AS CAWPILE:
Characters: 6 | Atmosphere: 6 | Writing: 7 | Plot: 7 | Intrigue: 9 | Logic: 6 | Enjoyment: 7
Total: 6.86

A couple of things: I would not have been able to tell you this was a Rapunzel retelling by any means. I did not even realize this was a Rapunzel retelling until I saw people keep calling it that. Also, this is marketed as YA, and I...would say, maybe upper middle grade to lower YA. This isn't a bad thing, just something to be aware of as the YA audience for romance can mean anything, anymore.

While I enjoyed this book, it was a ton of tell don't show, and info-dumping. The characters were pretty stereotypically "good vs. evil" with not much depth involved. Our two main characters did have a decent amount of internal conflict to work through, and I think that this was done pretty well. The abuse conversation around mothers was also done pretty solidly for what I would consider an upper MG book.
However, and this may shock people who know me and how I feel about romance, this romance was...lame? They were best friends before and they still felt like JUST best friends after. It was as if the attraction to one another was an afterthought, and thrown in all of a sudden. Again, I know I normally don't care for romance, but this didn't even feel like a romance happened.

Overall, not a bad book, just not as fleshed out as I would have liked.

I very much wanted to enjoy this rapunzel retelling. I love fairy tales and I love a queer book. I love witches and vampires.

This fell flat for me because the characters all lacked depth. Everything was very shallow and surface level and side characters had no identifying personality traits or qualities beyond “good” and “evil”.

Goodreads doesn’t do half stars but this gets a 1.5 from me. This book has a gorgeous cover and a very intriguing summary, but the book itself was a terrible let down.

The most interesting character through the whole book is one of the side characters who has maybe ten lines. I disliked both Ava and Kaye and they were written with almost no differing personalities (at one point I read half a chapter from Kaye’s POV thinking it was Ava’s) and I was over half way through the book and their characters should have been well established.

The whole book was all telling, not showing, us anything and so many things were repeated and drilled in I almost feel like the author thought people would lack the ability to have long term memory or good reading comprehension. This was most problematic when it came to character relationships. I am still not convinced that Ava and Kaye like each other in any way and Tristan was just like a weird addition to try and give them friends and some kind of backstory? Nothing any of them did made me inclined to think they had ever been friends.

The way things were named was also so uncreative, ie witches who could manipulate fire are Flame witches and the ones who could use water are Storm witches, a literal wall of bones was the Bone Wall, a tree connected to the heart of a vampire is the Heart Tree.

Overall, the plot had a lot of great potential but suffered greatly from how it was written.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

I picked this book up on a day when I knew I was going to be stressed and exhausted and have lots of nothing to do (and hope it stayed nothing), and I am so glad that I did. Honestly, I did forget to read the description again before reading it, but you know pretty cover, vampires, witches, I didn't really have any concerns. So instead I got to have slow build excitement over eye contact, a hand brush, and so many other sweet moments interspersed throughout a great adventure.

Ava and Kaye are great characters, neither is perfect, and you get to watch them grow and challenge themselves to be better than they think they can be. Through their perspectives, the side characters also feel fully dimensional. Love, loss, betrayal, challenging of convictions, and friendship. I'm all in on this one. That said, I don't think describing it as a retelling of Rapunzel makes any sense, and might've changed my perspective reading the story - pretty glad I forgot about that part. There is some long hair for a moment, but the story isn't about long hair or towers, it's about a community based on a dark history and two young women learning who they really are and changing things.

*Received a copy for review.*
I loved the thought of a sapphic retelling of Rapunzel. There were some really great elements in this book but it got a bit bogged down in atmosphere and lost the characters in the mix.

Content warnings: Parent death, animal death, abuse

Ava and Kaye were once friends. Now, separated by years, Ava is desperate to get out of the tower she’s trapped in and Kaye is determined to avenge her mother, who she believes was murdered by Ava. The two journey into the forest together with different motives, where they question what they know about each other and themselves.

This is my first book by this author and I’m impressed! The writing was very captivating, and so was the plot. Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies so I loved the Rapunzel parallels this book had! Additionally, I loved Ava and Kaye, both separately and as a couple.

I am a sucker for a beautiful book cover (yes, I do judge books by the cover HA!) I didn’t even need to read the entire synopsis before knowing I wanted to read this. A Rapunzel retelling? That’s my favorite fairytale- yes please! Overall, this wasn’t a terrible read and I did enjoy it at times. It was fairly easy to get in to, however it didn’t always hold my attention. I think a lot of that had to do with the info dumping which is good for world building but was slightly overdone and again, lost my attention at times in the beginning. The characters were nicely written, relatable, and had a great representation of my favorite trope, enemies to lovers, but I could have used more depth with them. Overall I’m rating this a 3/5 stars because it has great potential and overall I did enjoy it.

Woah woah woah what did I just read! This book was amazing! The representation, the world building everything was just so spot on! A Rapunzel retelling was not one that I thought I needed but it turns out it was something that I very much needed! Thank you NetGalley for the ARC and I can't wait to read more from the author.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The best way to describe this book is that it checked all of the boxes I needed in a queer fantasy fairytale retelling in the best way possible. The premise of the book is already incredibly captivating—a Rapunzel retelling of childhood friends turned mortal enemies because one is a vampire and one is a witch. The book switches between Ava and Kaye's perspectives but the constant shift does not detract from the storytelling. Both women are compelling leading ladies and strong in their own right. The plot is never stagnant and keeps at a decent pace that never left me bored. The writing was fun and engaging and the moments where we saw the inner thoughts and conflicts of each character really helped to bring out deeper aspects of their personalities. All in all, it was a very fun read that left a smile on my face.

P.S. also the ending slayed. I don't know how else to describe it without spoiling anything but I love women.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC.

I had high hopes for this one. A sapphic Rapunzel retelling with glorious vamps and witches. I’m in!

I liked it, did not love it. When reading, it felt rushed. So much was trying to be told in such a short time. I’m of the opinion that it would be better as a duology to craft more of the story. I liked the dual POV. Ava grated on a nerve though.

This will be another I buy for my “The Cover Made Me Do It” shelf.

This book is a queer Rapunzel retelling, so if you are not open to that it is not for you. If you are open minded and not prejudice, it is a beautiful paranormal romance story.

Ava is a root witch who is turned vampire, and Kaye is a a flame vampire hunter. The story is one of enemies turned lovers.

I really, really hated the character Zeno and you will too!

I enjoyed reading the story as the relationship between Ava and Kaye developed. The book is full of action and excitement.

I am a sucker for live stories and really enjoyed this one.

Recommend

This was surprisingly a good Rapunzel retelling. The first half is a bit of a slow burn, but the last half was hard to put down. I love the two POVs and how they both feel like they are doing the right thing in the story even when it may not be.
Coming back to thinking about this book a while after I finished it, I really like the use of traditional fantasy elements and using vampires. Having the vampires be connected to nature instead of stuck in an urban fantasy setting was refreshing and was really a great change. I love vampire stories, and I really appreciate the sophic love story.

I instantly added this book to my TBR list once I saw the cover and learned that it was a sapphic, paranormal romance. I'm also a sucker for a friends to enemies to lovers story. I felt like the progression from enemies to lovers was a bit rushed during this book. One character holds on to a lot of anger and need for revenge for a long time only for it to dissolve quickly later on. However, I would say that the pacing is a minor flaw, and the story was still enjoyable.

Additionally, I really like multiple POVs during fantasy and romance books, and this book offers that. Unfortunately there was a lot of "telling" instead of "showing" even with the dual POVs, but I understand it can be difficult to build an entire world and share necessary information in a short, standalone fantasy. I would recommend this to anyone who would enjoys fantasy or sapphic romance but doesn't want to commit to a full series.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Wednesday Books for an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a cute story and it had so much promise. Unfortunately, it was executed in a way that didn't fully hold my interest. I was hoping for a bit more depth in terms of the characters, the plot, and the writing, which tended to tell more than it showed. Although I so so much wanted to love this one and it just didn't quite deliver for me, I still enjoyed reading it and am glad that I did.

I DNFd this - there was just way to much exposition. There was violence but little romance and I found the snap decisions to be annoying and it really didn't build a good foundation for the romance to grow from.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
Thankfully, giving my honest review is pretty straightforward. I really loved this title! The world is so interesting and I love the vampires in this, The character relationships seem real and alive and I’m SUCH a sucker for childhood friends to lovers.
The final climax was so engaging and interesting, and the writing was consistently fun to read. The symbolism, particularly about blindly following bigoted people, is elegant and well-handled.
My two gripes with the title are more preference-based. This book can be very tell instead of show sometimes, but not all the time. There was also a plot point at the end that seemed a little mean and unnecessary, but I’ll leave out the details since I prefer my reviews to be spoiler-free.
Overall, The Witch and the Vampire is totally worth reading and I hope it gets popular when it comes out!

I love this cover! Gorgeous. The story was interesting and I really liked the twist and the main characters. I found Ava compelling. She's our rapunzel and our vampire. She's struggling to figure out who she is now that she's been turned against her will. She's not longer who she was before she was a vampire but she doesn't think she's the mindless blood-drinking monster others thing she is.

Kaye was also interesting - hating vampires for killing her mother, she's a good fighter and there to protect the grounds and the town.

I wish there had been a little more flushed out of the story. Just a bit more world-building and a little more with the love story and side characters. However, the story was a fast read, packed full of fighting and adventure, and I did find the story entertaining! I liked it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I love this book. It’s so interesting and it kept my attention. It was very easy to just keep reading. I loved Ava and Kayes friendship. Also the enemies to lovers plot was done very well. You could feel Ava’s hate for Zenos. He got what he deserved. The whole book came together really well and I would read this again.

Queer vampire and witch Rapunzel retelling? I was sold from the start!

I loved the two main characters of this book, Ava and Kaye. It couldn't be helped with the dual POV where you get the thoughts of two strong female MCs. I loved watching each of them develop throughout the book, in their strength/leadership and in their ideas of morality in a morally gray situation. Plus the romance was *chefs kiss*. While I was frustrated by their decisions in the middle of the book (as I often feel in YA books), the beginning and the end really pulled through for me in terms of characters!

The world was a super interesting premise that sucked me in. Vampires trapped in a magical forest and witches who hunt them to keep them in their place? Such a cool idea. Unfortunately, that was the extent of the world: just a cool idea. As the story progressed, I was confused by some things parts of the world and also felt like there was a lot of room for development that was never taken advantage of.

Speaking of things that left something to be desired, I also felt disappointed by how easily guessable key plot points were. It definitely suffered from the 'All the Adults are Bad' trope of YA books. And I never came to understand a lot of the motivation for plot progression. I also felt like a lot was left unresolved by the ending. It was a meh plot, at best.

Overall, cool idea, great characters and romance, but a lot that could have been sharpened up to make it a 5 star read in my opinion!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Pr.ess for providing me with an eArc of this book!

This is a cute yet somewhat bloody standalone fantasy about Ava, a vampire, and Kaye, a witch. Ava was turned by her mother and locked away for the past two years to be used by her mother and stepfather. She was actually a witch when she died and was able to keep her powers as a vampire, and her mother is able to siphon her powers to use for herself. Kaye is a Flame witch and has been trained as a vampire hunter. When Ava escapes, Kaye goes after her with the intent to turn her in because she thinks Ava killed her mother, but things get a lil crazy on their journey through the forest.

We have a friends to enemies to lovers situation going on here and a sapphic romance. It took me a little bit to get into it, but it got more and more interesting along the way. Each of the girls has their own POV and they both have great character development - I didn’t always like one of the characters but I understood her motivations and appreciated her by the end. It’s light on the romance but it’s very sweet and I didn’t expect it to end how it did. Standalone fantasies can be difficult to pull off but I think the author did a good job, I think it could have been better as a series though!

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