Thank you to Wednesday Books for the eARC of The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores in exchange for my honest review!

I wanted to love this book. It had the makings of everything you could wish for: witches, vampires, young sapphic love, a bit of magic. It just fell a bit short for me. The concept is interesting, but I wanted it a bit more bulked out. I wanted more details and more information for most of the scenes.

3/5 for me.

Queer Rapunzel retelling with Witches and Vampires?! And that cover!?

Sadly, this book didn't really do it for me.
The premise was amazing. The beginning was good, the rapunzelesque part of the story, the revenge.. I saw the ending, though I did think it would happen slightly differently.

But there were a lot of inconsistencies and things that made no sense, rules that later didn't come into play: Example vampires that can only be killed by fire or decapitation were killed by squeezing with vines and breaking ribs..

There were a lot of repetitive sentences, and not just a few one offs that happen before final editing; I mean a significant amount, where the character will state an action and then turn around and state that same action at the beginning of the following paragraph.

The multiple POVs were mediocre, I didn't find there was a differentiation between the character voices and found myself checking the chapter heading frequently to remind myself who was talking.

I got bored 65-70% through, there was minimal tension, when the romantic part came to be.. just overall meh.

2.5 stars.

I received an electronic ARC from Netgalley.

I loved the concept, but the execution could have been better. I was rooting for the main characters, I liked them enough for that, but they had so much more potential. Still, it was a pleasant, quick read, maybe a bit too young for me, but still recommendable.

It is a good story but there were some sections or sentences that were repetitive throught the book. Everything else I loved. It was a fast read and enjoyable non the less.

This book sucked me in at the very beginning. The story starts with childhood friends Ava and Kaye and through tragic circumstances are found on opposite sides Ava with the vampires and Kaye with the flame witches . The once best friends now enemies have to try to overcome their differences and try and trust eachother again. Through the twists and turns the friends start to become more . This book is packed with action, friends to enemies from enemies to lovers ,found family.Politics ,a very cool magic system and can't forget the banter and the Vampire Queen. I can't wait to see where this series goes and what's next for Ava,Kaye & Company

I received this ARC from NetGalley, thank you for that!

A queer Rapunzel retelling starring a vampire and a witch? Count me in. I'm always down for retellings and open to reading pretty much any and everything.

I'd say it was very loosely a Rapunzel retelling with a little more of a Romeo and Juliet vibe to it.

We're following Ava, a root witch turned vampire, and Kaye, a flame witch vampire hunter. Once friends, the loss of Kaye's mom and disappearance of Ava the same night put an end to that.

The parallels to Rapunzle were Ava's long hair and her being locked in a tower, for "her own safety." There's no one but Ava to rescue herself from those keeping her in their clutches for evil reasons.

What I liked: Ava and Kaye growing into their own skin after being controlled by others. While they weren't able to trust each other, they did work together. The rekindling of their friendship and slow burn love story was sweet. They each were able to find strength within and through each other.

What didn't work: this says it's for young adults but it does read more middle grade. It's a good plot but there were parts that were very repetitive. Probably we could have done with a bit less escape from my mother and warn the Vampire Queen and more world building.

I don't know if the author is planning a series for this, but as a standalone I think it's a solid story and something worth a read. I enjoyed it.

A sapphic retelling of Rapunzel, that’s also friends to enemies to lovers? It’s obvious this book was written for me specifically and I thoroughly appreciated every minute of it!

Right off the bat before I jump into this there are some obvious CWs and I would recommend everyone checking into before starting this book!

I’ve read my fair share of fairytale retellings but until now I’ve yet to come across a Rapunzel retelling, when you add in vampires and witches? This isn’t a book you’ll want to pass up on. this was such a unique take on a classic tale. It was sweet, innocent and heartwarming all the same. The strained childhood friendships, trying to find where you fit in a complicated world and all the regular struggles of being a teenager before also adding in being a vampire in a world where witches don’t accept vampires. It was so much fun watching the conflict between the two FMCs. Both Ava and Kaye were so well developed that the whole time, even though you may not agree with their actions, I felt they were always justified in what their responses and reactions to situations were. In addition to how much I loved both main characters even the side characters were developed well and I found myself rooting for Tristan to prove his dad wrong.

As much as I loved this book I can’t not point out how horrible all the parents in this book were 🥶…

Very compelling story and surprisingly well done character arcs, especially with so much conflict and changing opinions every couple chapters. I do have some issue with the first person descriptions or perceptions of their own appearance or actions; it seemed sometimes to be something only an outside party would be able to note about their behavior.

I really wanted to love this book. It had such promise but after reading it I’m more disappointed than anything. Here are some of my problems with this story. The writing style is geared towards being a little repetitive and flat. It definitely suffers from the telling rather than showing syndrome. There is also quite a bit of info dumping. I could feel my eyes glaze over from time to time. I understand the author is trying to world-build her but it was done in such a mundane way I was bored most of the time.

I also felt there was very little character growth and their actions and feelings felt shallow. Much of the time Kaye would go from one extreme to the other very quickly and for reasons that were not always clear. The side characters were also very one-dimensional. No complexity whatsoever. There is a lot of black and white in this book. While there were attempts at shades of grey it did translate very well on the page.

I also felt I was bait and switched after finishing this story. It is nowhere close to being a Rapunzel retelling. Yes, there is a similarity here and there but not what I would call a retelling. I did see this is geared toward teens and young adults. Unfortunately, this would be better suited for pre-teens and younger teens. Anyone over 15 would find this very bare bones for a story and lacking in complexity.

I do like that it's a shappic “enemies to lovers" trope but that's all I liked about it, unfortunately. As for the ending, while it tied most everything up it left a bit to be desired. There are good bones to this story but it does need revamping and beefing up.

This book was an incredible read. I loved every second of it. Rapunzel yet a touch of Romeo and Juliet. It was so well written I got sucked into it. Obviously due to the title containing vampire there is mention of blood just a fair warning to others who may not be comfortable reading about that. So thrilled I was able to read this. Secretly hoping there will be another book to follow since I was not ready to be done with these characters yet.

The Witch and the Vampire was a fun, adventurous read featuring a strong sapphic duo and complicated family relationships. I was hooked the second I read that it was a sapphic retelling of Rapunzel--especially with that cover!! This should appeal to teens who are enthusiastic about vampires--this was more of a vampire book than a folklore retelling, with a witches vs. vampires storyline and two childhood friends who are caught on opposite sides of the conflict.

On that note, as someone who loves myth and folklore, I was a bit disappointed that there was actually very little Rapunzel retelling in this book. There's a girl who is briefly imprisoned in a tower and has long hair, and her mother takes power from her (and that last part is a Tangled retelling, not the actual story of Rapunzel). The story could have proceeded just fine without trying to throw in the Rapunzel elements. That detail aside, though, this was an enjoyable story with main characters to root for.

I adored this book! A Rapunzel retelling of sorts, but magic & vampires are involved! This book was able to get me in the mood for spooky season. I do wish there was more plot driven dialogue instead of flashback retellings to give context in the story. Otherwise it was enjoyable and if you like sapphic retellings and anything to do with magic and mystical worlds, this one is for you!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for the chance to read this book!

I was really hoping to enjoy this book, especially with the gorgeous cover art! I liked the idea of trying witch vs vampire-- definitely a fresher take on vampire vs werewolf, and it seemed interesting that one could be both.

I unfortunately felt like there was a great amount of infodumping throughout the entire book. I'm usually a fan of infodumping, and like it-- tell me about your world so I can understand it! However, it felt like it continued, up past the twists and nearly onto the final chapters. There were a lot of things that also felt as if they should have greater emotional value and weight than they ended up having?

I think that for young sapphics trying to find themselves, this could very much be an important book for them.

Thank you to the publisher for the arc. While I enjoyed the dynamic between Kaye and Ava, this book leaves a lot to be desired. There were was too much info-dumping even until the end. I appreciate when exposition is interwoven into a story in a more seamless way such as through scenes or dialogue rather than through non-stop paragraphs of info dumping.

I was so ready to love this, alas… I really, really did not.

It’s regrettable because there was such potential here -
definitely geared more toward middle school YA, ,I found the writing immature, as well as repetitive and flat.
Both storylines fade into each other, because neither are otherwise individual, characters are painfully shallow yet there are many uninteresting info dumps.
This really could have benefited from more editing.

As a result of these grievances, I had a difficult time reading through this.

I’m sure this will find its fans, but despite the loveliness of the cover and the truly intriguing concept, this one is a pass from me.

I was immediately interested in this book as a queer retelling of Rapunzel. Plus the twist of vampires and witches added into the mix. It's a cute story but very simple. It just left me wanting a bit more in the aspect of character arc and complexity. However, I do acknowledge that I am probably not the targeted demographic.

All in all a cute quick fantasy read. I hope you enjoy it

I received this ARC from NetGalley just in time for Halloween! I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of this book, and I found the two main protagonists to be darlings. I hated Zenos and Eugenia so much, I thought their respective fates were fitting. The only thing I can think of that fell short is the grammar — there were a handful of errors, but nothing too distracting from the story.

I'm giving this book two stars because of the queer representation; otherwise, I truly could not finish it to save my life. Maybe I'll revisit it in the future when I'm in a different state of mind, but honestly? I wish I liked it more, because a lot of reviewers did, but I found it to be incredibly shallow and - I hate being critical - honestly somewhat boring. From what I managed to finish, there really isn't much of Rapunzel in this novel - Ava's captivity is not the primary focus of the story, and she escapes fairly early on. Queer retellings of fairy tales are very in right now, but to market this book as one of them is a disservice to both the reader and the book.

What's really sad is that there's so much potential - Ava's relationship with her abusive and controlling mother, her relationship with Kaye, but all the worldbuilding and characterization is incredibly shallow. Characterization is the keystone of all novels - why should you finish the book if you don't care who it's about?

This book could be so much better, but I think it should have seen a few more rounds of editing before getting sent to publication. Maybe it will change a bit more between now and its release date. I hope so, because it's got good bones overall, it just needs fine-tuning and a bit of bolstering.

This book has witches and vampires which has always made for a fantastic duo. There is also some mama drama in the book as well and it is a sapphic rapunzel retelling. Sounds like a very promising book and it really could have been! I think we a few revisions before publication if possible would fix some of the issues to make this a truly incredible read.

One of the things I found sad was the lack of character development. I was looking for really complex characters in this book, especially with the background but we didn't get that. And of course with witches and vampires there should always be a level of unpredictability and moral greyness; like you never know what they may do sort of thing or what their motives are. It would have made things a little bit tenser in the story. The writing overall could use some additional details whilst removing details that don't really help push the story forward. Like how old are the characters for example? Maybe cutting down on other parts of the story or using some parts to incorporate ages would have been a good idea.

As I mentioned, I think overall this is a very promising read but it does need a little revision in some areas to make it a more well-rounded book.

A twist on a Rapunzel retelling, with witches, vampires and a deranged mother and stepfather. Ava is struggling to find her place in the world after her mother turns her into a vampire. She is still a root witch and now struggles with both identities. The story was more back drop for a series and leaves the door open to more at the end but it just did not do it for me. I was invested enough to finish but I am not interested enough to see what happens next. It is written well and maybe if I was younger I would have enjoyed it more but it’s not my thing. I love both witches and vampires so that does speak volumes for me.