The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I feel like I should start this review with a little disclaimer.
This review is based solely upon my personal reading experience with this story. It is 100% my opinion, please take it with a grain of salt.
I am by no means an expert on anything. Further, I would recommend that anyone who finds the publisher’s synopsis intriguing, gives this book a shot.
The Witch and the Vampire follows two girls, Ava and Kaye. Ava is a witch and Kaye is a vampire. They’re enemies, but it hasn’t always been that way.
They used to be best friends, but two years ago everything changed. Kaye was turned into a vampire and Ava’s mother was killed by a vampire. Kaye, coincidentally, disappeared the very night Ava’s mother was killed.
Ava, of course, suspects Kaye, or more closely, she blames her for her mother’s death. Ava is now a vampire hunter of sorts, how perfect. On the night of a vampire attack on their town, Kaye flees her mother’s home and Ava runs into her.
Ava convinces Kaye to travel with her into the forest. She pretends she is helping her, when really her plan is to backstab Kaye and get her revenge.
Obviously, I am simplifying this a bit, but honestly, that’s really all I can tell you about the plot.
Let’s start with a few positives. The cover is gorgeous. Also, the audiobook is very well narrated. If it weren’t for the audiobook, I most likely wouldn’t have finished this one.
While this book didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, it just wasn’t for me. I felt I didn’t understand the world at all and it lacked the atmosphere I was hoping for based upon the synopsis and cover.
I also felt it had one note throughout, angst. Everything was angst. There was angst every moment of every page, even though I felt like the stakes were never high enough to justify that. Because of this it lacked the highs and lows and nuance I would normally like to see.
There were no moments of levity and it seemed like the more seriously the book took itself, the less seriously I did. Additionally, all the characters felt one dimensional. I struggled to distinguish between the two girls throughout the entire story.
This is the second book I have read from this author. The first, Diamond City, I felt to be in the good-to-really-good range. I enjoyed the world Flores developed in that one. I found it creative and intriguing.
So, while this one fell flat for me, I would be willing to give this author another shot. I definitely wouldn’t pick up another story based in this world though.
With all of this being said, as touched upon in my earlier disclaimer, just because I didn’t connect with this story doesn’t mean that you won’t. There’s a book for every Reader and a Reader for every book.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with copies to read and review. I truly appreciate it!