It had so much potential from the description but it got lost in its own weak world building, gaping plot holes and just straight up poor writing. If you're an adult who loves YA, over the age of 10 or a seasoned reader of supernatural stories who actually falls into the YA demographic the craftsmanship of this story is unlikely to cut it for you. I rarely don't want to finish a book but if I had purchased this or gotten from the library it absolutely would have landed on my DNF shelf as it was incredibly boring and painful with the constant contradictions, and nonsensical happenings. Instead I finished solely so I could fairly review this hoping it would redeem itself (it doesn't) and because I felt obligated since it was an ARC.

The Witch and the Vampire is a sapphic childhood friends to enemies to lovers fantasy book that everyone needs and no readers will be able to put down-- great for fans of First Kill on Netflix!

The Witch and the Vampire is a sapphic supernatural retelling of Rapunzel. Friends growing up, Ava and Kaye, both witches until vampires invaded their town and turned Ava. Ever since becoming a vampire Ava has been trapped in her house to help her mother. Kaye and Ava reconnect when Ava eventually escapes but while Ava plans to rekindle their friendship, Kaye plans to turn her in for being a vampire. Will they both make it out of the forest together or will their differences prove to be great?

I must admit before I start, this could have been the worst book ever written and for the fantasy lesbians I would have rated it at least three stars. However, if you're like me and was overjoyed by the description-- it lives up to all the great expectations. It takes a bit to get into the story and the general world Flores is creating, but the characters are really the standout part of this novel. You love to hate Ava and Kaye so much at so many different points. I will always be a sucker for forbidden love and they do Not disappoint!

In short, The Witch and the Vampire is sapphic approved. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this arc.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC!

Queer retelling of Rapunzel but make them vampires? Absolutely. Reading the synopsis had me excited. It is slow at first and it does pick up. Ava and Kaye are relatable and sweet, the world building is okay. While some of the writing feels magical, other parts feel bland. The slowness and the fluctuation in the writing is what didn't do it for me.

This was seriously such a good book. I absolutely loved the characters, especially Ava and Kaye, as I could relate to them so much. I always love when you can find a character to relate to, which was exactly the case because they were written so well. Overall, I liked the story! It has a fairytale, Rapunzel and Romeo and Juliet vibe, but it kept me entertained and wanting to read more. I would definitely reccomened this one, especially if you like fantasy books or twisted fairytales.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this free arc in exchange for my honest review.

Oh my gods! I loved this story! What an amazing retelling of the beloved story of Rapunzel.. So unique, astonishing, and jaw-dropping that I could not let it go! This book had me hooked from beginning to end! The characters were so good and the world-building was *chef's kiss*!! Also, the magic in this world is so cool!

I love the intrigue and twisting plot line. Some aspects came to mind quickly and I could figure out what was going to happen. Other areas surprised me in how the characters changed and morphed into someone unexpected. If you enjoy fantasy, especially witches, and vampires, along with the humans who hunted them, then this book is right up your alley.

Okay ouch. First of all, great cover, absolutely amazing. Fairy tale retelling with a sapphic turn? Right up my alley, but this book just couldn't do it for me. The writing was incredibly bland and the storytelling felt very rote. The characters and the world fell flat and as a reader this made it difficult to stay engaged with the work. The premise is great, but this is an ultimate example of why we say "don't tell, show."

Oof, this is not it. The cover? Stunning. Everything else? Flat, dull, uninspiring. The world building is severely lacking - I didn't understand what was going on or even what the driving force of the story was, and the characters all felt interchangeable. There isn't enough build up and there is a lot of telling where it could and should be showing. This feels unfinished and uninspired.

Francesca Flores is a brilliant writer.
This fantasy is set in a town called Arborren where three friends reunite under duress and must work together for humans, witches, and vampires.
Ava, root witch turned vampire, kind and caring. Relying on her prior memories BEFORE she was turned, to guide her on her quest. Kaye, once best friend of Ava’s, must find her courage and her own voice to harness what she’s always known, but refused to acknowledge to fit in the ranks. Tristan, friend of both, who must realize he is more than what his father will ever be as leader of the Flame Witches. Eugenia, Ava’s mother, puts me in the mindset of Maleficent… trying to do good, but for her own benefit and agenda. Casiopea, vampire Queen, who’s enormous sorrow, could potentially destroy All!
Very well written with many plot twists. An exciting page turner that’s sure to keep you guessing. Full of sorrow, hope, love, and sadness… but ends in triumph.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me access to an advanced digital copy for my honest review.

Honestly I love this book. It kept me pulled into it. 5 star book. Highly recommend it. I found it because I was trying to find more books that might possibly fit into first kill (yes I know the show is based off a different book but wanted more based off the show)
Had me wanting more characters together mostly types. So I fell in love with this story big time. Might reread it next year.

First of all, this cover is gorgeous, and I love the childhood friends to enemies to lovers trope, as well as Rapunzel retellings. This seemed like a perfect book for me, but it really missed the mark. The prose was a little clunky; I remember one line that went something like "We both had long black hair and a tan complexion, and long straight black hair." (this is paraphrased). I also thought the worldbuilding was a little fragile. Not a lot was explained about the different kinds of witches and what status they had in the world compared to others, or exactly what they could do. Flame witches can control fire, light, and shadows? That didn't make much sense to me. I also don't understand how Ava's mother could convince the town that Ava was away at school when she was literally able to look out the window with blood dripping down her mouth for anyone to see. Not to mention that Ava's stepfather hated vampires but married Ava's vampire mother and was totally fine with Ava's mother being a vampire, but not Ava.

Absolutely love the cover on this one!! This was a queer retelling of Rapunzel which was quite interesting of a read. It was a pretty good fantasy romance which i dont read too many of these so it was a nice change.

4.5 stars

When I first read the premise, I knew this was a good book for me. This is a sapphic supernatural Rapunzel retelling, with a little bit of Romeo and Juliet vibes as well. I loved the cover, and this had some of my favorite tropes as well. I haven’t read fantasy in a while, and this was the perfect book to get me back into it. Kaye and Ava were such a good couple, and I loved the banter between them at the beginning. There were some inconsistencies in the plot and world building, but overall, this was an entertaining read!

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an e-ARC of this book!

No Star Rating

Rep : Sapphic MCs

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am temporarily DNFing this book, I plan on coming back to it and if I come back to it before release I will update my review but I no longer am happy or enjoying this book when I’m reading it which is unfair when I think I will end up really liking it eventually. There is a paragraph I can’t get out of my head that felt wrong and possibly antisemitic and while this book is going to be dinged for the when I come back around to it, I can’t forget about that paragraph long enough to judge the rest of the book as it is. I know if there is one paragraph there is likely more in the book but I still wanna see if it has any redeeming qualities in the future. I can’t seem to connect with the characters or their motivations currently which isn’t helping. I feel also that I’m 31% in and not a whole lot has happened which isn’t the pace I need in a book right now. I might end up not being the audience for this book which is sad as when I heard about it I instantly was excited by the premise but so far I’m disappointed.

DNF at 31%

A Supernatural Rapunzel Retelling. The story is captivating from the beginning, it is well written and the characters are great. Ava, a root witch turned vampire, and Kaye, a flame vampire hunter. Their friends to enemies to lovers relationship was what had me hooked. I loved how it builds slowly and the plot of the story is action packed. I really enjoyed reading this book, I was so immersed in the story that I despised Zeno's as much as Ava did and his ending was well deserved. The ending of the story was great, I simply loved this book.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased and honest review.

The premise of Francesca Flores' The Witch and the Vampire is undoubtedly interesting, and if handled better, probably would've called for a better review. However, I didn't think the book was as good as it could've been.
The beginning is incredibly info-dump-y. The entire first couple of chapters are so overtly there just to explain to the audience the world building instead of jumping right into the plot. I found it to be a slow start that never really picks up at any point in the book. The next hundred pages or so are entirely chronicling a forest journey, which I usually enjoy, but at this point in time I was just bored.
Kaye and Ava are, as I already said, good characters in theory, but not in execution. They're just okay; they're not really fleshed-out enough for me to consider them truly good characters, and unfortunately, none of the side characters really make up for it. Tristan, for example, is one of the most lifeless characters, and he purely exists to help Kaye and Ava at the end.
Finally, I would've been able to give this book a full three-star rating, because I thought it was a pretty generic young adult fantasy, if not for the actually baffling ending. Spoilers ahead.
Ava climbs into the mines underneath the forest, and tries to convince Casiopea, the vampire queen, to stand with her against Ava's mother, Eugenia, and stop her from tearing the Heart Tree and the Bone Wall down, the magical barrier that keeps the vampires in the forest and the mortals safe from the vampires. Casiopea refuses to listen to Ava, and goes to trap her in vines, but then... she just... changes her mind, I guess? It's never really explained why Casiopea suddenly decides to join her other Arkane gods and die, and, even more puzzlingly, pass her powers onto Ava, a girl she was going to kill a mere 20 seconds ago. This felt lazy to me.
If that wasn't perplexing enough, at the end, Kaye is turned into a vampire, and Ava and Kaye come together to guide their new vampire family into "coexisting with mortals." Which sounds great as a concept, until Kaye and Ava straight up just kill a mortal guy and drain his blood. To be fair, the guy was terrible, but both girls before this point had expressed that they were never willing to kill anyone and drink their blood, no matter how terrible that person may be. Literally one of the driving reasons why Kaye got Ava locked up earlier in the book was because she saw her draining a guy of his blood, who was a Flame witch who was trying to kill Ava and wasn't innocent, and was so disgusted by this behavior that she betrayed Ava and turned her in. Ava herself expresses guilt about drinking from the man. You could argue that this ending was just character development for the two characters, but if the author wanted to go the full I'm-a-monster-and-I'm-proud route, I don't understand why Ava and Kaye were so wishy-washy with it-- Ava would flip back and forth between only drinking from animals to exclusively from humans through the entire book. It was so jarring to read about Ava and Kaye drinking from this guy at the end without remorse, it was like I was reading a whole different book. It made me wonder how Ava and Kaye are going to "coexist with mortals"-- are they going to drink just animal blood, like Ava had suggested before, or are they going to drain only bad people, or are they going to just roam free and drain whoever? It was so confusing.

All in all, I think this book could benefit from some more rounds of heavy editing and a lot of plot and character work. I think it has potential from its interesting premise, but it won't reach it, in my opinion, without some major changes.
2.5/5 stars, rounded up for Goodreads & Netgalley

I really, really wanted to love this book because it sounded amazing. I was very disappointed and I am so sad that I was. It was hard to get through this book because the pacing and the writing style were really weird. I think that this would have worked better as multiple books rather than just one. It felt like there was too much going on but none of it was really advancing the plot. The magic system and the world building was really confusing and never fully explained. I also couldn’t really connect to any of the characters and they all felt very dull. There really wasn’t much development for the romance either which was super frustrating. I don’t want to say that I won’t read anything else from this author in the future, but it would probably take a little convincing. Again, this makes me so sad because I was really excited to read this, but it just didn’t live up to what I was expecting.

This fantasy adventure romance by Francesca Flores was chef’s kiss swoon worthy. A sapphic Rapunzel retelling with a magical forest, an ancient queen, witches, and vampires, it met and then exceeded all my expectations. Two years ago, best friends with the potential for more, Ava and Kaye, had come into their magical powers as a Root witch and a Flame witch respectively. Soon after, both their lives are turned upside down — Kaye’s mother is murdered by a vampire the same night Ava’s mother turns her into a vampire and imprisons her in their home. Now, Ava is plotting her escape to join the ancient vampire queen in the forest that houses the vampires and Kaye is using her righteousness rage to prove to be the best Flame witch-vampire killer in the kingdom. The two are thrown together again, and they must learn to trust each other, and recognize their feelings while saving both their worlds from chaos and destruction. Beautifully told with stunning world building, this novel made me fall for its two main characters out of the gate. Their tragic pasts have shaped the girls, but they are able to be greater than anyone gave them credit for. Full of magic, adventure, and nail biting close calls, I can’t wait for you all to read this when it comes out in March. A romance appropriate for all ages, TW for child abuse and magical violence

Honestly, I didn't love this book - I found the characters' motives to be inconsistent and kind of hard to follow. That said - it was a fun, quick read. Some teens will definitely enjoy this book. Great readalike for any teen who is a fan of Buffy, First Kill, or is looking for a low-angst sapphic fantasy.

Thank you NetGalley and Francesca Flores for the ARC copy of this book.

This book was everything it promised. I love a fairytale retelling and this is the first I’ve read for Rapunzel. The dual POV of both Kaye and Ava was beautiful. I found both of their struggle and realizations regarding themselves and each other were so well written. I could feel both Ava’s and Kaye’s desperation to be both understood and loved. I really enjoyed how they each came into their own power and were equally strong independently as they were together. This book is definitely more on the YA side for me but still a strong story nonetheless. I am so glad I got the opportunity to read this book.

I highly recommend this book. It was such a good, touching read.

Tropes
-forced proximity
-friends to enemies to lovers
-found family

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ / 5
🌶 /5