This book had promise. But for me, it did not work as an audiobook. It seemed to be all "girl drama". And I hate girl drama. It was about the friendship lapsing, and what the two girls feel for each other much more then about the adventure.

The world building was interesting. One girl was a witch, been that was since birth, the other was a witch, but was turned vampire by a mother who wanted to steel her magic. The vampire was kept locked away from her friends and the community was told she was sick, for years. When the girls rediscover each other they think if they can get to the magical city they can save themselves and their community. Once again, the story was so much more focused on the "girl drama".

I wanted to know more about the magic system, and why the forest was eating people! But the drama kept dragging on, and I turned it off. ( )

* I got this book for netgally for my review*
I really enjoyed this book. I loved this book in a way i did not expect. I sometimes struggle with vampire stories but this story was really fun. I loved both the fairytale like story and also the saphic elements. I also really enjoyed the pace and the both main charactes. This book was fun quick read and i loved both the plot ad the characters!! ( )

* I got this book for netgally for my review*
I really enjoyed this book. I loved this book in a way i did not expect. I sometimes struggle with vampire stories but this story was really fun. I loved both the fairytale like story and also the saphic elements. I also really enjoyed the pace and the both main charactes. This book was fun quick read and i loved both the plot ad the characters!! ( )

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Pub Date: March 21, 2023

I really wanted to like this more than I did. The concept and ideas were great but I struggled with the execution/writing. It is marked as YA but the writing felt younger to me than that and I would say this should be aimed more at middle school/junior high age. There are two POVs which I love but everything was written in the first person which I can struggle as well (not always, it really depends on the author). Edit: It isn't necessarily the first person writing I struggled with, it was the telling and not being shown anything as other reviewers have pointed out. The writing just didn't draw me in or really evoke much emotion in me. The ending picked up a bit though and I loved the growth of the characters throughout. ( )

God this book had so much potential... but it just got worse the longer you stuck with it. There are several scenes that really just pull you out of the story and just really ruins everything.

Like the way that Ava had to climb the trees to find the town... but only a few chapters before was able to sense sevral towns that were miles away through her connection to the forest.... so whats the point in that magical connection if its not something you use.

There's the beginning where theres a big point of focus about how long her hair is and how its always getting caught on everything, but she doesn't notice anymore because it happens all the time. I can tell you that is an outright inaccuracy. My hair goes down to my waist and not my ankles like the MC.... but I can say that everytime my hair gets caught it maddening, even if its only a few strands... so telling me someone that trips over their own hair or gets snagged by everything because of their hair, they AREN"T going to just shrug that shit off....

There also some really silly plot holes? Kaye acts like she's shocked to believe Ava's mom is also a vampire.... EVEN though AVA told her.... bleh

There are LOTS of actions carried out by the charaters that were only done a plot forwarding tool and not as something that made sense to their character at all. So many logical plot holes that really didn't end up making sense at all.... like why does a vampire drinking from you automatically kill you even if you aren't drained? Tristan is suddenly a friend simply because two kids can't take on two vampire armies, and a bunch of hunters.

What potential there was for this story just fizzled out and got beaten down by all the filler in the middle.... dont even get my started on the level of unnecessary ANGST. Just bleh. ( )