Night Owls

Vishny does an amazing job of blending the past with the present. Clara, Molly, and Boaz make for an amazing company of characters who all have their own motivations for every action.It was so fun to see a different take on vampires and demons. I knew Jewish folklore for both were very different from the main stream and it was such a treat to see it brought to life in one of my favorite genres.

*Night Owls* revolves around engaging characters who have folkloric histories and abilities seldom encountered in fantasy. The intertwined plots are fresh and surprising. I wanted to skim through to discover what would happen next, but the vivid writing and savory settings made me read slowly. The love stories are sweet. The demons are chilling. Read this book!

Night Owls by A.R. Vishny completely pulled me in. The characters are incredibly well-developed and feel like real people, each with their own complexities that made me deeply invested in them. The atmospheric tension is gripping—there’s a constant eerie undertone that keeps you on edge, and the fast pace made it impossible to put down. Every twist and turn kept me hooked until the very end. I also loved how seamlessly Jewish and Yiddish history was woven into the story. It added so much depth and richness to the world, and I learned a lot along the way. If you love books that balance great character work with an intense, mysterious vibe, this one’s definitely worth your time.

I absolutely loved this book - deep Jewish mythology, paranormal with some truly surreal imagery, the struggle of women… every page was so rich and enjoyable. Already hoping for more from this author!

"Real monsters concealed their knives. Real monsters wore innocent looks of longing. Real monsters put the knife in; they didn’t take it out."rating: 3.75owl-shifting vampires from jewish folklore set in a nyc theater 🦉there were so many great details about yiddish culture, theatre/film, and jewish mythology. i had never even heard of estries before (owl-shifting vampiresses who feed on men) and i thought it was additionally handled well in regards to antisemitic blood libel tropes. there are also jews of color, celebrating the diversity of judaism. shoutout for the sapphic rep too!i thought the romance between clara and baoz was cute and sweet, and molly's passion for theatre was v relatable as a former theatre kid. learning about yiddish theatre in past nyc was fascinating as i hadn't even known about it prior. will definitely be looking into some as well as some of the classic films name dropped in here.an honest arc review ♡

I first heard about this book through Jewish Instagram (Jinsta) and it sounded incredible. The merging of Jewish folklore and urban fantasy is a combination that I can’t resist, and this was done so well. I couldn’t have asked for a book to better suit my preferences than this one.To start with, the writing is beautiful. I loved Vishny’s way of telling a story while avoiding too much purple prose. Her characters are well-rounded and fully developed, creating an intriguing dynamic between all of the major players in the story, and demonstrate growth and change as they move through the plot points.The story is told through the eyes of each of the major characters—Clara, Molly, and Boaz. Clara and Molly are estries, female vampires who can shapeshift into owls drawn from Jewish folklore. Naturally, there are also some demons scattered through the story, because how could it be a Jewish fantasy without sheydim. But in this story, Clara and Molly follow strict rules that were set forth by their maker. No feeding on non-Jews, because that could lead to disastrous consequences for the Jewish community in the form of massacres justified by claims of blood libel, or that Jews drain the blood of Christian children to make Passover Matzoh.One of my favorite aspects of this book is that it was so overwhelmingly Jewish. I especially loved that it included Ashkenazi representation (Jews who spent diaspora in Central or Eastern Europe) as well as Mizrahi representation (Jews who spent diaspora in Arab countries), since so many books focus on one branch of Jews rather than multiple branches. Despite the way that each of them are Jewish, there are differences in languages spoken, dress, and cultural practices. For example, we often associate Yiddish (a Jewish language that falls under the West Germanic languages, but is written in Hebrew letters) with Jews, but Sephardic Jews were more likely to speak Spanish, Portuguese, and Ladino (a Jewish language that derives from Old Spanish, but is written using the Hebrew alphabet.) Clara and Molly come from Eastern Europe, while Boaz is descended from Yemeni Jews, and Anat is Israeli. Seeing so many different facets of Jewish life and culture was an incredible feeling, because not only was I able to identify with Jews who hail from the same regions in which my family resided, but also to learn more about other kinds of Jews. Yiddish is featured prominently in this story, because of the estries, but Anat and Boaz don’t speak a word of it, leading to some humorous dialogue.The plot is heavy on romance, both sapphic and hetero, with an enemies to lovers trope being written perfectly, although it is very much an urban fantasy. As a reader who primarily reads fantasy, this one was done wonderfully and I couldn’t find any fault with it. The romance is a little on the clean side, since this is considered a YA book despite characters leaning more towards NA territory. There’s also elements of mystery, especially in finding out what is happening to Anat, and seeing the characters set their differences aside and work together to help save her was so compelling that I flew through this book despite not wanting it to ever end.Overall, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. I listened to part of this on audiobook as well, and the narrators were outstanding. Gilli Messer and Josh Bloomberg both handled speaking in various accents and languages, including speaking Yiddish, Israeli English with a very heavy accent, and the more commonly found New York melting pot. The plot was fantastic and the kind I couldn’t wait to read more of, the characters practically jumped off the page, and I was just about ready to get tickets to see shows in Yiddish with my mom. Unfortunately, the Yiddish Broadway has declined from its heyday in the early 20th century, but the Yiddish Walk of Fame can still be seen at 156 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. I know I’ll be heading there on my next trip to the city to view some major history. If, after reading this, you are still intrigued by the idea of Yiddish theater, there is still one operating in NYC called National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene. Either way, this is a debut that doesn’t read like a debut, and I loved literally every second of it. If you like reading urban fantasy, stories involving folklore or vampires, and slow-burn enemies to lovers clean romance, this is the book for you.

From the moment I started this book, I was hooked. The combination of vintage prose when looking into the backgrounds of all the characters and the seamless transition into modern narrative for the present day scenes were just amazing.Visny creates characters that you can feel and connect with (even if you're not an estrie or you don't talk to the dead). Boaz, the ever late seemingly scatterbrained, perpetually running MMC that is perpetually late because of a ghostly encounter is adorable. He's passionate and determined and obsessed with old movies. Clara is straight laced with a tiny forbidden crush on Boaz, even if he is always late. Molly, Clara's sister, is passionate and dramatic and so desperately in love with her girlfriend Anat. Everything seems to be fine until Anat seems to become more undead than Molly and someone graffitis Molly and Clara's beloved theater "The Grand Dame must burn".Vishny weaves surprises and tension through her work with wonderfully crafted twists and turns, an amazing cast of side characters, and lots of sheydim. I could read this book over and over again and NEVER get sick of it. Vishny kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time and I can't say that about many books. If I could give this book 10 stars, I would.