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.

This book was great for what is was, a YA fantasy romance. I personally enjoyed it!!! I loved the magic and the drama. The connections made to Rapunzel were great!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me access to this story.

I love the cover! It's one of the reasons I requested to read.

The book has a lot of showing and almost no description of characters or anything else for that matter. It was hard to picture without the worldbuilding. I couldn't feel the stakes and it felt like it was just following a formula.

Trigger warning: if you don't like child abuse, I'd avoid this. Ava is manipulated and killed and turned into a vampire by her mother, and that's just the start of her pain.

But if you like books about Queer Rapunzel retelling, witchy and vampire vibes try this one.

Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press and Dreamscape Media for the ARC of this!

I love a queer retelling and in that aspect this didn’t disappoint. A friends to enemies to lovers done right. The end got a little chaotic, I’m not sure it fit with everything we’d been doing up until then. Overall, I thought it was fun though.

I really liked this witch/vampire story! I loved that it was dual POV so we could get inside both Ava and Kaye's heads. I switched between audio and ebook and the audiobook really held my attention. A lot happens in this book and at times, I felt like I couldn't keep up. But, that is also what kept me intrigued and entertained while listening and reading.

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4

I enjoyed this! The Witch and the Vampire is the sapphic, fairy tale (Tangled) inspired, witchy vampire fantasy book that I would have eaten up as a queer teen.

I did have some issues with the execution as an older reader: there was more telling than showing, info dumping instead of thoughtful worldbuilding, some flat characters and mustache-twirling villains, and a world-conspiracy plot twist that you can see coming from a mile away. What really would have elevated this book to a 4 or 5 star for me would have been expanding the nuance on some of the messaging. The book touches on conversations of complicated issues, but could have gone a lot further with things like abusive parents, (bi)racial and national identity, and the gray morality that comes with vampires.

Overall, The Witch and the Vampire delivered on what I was looking for when it comes to fun YA fantasy. It's got an intriguing concept (if a bit derivative), cool magic, a world that was interesting without ever leaving me confused, and a great childhood friends to enemies to lovers dynamic. The angst was super good! Also I love the cover, and the audiobook narration was super solid. If you're in a critical reading mood, this might not be the one for you. But if you like purple prose and girl-power themes like in Alix E. Harrow's books, I think this one could be a win for you! I found The Witch and the Vampire to be a generic and fun time, and I will definitely be recommending this to young adult readers interested in the concept and vampires and witches in general.