Today, I’m delighted to be sharing my stop on the tour for One for My Enemy by Olivie Blake. Thank you to Macmillan Tor UK and Olivia-Savannah Roach for inviting me to be a part of this tour and sending me some lovely goodies, as well as a copy of the book. I also made a playlist inspired by the book, so keep scrolling for that!
In New York City, two rival witch families fight for the upper hand.
The Antonova sisters are beautiful, cunning and ruthless. But their underground narcotics business is threatened by their long-standing adversaries, the Fedorov brothers.
For twelve years, the families have maintained a fraught stalemate. Then everything is thrown into disarray. Bad blood carries them to the brink of disaster, even as a forbidden romance blossoms between two opposing sides. Yet the heirs still struggle for power, and internal conflicts could rot each family from within. That is, if the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy both sides first . . .
Publication Date: 11th April
TW: suicide, murder, grief, drugs, violence, gore, injury
My Thoughts:
When you take Olivie Blake’s ubiquitous stule and apply it to duelling magic crime families in a Romeo and Juliet modern retelling? Sign me up!
One for My Enemy was a fantastically imagined and morally murky read that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
I am very much a character-driven reader a lot of the time and I enjoy Blake’s distinctive style of characterisation across her stories. They are often morally murky and complex, staying within the shadows rather than simply sitting on one side or another of good and evil. We seem to push against such simplistic definitions and the same comes across here. I really enjoyed our central duo of Sasha and Lev, but I also very much relished reading the narrative of our other lovers to enemies Marya and Dima and also Bryn, the fae meddling in it all, too. They all added extra dimensions and threads to the book, giving new perspectives on these events.
I found the magic system here so rich and interesting. Some of the aspects hinted at through the more peripheral sisters were fascinating and spoke to a wider tapestry than appeared on page. It shows a level of depth to have a world unfolding beyond the events that are shown and really interested me as a reader. Blake is concerned with the central question of fate and whether we’re doomed to repeat the same mistakes as the past over and over again. This makes for a very meta Romeo and Juliet retelling narrative, as it questions itself in many ways. You know as a reader that certain aspects will come into play and yet you get caught up in similar narratives time and time again. Blake does not stick entirely to the original script though, instead prepare for some delightful, devilish and devastating surprises in store.
One for My Enemy is a lavishly told tale, combining fate, magic and doomed romance into a heady concoction that will keep you racing through the pages.
Playlist:
Please also make sure to check out the other amazing stops on this tour, as detailed in the image below!
A Short Book Lover 
Love your review! And I agree with the meta element to the R+J retelling. Such good playlist selections too — Running up that hill, don’t hurt yourself and All for us is PERFECT!
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Thank you so much and particularly thanks for liking my musical choices! Tried to find songs that fit the different vibes of the book from female rage to that mysticism and romance.
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