The book cover grabbed my attention and I was intrigued by this being a Rapunzel retelling. I think, after reading it, that it is based on the story of Rapunzel in just the barest of senses. However, the story is good. The author is great at building a world and cast of characters with depth and detail. The romance between the main characters is sweet and slow building. It’s a good book to dip your toes into queer fantasy romance. I wish the three friends had some more time to rekindle their friendship before the end of the book. It felt like once they reconnected, the story moved so quickly with them all going in different directions that we didn’t get to really feel their childhood bond click back in place the way it was intended. Overall, I really enjoyed and would definitely recommend.

The premise and the fact that it's a Rapunzel retelling, had me wanting to read this book. It was a very quick read, and it kept me interested for the most part. I wish the side characters had more depth to them and that there was less info dumping. Overall, I really like how the two main characters were brought back together after a few years apart and how their romance slowly rekindled.

This is somewhere between a 2.5 and a 3 for me, but I think it's fair to round up based on the great potential in the premise and the central relationship which I thought was sweet if underdeveloped. I was instantly drawn in by the premise and the cover (the cover!) of this one but was let down by the execution and the surface level plot.

Pros: The main relationship, and even the brief, brief three-way friendship with Ava, Kaye, and Tristan had really good seeds and I thought the romance was actually really sweet and believable. I wanted to see more of it and more of them working together (which we unfortunately don't get, the two separate for almost the entire climax).

The enemies-to-lovers aspect started really well and you could see these two girls who, due to circumstances beyond their control, had ended up on opposite sides. The tension between them is real up until about 40%. The book should have stuck with that slowburn but, as I go into below, the characters don't have the depth to allow that to develop later.

I liked the vampire-witch dynamic of the world and that aspect should have been emphasized instead of the two countries/emperor/government stuff. The idea that witches were hated until they were utilized as vampire slayers and that complicated history should have been at the forefront.

Cons: This really isn't a Rapunzel retelling at all and I think the book suffers from being pitched as one. The only resemblance is Ava being kept captive by her mother in a tower in the beginning, and having long hair but she escapes 10% into the book and gets a haircut like 20% in. More time should have been spent developing the worldbuilding and characters' interactions instead of squeezing the story into a Rapunzel box.

The characters, their thoughts, and relationships never get much deeper than what is written on the page. Everyone states exactly what they are thinking and then acts on the shallowest impulse. There could be some interesting exploration of Ava's messed-up relationship with her mother or Kaye's complicated relationship with Tristan, but it never really gets explored which feels like such a waste. Nothing lingers long enough to be delved into because everyone is busy running with whatever new characterization they have in the moment.

This book also has a weird tone issue which is affected by weak worldbuilding. The characters use a lot of modernisms so it never feels like a real fantasy and the country, culture, and history are never meaningfully significant to what is happening. Characters die, sometimes brutally, and it feels like it comes out of nowhere because the stakes and character depth haven't been developed enough to bear the weight. All the parents dying one by one at the end was really abrupt and then Tristan's death was completely glossed over. There's no sense of lasting impact. There's a much more mature story lurking somewhere in the background but we aren't reading it.

The vampires are intriguing but one second they're killing people for fun/to survive and the next second they feel really bad about it and only want to drink animal blood. This could be an interesting dilemma, what does the world look like when this species has to feed on humans to survive? Can that be worked out? But this book doesn't seem interested in looking deeper at that.

Overall: Compelling premise, first draft execution. I would have liked to see the actual interesting bits of this book be given first billing.

This looked interesting based on the supernatural elements present. I like witches. I like vampires. So, it's always pleasant when I find YA literature that combines both of my favorite elements. The story was more unique than others that I've read and for 700+ pages, I quickly read through it in a few hours. The pace is good, but there was one point where I felt it dragged.

I had really high expectations after reading the synopsis and personally, I was not disappointed in the least. I think overall the book is a 5/5 would read it again. It did a really good job at integrating rather than listing and lecturing about the magic and worldbuilding that we the readers and the characters in the story needed to know. There were a few times that I had to remind myself that this was supposed to be a retelling of Rapunzel, it is mostly seen in the dynamic of the main character Ava and her mothers. Otherwise, this really is a story of its own making. The story switches between the two main characters Ava and Kaye, and I wish that we got more of them in their love stage than what we got, but hey! Maybe a sequel? I was also upset by a character's death, but that's mostly because I feel like it was a waste of a character that the readers had been waiting for all book long to get to know better. I will be adding this to my collection as soon as I can and I've already recommended it to my friends.
Story: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Worldbuilding: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
Thanks to NetGalley, Francesca Flores, and Wednesday Books for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I went into this book with somewhat low expectations as I wasn't really sure what to expect. I can honestly say that this was such a fun read! I highly recommend reading it if you are into sapphic supernatural stories or if you are just looking to have a good time reading.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC!

The summary of this book was so promising and the cover is so beautiful. A queer retelling of Rapunzel, sounded amazing. I had a vivid picture in mind the whole time and I was rooting for both of the main characters to find their happy ending. I just would've liked to see more. Honestly, those are my thoughts for the whole book but especially for the ship. Overall, I enjoyed reading The Witch and the Vampire.

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, a queer rapunzel retelling, vampires and witches as enemies, friends to enemies to hate lovers? YES!🛐
First, I wanted to read this book since I saw the cover, it is MAGNIFICENT, BEAUTIFUL! And after reading the synopsis I was convinced.🤲🏼
The plot is beautiful, I loved absolutely everything, I thought it would be a very intense fantasy but it isn't, so I really enjoyed this book, it's very light and you don't miss anything at all, I really liked the narrative and that double pov between both protagonists, I AM FAN, they have me super hooked and in love of course.🤎
Kaye and Ava, my girls, I LOVE THEM!🥹😍 Even though it doesn't have much romance, I was EXCITED AND IN LOVE WITH THEM, the plot is so entertaining that I didn't realize how little romance it has, so I was OMG, now i miss them.🤧
The ending AAHHHHH I'm TOTALLY HAPPY, I was afraid of how it was going to end, but thank you Francesca for giving me what I deserve!😍
Totally recommended? totally recommended.🥰

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for this Arc

I loved this book ! The book was so pure and I enjoyed every second of it. When I say the book I mean the love story! (:

The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores was a story that grabbed my attention from the first chapter.

The jest of the story follows Ava and Kaye, one a vampire and the other a witch, in a Rapunzel retelling. The two girls have to rely on each other when they find themselves in the enchanted forest with other vampires and witches on the hunt.

I loved the story line and the authors writing. I do like how Ava is still technically a witch while being a vampire, added some surprise to the story line and how her role would play out. Highly recommend this book.

This was such a fantastic read. The setting and lore were so freaking visceral, the magic system was both complex but explained in such an easy-to-understand way. The characters were intriguing, the plot was beautiful. It had so many elements that I loved; enemies to lovers, queer romance, second chance romance, a murder mystery and a beautiful magic system.

The Witch and The Vampire by Francesca Flores

2 stars: I didn’t like it but I didn’t hate it

Summary: This book is a Sapphic, enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers retelling of Rapunzel about Ava and Kaye, a vampire and a witch, who have to rely on each other to travel through a creepy, dangerous, and enchanted forest.

Thoughts: This was a very ambitious project. I felt like there is definitely a lot to work with here but it could use a little more time to develop.

What I Liked: The author is great at painting a picture of what everything looks like. I could clearly see the forest and characters. Imagery is this author’s strong suit.

The ending of the story ends in a very satisfactory way. I thought it was very fitting for the story.

What I Didn’t Like: The title really bothers me because both Ava and Kaye are witches. This might be just a me thing, but I wish the title was different.

There could have been more attention to world-building. I felt like I could have used more information about Arborren, the vampires, and the witches. The author relies heavily on the reader’s existing knowledge of vampires and witches, which on one hand is nice because then I don’t need to have information I already know given to me. But on the other hand, I’m not entirely sure on what makes the witches witches or vampires vampires. When it came to the world, I felt I had more questions than answers by the time I finished the book.

The characters needed more depth. There were many situations where I did not understand most of the character’s motivations or where they were coming from at all. The side characters were very one note. The villains were mustache-twirling-ly evil, some characters existed to further the story and then were quickly killed off, and some characters didn’t even have a name or were named way later than they should have been. The story is also told from the perspective of Ava and Kaye. From chapter to chapter I could never remember whose chapter I was reading because there wasn’t much of a distinction between Kaye’s voice and Ava’s voice.

While I did like the ending for this story, I felt like the solution to everything was too easy.

There is a random ghost. They pop up, are never seen again, and it is never explained why they popped up.

I first heard about this book from the author's tiktok and I knew I had to read it and I'm glad I did. Rapunzel is my favorite fairy tale and I was so excited to see how the author was going to make this story her own. I loved the enemies to friends to lovers trope in this book. I was so invested in the characters and reading this was so much fun. This was one of the first queer fantasies I've ever read and I loved it.

I absolutely loved this! It was such a great story. The plot kept me on the edge of my seat. I fell in love with these characters. Highly recommend this

Francesca Flores is an author who I believe to be severely underrated. I first came across her when I received a Netgalley ARC of her debut Diamond City, a story about a bad ass assassin named Aina Solis. That book and its sequel Shadow City stole my heart and really made me fall in love with Francesca Flores' writing.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I found out that she was writing a third book. With the release date being announced as March 21, 2023, I had the honor of receiving an early ARC to read and review.

The Witch and The Vampire is a sapphic Rapunzel retelling/reimagining. In this story, our Rapunzel (named Ava) is a vampire with root Witch abilities who is trapped in a tower by her mother. Her ex best friend Kaye is a Root Witch hell bent on finding out what vampire killed her mother and exacting revenge. As a Root Witch, Kaye also has a duty to prevent vampires from breaching the barrier wall surrounding her village.

She and Ava cross paths once again, and Kaye finds out that Ava is a vampire. On the night that Ava manages to escape her tower, Kaye follows her and convinces her to travel together into the forest, while secretly planning to turn her in. Ava agrees, with the hope of rekindling the friendship (and maybe the potential romance) between them from the past.

As they travel, they realize the forest is dying and trying to attack them. They must learn to trust one another while making this treacherous journey. But can they?

What I really enjoyed the most about this book was the atmosphere. I really felt the forest come alive and could almost see the decay and rot permeating throughout. There was always tension on every page, between our main characters and their distrust for one another, and the enemies they kept encountering.

Every element and plot point of this story felt crucial to both Kaye and Ava. the different internal battles they fought, and the comparisons that were made between mortals and vampires was so interesting and complex.

To me both Ava and Kaye felt really fleshed out and their behavior towards one another felt wholly realistic. I was rooting for both throughout the entire book and couldn't wait to see how their story progressed.

Another thing that was well done in this book was the yearning. If you are looking for a passionate fantasy romance where things get hot and heavy, I wouldn't recommend this book. Instead, there was so much delicious secret longing between both characters that had me on the edge of my seat. ever subtle brushing of the hands, every observation Ava and Kaye would make about the other, every poetic line the they thought about one another had me absolutely feral. it just made their relationship that much more believable and I wanted nothing more than for them to finally be together.

I'm not sure if there are plans for a second book, because this did end satisfyingly as a stand alone. However, I definitely would not be opposed to a sequel, because i feel there is a lot of potential for Kaye and Ava's story.

overall, if you are the type of reader who is looking for a sapphic fantasy that is light on romance but heavy on action and yearning, I would highly suggest you pick this up. As for me, the Witch and Vampire has solidified Francesca Flores as one of my top authors, and I can't wait for her next book.

*thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

The Witch and the Vampire has a lot of potential. Queer retellings of fairy tales are hot right now, and I really think this book could do well, but it was a struggle for me to finish reading. There is way too much info dumping throughout the story. Sometimes info dumps are fine and necessary (in YA especially), in the beginning, but it just felt like the exposition never stopped. For all the history and background info we get, it doesn’t add up to much. It makes the story feel like a textbook, heavy and dull to read where there is little reward for reading all the info dumps.

I do like the excerpts from the journal and training academy before each chapter. This is a unique and organic way to explain the world and magic system, but it is unfortunately watered down by Ava and Kaye’s frequent rambles.

I think every book gets accused of “telling” rather than “showing,” but The Witch and the Vampire is one of the most guilty I’ve read of doing it. I think it goes back to how much info dumping there is. The story is written in a way so that, instead of exploring the world and getting to know the characters, we are told exactly what happened and who they are. There is little room for the reader to wonder or form any ideas for themselves, which makes the book boring.

Stylistically, I can’t say this book is good. But it’s very fast paced, the tension between Ava and Kaye kept me engaged, and I’m a sucker for fairy tales—so I didn’t hate it. But it could have been much better. This is the kind of book someone might read and have fun with for a day or two, but it’s forgettable and lacks the kind of magic and wonder I look forward to in fairy tales.

Thank you NetGalley and Wednesday for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review!

As soon as I heard the pitch for this book, I knew I needed it in my hands. I love retellings and I love queer retellings even more. This one absolutely didn't disappoint. I did expect a little more romance from the blurbs, but honestly I was so invested in the action and the stakes for these characters that I didn't mind that the romance took a backseat. It was fast-paced and fun and I was invested in all the characters.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to receive an arc in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.



Wow. I stayed up until 3 am knowing I would have to be up in a few hours to finish knowing I’d be exhausted- but this was worth the lack of sleep. I’m a sucker for a good retelling, and THIS is a good retelling. Rapunzel, wicked step dad, trainings, witches, vampires, lgbtqia+ representation- it has it all.
I do know some complaints are that the book is marketed as a lgbtqia+ Romance, and while it is- it is not heavy on any romance or romantic feelings. Personally, I didn’t mind and I didn’t feel like it was a cop out- our main two characters are literally so busy trying not to die or kill each other-‘they don’t have time for feels. I didn’t mind the lack of romance.
Fast paced, great world building and character build, it wraps up as if it can be open to a sequel but it wraps up nicely if it doesn’t happen. I enjoyed this one and enjoyed the journal excerpts at the beginning of each chapter to tie in the story overall. 5/5!

I found the book well developed and it has adventure romance friendship.
Kaye and Ava relationship is strongly show in the story and the feelings Kaye and Ava have for each other written well. The story plot is well developed and the world is detail. The vampires, magic, fighting,

A sapphic (friends to) enemies to lovers, where a vampire-witch is kept as a Rapunzel-like prisoner to fuel her mother's ambitions and power-grabs, and the other MC is a witch sworn to kill all vampires. Stuck together as unlikely allies, they soon rekindle a lost friendship, but they're not children anymore - trusting each other would be a mistake.

Pros: This book is a great example of sapphic fantasy and I think signals the direction in which publishing of WLW fantasy should move. I loved the romance between the two characters and felt their young but genuine connection, built on a foundation of memories and shared experiences as outsiders. I also thought the magic system was very cool, although I have a lot of complaints about its writing - more on that later.

Cons: MAN such a missed opportunity here - Sapphic Rapunzel?? Sapphic witch + vampire romance?? Enemies to Lovers, journey through a magic forest, a vampire army?! So much potential. Unfortunately, the execution was just very lacking. At best, I could say this book was 'fine'. Actually, the rest of this review is Cons.

The start of this book was incredibly slow going because there is so much world-building and it is all told, not shown, in pages and pages worth of info-dumping. To be honest, I don't see how some of these passages made it through editors. Why introduce faraway lands if we're never going to hear about them again? Why introduce an emperor and his importance if we don't need to know about him to understand the politics that are relevant to the story? I found myself picking the book up and putting it back down after a page of reading because this was just so dense and I had no connection to the story yet to care about all of this background.

At the same time as all this world-building, we are expected to connect to our two main characters, who have no identifiable differences in their personalities or tone of voice. Even much of their characters arcs are the same - about whether they respect the humanity of vampires and/or humans, and then reversing their opinion on the matter, and then reversing it again. OR about whether they want to make their mothers proud or shun their mothers' ways. The two characters could have been the same character.

The book reads extremely YA (I don't know that it reads "young" but it does read "simple") for instance, the world-building is vague, the magic-system is undefined, and most significantly, each thought or emotion the two narrators have is gone over 4 or 5 times. This was WAY too repetitive and made the book drag - every chapter we are going over the same feelings and concerns. Additionally, the plot is very basic, with Ava running away from home, getting caught by Zenos and/or mom, escaping and running, getting caught further down the road, escaping again further, caught yet again somewhere else, etc. Inventiveness in the plot could have helped quite a bit with some of the repetitiveness. OR hear me out - we actually flesh out the ideas of what mother gothel wants out of overthrowing Casiopeia - what is her long game, what are her motivations? What about Liander? These concepts came way too late in the book for me to care about them.

Finally, the most offensive plotting - the Casiopeia plotline and ending. So, she goes from vampire queen, last OG god on earth, dedicated to keeping her vampire family safe and her weird zombie-son's body sacred, and the tree alive (so much so that she's willing to destroy the forest and/or go to war over it) and then within one or two sentences of dialogue from the 17 year old she's like, "ok FINE I'll move on to the next life, destroy my son, here have my powers," ugh, like I'm surprised the author didn't just write that the god-ghosts themselves snatched her up and took her away with them.

The magic system - so, witches who become vampires can still be witches as long as they are teenagers? And... why hasn't Casiopeia been building an army of these super vampires? But then witches who become vampires later have the magic ability to siphon those powers from other witches? Why? How? Where do they learn such a skill? Also Ava hears the gods asking her to help them, but we don't know why. or how. or if anyone else hears them. Actually we never find out if they are actually the gods... maybe Ava just hears voices.
Also, there are witches but don't worry about what they can do with their powers - these are flame witches, they control fire... But fire creates light so they also control light. And light is the opposite of shadow, so they also control shadow. Some of them can actually bend light and shadow to become invisible. Others can actually form light into a blade of some sort. WHAT?!?!?!? WHAT IS THIS SYSTEM??? Also there are these others witches but we don't need them for this story so don't worry about those other people in far away places right now. But I'm going to tell you about them briefly anyways.

I feel like this was the first draft of the book, do you know what I mean? I'm still waiting for the 20th draft of this book, that could've been great.