I received this book as an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Right off the bat, I fell in love with the cover of this book - it is absolutely STUNNING.

Getting into the book, I immediately loved our split POVs from our two main MCs. They are both compelling and a joy to read. I loved seeing their different perspectives on the same events and how differently they perceived what happened.

A beautiful love story woven into a new and interesting world where vampires and witches are on opposite sides of a war. I loved reading Ava and Kaye's story and would absolutely love if Francesca Flores continued to expand on their story and what comes next.

DNF @ 46%
I don’t usually mark dnf’s but I am this time due to this being an arc copy.

I am not a huge fantasy fan to begin with, so I’m not surprised this didn’t work out for me. When reading the first chapter I thought I was going to fall in love with this book, but everything after that up until my official dnf just fell a little flat for me. I can totally see how this would work for someone else, but I couldn’t connect to the characters at all and I found myself zoning out. Once again, this is entirely a me problem because fantasy isn’t really my speed, but unfortunately this didn’t change my perspective on the matter.
Beautiful cover however and I would still recommend anyone who is interested to try this out! It could totally work for someone else!!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an arc copy!

I wanted to love this book so much but it fell really flat for me. I didn't really connect to the plot or the story and while the story was moving along, it still felt like nothing was happening. I would probably pick up another book by this author later down the road but this one just wasn't for me. I think a younger audience may connect with the story better to be honest.

I also don't know how much I enjoyed the romance. I'm a big fan of a lesbian retelling but I felt like there wasn't really much of a connection. I think this could be fixed in the second book since they're going to be spending more time together. Speaking of book 2...I didn't like the ending of this one. I felt that one character did a 180 and it felt really out of place as a way to set up book 2. I think this could have been done differently and it would have made more sense for the character.

While this is not going to be a new all time favorite book, it was a decent read and I did enjoy my time reading it! I read this authors previous books and thoroughly enjoyed them so I was really excited when the publisher emailed me asking to read and review her newest book. I was instantly sold on the queer Rapunzel retelling, like come on now? And the stunning cover. This book reads incredibly quick and it doesn't have overly flowery or confusing writing which I enjoyed. I liked the friends to enemies to lovers, but I personally would have liked to see a bit more of their developing romance as it felt a little insta-lovey at times. I liked how both our mcs developed and grew throughout the story and how their world view changed, specifically Kaye. Some things I didn't enjoy was the other 'best friend.' I feel like he didn't really have an important part in the story and I didn't feel the connection he had with either of the mcs despite being their best friend as kids. The magic system was also a bit confusing for me. I always have a hard time with magic systems in other books, but in this one there was one particular scene to do with a screen of light and something reflecting and I don't understand how that works when they're supposed to have flame powers. And one specific aspect during that last scene that seems to contradict the lore already established between the vampires and the witches. Other than that this was definitely a fun read and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future!

3.5⭐️ Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of “The Witch and The Vampire” by Francesca Flores. This book comes out later this month on March 21st! Who doesn’t love witches and vampires, am I right? This is a YA sapphic fantasy set in a town with a history torn apart by witches and vampires. You have vampires, who are bloodthirsty monsters, and you have witches, who have magic used for many things, but fighting vampires is one of them. Of course there are the humans as well. Ava and Kaye were childhood friends both studying their witchcraft, Ava a root witch and Kaye a fire witch. Until vampires entered the town and Ava was turned, while Kay’s mother was killed by a vampire. Locked away in her tower by her mother, Ava has not seen Kaye in about two years now. Kaye has reason to believe Ava might be the young vampire who murdered her mom. When all hell breaks loose in town, Ava and Kaye are reunited and, for differing reasons, become companions journeying through the dangerous forest surrounding town.

I don’t want to give anything away, but there are secrets, betrayals and truths that get revealed along the way. Ava’s mom is a real piece of work! Not everything or everyone is as the girls think. They will have to navigate where their loyalties and hearts lie and decide what is right, for them, and for the future of the town. Overall I really enjoyed this story and world! I would have loved for the history and lore to be a bit more fleshed-out. It was good though; I enjoyed it! I think some YA readers might be able to relate to some of the feelings the girls experience. That being said, there was some connection missing between reader and characters. It wasn’t as full as I would have liked. The feelings, emotion, pain, betrayals, lust, confusion—it could have been more powerful, because it was all there. I wanted that deeper emotional dive and connection, but the story and world itself were great!

1.5 stars rounded up

Well this was a disappointment. I was excited for a queer Rapunzel retelling...but calling it a Rapunzel retelling is a real stretch. Ava and Kaye were best friends until vampires killed Kaye's mom and Ava disappeared. Ava has been trapped in her house by her mother who turned her into a vampire and her step-father experiments on her. But pretty quickly she escapes on her own and the story is about whether Kaye (who blames Ava for her mother's death, without a particularly good reason) will turn her in to be killed or not.

The marketing misrepresents what this is, but also I kind of get why they tried to find an angle to pitch it that sounded interesting because the actual story is dull and info-dumpy with characters who feel very one-note and SO MUCH telling rather than showing. Plus a lot of character choices don't make much sense. The villains are just villainous rather than nuanced and without a good reason. We're told there is meaningful history between our two heroines, but we never really see it. For instance there is a scarf that shows up 2/3 of the way through the book in Ava's bag that we're told has meaning for their relationship. But it hadn't been mentioned once before that, it's just thrown in. There was a lot of that kind of thing.

One other thing that is hard to unsee now that I've been educated about it, is the connection between vampire stories and antisemitic blood libel propaganda. This (perhaps unintentionally) is set up in such a way as to play into those tropes. It also introduces the existence of bigotry against different groups (past and present) but then never does anything substantive with it. And while Ava endures traumatic abuse, that's also treated kind of lightly and doesn't seem to affect her in a long term way.

While this isn't the worst thing I've read, it just feels poorly crafted and really did not live up to the hype. I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Overall, I really enjoyed this!! I definitely need to get into more retellings because I like seeing the takes that different authors take on fairytales and such. Give me all the queer retellings!

I loved getting to see Kaye and Ava come into their powers and believing in themselves. I also
really liked the magic in this book — particularly as it related to relationship with the land.


I’m not convinced that the romance was necessary here or maybe the build up to the relationship wasn’t as convincing to me.
Since this was an arc so I think some of the editorial stuff I noted will probably be fixed in the final copy. 😊

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review!

2.5/5

I received and ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review- thank you Macmillan and NetGalley!

In this sapphic Rapunzel retelling, one of our main characters, Ava, must break free from her controlling, manipulative vampire mother and her abusive human stepfather. A newly turned vampire herself, she struggles heavily with the loss of her humanity and that she must survive on blood she knows is obtained from killing humans. The forest surrounding her town has been calling to her, and she believes she has to escape to the vampire queen in its depths. She escapes into the forest, only to become a target of the Flame witch vampire hunters. Our other main character, Kaye, is a young Flame witch who harbors deep resentment for the vampires after her mother was killed by one. She finds Ava in the forest, and the two come to an uneasy truce and decide to travel together deep into the forest. Not is all as it seems, and they must learn to trust each other to weather the betrayals coming from people they love and admire.

To start with the thing about this book I liked:
-The story was unique! I haven't ever heard anything like this, I think the premise will draw a lot of people in.
-The slow burn development (both in terms of their friendship an budding romantic feelings for each other) was done well. It felt appropriately paced and believable.
-Queer representation is always a good thing!!

Improvements I think could be made:
-The pacing was all over the place. Some parts absolutely dragged, while others were overpacked with information and action.
-The world building was clunky. You are simply told so many things through conversation between the characters. Nothing was shown. I had a hard time even imagining the physical environment the characters were in, let alone the world. This is one of the main reasons I think standalone fantasy books are hard, especially if they're short. The world has to be built and the plot has to progress and conclude very quickly. It makes everything feel rushed and incomplete.
-Many of the characters felt as if they were just present for plot development. Tristan and Nuira particularly- both could have been complex characters in their own right, and were very underutilized. They could have been replaced by nameless, faceless characters and it wouldn't have made much of a difference.
-Ava and Kaye were insufferable at times. I understand that they are teenagers and weren't equipped to make the best decisions or think the most logically, but my goodness they were frustrating. So many of their conflicts could have been resolved by just having an honest conversation.
-I was left with A LOT of questions. The ending didn't wrap up loose ends very well, it felt very sudden.

Overall, this book was not for me. However, I think this will be a good book for much younger readers, especially for those who are queer or are questioning their sexuality. Representation is so important, and that aspect was done well.

This was a great enemies to lovers fantasy with a rich magic world and fantastic characters.

Not only is this enemies to lovers, but there is an edge of forbidden love to it, considering Ava and Kaye are supposed to be sworn enemies.

This is a case of best friends who become enemies when Ava becomes a vampire and Kaye knows she is the one responsible for killing her mother. When Kaye captures her, the two quickly realize they need to work together. There is a lot of tenderness in this book. I loved the characters and the depths they grew through their journey.

This was fun and fantastical and I loved it.

Thank you netgalley for the arc. I really enjoyed reading about Kaye and Ava. Beautiful story. I hope there is another book in the works.

A retelling of Rapunzel, The Witch and the Vampire is story of liberation and belonging. Ava, a root witch turned vampire, is desperate to escape her mother and the attic she has been kept in for two years to find a place beyond the city walls to call home. Kaye, a flame witch, wants nothing more than to be accepted by her fellow vampire hunters after the presumed treachery of her mother. The two young women were childhood friends before Kaye's mother died and Ava was turned. Now they are each others best hope to achieve those goals even if the other doesn't know it. As they travel through the woods that surround their home town it becomes clear that not all is as it seems.

This book was a fun enough read and the characters were easy to grasp. Flores presented an interesting world that was clearly planned out and complex. The world of the story offered a number of perception shifts and turns. The story itself was a nice accounting of challenging one's beliefs especially as they pertain to goals and plans. But there was a lot of elements that felt rushed or even unnecessary in the scope of the story that was being told.

The Witch and the Vampire offers a story of how far familiar love can push a person and when that is no longer enough. It offered a story that fell into one of my favorite categories of understanding both the villain and protagonist of "cool motive still murder" with a sense of judgement that was more kind than fairytales are always want to be. That I think was the biggest success of Flores work and the best reason to read this book.

I received this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A queer fantasy that was a Rapunzel retelling? Say less. This story is everything I never knew I needed.

"'The Witch and the Vampire" tells the story of Ava, a teenager who was turned into a vampire against her will and trapped in her home as a result. As far as her friends from school know, she went to a school far away. Instead, she's being used by mother because on top of being a vampire, she's also a witch.

Enter Kaye, a witch who hunts vampires who is out for vengeance. She used to be Ava's best friend, but now she's sure that she's seen Ava in her window and that she's a bloodsucker. Friends to enemies? Check.

However, as much as I love the concept of the story, the development fell flat. There were a lot of world building and plot devices in the beginning, but towards the end, everything was just rushed. The characters were not as flushed out as they could have been, leaving them to feel 2-dimensional in the end.

I would find this story more of a middle school aged book rather than young adult.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to get into and did not find the characters or storyline engaging.

This was such a fun and sweet fantasy with all the familiar elements of rapunzel without feeling too redundant. The dual POV worked well as the two main characters were so different in their goals and opinions. Overall a very enjoyable read!!

First off, BIG thank you to the publisher for my e-ARC through NetGalley! I appreciate the chance to read this one!!

For starters- this synopsis had me at queer Rapunzel retelling. Say no more, I requested that book so fast!

Kudos to the author because I was GRIPPED from page one! What a fascinating concept! Ava was turned into a vampire against her will and is now being held hostage in her tower room by her mother that’s using her. Kaye is a witch out for vengeance after the death of her mother and she’s got vampires set in her sights. Two former best friends now enemies by nature and circumstance!

Drama!!

Unfortunately that was pretty much where my live of this story ended. I wish there had been a bit more world building fleshed out. It felt very surface level which isn’t great because so did the characters. I was hoping for more emotional depth from the characters and the just fell flat for me each time.

The saving grace here is this book is that it’s a true YA read, so maybe with a younger audience the characters choices, the more shallow world building, and the lack of emotional oomph will be a good thing!

let me start off by saying i was really excited to receive an arc of this book. the premise sounded so great and the cover is beautiful but it just fell flat for me. there was so much info dumping (which i loathe) and it was not written in an engaging way at all. there was a significant lack of world building and so many things were just briefly touched upon and was never mentioned again. i ended up just not caring about what was going on and it took me FOREVER to finish. however i will say i saw the vision and the relationship between Ava and Kaye was cute.

I really wanted to like The Witch and the Vampire, but unfortunately it just ended up not being for me. To be completely honest, I’ve forgotten what it was even about 😅

I was really hopeful for this one, as I adore both vampire stories and sapphic romances. Unfortunately this one fell flat for me due to an excessive amount of info-dumping, writing style and underdeveloped characters. I think it had a lot of great potential, had it undergone slightly more thorough editing.

----2.5/5 stars!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and St.Martin's Press for this e-arc.

I wanted to love this book so badly. A sapphic reimaging of Rapunzel with vampires and witches? Literally sounds like a book that was made for me. Unfortunately, this book fell flat and I was left disappointed and unsatisfied.

The biggest issue overall is the quality of the writing, maybe it just wasn't for me but I really did not like it. It felt overly juvenile and went into too much detail on things that didn't need it and didn't go into enough detail about things that needed it. Overall it was inconsistent and weak.

The plot was okay, I can see what the intention was and I was invested for the most part but once again overall it was just weak and predictable at times.

Overall I expected more from this book and I was left unsatisfied and disappointed. I think this book would have benefited from further editing.

That ending though
This whole story was so interesting. I just thought it was a bit slow. The ending was really shocking and I loved how it left off a little ambiguously.
I picked this up because of the cover and the fact it was a retelling. I wish it had been a little more fast-paced.