Reviews with content warning for Blood - One for My Enemy

Reviews tagging 'Blood'

One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake

23 reviews

erinreadsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

What a fantastic roller coaster of a book. The plot drove relentlessly forward, the main cast of characters were clearly outlined from the beginning but were filled in as the story progressed, and the foreboding air of tragedy hung above the whole time but didn’t fall predictably. It really did feel like reading a tragic play; the focus was entirely on the characters and their relationships and histories and the worldbuilding really only consisted of “vaguely moody New York City but with some witchcraft”. I didn’t mind the sparse setting details seeing as the plot was so active I never felt bored. The stakes were high and the tensions were higher and I enjoyed watching things fall apart and get rebuilt as everything spiraled into tragedy.

Read if you like dramatic tragedies with both poetic speeches and also realistic dialogue.

Content Warnings

e_riahh's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

nataliebootlah's review

Go to review page

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Lovers to enemies. Enemies to lovers.
A modern day Romeo and Juliet retelling complete with family drama and forbidden relationships, plus quite a few twists thrown into the mix. The story revolves around two powerful witch clans who have been rivals for over a decade: the Antonovas and the Fedorovs.

The characters felt realistic, multi-faceted, and thankfully, developed without being entirely predictable. Which was great, especially since I’m not a huge play-lover so the characters are ultimately what kept me tuned in. But I did enjoy being surprised multiple times for a retelling!

This is my third book by Blake and each time I’m reminded that I love how she writes—always so poetic.

Content Warnings

mrs_bastos's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

karenreadsbooks's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Olivie Blake, what have you done to me? You took me on a roller coaster ride and broke my heart and pieced it together and broke it again. Over and over.

The foundation of this story was Romeo and Juliet, but this is a story completely on its own, though it is enhanced by the comparisons with the play.

Back stabbing and betrayal, loyalty and family, and love. So much contained within these pages. I cried. I underlined and annotated so many pages.

Content Warnings

_heytamsin's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

slowglow's review

Go to review page

dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

This book had a really cool premise and cool ideas, and the writing style is dry but it definitely fits the vibes of the story. All is fine in that regard. My complaint comes with the ending, and maybe it's just because I didn't have to read Romeo and Juliet in high school (so I've never read it) but the ending just felt way out of left field for me-- like I had no clue where the story was going for the last quarter of the book, and then when the ending did come it wasn't satisfactory. I was very baffled by it, and not in the good way.

I was expecting two of them to die, but the set up and the reasoning behind it just didn't make the deaths feel justified, at least for me.

I can see the audience for this and I get why it had so much hype and I really did have a good time reading it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.

Content Warnings