Thank you so much, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Two years ago vampires broke through the magical barrier protecting Ava's and Kaye's town, killing Kaye's mother and turning Ava into a vampire. Since then Ava is trapped in her house, forced to use her witch powers in order to her mother's vampire identity. Desperate to escape and to stop her mother's plan to destroy the town, Ava flees into the forest and seeks help from the vampires who live there. On the same forest, Kaye is completing her training as Fire Witch, determined to kill any vampires that put the town at risk, Ava included. But when Ava escapes, Kaye follows her and convinces to travel together, secretely wanting to turn her in. But things don't go exactly as she planned. They were best friends and Ava still have romantic feelings she felt for Kaye before that terrible night, two years ago. Travelling the forest, filled with secrets and dangers, Ava and Kaye have to face it together, and their own feelings for each other. In a forest with trees devouring humans, Ava's stepfather tracking her, they have to rely on each other in order to escape the forest unscathed. And, maybe, rekindle their feelings for each other.

The witch and the vampire is a queer retelling of Rapunzel and since it's my favourite story, I couldn't not wanting to read this book. And I was right. It's phenomenal. A tragedy occurred years ago, vampires and witches at odds, two best friends separeted by cruelty and tragedies, a dangerous forest with cannibal trees, a girl trapped in an house and seeking help from vampires...I mean, this book is absolutely AMAZING! Ava and Kaye are perfect together and apart. They are marvellous, complex and fantastic characters, with their own dreams, pasts, feelings, duties, desires and everything change when they find each other again, forcing them to rely on themselves in order to survive. And rekindle their feelings.
It's wonderfully queer, the worldbuilding is so creative and well rounded and I loved everything, from the characterization, the writing style, the complex relationship between Ava and Kaye. Absolutely amazing.

I really wanted to love this. The premise really had me by the throat. A sapphic Rapunzel retelling with witches and vampires? That’s my brand!!

Unfortunately, what started out so promising really went downhill for me.

I couldn’t get past how absolutely one dimensional the two main characters are. I never took a liking to either of them so because of that what little romance this book has I honestly skimmed over.

Between the two lackluster MCs and the plot being too thin for me to be curious enough to finish, I made it to 85% before I finally freed myself from this book.

*Thank you to Netgalley for the eARC

Two witches, Ava and Kaye, used to be best friends until Kaye's mother was murdered and Ava was turned into a vampire. Kaye is out for revenge believing Ava murdered her mother.

I give this book a 3.25 star rating. This book had such lovely promise. A queer Rapunzel retelling with witches and vampires! I wanted to absolutely love this book. It just missed the mark with me. The romance seemed forced and I didn't feel much chemistry between the characters. The plot was interesting but some bits felt repetitive. Overall, I enjoyed the writing style...I think I just wanted more character development between both FMCs.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I actually really enjoyed this book but it felt like I was reading a draft 😬 Let’s start with the good stuff! I really enjoyed the overall story, and the magic system, I thought that was incredibly awesome. I would love to know more about other types of witches and go beyond the borders of the two towns / forest this book takes place. The two main characters love story was very sweet and I loved their journey together. Now to the things I felt were lacking. The characters didn’t feel very dimensional, they felt very flat. I actually struggled to tell the two FMC apart throughout the book 🤔 I also didn’t love the world building, I think it could have been done a lot better without as much info dumping and puzzle piecing stuff together.

Overall, I had a good time with this book! ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set aside two days for this queer autumnal PG13 Rapunzel retelling set mostly in the town of Arborren in the Erlanis Empire where Ava Sereni has been imprisoned by her mother in a tower for two years. I had an ARC via NetGalley and this is my voluntary review.

When I heard about this book I was so excited to get the galley for it. This has been one of my more disappointing reads this year. I found both the main characters to be quite unlikable and silly. Reading through chapters almost felt like a slog; it took me ages to get through even 100 pages! Additionally, the quality of writing sometimes felt clunky and amateurish to me.

Sorry to say this one was just not for me. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING. THE VIBES = IMMACULATE. THE QUEER RAPUNZEL RETELLING I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED. 11/10 no notes

I had a bit of a difficult time connecting with our main characters for this book, but I thought that the storyline was enjoyable. Overall, I would recommend this book for readers who are really into vampires or witches, but I would also caution anyone reading it to know it's probably not going to be a revolutionary read. They're gonna have a good time reading it though.

Queer YA romantic fantasy set in a world of witches and vampires. Flame witch Kaye and Root witch Ava were childhood best friends, until a vampire attack led to Kaye's mother's death and Ava's disappearance. Unbeknownst to the rest of the town, Ava is forcibly turned into a vampire and locked away in her own home by her mother, for her own selfish reasons. Meanwhile, Kaye is trained in the use of her Flame witch powers in order to become a vampire hunter, guarding the border to the forest where the vampires are trapped. She alone knows that Ava has been turned... and since Ava's disappearance occurred at the same time as her mother's death, she blames Ava. When Ava finally gets the chance to break free from her prison home, Kaye sets off to follow her, seeking revenge. Once they meet up in the forest, however, both girls discover that things aren't black and white, and old feelings start to resurface. Ava's mother has a diabolical plan that could destroy the world as they know it. Can they overcome their differences and thwart Ava's mother's plan before it's too late?

I enjoyed the Rapunzel element of the plot. It was interesting to see it used in a setting with vampires. Both Ava and Kaye have to learn to trust their own gifts and fight for what they want. I love seeing girls take control of their own stories. The friends to enemies to lovers trope is a fun one, and their slowly forming romance is sweet. You get glimpses into the lore of this world's magic, though I would have liked to see even more of how it works. Parts of the story were slow, but the ending action scenes were well done, leading to satisfying conclusion.

Upon hearing of it, I was very interested in The Witch and the Vampire, as it seemed to have everything I look for in a book.

This was a story nearly impossible to sink my teeth into. The characters feel mostly flat- Ava in particular feels very much like a stand-in for Tangled-Rapunzel, and everyone else barely had personalities. I wanted to enjoy the romance but the lack of characterization was only further hurt by a lack of any real chemistry. It felt more like the romance was injected into scenes of their past than built or nurtured on the page.

All the combat was clunky and boring. Also having this be a "Rapunzel retelling" on top of also being about witches, vampires, and vampire-witches is kind of like putting a hat on a hat. A wig on a wig. On a witch hat.

I mean it was OK.. just wasn't fleshed out well..

In this novel, vampires, witches, and mortals populate this world. Witches have always fought vampires, and if a witch is turned early enough, they can retain their powers. This is what happens to Ava. She is both a witch and vampire, trapped by her mother for the last two years of her life. But she knows of the plan her mother has and must stop it from coming into fruition. Along the way she runs into her old friend Kaye, who is now her enemy.

I really liked this concept. It is a loose adaptation of Rapunzel, but it definitely tries to be its own story. However, I had a hard time connecting with our two main characters. Ava felt very naïve, considering her age. And Kaye kept flipping between wanting revenge and wanting her friend. And I would've loved more of the side characters. They did not seem to have enough time to grow.

I also felt that the end was a bit rushed. We had this build up about Ava's mother and how she wanted to take over, but the payoff just wasn't there. The end does keep me interested in a continuation, but at the same time I enjoyed the uncertainty of it. In the end, it just needed to be fleshed out just a touch more.

The Witch and the Vampire is marketed as a queer Rapunzel retelling. In this book we meet Ava and Kaye. They were once friends, but then two years ago, the magical barrier was breeched by vampires and attacked the town. Due to the attack, Kaye’s mother was killed and Ava was turned into a vampire. Ever since then Ava has been trapped in her house because her mother Eugenia needs Ava's witch powers that she still oddly has. Eugenia's goal with taking Ava's powers is to hide the fact that she too is a vampire and just may be take over their town. Ava wants to escape her mother and her wicked plans, so Ava's only hope is to escape to the forest to get help from the vampires. Ava encounters Kaye and sparks are felt as danger looms over them.

I was very hestant to read this book because it has a low rating of 3.34 stars on Goodreads. I do believe that if I were to read this book physically, I probably would have struggled since to me this book does better on audio.

The book confused me at first with who was who at first and at times it lulled, but I still found myself enjoying the book.

The trope of friends to enemies to lovers is a trope I enjoy and that was well done in this book.

We experience Ava and Kaye in the forest that may I add is cursed and they must travel through it. They both have different motives obviously, but with them being stuck together they are reliving memories and questioning one another, but even themselves.

Like I said before, I enjoyed this minus in the beginning getting confused on who is who and what is going on as well as there being lulls.

This is a fantasy novel. It’s ideal for fans of Repunzel. I loved the pacing for this and the writing style!!

So I went into this book fully expecting a proper rapunzel retelling, because that was how it was marketed as. And honestly? It barely qualifies as a rapunzel retelling. It has the very barest of bones of that story, and then the rest is just something else entirely. Overall while the concept was neat, I found the plot very confusing, boring and convoluted. 2/5 stars

I really wanted to like this but unfortunately I just couldn’t get into it. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing style and I kept putting it down. I liked the idea of the story and the overall plot was fine but nothing that really motivated me to want to binge it.

I am so sad to say that this was my most disappointing read so far this year.

It's in the title: witches, vampires. There's hand holding on the gorgeous cover art. This should've been a great read. At the very least, a good one. But it wasn't even average.

The writing leaves so much to be desired:
-the characters are meh
-the supernatural entities are used so simply it is embarrassing (vampires =bad, witches = good).
-labeling this a retelling: lies. Absolutely not. Perhaps the author could've said this was inspired by that fairytale.

The story is just very lazy and not all what was promised.

That cover? Yes. That title? Yes. That synopsis? Yes. Need I say more? A sapphic young adult fantasy romance involving Witches, Vampires, and a promising adventure. Francesca Flores gives us everything we could ask for! What more do you need?

This was a cute standalone. There wasn't much worldbuilding so some things felt weird because there was no 'why'. The story was predictable but that fed the cozy HEA feeling It was fun to watch the girls develop and heal from the trauma that occurred. They felt very flat and boring despite it all at the beginning and grew nicely. I loved the former life snippets. It really helped set the tone of the characters.

Ava and Kaye, once best friends, now find themselves on separate sides of a conflict between two people. Ava, turned vampire against her will, and Kaye, trained to be a vampire hunter.

I think that this book is excellent for fans of paranormal romance who enjoy enemies-to-lovers stories. I found the writing style and characters to be appropriate for a YA audience, so I would recommend it to teens looking for a sapphic romance. It was definitely enjoyable, although not particularly groundbreaking, but it utilized vampire tropes well.

Really interesting how the witches are divided into types, and how that changes what they do within the community. I also liked the dynamic between the witches and vampires.

The sapphic love story just fell a little short of the mark for me. It reads on the younger side of YA, which is fine with me! I love a good YA from time-to-time. However, I've read plenty of YA stories that did justice to a cute sapphic romance. And this story, while good, I think could have been better.

That being said, I do absolutely recommend as a YA sapphic story. It's something I would have LOVED to have access to as a young girl.