A review by hearth_hobbit
The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest review.

The Witch and The Vampire by Francesca Flores 

2 stars: I didn’t like it but I didn’t hate it

Summary: This book is a Sapphic, enemies-to-lovers, friends-to-lovers retelling of Rapunzel about Ava and Kaye, a vampire and a witch, who have to rely on each other to travel through a creepy, dangerous, and enchanted forest. 

Thoughts: This was a very ambitious project. I felt like there is definitely a lot to work with here but it could use a little more time to develop. 

What I Liked: The author is great at painting a picture of what everything looks like. I could clearly see the forest and characters. Imagery is this author’s strong suit. 

The ending of the story ends in a very satisfactory way. I thought it was very fitting for the story. 

What I Didn’t Like: The title really bothers me because both Ava and Kaye are witches. This might be just a me thing, but I wish the title was different. 

There could have been more attention to world-building. I felt like I could have used more information about Arborren, the vampires, and the witches. The author relies heavily on the reader’s existing knowledge of vampires and witches, which on one hand is nice because then I don’t need to have information I already know given to me. But on the other hand, I’m not entirely sure on what makes the witches witches or vampires vampires. When it came to the world, I felt I had more questions than answers by the time I finished the book.

The characters needed more depth. There were many situations where I did not understand most of the character’s motivations or where they were coming from at all. The side characters were very one note. The villains were mustache-twirling-ly evil, some characters existed to further the story and then were quickly killed off, and some characters didn’t even have a name or were named way later than they should have been. The story is also told from the perspective of Ava and Kaye. From chapter to chapter I could never remember whose chapter I was reading because there wasn’t much of a distinction between Kaye’s voice and Ava’s voice. 

While I did like the ending for this story, I felt like the solution to everything was too easy. 

There is a random ghost. They pop up, are never seen again, and it is never explained why they popped up.