The first thing you’ll need to know about ONE FOR MY ENEMY is that I can, very easily, declare that this is my favorite Olivie Blake novel that I’ve read so far. It has so many elements that rank high on my personal preference scale: funny asides and witty commentary; an interesting cast of characters with an intricate web of complex relationships; nods to other tales, particularly of the fairytale and Shakespearean variety; a clever plot that twisted just a little bit in an unexpected way every single time I thought I’d figured out where it was going. I knew very early on that this was a book that I was going to enjoy, and luckily, from start to finish, this hunch was indeed proven correct. With every book of hers that I’ve read, it gets clearer to me that Blake knows how to tell a captivating tale – and I can’t wait to pick up another one of her stories.

A lush urban fantasy retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. This novel is chock full of all the high drama of the original story, merged with the crime and revenge of The Godfather. I genuinely wasn’t sure how these two genres would blend, but it was really the perfect combination. I especially thought styling the novel in the same format as the original play was brilliant. As for the romance, I enjoyed both of the love stories that featured in this story. I loved how sharp and clever Marya and Shasha were, and how gentle and loyal Dima and Lev were. And the dialogue – I laughed out loud so many times! Romeo & Juliet is a story that’s been retold many times, but I’m so glad this version got a re-release so that I could discover it.

I enjoyed the main characters in this book, I thought they were interesting and engaging and had great chemistry. I did however, not feel anything for any of the other characters which kept it difficult to stay interested the whole time. I liked the witchy NYC twist on Romeo and Juliet!

I had such a fun time while reading One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake. It was a rollercoaster of a ride. This felt very much like an Olivie Blake book and I feel like it's going to be very much a loved or disliked book. I overall enjoyed it.

The characters were well flushed out and you couldn't help but root for some of them while wishing the absolute worse for others. It's very much like other Olivie Blake books were she lingers a lot on certain details and makes certain scenes make you feel like you're there.

I will definitely be recommending this book to people who enjoy ~vibes~

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a little hesitant going into this book because the last couple books I read by this author, while enjoyable, were heavy on the pretty prose and a little light on plot. However, this book has both the pretty prose that seems to be Blake’s strong point, and a recognizable plot. In fact, this book has sooo much plotting. Everyone is plotting against someone, and then deciding to plot against someone else with someone else, and then shifting allegiances. It sounds like a lot, but it’s pretty easy to follow.

As a lot of reviewers point out, the Lev/Sasha romance comes about real quick, but I’m not totally opposed to that. Romeo and Juliet’s romance (an inspiration for this book) was also pretty quick. My one little issue, I suppose, was how just about every male character is basically in love with Marya. I mean… everyone? Come on.

The ending, while heart wrenching, was also satisfying. And, as an aside, I can’t be the only one that wants a book on Bridge and his activities, right? I think that would be real fun.

One day I hope I can love one of Blake's book without any complicated or mixed feelings about it. But we've yet to have that day, it seems.

Having said that though I think this is the closest I've gotten so far? Maybe? It's certainly less pretentious and academic, with an ensemble I sometimes like but often times don't, than THE ATLAS SIX (and it's sequel); and certainly less pretentious and strange than ALONE WITH YOU IN THE ETHER, and.. well, that sums it up.

ONE FOR MY ENEMY is a little more straight-forward and other than being a classic retelling there isn't much pretension at all. Plus not only was it Shakespearean at it's core but it also had the delightful bonus of Russian/Slavic folktales with the inclusion of the Baba Yaga and Koschei monikers. So that was fun. Oh, also? Witches. There's a lot of good going on here. And we open with quite a bang.

But.. I'll admit things did get a little too drawn out, too same-y (take a shot every time someone meets up with The Bridge for a deal.. wait don't that happens every other page), and even though there was a bit of a wind-up for a big reveal at the end, this big grand master plan, I felt we'd lost too much momentum right before it all came clear. So it kind of pfft fell flat.

Admittedly, too, I only felt invested in two characters. Masha and Dima were everything. The antagonists were successfully antagonists and that's good, sure, fine, but everyone else we were supposed to like or root for (mostly Sasha, Lev was okay) I just.. didn't. Maybe because it was insta-lovey? And they were very dramatic. Which I guess ties into the whole R&J angle. And now that I think about it I wonder if Masha and Dima were Blake's way of writing a better R&J story. Because it was. It was so much better.

So the set-up and all the references or homages? Good. The unique take so it didn't feel like a direct retelling? Even better. The twisty familial ties and bonds? Fun because neither side were the "good" guys. And those aforementioned characters? Insert heart here. But it was definitely too long, or too drawn out, and there was too much death and too much not death (IYKYK).

Also I feel like halfway through the story I had forgotten Baba Yaga's whole motivation slash enterprise goal unless it was just general New York/world dominion. Which kind of ties into the whole what was known to the world vs not when it comes to magic and creatures. As much as it felt like there was a setting, though not really in the sense that I always knew this was happening in New York (often I would convince myself this was in Moscow because of all the names and fairytale references), I'm not sure I really grasped the world.

But of all the Blake titles referenced above? This might be the one I would recommend. It's the one book I've left feeling more good than not about.. even if I rambled complaints and confusions for the last few paragraphs. For all that I wasn't sold on all the bits, it still manages to pass the vibe check.

3.5 stars

I DNF'd this one about halfway through. I think I'll try it again with a finished copy. I really liked the play like structure and format of the story. I just struggled to connect with the characters

This story is the perfect tale of revenge, and feels like modern day Shakespeare. The twists left me guessing at every turn, and the characters are so incredibly believable. I kept changing my mind on who to root for as the story went on, and fell in love with the characters by the end.

If you're looking for a book with two families who hate each other, but maybe have a chance at redemption, this is the story for you. The characters are violent, morally gray, and will do anything for their families, even at a cost. I loved every minute of it.

Olivie Blake has a beautiful talent for prose. My only complaint is how heavy that can be sometimes—if you have a good head for literary fiction, you’ll probably like this.

Beautiful. Modern Romeo & Juliet as contemporary witches using old, nythological names and drug dealing <3. Olivie can do no wrong.

I enjoyed this modern and paranormal retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The writing was very well done and I liked that the story was written in what felt like to me a mixture of novel and play format. The world building and characters were interesting! If you enjoy retellings, this one is definitely one executed perfectly. The only thing I didn't love was the the relationship felt a little instalove/lust to me and I enjoy a little more slow burn, but that is completely my opinion and preference!

Do you want to hear a first world reader problem with today’s booming SFF publishing industry? Way too often I find myself late to pick up a book by an author who is clearly widely popular and has been for a few years. Such is the case with Olivie Blake. Have I heard of “The Atlas Six” series? Yes. Do I even have a few eARCs of the books in that series on my Kindle now? Also, yes. Have I yet read and reviewed any of those books on the blog? Nope! Alas, there are just too many great books and great authors out there to stay on top of it all! So, instead of committing myself to a series, I thought I’d dip my toes into this author’s work by jumping on the re-release of one of her previously published books, “One for My Enemy,” a Romeo and Juliet retelling.

In the borroughs of New York City, witches and magic are closely monitored by the Council. That is, all except two shadowy and powerful witches: Baba Yaga, who creates powerful, hallucinogenic drugs, and Koschei the Deathless, who operates a shadow organization of favor-doing and debt-calling. Years ago, these two families fell into a dispute, and years later, it continues to play out on the street between the dueling families, each vying for power and control over the underground magical industry. Caught in these ebbs and flows of vengeance and retribution, the children of Baba Yaga and Koschei must decide where their loyalties truly lie and just how much they are willing to sacrifice to this ongoing war.

So, I’ll admit, I was a bit wary when I went into this book purely based on the “Romeo and Juliet” re-telling part. For one thing, I’ve read Chloe Gong’s “Romeo and Juliet”/modern gangster family duology and didn’t really love it. I’m not a “everything has to be rainbows and flowers” reader, but I also struggle to read a story where I’m being asked to become invested in two characters and their love story when I know it’s going to end in tragedy. There has to be more going on to make that feel worth my time, and in Gong’s case, there wasn’t. BUT! I’m happy to say that Blake has somehow caught magic in a bottle here and written a “Romeo and Juliet” story that both feels in-line with the original, but is also totally unique and not a total bummer of a read.

For one thing, there are no exact equivalents to Romeo and Juliet themselves. Indeed, there are two main couples in this book, and at various points throughout the story (some of it even taking place in references to past events), they all swap in and out of the roles of these two characters. There would be scenes and even lines that would directly reference the original play, but then a few pages later, a different character/couple would take on these roles. It was an interesting method that not only felt like a breath of fresh air to a classic story that has been retold countless times, but it also left me guessing as to what was going to come next. Very quickly, I came to understand that my knowledge of how “Romeo and Juliet” plays out in the actual play would give me next to zero hints as to how this story was going to go.

I also really liked the romance itself in this book. All told, there was actually a lot more romance than I has been expecting. It’s clearly an urban fantasy novel, but there were bits of it that read in a very similar manner to a romance novel. Nothing is overly explicit, but the author devotes a decent amount of page time and dialogue to the romantic dynamics and emotional aspects. This is in no way a dig, but it definitely had the rather flowery, dramatic proclamations and inner monologues that one comes to expect from romance novels. I also have to admit that one of the romances was a bit insta-lovey, but honestly, it didn’t bother me here. I think that’s because while the romance plays a big role, the story is equally (if not more!) concerned with the relationships between siblings, and most importantly, between parents and their children. Who would have expected any of that from “Romeo and Juliet??” Definitely not me!

Furthermore, I really liked the way Russian mythology and New York ganger fiction played into this. I’m honestly a bit bewildered by how Blake managed to juggle three very different types of books/genres and still come out with something that feels polished and organic. Baba Yaga and Koschei are both huge characters in Russian folklore with tons of background and fables exist to support them. Beyond that, we also had references to Ivan and other Russian fairytale characters. There were a lot of sly little Easter Eggs dropped here and there for readers who are familiar with those stories.

Overall, “One for My Enemy” was nothing like what I was expecting, and I loved it all the more for that fact. The writing could be a bit flowery and overwrought at times, but other than that quibble, I think this is a superb urban fantasy, especially those looing for a healthy dose of romance and family drama.

Rating 9: Heart-wrenching and sly, this “Romeo and Juliet” re-telling takes the original story and turns it on its head, adding in a healthy dose of Russian folklore and New York gangster fiction. A supreme work of modern fantasy fiction!

Link will go live April 5

I wanted to enjoy this book so badly. It's not that it's bad, because it isn't, and I believe I will have a lot of success with it as a reader's advisory librarian, but it was not to my personal taste. The cheeky nods to nonconformity and teases about heteronormativity and toxic masculinity in a book about a star-crossed straight romance following a failed star-crossed straight romance based on a straight romance that never was because of toxic masculinity felt incredibly disingenuous, like the author trying to appeal to people on the basis of diversity without including any actual diversity.

The world, characters, plot and story were all believable and addicting. Holy cow can she write! I can’t believe that this isn’t all over the internet and everyone talking about it.

Olivie blake had the capability to destroy me with the mere words. I am so in love with her writing style. Not only it’s so beautiful but the same time has the capacity to make one feel all the emotions and the rush in one single go. If I would have to encapsulate my reading time for this book with one single word, without a shadow of doubt I would say, APRICITY!

Couldn't get into this book. I had way too many things to read at once, so some fell through the cracks. Will be slowing down a bit.

*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review*

This book was hard for me to get through. There were so many sisters/brothers, and they all had long Russian sounding names that also came with nicknames. While I got used to it after a while, it was originally difficult to keep them straight. Added on to the fact that it was very very blatantly meant to be a sort of Romeo and Juliet retelling, which I found a bit too heavy handed at times. I did enjoy the multitude of plots going on, and Sasha might be my favorite character, but I wanted more explanation for things that were just brushed off.

Olivie blake is the woman, the myth and the legend. Because I don’t seem to have any other explanation. I can’t put it into words how much I love her writing. I absolutely how raw, and gritty both the characters as well as the writing was. And the way, she interweaves them with so much emotion has me in sheer awe. It’s undoubtedly going to my top reads.

OK. Love, love, Olivia Blake---the Atlas 6 series was creative, perfectly-paced, intelligent and kept me guessing. But this wasn't my favorite; the not-even-thinly-veiled Romeo and Juliet plot felt forced and trope-y, and the constant machinations and miscues from many characters overly complicated and frustrating. I also felt the instant love between Sasha and Lev to be a little precarious (did they ever have a conversation?). That said, Blake is skilled at character development and her plot twists are well planned. I'll look forward to her next one.

Another fantastic read by Olivie Blake! She has become an auto buy author for me since I have loved everything she has ever put out. The pure excitement I felt when receiving this copy was unreal and I am so lucky! Cannot wait to hand-sell this to customers in April!