One for My Enemy is a smash-up of Romeo and Juliet, of Russian mythology and a dash of Game of Thrones. Written in Blake's trademark breathtakingly beautiful prose, it takes you through so many break-neck twists and turns at such rapid speed that it's almost dizzying. Definitely a book to be read in long, feverish spurts, not to be dosed out over long stretches of time. That said, the melodrama was sometimes a bit too much for me.

If modern witches, star-crossed lovers, death that may or may not be reversible and political intrigues sound like your thing, I would absolutely recommend picking this one up.

I want to thank NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for a free copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here expressed are my own.

"𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙨, 𝙎𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙠𝙖," 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙮𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙝𝙚𝙧.
"𝙎𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙨. 𝙎𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜. 𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣."
𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙩 𝙇𝙚𝙫 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧. "𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙛, 𝙎𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙖. 𝙄𝙩 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩. 𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙞𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙮-𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙣𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩."

If I read this part alone before starting the book I'd have dived right in. Admittedly I did anyways but this part really got my attention.

Read this book and tell me Olivie Blake isn't a genius!! She's one helluva writer who knows how to captivate our attention while messing with our darn emotions.
This book felt like a modern day mashup of Romeo and Juliet. It had love, power, heartbreak, full blown tragedy, and deception of the worst kind.

There was so.much going on but it all makes sense and the writing is so darn beautiful I know this is one I will want to read again and if you know me.. that doesn't happen often!!

Loved it.. all the stars given!!!

4/5⭐️

A captivating retelling of Romeo and Juliet, which will leave you in despair (in the best way possible).

Olivie Blake’s writing working miracles again, having me constantly hooked and in love with every single character.

“Write me a tragedy, Lev Fedorov,” she whispered to him. “Write me a litany of sins. Write me a plague of devastation. Write me lonely, write me wanting, write me shattered and fearful and lost.” - SCREAMING

Olivie Blake's writing always draws me right in and doesn't let me go, weaving a thrilling tale that I gladly follow through to the very end. Romeo and Juliet, Russian folklore, and present-day New York aren't things I'd ever think to combine in a single book, and yet she did so beautifully.

The writing was absolutely fantastic, the book flew by as I read it. Reading One For My Enemy was a genuine pleasure the whole way through. But I had so many questions, and not all of them were answered by the final page. Some of the book just didn't make sense to me, and I couldn't quite convince myself that the way certain events played out was believable. I'm not sure I understood how various things that happened actually happened, and maybe I wasn't supposed to, but the sense of the story not quite feeling complete to me makes this book 4 stars rather than 5.

I'm unfortunately going to have to wait for a physical copy to review this. I found the formatting terrible with random letter missing and numbers/phrases randomly placed throughout the book making it incredibly hard to stay in the novel.

I have been a fan of Blake's Atlas series and was pleased to be offered One for my Enemy as an ARC via NetGalley. As with her other series, the illustrations are beautiful. I love reading stories based on various mythologies so was excited when on the first page of the prologue there was a mention of Baba Yaga. I liked the idea of starting the novel with Yelp reviews and was intrigued as to how Blake was going to put a modern spin on the old folktales. The story soon switched to being highly influenced by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet which was less to my taste and I almost lost interest about halfway through. Interestingly Blake does mention in the acknowledgments that the first half of the story was originally published in Witch Way Magazine under the title 'Fume of Sighs' and I wonder if this was around the same place I felt like giving up on it (of course, it may have originally ended at a totally different point). If you like your romance stories with a liberal dash of magic then this book may well be for you. Personally I found there to be too much romance and I think I had expected there to be a stronger link to the Baba Yaga myth so was a little disappointed.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for this early arc of One for my Enemy I adore Olivie Blake’s writing she’s easily one of my favourite authors I would read anything of hers.
Two rival families. Two young lovers tragically caught up in this rivalry. It is a Romeo and Juliet retelling yes, but it is so much more and so beautifully constructed and executed, complete with tragically unfolding narrative. I admired the novel and the Olivie’s approach, while at the same time I was caught up in the heartrending narrative.

I absolutely love retellings and when I saw that this is a retelling of Shakespeare's famous Romeo & Juliet, I knew it that I'm going to love this. One of my favoruite DiCaprio's movies is Romeo + Juliet and I understand now why I loved this book so much.

This is my first book by Olivie Blake and I am blown away She is an immensely talented author that knows how to grab the reader's attention from the first couple of chapters. I will for sure be picking up more of her books. She has beautifully conjured up complex character that show great growth throughout the story.

The story is about star-crossed lovers and their undying love which is threatened by their feuding families. One is led by a strong and charismatic matriarch while the other is a typical patriarchal family. It is a story of eternal love, family politics, misunderstandings, sacrifices and selfishness; all with a hint of magic. The story made me swoon and made my heart ache. It gave me hope but also devastatingly tugged at my heartstrings. In short, it's a well crafted book with phrases and characters that'll stay with you for a long time,

If this turns into a movie/show, I'll be the first one watching it!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC in exchange of an honest review.

One For My Enemy was such a riveting read, what with it's plot being full of dark dealings, feuding families and forbidden love. Think Romeo and Juliet but the Montagues and Capulets are opposing families of influential witches. Sounds great right!?

Olivie Blake's fantasy-inspired retelling of one of Shakespeare's most well known plays had it all: love, power, magic and revenge! Not to mention, a most tragic ending. Sound familiar..? With a mixture of captivating characters, a turbulent timeline and paragraphs upon paragraphs of beautiful prose, Blake has managed to successfully honour the original story but also add a very modern and magical stamp to the ever popular tradegy - you never quite knew what she'd throw at you next!

Fast paced and all-consuming, it was a real struggle to put it down. It's fair to say, I really, really enjoyed it! 🥀🗡️

New York, home to rival witch families the Antonova's and the Fedorov's. Both are fighting for wealth, status, and of course, power, amongst the criminal underworld. After twelve years of tolerating the other's existence, it's only a matter of time before one family reaches further for their desires, uncaring of consequences and collateral damage. 

As a loosely based Romeo and Juliet retelling, you already know this isn't going to end well for many involved. There's so many betrayals and underhand tactics, sly deals, and forbidden love. No one is truly transparent, and there's a lot going on that there's a need for the many different POV's throughout the book. 

There's a lot of characters to keep track of, but the book is set out like a play, with a cast of characters and chapters separated by acts and scenes which I really liked. It gave it the feel of Shakespeare without it actually being Shakespeare, with Blake taking his play and making it her own.

Not only this, but I really liked how the Russian folklore story of Koschei and Marya was interweaved amongst the Romeo and Juliet retelling, bringing both stories into the modern era and mixing them with a fantasy outlook, without it feeling like it was too much crammed into the plot. 

As my first book by Olivie Blake, I have to admit I was hesitant to believe in the hype surrounding her and her numerous books, and I went into this a bit unsure of what to expect of her writing. By around 60 pages all these doubts disappeared and I was in love. Not just with her writing, but the characters, too. They're created with such depth, that it didn't take me long to have favourites, but I do wish we'd seen more of the other Antonova sisters, especially the twins. 



Did I like the book? Yes.

Did I love it? I did! Very early on, too.

Would I recommend it? Yes. If Romeo and Juliet retellings, witches, betrayals, and family feuds are your thing, and especially if you enjoyed Chloe Gong's These Violent Delights duology, you'll definitely enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for this ARC.

Having read Alone with You in the Ether, I already knew that Blake was a writer I wanted to read more of. This, though very different from the former, only strengthened that idea. I'm not sure I can really put into words how much I adored this book, but I'll try my best!

Aside from the beautiful prose and the formatting/structure that Blake is known for (and the ART in this is gorgeous, too), the concept felt like it was created absolutely for me. A Romeo and Juliet retelling may not be anything new, but Blake does it impossibly well - taking what we know of the original and crafting it into something else entirely. With Russian folklore and concepts set in New York, with magic and witches and politics, this is everything one could want in a fantasy romance, There's betrayal, complicated familial relationships, a world within our own, and magic that has its own basis and rules crafted entirely by the author.

There's a diverse cast of characters at play in this one, and sometimes it can be a lot to get your head around - with all the Antonova sisters, and the Federov brothers, and the players intertwined in their web of rivalry that traverses back decades - but it's worth the effort, because the story that is crafted is beautiful, enthralling, and unlike anything else.

There's real trauma and tragedy here, that will absolutely gut punch you at the wrong moment. I was devastated and happy and laughing all at the same time!! There's humor ! There's guts, glory and gore!! It's honestly just beautiful and I'd like to be buried with this book.

A strong favourite of mine for the year, and perhaps forever. I can't wait to get my hands on a hard copy of this when it's published in April 2023, but for now I can rest happily knowing I was lucky enough to read it before release.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for the advance reader copy.

I had read two of Olivie’s books before and enjoyed them but found they had taken me some time to get into.
This book changed that. I was very intrigued by the idea of a Romeo and Juliet inspired book between two witch families.

There’s the clear influences of the classic tragedy, but has been changed without losing the tragedy, heartbreak and romance.

The story has so many cool elements of magic and how the two families differ in their use of the skill. I still had some questions about the general skills of the characters but that can be overlooked for the story.

Overall I enjoyed the book and am glad I took the time to read it.

This is a loose retelling of Romeo and Juliet between two Russian criminal gangs of witches in the modern day.
There are some major deviations from Romeo and Juliet and it does not follow the same plot beats as other retellings, but Olivie Blake certainly does not miss out on the romance, emotional trauma, and family strife that make all Shakespeare retellings so addictive.
The prose is as beautiful and delightful to read as I have come to expect from the author, and, although her story telling is clearer in The Atlas Six, her romances in One For My Enemy are intoxicating and I hope to see Olivie Blake write more love stories of this nature as she refines her storytelling craft.
I am giving this book four stars though, as I do have a few critiques. The middle part was too long and convoluted with some plot points dragging out longer than necessary and other things that needed more explanation. The Russian folklore is there, but it feels a bit surface level, although it does add interest to the book. World building was also a bit lacking in places, but overall this is an incredibly crafted and stunningly written romance drenched in emotional trauma that will rip your heart to pieces only to stitch it back together over and over again.
This book is emotionally devastating with shock twists and turns and Olivie Blake continues to demonstrate her ability to create distinct character voices in a multi POV book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for a review copy of this novel. Two rival families. Two young lovers tragically caught up in this rivalry. Yes, it is a Romeo and Juliet novel, but it is so much more and so beautifully constructed and executed, complete with tragically unfolding narrative. I admired the novel and the author’s approach, while at the same time I was caught up in the heartrending narrative. Divided into four acts, with a heavy reliance on dialogue and drama type introductory descriptions, the novel is set in modern day New York with the fantasy twist that the rival families are witches, each vying for the top spot in the underground world of magic infused pharmaceuticals. The Antonova family, consisting of the head, Baba Yaga and her six daughters are keen to expand their business and become undisputed controller and Baba Yaga knows her oldest Masha is the key. Koschei the Deathless and his three sons are determined to prevent such an event, even as Dimi, his oldest still secretly pines for his lost love, Masha, an attachment formed when the two were young and the families friendly. But when the well meaning actions of Dimi’s middle brother goes awry and Masha think’s Dimi is the perpetrator of it, she wreaks revenge and the stage is set for a vicious battle. After Lev accidentally meets the youngest Antonova sister, Sasha, he is tasked with discovering the Antonovas’ secrets. But their immediate attraction proves a problem and soon he is confessing his task to her. The entanglements deepen with inevitable tragic consequences, making for a compelling novel that lingers after it’s finished. Recommended.

Having previously read and loved Olivie Blakes books there was the fear it would not live up to my expectations.
Well it exceeded all expectations!

A lovely Romeo and Juliet retelling with feuding families and just enough suspense to keep you turning the page.

Thank you so much Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for sending me an ARC of One For My Enemy by Olivie Blake.

I enjoyed Atlas Six when I read it a few years ago but never felt drawn to pick up the sequel. I know that people ADORE her writing so I wanted to try it out again.

I thought a Romeo and Juliet inspired book would be perfect for me. But alas...this book just wasn't for me.

I finally managed to settle down to read for a little bit this past week, so I wanted to share my thoughts on One For My Enemy. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t heard more about this book, especially since Olivie Blake’s other novels, The Atlas Six series have been selling like hotcakes (what even are hotcakes? Why is this a thing?) Admittedly, I couldn’t quite bring myself to love The Atlas Six and I gave up on the series at the end of book two, so I wasn’t 100% sure on One For My Enemy. The synopsis swung it for me in the end though, since it sounded so darn good I couldn’t pass it up. Thanks so much to Tor for the Netgalley approval!

The novel started out really strong. There’s a glorious Romeo and Juliet thread to the story, reinforced by quotations from the play at the start of new chapters. There’s also a bit of Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov in there (sorry, I had to read it for uni once and I’ll never forget it). The premise of the novel was fascinating to me too- magic and star-crossed love and betrayals and vengeance? Yes please! It was interesting to see how the characters all worked against each other, and how the lack of trust amongst them led to so many problems. There were times where I just wanted to shake one of them and tell them to stop hiding secrets and share for goodness sake, but unlike some novels where the miscommunication is annoying and questionable, it made a lot of sense here. The writing is, as usual, beautiful. There’s some stunning descriptions packed in here, and they always make the world Blake writes about feel so realistic and wonderful, even while everything is falling apart and going to hell in a handbasket.

I will also say that the character development in One For My Enemy was a vast improvement for me from previous books I’ve read by the same author. While I still think there was room for the main characters to be fleshed out more, they are distinctly different from each other and it was always clear whose perspective you were reading. Sasha was probably my favourite, since she was so sweet and constantly trying to do good, and I thought it was a nice refreshment from the backstabbing and manipulation the other characters all seemed to employ with ease. That’s not to say she was perfect, and she definitely made mistakes, but it seemed like her heart was in the right place and I liked her.

The romance was a bit rushed for me, though. As much as I adore a good star-crossed romance full of angst and longing glances, it felt like the reader didn’t get enough of an insight into what was happening. The novel moves quickly, which can be a blessing at times, but the problem is that it never spent enough time on the characters falling in love with one another. I get that there’s a lot of tension and stress and stuff, which makes people behave differently, but it was a bit weird to hear characters saying those three words to one another after only a couple of chapters and one or two scenes where they almost hook up. Part of it is also that some of the time passes off-page (off-screen, whatever you want to say) so maybe it isn’t quite as rushed as it felt, but it didn’t quite sell it to me either way. The rushed timeline also causes problems when the plot becomes very… convoluted. This was one of the things that didn’t gel with me with The Atlas Paradox, and I had hoped that a story in a less academic setting might mean some of the complexity and explanation stuff were stripped back, and for about 90% of the book, that was true. But right towards the end, the author propels the reader through twist after twist, secret after secret, and it overloaded the story for me. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, but it definitely is something that might talk me out of trying another of Olivie Blake’s books in the near-future.

Overall, I'm giving this book 3 1/2 stars. It started out very strong and I loved the premise of the story. The characters were well-written and had a lot of depth to them, which I appreciated, and the descriptions and prose were beautiful. However, I do think the plot raced over the romances in a way that left me wanting more and feeling like it was a bit too sudden, and the plot got convoluted towards the end in a way that made it hard to follow.

One For My Enemy tries to rewrite Romeo and Juliet but seems confused by who the R&J of the story actual are. I love Olivie Blake's writing style, it's smooth and easily digestable but I think this novel tries to be much too complex than it needs to be - too many plot lines, not enough pages so it felt messy. The characters are split between the two families, there are ... three true love matches (three that I can remember!) between these two families and they are all tragic in their own ways. I also enjoyed the Russian influence to the characters, including the use of Baba Yaga in a modern setting which I can't recall seeing before.

In my opinion, the first 50% of the novel is far superior to the second half. It sets the scene well and introduces you to the characters and their complex family structures - the magic element was an interesting addition and I was enjoying the relationship between Lev and Sasha, they're flirting was cute.

As soon as characters started dying but being brought back to life (yes ... characters plural) I quickly lost interest. It was the most annoying aspect of this book for me and I found it boring when it continued to happen. The ending tried to be tragic but in reality I was relieved it was over!

Overall, enjoyable but not going down as a favourite.

4.5

One thing that Blake never fails to do is make me fall in love with characters that I would never normally love. The way she writes her characters with such depth and detail is truly astounding. All of them are nuanced and vibrant in ways that make them feel so impossibly real. I think if you asked me to choose a favourite character from this book I would struggle greatly. And it’s not just the main cast, but also the side characters. You can see the amount of thought and attention to detail that goes into them even if they only appear for a chapter or two (or as in this book, scenes).

The story itself was fantastic. I know sometimes one can sit and think “how many more Romeo and Juliet retellings can there be?” But this was reimagined in such a way that Blake truly made the story her own and you totally forget that it is inspired by something else.

Blake’s prose is truly beautiful. The poetry within the pages of this book was so astounding, I could feel my heart clenching, I could feel the words resonating writhing my bones, I could have bottled Blake’s words and gotten drunk from them.

Blake never fails to perform and this is just another stellar example of her talent and prowess. She will always be one of those authors where I will read anything she writes no matter the genre/setting/plot because I know that it will be ~400 pages of pure bliss and escapism.

I truly enjoyed this book so so much.

A very big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!!

Finally, a decent Romeo and Juliet retelling (however loose) for me. and I'm glad that the writing style was easy to read.

the long-standing rivalry between the Antonovas matriarch & the Ferodov patriarch finally progressed, after years in the cold war state. the conflicts were whirlwind of man's greed, forbidden feelings, and dysfunctional families. I love the pace at the beginning but after 40 percent-ish it beginning to felt too slow, and at the end I didn't feel any emotions about whatever happened. But some part was fun (not in the happy way but more like amusing). I like Lev's personality the most. I think there's not enough description about the Ferodovs magic, they just like a family doing illegal bussiness, not witches.

Ok I don't know what I'm talking about so I'll stop here. 3,75⭐️ for me