*This book was sent to me via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

The author did a great job with the story & characters in this book it just wasn't my cup of tea so to speak. There were a few slow parts where I had to push myself to get through it in order to finish the book.

I was excited to dive into The Witch and The Vampire because the plot sounded so excellent: sapphic, loose Rapunzel retelling with a paranormal twist. Ava and Kaye used to be best friends until Ava turned into a vampire who Kaye thinks killed her mother. Ava is not only a vampire but a witch, too, and Ava’s mother Eugenia keeps her locked away so she can absorb Ava’s magic to keep up appearances around tow.n. Ava eventually ends up escaping and teaming up with Kaye, who is actually scheming to turn Ava in and kill her. For about all of three seconds.

This wasn’t a bad book but it ultimately read so young that a lot of it fell flat for me. There was, in my opinion, barely any romance between the main female characters like it was marketed to be and the main characters’ narration felt childish. It was fast-paced and I wanted to know more but again it felt more upper middle-grade, something I would’ve read in middle school and enjoyed much more, than a young adult novel. I wasn’t expecting anything crazy, I don’t expect that out of the YA reads I pick up, but I do expect a different level of maturity than I found here. I also felt like the characters felt two-dimensional and one note most of the time and things got wrapped up very quickly.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Witch and the Vampire is if Rapunzel was mixed with the vampire/vampire hunter dynamics but make it sapphic. This was a really easy read and mostly fast paced. There were definitely times where the pacing was a bit off and it seemed like the book could use another round of plot editing to really nail down the pacing issue and fully flush out the details of some scenes. Despite those bits, this book had me hooked from the summary and is the sapphic villian/morally grey arc that we need.

A very clever and interesting take on the Rapunzel story. I would recommend The Witch and the Vampire to my students who enjoy the twisted fairy-tale genre and appreciate an LGBTQ+ main character. It was a fresh perspective on an tale that has been retold countless of times before.

I enjoyed the book, my only complaint is Kaye went from hating Ava, and Ava learning to hate Kaye only for them to realize they liked each other out of nowhere. It was not smooth and their relationship is such a large part of the book that it seems like it could have been handled a little better. However, the books has a well developed lore and worldbuilding, a great magic system and history, and interesting takes on childhood friendships and trauma.

I received this book from NetGalley as an eARC in exchange for a review.

This book follows Ava, a root witch vampire, and Kaye, a flame witch set on killing vampires. They’re former friends and must team up to save their village from certain doom.

Maybe it was in the synopsis but I didn’t realize this was a Rapunzel retelling until I read other reviews. The concept of this book sounded super cool but I had didn’t love the way it was executed entirely. I loved the world building, was a cool way to show magic, especially in vampires. I enjoyed parts of the plot, although wanted more showing of the sapphic relationship. I had a hard time with the POVs because the characters voices were not different enough to easily distinguish. I feel like we did not get enough time with some of the side characters either.

If this becomes a series I would probably check our book 2 to see what happens with our MCs though because I’m invested enough after this book.

The Witch and the Vampire was a really charming romance, a Rapunzel retelling, and a queer friends to enemies to lovers story. I loved all of those aspects of the book, and the tension between Kaye and Ava made this a quick, exciting read.

Both characters were interesting, and I appreciated the dual POV, which gave insight into where Kaye and Ava were coming from. Kaye’s hatred of Ava made a lot of sense in the context of her Flame Witch training and her mother’s murder. Ava understandably wanted an ally after her mother’s abuse and her own imprisonment. The dynamic between them did a good job of exploring how their past friendship and subsequent separation impacted each of them. I also appreciated the brief exploration of Kaye being mixed, since that resonated with my own experiences.

All of this being said, the overall plot of the story needed more development. There were a lot of inconsistencies and unanswered questions as the story progressed, especially regarding the motivations of the Flame Witches, Ava’s mother, and Casiopeia. The alliance between the three parties was confusing, especially given that the broader political dynamics of the Empire were barely explored. The Flame Witches’ alliance with Casiopeia would have made more sense had their specific place in the Empire been elaborated on more. Were they slighted by the Emperor? Did they want to ensure that witches were relied on and that they were not experimented on like they had been before vampires? Exploring those questions would have better contextualized the alliance as a whole.

The book also briefly engaged with the moral questions of being a vampire, but then eventually discarded them when they were not relevant to Ava and Kaye’s relationship. While I understand the importance of the ethics of blood drinking in the context of the romance, I also would have liked that to be a continuing theme. That moral question was not resolved just because the romance was. This is also demonstrative of how the broader ethical question of vampires attacking humans is ignored at the end. Ava bringing down the Bone Wall unleashes vampires on human cities and towns, and the story never engages with the ramifications of that choice. I understand her wanting to bring down the wall, but she could have waited to work with the vampires in a more organized way before bringing it down. If the end of the book was just her choosing to ignore the ethics of vampirism altogether (which would have been good as an ending), that should have been more clearly established. As it stands, the ending straddles the line between vampire rights, Ava and Kaye deciding they no longer care about the world, and Ava still trying to maintain a moral way of being a vampire. None of these options are ever fully resolved or explored.

I loved the romance of this book but feel that it takes on a complex dynamic of vampires, imprisonment, and oppression but never properly explores those issues.

The Witch and the Vampire is a supernatural-esque, sapphic, Rapunzel retelling. Ava is a vampire and Kaye is a flame witch. While they're genetically designed to work against each other, it seems like they're the only 2 who can come together and make a difference.

The cover is gorgeous! I'm always down for a retelling and the cover made this bubble to the top of my list. All in all, this is a unique and enjoyable read.

I thought the pacing to get into the central conflict was good but I'm not quite sure what to make of the end. At times, it felt like it was too slow and some other details I felt were unresolved. Nonetheless, I was intrigued from start to finish.

I loved the childhood friends, enemies to lovers vibes. The relationships are complicated, and genuine, even in a supernatural setting. I was hoping for a little more growth, or a stronger arc, with each of them. While there was something still desired, I still enjoyed the chemistry, relationships, and path.

Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC!

I wanted to love this book and there were parts that I did really love, but many parts that made this one hard to read.

I think the premise is so awesome! I love how Flores sets this retelling of Rapunzel in a fantasy world that has all sorts of magic in it with Witches and Vampires. The world was cool and many aspects of the magic and the forest intrigued me. The Flame Witches and Root Witches are so cool! Their powers are very interesting and some I’ve not seen witches do before! The women in this story are more powerful than the men in this story which was interesting and definitely appealing to me! It’s not often that I’ve seen that in a fantasy novel.

I really loved how this is a sapphic retelling of one of my favorite fairytales. I also liked how the two main characters were of different ethnicities. The mother, Eugenia, was my favorite character. She was the most dynamic character in the book, in my opinion.

The pace of this book was either very slow or too fast. On either point, there was more telling than showing what was going on. It dragged when she was world-building and I had to re-read to enjoy any parts with action because there was too much information dumping during some of the fights. It was confusing and disorienting. There was just too much telling when I wanted to be shown! Often, Flores would repeat herself and the characters would say the exact same things or tell us the information we already learned from the other. I wanted to see more of their unique powers and understand how they worked better but it was explained in hindsight or during the fight where they are using them. The forest was another aspect that intrigued me and I wished there was more about the magic there. The second half of the book was better for me than the first.

The romance aspect of this novel was definitely lacking. There was not a real distinction between Kaye's and Ava’s voices so I would forget who was talking. They shared many character traits, as well. Their chemistry felt very superficial because every significant moment they had, which is the basis for their forbidden love, was information dumped on us instead of actually seeing it. Any time they did show affection or were thinking about the other, it was always about their looks and less about their true personalities. The burn is SLOW and I don’t hate slow-burn books but they’re holding hands on the cover… Where is the love at?! I get that it’s a YA book but there are full vivid descriptions of murdering, both, humans and vampires by trees and people alike. I wanted more about their relationship together but I don’t think it really happened. I don’t understand. I’ve read non-romance books where the main characters show more genuine affection to each other.

Would I recommend this book? Sure. It is interesting and I’ve never read a Rapunzel retelling before. I just wish there was more editing and reviewing by the author’s team to polish this book into shining. If you’re someone who likes Retellings and Fantasy novels, it’s worth a shot. I just wouldn’t go into this book expecting an epic romance story.

A dual POV sapphic rapunzel retelling with vampires, and stories of old gods. ACOTAR meets tangled with vampires, what more could you ask for?

As soon as I read the description, I knew I had to read this book. I liked the story. I thought both Ava and Kaye were compelling characters. Ava in the role of rapunzel with a familiar naivety and untapped power potential and Kaye with the goal of burning her to ash despite their shared history. Their individual powers and the magic within the world were some of the most engaging aspects of the book, as the story evolves from Ava and Kaye being at odds because of their affiliations to discovering that maybe there’s something larger at play.

I did have some trouble getting into the story in the first hundred pages. I prefer when books have a certain faith in its readers ability to understand when things are implied as opposed to being told everything outright and the first 50 or so pages of this felt like exposition dumping as we were told what we needed to know about the world. There were also some parts near the midway point of the story where the character development felt forced and the inner monologue was too self-aware for their actions in a way that made their mistakes less excusable.

That being said, I loved the ending. It really picked up in the last third of the book. The foreshadowing that was included at the beginning of the book paid off in a big way and I loved how both main characters evolved together and on their own, neither of them relying on the other to be more interesting or drive the story single-handedly. I appreciated some of the side characters and the antagonists coming together in a way that made sense and built tension.

If you’re looking for a quick standalone fantasy to get lost in, this book is for you.

-Big Sis (review will also be posted on instagram and a TikTok will be made and also posted as a reel)

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc of this book.
This book was not my favorite, but I will always recommend sapphic books. Starting off the author used the word vampire a lot to the point that I would think about it more than the book, however further into the book they diluted the use of the word. For the first twenty percent of the book I found myself getting bored instead of excited. Then when the two main characters saw each other again the conflict between them ended pretty quickly. Overall, I think what would help this book be more enjoyable is if we got backstory for the two main characters.
I recommend this book if you are looking for a fast paced book with great representation.

I loved this supernatural retelling of rapunzel. it really hooked me in from the beginning. the characters are amazing, characters make the story and they truly did. I love tangle so I knew this is a book I was going to love.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an opportunity to read an ARC of this book. I was pumped for this one but I had to force myself to finish it. I feel like I had high hopes once Ava escaped but then it was just her and Kaye wandering through the forest for multiple chapters and nothing happens. I didnt feel an attachment to either main character and ultimately had trouble with the fact that every single parent figure in the book was an absolute shit. Zenos was yucky to say the least. Overall, did not love it.

I love a fairytale retelling. This one was unique in that it went from friends, to enemies to lovers in this Rapunzel retelling and had witches and vampires. It was such a fun story to watch it all unfold. Love that it was made diverse and inclusive.

I really wanted to absolutely love this Sapphic Rapunzel story, after 40 pages it was not pulling me in. The cover art though 😍

Beautifully written, this novel blew me away. The fantasy world building was super easy to follow and I was quick to start to root for the main characters. Excellent!

I saw someone on Tiktok talk about how they were really excited to get this ARC from netgalley and my interest was immediately peaked. So of course I was thrilled when I was able to get one too! I didn't realize it was YA at first, but honestly I think it is extremely well written and I enjoyed the story very much! It's still dark and gritty and has all the elements of a great fantasy with a little horror thrown in. This book is loosely based on the Rapunzel story and is also a Sapphic romance I loved!

Ava and Kaye, two young witches, had always been the best of friends and perhaps it could have been more if Ava hadn't vanished on the night Kaye's mother was killed. Now Kaye's only focus is to train to be a power Flame witch, so she can hunt and kill the blood beasts (vampires) that live in the forest beyond the bone wall.

Ava, however, has been locked in a tower above their home for the last two years by her mother, who was changed into a vampire and then changed her daughter too. She has spent the last few years pretending to be human by siphoning off Ava's powers and using them to fool the other Flame witches and council members. But Ava plans to escape and find the vampire queen in the forest, so she can live in peace and freedom.

During Ava's escape, vampires attack the city and Kaye is instructed to hunted down and capture as many blood beasts as she can. She has suspected that Ava has been alive all these years as a vampire and that she killed her mother, so she decides to track her in the forest and trick her into coming back. But what is she supposed to do when Ava turns out to be completely different from what she thought vampires would be like?

The story, as I said was well written and had a lot of descriptive imagery of the world that this took place in. The world build and backstop weren't overly complicated but they were clear and not forced awkwardly into the story. I liked both of the main characters, Ava and Kaye and liked that it was told from each of their perspectives. I also liked the character of Tristan and I kind of wished we learned more about his character or spent more time with him. The ending was pretty good and if this was a stand alone book, I think it works well. However, it was ambiguous enough that the author could totally write a sequel if she wanted to.

Ended up not being my cup of tea. I stopped reading and did not finish the book. I think someone else will like this book the book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I want to start off by saying I think this book was made for more of a younger audience, so that could be where some of my dislike of it came from. If I was in middle school I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more. If you liked the show “First Kill” I think you could enjoy this book!

It was a very descriptive heavy book, so if you like reading that more than dialogue or character growth, you will really enjoy this. The descriptions were very vivid and I could picture exactly what the author was describing. But I personally could have used more expansion on the character’s personality.

This was loosely based off of the movie “Tangled” but I wouldn’t really say it was a “Tangled” retelling. The beginning of the book was heavily influenced by the movie which I thought was really cool. But as the story went on, that aspect started to go away.

The end of the book was really full of action, I thought it picked up nicely and I enjoyed the last couple of pages and the turn it took, but the first 200 pages or so in my opinion really dragged. My one big gripe with the book that made me give it 1 star was that it was so repetitive. The same sentences were repeated over and over again countless times, saying the same thing just in slightly different ways. I think that is what made the plot drag on for me so much. It felt like I was being fed the same information constantly so it didn’t make me compelled to keep reading. The characters repeatedly told us their motivation for what they were doing, or said the same thing about their childhood multiple times. Us a readers get it from the beginning, we don’t have to be told it constantly.

Another thing I didn’t like was the characters fell flat to me. I was excited to see Ava and Kaye’s journey from going from childhood friends, to enemies, to lovers, but I felt as though their characters weren’t very fleshed out, so I ended up not really caring as much. I wasn’t invested in the characters and didn’t really care what happened to them. I didn’t connect to any of them, even if Ava or Kaye said they cared about one another or the people around them. I felt as though we were just told to care about certain people because they were friends or they used to be friends. But there was so much back and forth it was hard to really be invested.

I do think there are some people that could enjoy this book. The idea behind the book and how the witches and vampires worked was interesting to me, it just wasn’t executed very well on what I’m looking for in books.

I want to start this by saying I had high hopes for this book and REALLY wanted to like it. Witches, Vampires, in a rapunzel retelling?! I seriously wanted to get on here and rave. Unfortunately, I just can’t do that. The story was … how do I say this?…. flat. It didn’t read as a YA novel but more of a middle grade. It lacked complexity. Too much info dumping not enough personality and spark. The repetitiveness was annoying and the Characters didn’t have a distinct voice. 1 star for the cool premise and beautiful cover… but that’s all this book had going for it.