I find Blake to be a very emotional read and this book was no exception.

Staggeringly beautiful and atmospheric, the story of witches in modern Era new York created a lovely bit of magical realism.

Very Romeo and juliet, this story of a young woman growing up and moving on from the influence of her family felt very coming of age.

Olivie can do no wrong.

Easily a new favourite of mine. I would describe this as a wonderfully imaginative retelling of Romeo and Juliette, but with magic and some Russian folklore mixed in. Blake weaves the story of two families warring over their domains within New York. On one side, we have the Antanova sisters working for their mother, Baba Yaga, and on the other side, the Federov brothers, for their father known as Koschei the Deathless.

I cannot recommend this book enough!

Thank you NetGalley + publisher for this digital ARC! All opinions are my own.

One for My Enemy was a bit of a let down for me. While the writing was great, the prose wasn’t believable to me that anyone would legitimately speak like that to one another so it felt odd.

I really liked learning about all of Baba Yaga’s daughters and their talents - a book about each would be something I’d be VERY interested in.

Ultimately this felt like Succession x Fantastic Beasts with a Russian twist despite being set in NYC? It was a neither here nor there read for me and I felt like I kind of had to slog through it. Sorry :(

I think Olivie Blake's books and I just don't completely gel. She has so much to recommend her. There is beautiful writing and compelling ideas. There are some gorgeous scenes with great dramatic imagery and generally really strong pacing but I have yet to completely be won over by her characters and her settings often feel vague to me. Since this one was set in New York and relied on a lot of folklore that I happen to be a be a huge fan of. It didn't feel very New York or very Russian (or immigrant Russian) to me. I'm sure other people will like this more, and if you loved the Atlas Six, I think there's a lot of the interpersonal dynamics here that will be enjoyable, but it ended up falling slightly flat for me.

This was a wild book, partially built around Baba Yaga lore, but largely about a turf war between rival witch factions with a dash of Romeo and Juliet thrown in. I do not know much about Baba Yaga, but I did recognize all the main players in the book, Koschei the Deathless and his sons the Fedorov brothers versus Baba Yaga and the Antonva sisters. There's bad blood between the families, and by the time the story begins, it's blown up into all out war. While Baba Yaga and Koschei are keen to remain enemies, their children are not all of the same mind, fueling further misunderstandings and conflicts. I enjoyed this book, it got confusing at times since there's so much going on, but the characters are fantastic and the plot turned into something I didn't expect at all.

I swear that Olivie Blake did it again. I don't always know how to feel about her stories after I finish them. They are always interesting with messages that are important...but I don't know if I necessarily enjoy them as I read. The writing is amazing and the story was intriguing. I'm glad I read it and I will probably keep reading her stories in the future.

ONE FOR MY ENEMY is a very confusing book to review ... at least for me. I didn't really know anything about this book going in other than that it made reference to Koschei the Deathless (which interested me because of Deathless), and that the author was wildly famous for writing THE ATLAS SIX (which I have not yet read, and now am uncertain I want to).

This book is. Something. I'm not sure what. Was I supposed to like it? Was I supposed to hate it? Was I supposed to find it a tragedy or a romance or both? I wasn't sure then, and I'm still not sure now that I've let the book sit for a few hours. There are so many things about this book that I wanted to like, or that typically wouldn't bother me if I was reading something of a different genre, but that just didn't seem to make sense for this book. It was much too long for the story it wanted to tell (apparently it began as a short story, and I'm not sure all the additions were necessary). There were a LOT of characters introduced in the 'cast of characters' blurb at the start, but less than half were relevant to the plot. And there was just. so. many. endings. This book could have ended at least three times before it actually ended, and it FELT LIKE IT SHOULD HAVE EACH TIME. (view spoiler)

Yet, I found myself interested enough in the concept to finish the book, so....

Is that good? Who can say

Olivie Blake’s books, even when dark and twisted, even when dramatic and tragic veering on corny (a true sweet spot) are fun. Which is why I keep reading them. One for My Enemy is the twisted love stories of Marya and Dimitri, and Sasha and Lev. Marya and Sasha are two of Baba Yaga’s daughters, a shadowy witch with a far-reaching empire in the magical New York. Dimitri and Lev are two of the sons of Koschei the Deathless, Yaga’s rivals. Twelve years ago, Marya and Dimitri parted, committed to their families, while Lev and Sasha have only just met.

And it goes spectacularly poorly. The Antonov women, daughters of Baba Yaga, are devoted to the destruction of the Fedorov men, sons of Koschei. A violent, macabre, tragic story - but very fun. You want some desperate love stories set amongst a magical war, drug smuggling, and murder? This is for you.

One For My Enemy
Thank you netgalley for an ARC :)

Like in her other works, Olivie Blake writes character dynamics that kept me hooked and turning the page. Both the familial and the romantic relationships are easily the strongest parts of the story. I loved how painful some of those dynamics were and I know I like characters when I find myself thinking that I would read a lot of pages just about their everyday interactions.

The tension between characters is helpful in setting up the conflict but doesn’t quite carry it— a lot of the book is lovely prose but not a lot of action, and the resolution feels quite rushed. More room to breathe at the end of everything would have made this SO much better for me. That said, I still highly recommend it to anyone who is a fan of things with Romeo and Juliet vibes, messy sibling relationships, and modern day witches

Olivie Blake is a fabulous writer. I didn't realize going in that this was another Romeo and Juliet retelling, but she puts her own spin on it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Publishing for the ARC.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

This is a really tricky one for me. I absolutely adored The Atlas Six and The Atlas Paradox so I had really high hopes for this one; but it didn't totally work for me. I thought the character work was well done, but I had a hard time really connecting with any of the characters. Another issue I had was that it felt like it was longer than it needed to be; there was just a lot going on and a lot of tangential plots that didn't really seem all that necessary to the story. The stakes felt lower than they should be given the atmosphere of the book. The magic system also felt like it needed more elaboration, especially given what was being accomplished with it.

I do love Olivie's writing style, and I felt like there were aspects of the book that were very good, but unfortunately this one just didn't quite work for me. I'll definitely be checking out her other books still, and I think I would recommend that people check this one out because I'm sure there are many people who would really enjoy this story.

I have to say that this book has absolutely captivated me!!! The tension between the two rival clans and the burning passion between the main characters consumes every page. You will be utterly hooked! Olivie Blake does a spectacular job of building up this intricate and complex world filled with all things forbidden and magical. If you love witches and a fantastic turn on enemies to lovers, then this is the book for you!

One for My Enemy is chaotic and its only saving grace is the authors skill with prose. I really hope that an editor goes over this again before they publish it because there is so much potential, but it's buried under nonsensical sentences, inconsistent characters/ pacing, lack of a set magic system or vital background information that would give us context for the current setting. While the author has some very quotable lines scattered throughout the book, the foundations of the story are lackluster at best.

Inconsistent Characters
-Baba Yaga/ Koschei: These two are the reason the families are pitted against each other and we don't get any information about them as characters until we're over a third of the way into the story. I can't buy into the animosity between these families with no emotion from these two or any context. Koschei literally hid in the shadows in a basement and was only pulled out to be slightly developed for plot convenience half-way through. Considering how much of the flimsy excuse of a plot is centered on them you would expect more effort would go into creating these characters.
-Sasha: Youngest daughter, sole child who went to school which seems important to her. Is only part of the public portion of her mother's underground business. She's protected from the negative aspects by her eldest sister Masha. You get this sense of innocence/ sweetness being portrayed and then suddenly she's breaking a guy's face and then jumps right into the nitty grittiness of the dark side of the business, abandoning school, with no preamble? Where is the growth? The emotional aspect of abandoning post-secondary for your family whims and vendetta's? We jumped from point A to point B with no tangible development, and it irked me. *Sidenote: Sasha had to remind herself not to tuck her thumb into her fist while throwing a punch but "The bones of his face splintered beneath her knuckles" is ridiculous. If it's a broken nose it should be the crunch of cartilage, otherwise I think she broke his jaw or cheek bone which is, once again, ridiculous.

Pacing:
-The first 25% of this book was a mess. While it should have been utilized to set the foundations of the story it felt like we were just witnessing the author decide on where she wanted to go with it. There was little consistency.
-Many of the characters didn't start developing until almost halfway through the story. Koschei was just a shadow in the basement. All of Sasha's other sister's were ignored until they become a key point for the plot to go forward. Roman was the spark of this disaster to take off but we didn't get to see it unfold, we were simply told that it happened off page and we don't actually get to see him develop. He was flat until he was tossed in fully formed into the story like Athena jumping out of Zeus's head trying to claim credit for things that didn't naturally align with what we're reading.

Lack of a Magic System:
-This story centres around witches and their power which comes from their magic. So, it stands to reason we should have a basic idea of how it works, right? Apparently not. Magical creatures and items are mentioned but never given any history. We have shadow creatures that are mentioned at the beginning of the story that aren't utilized until the very end. There's mention of other realms but once again that isn't actually shown until the last few chapters.
-What is the source of their magic? We're told that Baba Yaga has a bunch of herbs hanging in the kitchen and uses them in bath bombs and stuff so I'm thinking potions. However, later you see them use innate magic saying that it's all in the blood so organs like kidneys are a strong source of it? Then the sisters have specific powers that no one else seem to have, why? Just to make them more conveniently powerful?
-We are granted a little paragraph that goes like:
"That's an Old World law"....
"It is... my daughters...know their history, their origins, what makes them witches"
Okay, that's nice that they hold this information off-page, but would you mind sharing it with us?! Considering these laws are what trigger the main tragedy and the ruination of the families you think we would have a little more insight of the gravity of them. Yet, they don't seem to be magically enforced, or have any notable significance aside from tradition? It makes all that unfolds after seem pitifully asinine.

The basic foundations of One for My Enemy were terribly neglected. Having someone in the editing process make a timeline of the plot and see how everything actually unfolds, without the prose in the way, might solidify the events in a more intelligible manner. Please put the effort in to give us context! Without it a large portion of what happens is just done out of plot convenience creating a disconnect with the reader. The concept of the "Old World" holds immense potential and it's a shame to see it go to waste. While the prose itself was good it wasn't enough for me to salvage One for My Enemy. As it currently stands, I wouldn't be recommending it to anyone.

Blake's signature prose and complex characters drew me in once again! A unique take on modern day witches. Atlas Six fans will enjoy this one too!

I'm so happy I am able to submit a review for this book because I loved it immensely. I had the chance to read the initial publication of this book early this year and it was phenomenal. I loved the complexity of the story and the familiar nods to our favourite star-crossed lovers. However, this Blake takes this familiar trope and makes it her own by infusing it with dark realistic fantasy, political/familiar drama and a lot of unexpected twists and turns. I loved everything about this book from the morally grey characters to the lush writing style associated with Blake. Also, it's rare to find a well-crafted "one-shot" and I was extremely satisfied with how she chose to end the novel despite stressing over the situations the characters were finding themselves in. If you are remotely intrigued by the premise or loved her other works, this is one that should be added to your TBR list. Thank you for providing me with a copy of this novel, I'm extremely grateful and now am going to pick this book up for the third time this year.