Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Witch and the Vampire

Repetition of themes and plot points, and hammering home said themes and plot points are the book’s weakness, but the central characters, romance, and immense folklore and imagination make up for the novel’s shortcomings.

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anastasia_raf's review

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slow-paced

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

2.75

"Trust looks like a girl who wants to live so badly she forgot she's dead."

Ava and Kaye used to be best friends. Until everything changed. The two friends were not only separated by not only two different worlds- a witch bound by duty and a vampire bound by " call It what you will, fate, destiny... - A horse." ( See what I did there tangled fans?) but by actual life and death. Can the two build a bridge to connect these two worlds? Or shall I say, can they see the light in a society that uses hatred as a fog? Scary and malicious until you cross and get to the other side.

If you find all these themes interesting then my I guess is this book is for you, and I recommend you pick it up. But I'm not here to discuss only ideas, I'm here to discuss the execution of said ideas as well. Following is my personal opinion, what I want and look for in a book and in no way shape or form Is my intention to discourage you from reading this book. This audiobook was provided to me by Netgalley and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review! Many thanks to the publishers.

It was just trying to do too much. It was Vampire diaries mixed with first kill and twilight, with some Rapunzel themes involved. In my opinion, it had nothing going for it but vibes.

Sometimes one of the protagonists would have an epiphany about their beliefs and opinions starting to actually analyze them and question them, then next thing you know they're back like this whole act of thinking belonged to someone else entirely!
The characters felt two- dimensional. All we ever got about Kaye's past was that her mother was dead...And in a weird sense I felt like she was grieving her in everyone else's eyes other than her own? What I mean by this Is that death seemed like an excuse to everyone's actions but without necessarily having dealt with such grief or actually stop and feel it. Was she actually grieving her mother? because that's what it kept saying and yet not showing.
The end was unsatisfactory to say the least.
Ava was a mix of Bella with some nuances of Rapunzel and some sprinkles of a cliche ya protagonist. I just wish it would've done more. Especially from a such overused "genre" like vampires and witches. It relied too much on it being an inspiration of famous tales, series and stories that it forgot to bring it's own. Everything was so underdeveloped. Predictable. And calluna did never feel like a person that really existed. I guess in that sense it succeed in her being a memory but not actually empathizing with her or caring for Kaye's loss.

The only bonus for me was the queerness and the lack of the said word. Sexuality just existed and it didn't have to be analyzed or categorized.
The pace was satisfactory. The audiobook's narration was very pleasant.

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collinsd's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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taelights's review against another edition

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I honestly really not vibing with this story. I kept hoping it would get better but it honestly it didn't.

The writing is bad and repetitive. The world building is bad and hard to understand. Plus both main characters are both so annoying to me.

Also like i don't have issues with witches and/or vampires in general becaus I think there are respectful ways to write those types of creatures. But then there are ways to write those creatures that play into antisemitism. Personally I thought this book kind of protrayed vampires, and in a way witches, with antisemitic / blood libel themes which I personally foubd uncomfortable and yucky.

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chymerra's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Ava has been confined to her room in her house for two years. She has unwillingly allowed her mother to steal her magic for two years. For two years, Ava had to hide that she was a vampire and was turned when vampires overran the town and killed her best friend’s mother. When her mother goes away on business and leaves her with her diabolical stepfather, Ava makes a break for the forest surrounding her village. Meanwhile, her best friend, Kaye, is channeling her grief into her Flame witch training. Fire is the only thing vampires are afraid of, and the villagers use it to their advantage, killing them with fire. Seeing Ava for the first time in two years, Kaye realizes she is a vampire. Channeling her rage and grief into capturing Ava, Kaye soon discovers the girl she was best friends with isn’t a heartless beast. Convincing Kaye that her only escape is through the woods, they travel. But they are being tracked by other vampires, vampire hunters, and Ava’s stepfather. Will Ava and Kaye make it through the woods? Will their friendship and budding romance rekindle? What truths will they find during their journey?

I was super pumped when I read the blurb for The Witch and the Vampire. I love fairy tale retellings and will go out of my way to read them. So when I read some reviews for this book and realized that it was a Rapunzel retelling, there was no way I wouldn’t read it. Have you read a good Rapunzel retelling? Well, until this book, neither did I.

Before I get further into the review, I do need to put up a trigger warning paragraph. The Witch and the Vampire do have a few trigger warnings. The trigger warnings are:

Blood (not surprising, this is a vampire story)

Death of a parent (Someone turned Ava’s father into a vampire, captured him, and then murdered him. Kaye’s mother was murdered also. Both are vividly remembered)

Animal death (Ava drank the blood of squirrels and rabbits to sustain herself)

Physical abuse (Ava by her stepfather, and it is graphic)

Torture (Ava by her stepfather during his experiments. Also what the Flame witches do to the vampires to get information. I considered both to be graphic)

Child abuse (Ava by both her mother and her stepfather. Her mother emotionally abused her and turned her into a vampire against her will. Her stepfather physically and verbally abused her when her mother was gone)

Vomit (Kaye threw up a few times but nothing overtly graphic)

Child death (off-page there were several murders of teens in the village and a preteen being used as a sacrifice)

Murder (so much murder)

If any of these triggers you, I suggest not reading this book.

The Witch and the Vampire is a fast-paced book. It took me no time to read because of how fast the plotline was. I enjoyed that!! It is a dual POV 3rd person storyline, which was great because I got to see what was going on in Kaye and Ava’s heads during the book.

The main characters in The Witch and the Vampire broke my heart. They both had suffered so much loss and had their innocence taken from them at an early age. I do wish that there were more flashbacks to when Ava was human. I would have loved to see more of her and Kaye’s interactions.

I liked Ava, and I loved that the author used her as a comparison to Rapunzel. Right from the beginning, I could tell that she was just done with being in the attic, and she was done with being used as a magical sippy cup for her mother. Ava’s main focus was survival for the first half of her storyline. Once she escaped from her house, she knew she had a limited time to get to the woods. Running into and getting captured by Kaye was not part of her plan. Her character growth throughout the book was terrific. I loved seeing her go from a scared child to a woman who wouldn’t be treated like she had been. Of course, the events in the last half of the book helped that along.

I feel bad admitting this, but Kaye annoyed me until almost just past the book’s climax. She refused to believe Ava about anything until it smacked her face (i.e., Ava and herself getting caught). Kaye made decisions based on emotion and not rational thought. She was a powerful witch, though. I also thought that her immediately putting Ava as her mother’s murderer was awful. But, like Ava, her character growth was remarkable. I liked seeing her misconceptions about vampires torn down. I also liked that she changed enough to admit she was wrong. That is when my annoyance with her disappeared, and I started to like her.

The lore in this book was unbelievable. I would have loved for there to have been a glossary with some of the more critical bits of lore added to it. Because I needed help keeping track of everything thrown at me, lore-wise. I also pray that there is book two because I have questions about the other lands mentioned in this one.

Kaye and Ava’s romance was very low-key until almost the end of the book. I liked that they had an adorable moment before everything went berserk. I also loved the flashbacks that showed how close they were friendship-wise and how close they were getting romance-wise. What happened at the very end of the book was an act of love by Ava. That was very clear to me, and Kaye knew it.

The storyline with the vampires, Ava, Kaye, and the journey to leave the woods was well-written and kept my attention. I couldn’t believe how vampires were treated and cringed reading those scenes. I also cringed at how Kaye treated Ava after capturing her. There was a very neat (and heartbreaking) twist to this storyline that I didn’t see coming. It involved Casiopea (the Queen of the Vampires) and how vampires were created. Again, I didn’t see it coming. Ava’s role in this was also a surprise.

The storyline with Ava, Kaye, the Flame witches, and Kaye’s mother’s murder was well-written and heartbreaking. Everything about this storyline was a twist. My heart broke for Kaye several times throughout this storyline. I also was a little mad that she couldn’t get her revenge.

The end of The Witch and the Vampire surprised me. There were deaths that I didn’t see coming and one that made me so angry that I had to put down my Kindle. I liked how the author wrapped up the storylines, and I had a huge smile when a certain someone got their just deserts. I hope the author writes another book in this universe because I would love to know more about what Kaye and Ava will do.

I would recommend The Witch and the Vampire to anyone over 21. There are no sexual situations or language. There is graphic violence. Please also see my trigger warnings.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, NetGalley, and Francesca Flores for allowing me to read and review The Witch and the Vampire. All opinions stated in this review are mine.

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lydiareads247's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

3.5

"You deserve more than someone who only comes for you when it's almost too late"

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for granting me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot of potential. Pitched as a rapunzel retelling with witches and vampires as enemies, the plot itself is captivating and interesting but the execution isn't the best. Some moments towards the end of the book are more enjoyable and better executed, but most of it could use a little more reviewing before it had been published. Some stories about their world could have been better told (or shown) - I felt like it was missing something.

Overall, though, the book was enjoyable. It had adventure, some good fighting moments, found family and the friends to enemies to lovers. I appreacited the little excerpts at the beginning of the chapters, they were a bit of an extra glimpse into that world and brought a bit more understanding to the reader (especially about Kaye's mom).

The characters were also pretty loveable and I was really rooting not only for the leads, but also for the trio to rekindle their friendship. Each character had their moment to shine and reveal a different side to themselves and I believe that was well done and made the reader appreacite the character's journey more.

In conclusion, some parts could be better but the book in itself is a fun read. I'll keep an eye out for anything else Francesca Flores publishes!

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