Reviews with content warning for Suicide - One For My Enemy

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

One For My Enemy by Olivie Blake

42 reviews

eatallthestars's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad fast-paced

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

3.25

I would rate higher but it just didn't have that 'spark' for my personal taste of books. Absolutely fantastic book for anyone a fan of Romeo&Juliet rewrites.

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carrie_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny medium-paced

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

3.5

I absolutely loved Sasha scaring the shit out of Roma - I was laughing so hard I couldn't handle it.

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e_riahh's review against another edition

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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

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nataliebootlah's review against another edition

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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.

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farfromsarah's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

I liked this book but I feel like it didn’t really know what it was trying to be, the closest thing I can compare it to is Shakespearian tragedy (not that I’ve read much of that). It was entirely character driven which I usually like but I felt the lack of a plot goal made it feel very unstructured and ungrounded. However Olivie Blake, as always, is a master in character writing and that is something that does not fall flat here. RIP the lack of banter though.

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jnaeraeshele's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

THIS. BOOK. WAS. SO. GOOD. All I knew about this book was that it was a Romeo and Juliet retelling and honestly, I think that's all you need to know. Reading this book was soooo much fun! I don't know if it's because it's an urban fantasy or what but I found this book to be easily comprehensible. Like I was able to understand at least 90% of what was going on in this book which says a lot because I feel like with a lot of fantasy books it can be really hard to grasp so I do recommend this book if someone is just starting fantasy.

I love the romance in this book!

The other romance. Dima and Masha literally own my heart! I LOVE them! Now THAT'S enemies to lovers. I will be chasing a romance like Dima and Masha's in every enemies-to-lovers book I read. I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! I honestly wanted this whole book to be about them. Don't get me wrong, I did like Lev and Sasha but they weren't "epic" to me. And Sasha got on my nerves sometimes. The stakes didn't seem high for them to me, and I think that was purposefully done because it is made clear in many ways, especially with the ending which coupe was THE epic romance. Ughhhh! I just LOVE them so much! I feel teary-eyed even thinking about them! I'm still not over them!🤧❤️

This is my first Olvie Blake, but and I here her writing changes depending on the book, but I just have to say I really enjoyed the writing in this book. It's been a hot minute since I've read a book with flowery and lyrical writing and reading her book made me realize just how much I missed reading writing like that. Here are some quotes that I like:

"No. No. Masha, I am my own man."..........."Why didn't you let me choose you?"........."I would have gone to you, Masha, if you'd asked. You would've only had to ask, and I would have chosen you over everything." - Dima (pg 102)

"I love you,"........."I will always love you, I will love you until the day I die—and if you're the one to kill me, then by all means, you should know without a trace of doubt that you will not have turned me away. I will have spent the final beat of my heart loving you, just as I always have. Only you, Masha,".........."Only you, forever, I promise." - Dima (pg 102)😭💔(how do you not fall in love with them after this?!)

"I want you," he murmured, twinning her fingers with his, "and you have me so easily, without lifting a finger. But don't use me." - Lev (pg 147)😟

"Sashenka," Marya said, "you are not incomplete because a piece of your heart is gone. You are you, an entire whole, all on your own. If you have loved and been loved, then you can only be richer for it —you don't become a smaller version of yourself simply because what you once had is gone. " (pg 252)
Hate and love were really not so different, Ivan thought. He wondered if Koschei and Baba Yaga knew it just as well—that hate and love were so very similar. Both were intestinal, visceral. Both left scars, vestiges of pain. Hate could not be born from a place of difference. Hate was only born from the opposite sides of the same coin.

And the conversation that Bryn and his mother have about love (on page 400 is freaking hilarious😂

Now, the criticisms of this book are valid. I understand why someone wouldn't like this book. The magic system was not explained like at all. The political system isn't explained. The deaths

and the bringing people back to life isn't explained and just so many other things go underdeveloped.

Most of the characters in the original Romeo and Juliet story were flat and I think the author purposefully didn't flesh out the magic of the world because that wasn't the main focus of the book, but I can understand how that would still unnerve some people. You were just supposed to roll with it. And honestly, that's what I did. It would've made this book 10x and maybe even a 5-star if more things were fleshed out, but you know what I still enjoyed it regardless because I think that was the point. I definitely want to reread this book and annotate it! I just loved it so much!🥰

Spice Rating: 🌶️/5

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emilytalitha's review

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

This book is STUNNING.

I’ve always loved Romeo and Juliet anyway, I read it for the first time when I was twelve and have reread and loved it so many times since then, so since this was heavily inspired by it, it was a no brainer that I was gonna love this if it was done well.

which, to say it’s done well would be an understatement.

Olivie Blake is an absolutely phenomenal writer. This was the first thing of hers that I’ve read but I’ve heard from others about her distinctive writing style and my gosh it was beautiful. The prose in this book was so poetic and lovely and painted such a vivid, beautiful picture.

The characters in this book were all SO broken and raw and it was hard not to be attached to them on some level. I’d spend half the book hating a character only to get a chapter from their POV, hear their side, realize why they do the things they do, only to turn around and have my heart break for them just like the rest. There wasn’t a single character throughout this entire book that my heart didn’t ache for at one time or another.

I also really enjoyed that the plot was not predictable. Being Romeo and Juliet inspired, I thought I had it figured out from the very beginning, but I was proven wrong time and time again. Yet it still followed the beats of the play, just not in the ways you were expecting, and it was so expertly and beautifully done. I loved that I was on the edge of my seat and didn’t know what was going to happen until it actually happened at the end.

The book IS complicated to follow at times, I will say that, but not in a bad way. The characters have their secrets that are not revealed, even to the reader, and every single character is playing their own game, using the others to their advantage in some way or other, so it can be tricky keeping track of what everyone’s game is, but it’s so worth it.

And again, this goes back to how deeply broken these characters are. They are all so flawed; they are all using each other, they’re all after revenge or power or money or something else, and they’re all willing to go to extreme lengths to get it. Yet the book still makes sure the goodness in each of them shines through. In every wrong choice they make you see their heart, broken and beaten and barely hanging on, and you understand that these people are not bad, they are broken, and it’s heart wrenching to read but so, so beautiful.

The writing and character work and story were all just so stunning and so masterfully handled. I will definitely be rereading it very soon to annotate and really dive into the text. This is a new favorite book.

Content Warnings

dani_reis's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

This felt like it could have been at least a third shorter. The drug war seemed unnecessary. The magic even seemed like a back burner since the world building was fairly mediocre.

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aysha_blake's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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