Hello Bookdragons!
How have you all been doing? I am slowly getting back to blogging and I wanted to share my thoughts about this book that I recently read. I should have read it last year but amidst the chaotic relocation, I left this book in my earlier home which honestly was a tragedy! Because what a beautiful soul-shattering book Olivie Blake has written 😭. It’s called One for My Enemy and while it’s not one of her most popular books, it sure is beautiful to read. Many of you would have read the Atlas Six which is extremely popular on Bookstagram and Book Tok but I am yet to read that series. If you love her books. this is your call to go read One for My Enemy!
In New York City where we lay our scene, two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal ventures. On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters, each one beautiful, cunning, and ruthless, and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants known only as Baba Yaga. On the other side, the influential Fedorov brothers serve their father, the crime boss known as Koschei the Deathless, whose community extortion ventures dominate the shadows of magical Manhattan.
After twelve years of tenuous coexistence, a change in one family’s interests causes a rift in the existing stalemate. When bad blood brings both families to the precipice of disaster, fate intervenes with a chance encounter, and in the aftershocks of a resurrected conflict, everyone must choose a side. As each of the siblings struggles to stake their claim, fraying loyalties threaten to rot each side from the inside out.
If, that is, the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy them first.
“Hate and love were so very similar…Hate could not be born from a place of indifference. Hate was only born from opposite sides of the same coin.”
― Olivie Blake, One For My Enemy
This book gave me all the ✨feels✨ I was looking for! 🦋 😩
The story is set in modern-day Manhattan and depicts the rivalry between two witch families in New York, the Antonovas and the Federovs. The Antonova sisters are beautiful ruthless witches each with their own power headed by their mother, Baba Yaga, who is known to be the supplier of potent intoxicants. On the other hand, the infamous Federov brothers are in charge of the community extortions in New York working under their father, Koschei the Deathless.
At the heart of the book, One for My Enemy explores the dynamics between two couples: Masha Antonova and Dima Federov; Sasha Antonova and Lev Federov. Given the feud between the two families, they have to decide which path they want to travel on: one of thorns, blades and devastating magic but hand in hand with their lover, or one of fulfilling their families’ expectations apart from their lover.
Magical Manhattan is no stranger to betrayals and murder nor to love and heartbreak. In one way, it can be seen that the Antonova sisters are reaping what they sowed. When they set out to destroy the world for it had wronged them in not one but several ways, they were not mindful of the repercussions. But this proved to be a major catalyst for the plot.
I have always been a fan of lyrical prose that reads like poetry. The writing is utterly spellbinding that I couldn’t help but be a captive till the last page!
Apart from the atmospheric writing, the morally grey characters were a cherry on top. The protagonists can very well be considered anti-heroes and anti-heroines since they defied the ‘natural course’ of establishing their heroic deeds in the book.
Perfect for readers who enjoy reading about:
🥀 Enemies-to-lovers
🥀 Morally Grey Characters
🥀 Modern Fantasy
🥀 Retelling
🥀 Family Rivalry
🥀 Lots of Angst
🥀 Strong Female union
One For My Enemy brilliantly fabricates a modern-day magical Manhattan realm where two couples are torn between their loyalty for their families and loyalty towards their respective lovers. Find out whether the lovestruck couples find their happily ever after or the enmity between the families destroys their relationships.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Olivie Blake is the pseudonym of Alexene Farol Follmuth, a lover and writer of stories, many of which involve the fantastic, the paranormal, or the supernatural, but not always. More often, her works revolve around what it means to be human (or not), and the endlessly interesting complexities of life and love.
Olivie has penned several indie SFF projects, including the webtoon Clara and the Devil with illustrator Little Chmura and the viral Atlas series. As Follmuth, her young adult rom-com My Mechanical Romance releases May 2022.
Olivie lives in Los Angeles with her husband and baby, where she is generally tolerated by her rescue pit bull. More on Olivie can be found at http://www.olivieblake.com.
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Signing off,
Sohinee aka bookarlo
Sohinee Reads & Reviews 