Reviews with content warning for Violence - One for My Enemy: A Novel

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

One for My Enemy: A Novel by Olivie Blake

32 reviews

nataliebootlah's review against another edition

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

3.5

Lovers to enemies. Enemies to lovers.
A modern day Romeo and Juliet retelling complete with family drama and forbidden relationships, plus quite a few twists thrown into the mix. The story revolves around two powerful witch clans who have been rivals for over a decade: the Antonovas and the Fedorovs.

The characters felt realistic, multi-faceted, and thankfully, developed without being entirely predictable. Which was great, especially since I’m not a huge play-lover so the characters are ultimately what kept me tuned in. But I did enjoy being surprised multiple times for a retelling!

This is my third book by Blake and each time I’m reminded that I love how she writes—always so poetic.

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mrs_bastos's review against another edition

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emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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carly_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense

4.5

Alright I loved this more than I thought I would. It’s not surprising that a modern day Romeo and Juliet retelling with rival witch families and Russian folklore, set against the backdrop of NYC would get me. People either like Olivie Blake’s writing or they don’t, and I happen to like it. The flowery prose really adds to the ambiance of the storyline. Since you know it’s a R&J retelling, you know you’re in for some heartbreak and turmoil, but I still gasped several times while reading. I do also appreciate the number of declarations of undying love. This was a very interesting exploration of power, family, duty, betrayal, loss, and love. This was also genuinely funny- some of the characters were so sassy and the quips were perfectly executed.

Sometimes it was a bit hard to follow along because everyone is constantly making deals, and you switch between various characters story lines often, but ultimately, the vibes make up for it. The ins and outs of the magic system are not explained at all but that doesn’t really bother me. The real strength of this book was all of the amazing quotes:

“Tell Koschei that Baba Yaga sends her love,” she said simply.

This is the important thing, after all: nobody fears a beautiful woman. They revere her, worship her, sing praises to her—but nobody fears her, even when they should.

“Why didn’t you let me choose you?” he asked hoarsely. “I would have gone to you, Masha, if you’d asked. You would’ve only had to ask, and I would have chosen you over everything.”

She was a fucking nightmare and he was desperate to keep her, to have her for himself.

At best, Dimitri Fedorov was Marya Antonova’s greatest weakness. At worst, she was his.

“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. Then write me finding myself in your arms, if only for a night, and then write it again. Write it over and over, Lev, until we both know the pages by heart. Isn’t that a story, too?” she asked him softly.

“What does it mean to be a Fedorov son if we destroy ourselves in the process?” Dimitri asked, and his expression was nothing Lev had ever seen on his face before. “What does it mean to be this family or that, if loss is the only thing that comes from it?”

The universe spoke a language, if you were paying close enough attention. Many languages, even. Stars, leaves, flowers, cards, dirt—the universe was constantly spelling things out, though people rarely listened.

Power is knowing what you’re capable of and choosing if and when you give it to the world. Power is knowing when to be delicate and soft, like my sister, and when to make foolish, small-minded people think beauty and goodness are the same.

Content Warnings

jnaeraeshele's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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meeklovestoread's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

THIS. BOOK. WAS. SO. GOOD. All I knew about this book was that it was a Romeo and Juliet retelling and honestly, I think that's all you need to know. Reading this book was soooo much fun! I don't know if it's because it's an urban fantasy or what but I found this book to be easily comprehensible. Like I was able to understand at least 90% of what was going on in this book which says a lot because I feel like with a lot of fantasy books it can be really hard to grasp so I do recommend this book if someone is just starting fantasy.

I love the romance in this book!

The other romance. Dima and Masha literally own my heart! I LOVE them! Now THAT'S enemies to lovers. I will be chasing a romance like Dima and Masha's in every enemies-to-lovers book I read. I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them! I honestly wanted this whole book to be about them. Don't get me wrong, I did like Lev and Sasha but they weren't "epic" to me. And Sasha got on my nerves sometimes. The stakes didn't seem high for them to me, and I think that was purposefully done because it is made clear in many ways, especially with the ending which coupe was THE epic romance. Ughhhh! I just LOVE them so much! I feel teary-eyed even thinking about them! I'm still not over them!🤧❤️

This is my first Olvie Blake, but and I here her writing changes depending on the book, but I just have to say I really enjoyed the writing in this book. It's been a hot minute since I've read a book with flowery and lyrical writing and reading her book made me realize just how much I missed reading writing like that. Here are some quotes that I like:

"No. No. Masha, I am my own man."..........."Why didn't you let me choose you?"........."I would have gone to you, Masha, if you'd asked. You would've only had to ask, and I would have chosen you over everything." - Dima (pg 102)

"I love you,"........."I will always love you, I will love you until the day I die—and if you're the one to kill me, then by all means, you should know without a trace of doubt that you will not have turned me away. I will have spent the final beat of my heart loving you, just as I always have. Only you, Masha,".........."Only you, forever, I promise." - Dima (pg 102)😭💔(how do you not fall in love with them after this?!)

"I want you," he murmured, twinning her fingers with his, "and you have me so easily, without lifting a finger. But don't use me." - Lev (pg 147)😟

"Sashenka," Marya said, "you are not incomplete because a piece of your heart is gone. You are you, an entire whole, all on your own. If you have loved and been loved, then you can only be richer for it —you don't become a smaller version of yourself simply because what you once had is gone. " (pg 252)
Hate and love were really not so different, Ivan thought. He wondered if Koschei and Baba Yaga knew it just as well—that hate and love were so very similar. Both were intestinal, visceral. Both left scars, vestiges of pain. Hate could not be born from a place of difference. Hate was only born from the opposite sides of the same coin.

And the conversation that Bryn and his mother have about love (on page 400 is freaking hilarious😂

Now, the criticisms of this book are valid. I understand why someone wouldn't like this book. The magic system was not explained like at all. The political system isn't explained. The deaths

and the bringing people back to life isn't explained and just so many other things go underdeveloped.

Most of the characters in the original Romeo and Juliet story were flat and I think the author purposefully didn't flesh out the magic of the world because that wasn't the main focus of the book, but I can understand how that would still unnerve some people. You were just supposed to roll with it. And honestly, that's what I did. It would've made this book 10x and maybe even a 5-star if more things were fleshed out, but you know what I still enjoyed it regardless because I think that was the point. I definitely want to reread this book and annotate it! I just loved it so much!🥰

Spice Rating: 🌶️/5

Content Warnings

karenreadsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

Olivie Blake, what have you done to me? You took me on a roller coaster ride and broke my heart and pieced it together and broke it again. Over and over.

The foundation of this story was Romeo and Juliet, but this is a story completely on its own, though it is enhanced by the comparisons with the play.

Back stabbing and betrayal, loyalty and family, and love. So much contained within these pages. I cried. I underlined and annotated so many pages.

Content Warnings

slowglow's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.5

This book had a really cool premise and cool ideas, and the writing style is dry but it definitely fits the vibes of the story. All is fine in that regard. My complaint comes with the ending, and maybe it's just because I didn't have to read Romeo and Juliet in high school (so I've never read it) but the ending just felt way out of left field for me-- like I had no clue where the story was going for the last quarter of the book, and then when the ending did come it wasn't satisfactory. I was very baffled by it, and not in the good way.

I was expecting two of them to die, but the set up and the reasoning behind it just didn't make the deaths feel justified, at least for me.

I can see the audience for this and I get why it had so much hype and I really did have a good time reading it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.

Content Warnings

aseel_reads's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

Definitely a character driven novel and only enjoyable if you are in the right mood for it, however, I was, and I loved it!! So many laughs, gasps, sad faces, just so good.

Content Warnings

krystlethegreat's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I usually struggle with Olivie Blake books. She usually writes very - in my opinion - pretentious books, that make me feel stupid for all the uncommon words she uses.

This book though. This book was beautiful! Definitely not her typical prose; which was refreshing!

This book is all about relationships. The world building is all but non-existent. It's magical realism with the addition of witches and 1 fae. The magic system is not really explained. But the relationships are so well constructed and such the focus, that I didn't really miss the other things.

I was intimidated by the name chart at the front end of the book, but it was very easy to follow characters by their names and nicknames... if you have any experience with Slavic names and nicknames, it will be even easier.
Ex. Alexandra = Sashenka / Sasha

Overall, the beauty of the relationships was incredible. 🖤 I was entranced by this book and I hope to read more books of this nature from her in the future.

*Spice level = fade to black

Content Warnings

tenderbench's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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