Thank you for this advanced copy to review. I will be posting this review to Goodreads but will be omitting my star rating for several reasons. I truly wanted to like this book but I knew it was a risk to try it since I struggle with YA. If you enjoy YA, this still may be a hit for you.

The concept is fun. Vampire books were so overdone that it’s less common to see new takes on the concepts come out. That is partly what drew me to the book.

What I didn’t enjoy, and what somewhat ruined the experience for me were the characters and the presentation of backstory.

The characters felt a bit flat. Their motivations were a bit shallow and, while they felt strongly about them, were hard to connect to or feel for as the reader. I found myself really not caring as much as I would have liked to.

There is so much infodumping in this story. It’s a pet peeve of mine and every time it happens in a book it feels more noticeable to me. This just throws the backstories and explanations at the reader. It’s not a very fun way to learn things about the world and characters.

I can see this book being appealing for those rooted in the YA genre but it ultimately felt young even for young adult.

This was such an interesting retelling of Rapunzel but with a trusted group of witches that were backyard the security or the enforcers. And there were vampires that were beyond a wall. But when a breach occurs and Ava (Rapunzel) escapes people start making up stories to explain her - a vampire with witches powers.
Her best friend Kaye who she would see out her window is angry cause she doesn't know where she went. We follow these two throughout the story as they find out the truth of what actually happened and all the politics and adult ruining their lives. Like that sadistic yucky guy that was living with her.
I love that the original vampire is a woman Cassiopeia. And the magic was cool with the invisibility, fire, and nature root magic.
Thank you wednesdaybooks for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Rating: 4/5
Pub: 3.21.23
I received a copy of eARC for my honest opinion.

I rounded up the rating of this book because at times I felt that it was more of 3.5 than 4 stars and vice versa. I can’t really say that this was a Rapunzel retelling other than the fact that Ava did have long hair and she was kept away from everyone other than her mother and step-father. For me only the first few chapters were kinda like a retelling of Rapunzel but more of Tangled vibe. This book felt to me on the younger side of young adult, borderline MG but that did not take away from it still being a good fantasy.

What I liked about the book was the world-building, it helped me to connect with the characters and to picture what was going on. I enjoyed the drama/action in this book with a lot of different things going on and helped keep this book at a fast pace. I loved that we had vampires and witches in the book and that they were enemies. I thought the characters were likable and easy to connect with. I enjoyed the LGBT+ representation in the book and the rivalry between lovers. I liked that the author talked about the darker sides of an evil stepparent, but people should know that there are abusive parental figures and neglect.

What I didn’t like: I felt at times that I was missing some pieces of the story, whether it was something in the background or if it was something I should have known. At times I felt that it was a little repetitive and slow. The magic for the witches I wish we could have gotten a little more history and with the vampires, I felt that it was really glossed over.

Even though it was not one of my favorites, I will still recommend this book to people interested in reading their first fantasy LGBT+, to YA lovers, and enemies to lovers.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for the opportunity to review this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Fantasy novels with LGBTQ+ representation to this scale, are few and far between. This novel brought together all the aspects I love in books namely witches, vampires and queer representation. The Witch and the Vampire was well written and captivating and I highly recommend it!

Flores’s The City of Diamond and Steel is one of my favorite series so I was super excited to start The Witch and the Vampire. I wasn’t disappointed!

With same depth of storytelling, Flores delivers a detailed and complex magic system set within a multi-layered world filled with everything I could ask for in a vampire fantasy! The characters are the chef’s kiss to this queer love story that has me hoping for more!

My thanks to St. Martins Press for this gifted DRC!

This re-imagining of the classic Rapunzel tale is filled with magic and romance. Being squashed between a witch and a vampire was a delightful adventure for me! It brought me back to the peak of Twilight craze. However, this story is entirely unique and worth a read.
Plus, the cover as absolutely GORGEOUS! That alone is reason enough to get a copy.

Yikes! This book was my first DNF of the year.

I think it could have done with another round of editing. Do not give me shoddy world building in a fantasy book. I loath it! Also, so many implausible conveniences.... I saw her as a vampire so therefore she is. Well how convenient for you MC.

Thank you Netgalley and St.Martin's Press for allowing the chance to review this arc.

2.5 Stars

What if Repunzel was a witch and her mother turned her into a vampire? Repunzel's best friend is also a witch and lives in the town that Repunzel looks down at from her tower. Her best friend has seen Repunzel in the window of the tower and knows shes a vampire, she also believes that Repunzel killed her mother.

The first half of this was great, I was really enjoying it and I think it is written perfectly for a YA audience (14-16). I was interested in the story line and wanted to keep reading. Once I hit the 60% mark though and explinations/reveals started happening the book lost my attention. The explinations/reveals weren't explained well so it got a bit confusing and felt like there was a shift in the book. Like two different people had written each half and had different ideas on how the story should go. I would be interested in reading more by this author in the future because I think they have some really good ideas and concepts for stories.

I really liked this book. It was a nice soft fantasy, with a sapphic romance as the subplot. It was really refreshing that the queerness was just there, in this universe there wasn’t homophobia or anything like that. Instead, the issues between the two girls were because of misunderstandings and secrets…and the fact that one of them became a vampire, an enemy of witches. I really liked the worldbuilding too, it was a fresh take on a fantasy world without being too complicated. Additionally the anti-hero themes were great; one of the girls, Kaye, felt morally superior to vampires, but as the book went on she began to question her assumptions and realized that things are not as black and white as they seem. All in all, a wonderful read and I would highly recommend this book! I hope this author writes another one soon!

I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately it was just... boring. The plot felt overdone, and the characters two-dimensional. I look forward to more publications of the author, as they grow and compound on their strengths.

Stopped reading at 21% into the book.

I was unable to finish reading because, in my opinion, the book still needs heavy editing. The author's writing felt extremely repetitive, and the story seemed to drag and go around in circles with no forward movement. The characters did not feel fully fleshed out, and the plot seemed to rely on some antisemitic tropes, such as blood libel. I highly suggest the author and editors review and edit the book again, because the story does have potential but it is strongly lacking in its current form.

When I first heard of this book, I was so excited. A queer retelling of Rapunzel? Count me in. That sounds right up my alley. And while I didn't hate this book, I definitely didn't love it as much as I would have thought.

Where to start… It felt a little younger in terms of audience for a lot of it. It felt like there were so many aspects that were not as deeply explored as I wish it had been. I wanted her to dive deeper on so many things, like the characters, the abusive relationship Ava has with her mother, the world, the magic, and the lore of the world.

In the end, I think the premise had a lot of potential, but it just fell flat. It just left me wishing I had been given more, because it left me feeling like the best thing about the book was the premise. Everything else waa just a little underwhelming, and I think it could have been so much more.

This was a fun, quick read! And I mean witches, vampires and Rapunzel vibes plus it’s sapphic…yes please! I think the story and the writing were pretty on par for a standalone YA fantasy. More world building and character development would have been nice and taken the story to the next level, but there’s just not really enough time in a single book to get much deeper. And that was fine, it’s still an entertaining story and I enjoyed reading it.

There was a lot of back and forth with Ava and Kaye’s friends to enemies to lovers arc but I thought they were sweet and I liked them together. I appreciated that there was no spice and that it actually felt like a YA romance - unlike a lot of YA books lately that feel more mature/adult and probably shouldn’t be marketed to younger teens. Sometimes it would jump around a bit from a lot of explanation/telling to some things happening really suddenly without much explanation. And the ending felt a little bit rushed and slightly unexpected…but I did actually really like how everything was wrapped up. Overall an enjoyable read that probably won’t absolutely suck you in and make you obsessed but will be a fun little break from reality.

I'm not quite sure how to review this. The concept itself was interesting, and I liked reading Ava's chapters. But overall, the book felt too repetitive to me; we kept getting the same thoughts and emotions and lines repeated back to us over and over again. The ending itself was interesting, and I'd definitely read more by Francesca Flores again. Overall, this wasn't the book for me.

Overall: Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Wednesday Books for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.


Content warnings: blood, physical violence

Rep: sapphic relationship, old friends to lovers/enemies to lovers

Thoughts
Neutral thoughts:

This was really dense. While I thought that the overall plot was interesting and what was going on the world, I just felt kind of overwhelmed? The sharing of information was not paced very well and it would be too much at once. And because I felt overwhelmed reading this, I feel like I missed some things that were happening and I honestly feel like I need to reread this book in order to give this a proper rating.

The Witch and the Vampire was my first read by Francesca Flores and I was extremely impressed. I love to read retellings and Tangled has been one of my favorite Disney movies. I loved the Rapunzel parallels this book had. This cover is absolutely gorgeous. The story was captivating and I really enjoyed the twist and the main characters. I found Ava compelling. She's our rapunzel and our vampire. I also enjoyed Kaye’s character. Kaye hates vampires for killing her mother. Kaye is a talented fighter and is always willing to protect her hometown. Thank you so much NetGalley for giving me this amazing opportunity. I can’t wait to have a physical copy for my personal library. I will definitely recommend this book to my students.

The Witch and the Vampire is a sapphic retelling of Rapunzel. It follows the story of two young women, Ava and Kaye, who work together to overcome their differences and break down prejudices while traveling through an enchanted forest.

One of the aspects that I really enjoyed reading in this story was the lore and history of the vampires. The author did a great job weaving an immersive world that felt magical to the reader. In addition, the way the forest played such a massive part in the story was fascinating; I liked being able to see how the decisions of the vampires were affecting nature and how the forest had a mind of its own in fighting back.

The magic system with the witches was also fascinating. I wish it had been fleshed out a bit more, but I liked seeing how root witches could control the earth and were in charge of growing food while fire witches used their magic to guard and protect the people.

I also enjoyed Ava's character. She had a lot of beautiful growth by accepting herself and fighting for her freedom. It was great to see the ending and how her power was used to be able to impact the world she lived in for the better. While I wished we could have seen more of that growth with Kaye, I did appreciate Ava and watching her go from the "Rapunzel" aspect of the story to a strong independent person.

However, while the story had great strength in its plot and lore, the relationship between Ava and Kaye fell flat. I didn't quite get the impactful punch of friends to enemies to lovers the author aimed for. It felt like the relationship didn't have many opportunities to grow and relied too heavily on "they were friends in the past" to build a connection.

We were told that Ava and Kaye used to be close, but we weren't allowed to see them rebuild and repair their relationship. We didn't get those small moments to see that love blossom between them despite their frustration and hatred for one another. Because of this, it made the eventual romance between Ava and Kaye feel out of place.

Another aspect of the book that made it difficult to read was the head-hopping. Like many books, each chapter is told from a different perspective, but most chapters would end on a cliffhanger. So when it came time to move on to the next chapter, it felt like whiplash because you were jumping from one massive moment to a typical beginning of a new chapter. It made the overall story feel choppy, like there wasn't any continuity or flow. It especially felt this way when the new chapter would revert back in time to tell the same scenario, just from someone else's perspective.

Overall, this book is a decent read with an interesting plot. And if you're looking for a sapphic YA fantasy book that puts little emphasis on romance or relationship building and you don't mind head hopping, this book could be an interesting read.

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. Unfortunately, as I got my hands on a copy, I found the writing to fall quite short. For me, the main appeal of this book was the Rapunzel retelling premise and enemies-to-lovers plot line. Unfortunately, I found that the non-romantic plot was not given much page time, and that the enemies-to-lovers relationship did not work, as it was only one sided. Ava was simply too good and forgiving of a character to feel real, and Kaye's assumptions and reason to hate her felt dumb. It was hard to root for them as a couple when I didn't sense any tension. Overall, this story had a ton of potential, but I found the writing to feel very simple. Still, I'm sure for some this will be a worth while read based off some of the stronger elements, such as the atmosphere and sapphic representation.

I enjoyed reading the dynamic between the characters. I liked the book cover and the over all theme of the book. However, I don't think it would be an addition to our collection. I have mentioned the book to other departments to see if they themselves would enjoy the book.

Well... this was a book. It wasn't particularly bad, but it also didn't do anything (at all) that stood out. The characters were pretty one note, Kaye's motivations and beliefs seem to sway at the drop of a hat, which was irrating. Ava was an okay character. Tristian was absolutely one of the most useless characters I've seen in literature in a while. I don't really get why it's being called a 'Rapunzel Retelling', that just feels like an annoying marketing ploy. Again, there's nothing egregiously wrong with this book, but there's nothing great about it either, which is really disappointing as I was looking forward to this book for awhile now and is one of the few ARCs I went out of my way to request.

Special thanks to Wednesday Books and Macmillan for a physical ARC in exchange for an honest review