Olivie Blake committed witchcraft on me and I'm totally okay with it. In fact, I welcome it. One For My Enemy is an urban fantasy retelling of Romeo & Juliet, and although this story is well known I was blown away. I fell in love with Marya, Dima, Sasha, and Lev to the point where when they hurt, I hurt. When they cried, I cried. The betrayal, heartbreak, and love was deeply felt. I could not recommend this book more than enough, and the audiobook made my reading experience better.

Reading Blake's backlist has been a joy, and this is no exception. This twist on Romeo & Juliet manages to stay true to the story while also being surprising and twisty -- despite it being one of the most common tales known. The depth within the characters, the journey that they make together... It really lures you forward and becomes a "can't put this down" tale. I'm really excited for all the new readers to access it in this audiobook format, which was well read.

“Hate and love were so very similar. Both were intestinal, visceral. Both left scars, vestiges of pain.”

Thank you Olivie Blake, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

In New York City, two rival witch families fight for the upper hand. The Antonova sisters are beautiful, cunning and ruthless, and their mother - known only as Baba Yaga - is the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants. Their adversaries, the influential Fedorov brothers, serve their crime boss father. Named Koschei the Deathless, his enterprise dominates the shadows of magical Manhattan. For twelve years, the families have maintained a fraught stalemate. Then everything is thrown into disarray. Bad blood carries them to the brink of disaster, even as fate draws together a brother and sister from either side. Yet the siblings still struggle for power, and internal conflicts could destroy each family from within. That is, if the enmity between empires doesn't destroy both sides first.

I love Olivie Blake’s writing style. One For My Enemy is a Romeo & Juliet retelling with crime families and magic. I really enjoyed this audiobook. Ferdelle Capistrano’s narration was fantastic. This audiobook is almost 16 hours long and the narrator kept me engaged the entire time. I definitely recommend giving this audiobook a listen!

“The past is nothing. We are everything.”

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I thoroughly enjoyed this loose re-telling of Romeo and Juliet. Blake’s writing was gorgeous.

In this story, the Antonovas and Fedorovs are two rival New York City witch families. They could coexist in the city for over a decade while maintaining control of their ventures. However, that ends when the Fedorovs tempts to disrupt the Antonovas business.

I fell in love with the characters, the beautiful prose, and the magic elements. I loved that the novel was much more straightforward than Blake’s other novels.

I’m so glad I listened to this as an audiobook. The narrator brought this to life!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the audiobook arc!
4.5

Absolutely one of my favorite reads so far this year! Olivia Blake has earned her spot as an automatic read for me. I am always a sucker for a retelling, especially a Romeo and Juliet one.

I decided not to finish this book. I got about 20% through, and realized it’s just not a book I’m interested enough in to continue reading. The writing was great, and I think other people will enjoy this, but it just wasn’t for me.

Huge Olivie Blake fan right here. I love her fanfic and I'm a huge fan of her published work as well. There's something about her writing style and ability to tell a story that always captivates me.

One for My Enemy is a mash up of Practical Magic, Romeo + Juliet, and the Baby Yaga. It takes place in New York City where we are introduced to rival witch families who have kept their peace until blood is spilled.

THE. DRAMA.

There is so much involved with this story! You have starcrossed lovers, magic, aching hearts, treason, death, rivalry, witches, melodrama, and SO much more.

There are SO many twists in this story, that I really enjoyed being kept on edge. Not knowing what was happening next is always a plus for me when I'm reading something.

My only issue was the pacing at the end of the book. It was like the resolution was dragged out just to make it dramatic. The drama at points felt unnecessary but it's all for the melodrama of the story. The characters are well developed, although pronouncing their names were fun for me. I think getting to know certain characters more would've helped develop the story more deeply, but it was still fun being introduced to so many interesting....witches.

Definitely recommend everyone pick this one up and form their own opinion. It's a wild ride and so unique, plus the writing style is so magical.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and Author for an advanced copy and sending the audiobook!

4.5/5
I didn't quite know what to expect from this since I hadn't enjoyed Blake's work in the past, but this was probably my most pleasant surprise of the year and ticked all my boxes!
ONE FOR MY ENEMY is the lovechild of Tolstoy and Shakespeare, raised by Chloe Gong and having binged an awful lot of CHARMED.
Messy family dynamics? Checked
Underground magic crime? Checked
Enemies to lovers? Angst? Yearning? Tension? CHECKED, CHECKED AND CHECKED.
This was truly written with me as the target audience in mind.

I loved the audiobook narration and thought it really helped the story come to life, but I'm not sure if I could quite believe all the Russian name pronunciations (eye-van my behated)

Magical and Mesmerizing!!!
Oh my goodness this was absolutely fantastic! Not only was the story spellbinding but the Ferdelle Capistrano‘s performance was so captivating! Reading this audiobook felt like I was watching a Broadway Play in my head!

“One for my Enemy” follows 2 rival witch families in modern day NYC. Both families are extremely powerful and have a very dangerous criminal history. As they fight to maintain control their empires begin to unravel - making everyone question their loyalty and motivations. Full of magic, action, loyalty, family secrets, betrayal, forbidden love and heartbreak - “One for my Enemy” is an absolute must read.


Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Genre: contemporary fantasy

A modern day Romeo and Juliet with Russian mafia witches. This clever retelling is set against a backdrop of modern New York, with dangerous magic and even more dangerous political alliances. One For My Enemy takes the familiar tale of Romeo and Juliet, and sets up two powerful rival families: the Antonova Sisters, led by their mother who goes by Baba Yaga, and the Fedorov Brothers, led by their father Koschei the Deathless.

While none of the characters themselves are in the YA age range, this book reads a little like darker YA. (Or perhaps that’s a personal association to Romeo and Juliet.) I enjoyed the story, though, at nearly sixteen hours, the audiobook felt on the longer side. But, the plot keeps moving with twists and turns as the eldest Antonova, heir to her mother’s power, is killed by the middle Fedorov, who only wants to prove to his own father that he is the one who deserves to inherit. Sibling dynamics play a key role in One For My Enemy. Ultimately, we get a bittersweet yet satisfying ending, appropriate to that of a Romeo and Juliet retelling.

I loved reading this book in its text form, the audiobook, not so much.

Unfortunately the story and the narrator just weren't a match for me. The way she did the different character voices made me cringe, and at times felt like a mockery of peoples voices (when reading reviews of yelpers).
Even when she was narrating the parts that weren't dialogue, her delivery was just meh. The delivery felt cheesy and I had to stop listening.

I want to reiterate that I loved, the book itself. I read an arc and couldn't put it down, so I was sure I'd enjoy the audiobook but wow, the narrator just made it impossible.

DNF 52%
congrats to one for my enemy for being one of the first book that made me want to not continue.
giving an extra star because i like the prose and the premise had SO MUCH of being amazing. but i just couldn’t connect or feel invested in the story. maybe i’ll continue it another day 🙁

I really enjoyed this book, I haven't read Olive Blake before, but I've heard many good things about her writing, and I have to say this definitely live up to it. One for My Enemy was intoxicating story with a great ensemble of characters. I loved the witchy element to this retelling I honestly couldn't get enough. I will be reading more from her here on out.

thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to experience this story..

Olivie Blake could write about microwaveable meals and I would read it voraciously. One for My Enemy is no different from other Blake works—fresh, interesting, irresistible, and beautiful.

A modern, witchy, magical retelling of Romeo and Juliet, OFME is un-put-down-able. If you love, like, or even mildly tolerate the enemies to lovers trope, this is for you.

I didn’t see the ending coming. I’m familiar with Romeo and Juliet, of course, but the end still caught me off guard in the best way.

I’ll be recommending One for My Enemy to many of my patrons and putting it forward as a pick for our adult book club. It gets a 5/5 from me.

Thank to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Date: April 4, 2023

I just love Olivie Blake's writing. This one started off a little slow for me but wow did it build. Her writing is so descriptive, and emotional, and poetic. I love the super strong and smart, don't mess with me female lead who had everything figured out.

For the most part the audio narrator was very good, great voices and emotion and speed. There were a few spots when she was just reading the narration in the beginning/middle that the cadence and tempo started to bother me, but then I either got used to it or it was more dialogue and thoughts so it didn't happen as much or I just got so sucked into the story I didn't notice anymore.

This audiobook is insanely good. I will officially listen to anything Ferdelle Capistrano narrates, and read anything Olivie Blake writes.

I am not usually a fan of Romeo and Juliet retellings or spin offs (or I guess just the forbidden lovers trope), but this was so captivating and so different that I loved it so much. I wish we got more of their individual magic explained but not enough to make this less than 5 stars.

Overall this was fantastic. I can’t wait to see what’s next! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me listen early.

I found this to be a difficult read as an audiobook - the list of characters was long, it would have been worth it to have a cast of people to portray the characters, because it was hard to keep up with the characters, their nicknames AND which tone was used for which person.

I also found that the play format did not work for me - being dropped into some of the conversations between characters like they were already established proved to be quite difficult with the issues mentioned above. I may try reading this as a physical book instead.

Unfortunately I wasn’t a big fan of this book or the narrator . The idea is incredible but it definitely needed better execution.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review the book !

Well, it had to happen, I finally have come across an Olivie Blake book that I didn't love.

So, I think this is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, but not having read that play, I don't actually know? But I'm pretty sure. So, a retelling, set in a magical New York. And it just didn't work for me. I found it confusing, as there were a ton of characters, all of whom had at least two, but usually three names, and then lots of people dying, but are they really dead? It was also loosely based on Russian folktales, I believe? Both families had Russian names and the matriarch of the one family was Baba Yaga. I'm not sure if it is the confusion of characters, or the writing, or what, but I just could not care about what was happening in this story. It was a struggle.

To be honest, it was a stretch to give it 3 stars, but I bumped it up for the uniqueness of it, which I do hope worked for some folks.

One for My Enemy is a captivating Romeo and Juliet retelling with a modern and magical spin. The Antonova sisters and the Fedorov brothers are both vying for control of the magical underworld of Manhattan. The two families are equally matched in terms of power, with each family controlling their respective criminal empires. Like in Romeo and Juliet the theme of family loyalty versus love is central to the story. The power struggles, betrayals and shifting alliances made this book impossible to put down.