Reviews with content warning for Toxic relationship - Serpent & Dove

➽ Serpent & Dove was a massive letdown for me! Initially, I was excited to read it, as I love witchy stories and this was very popular when it came out. The story follows Louise, a young witch who has to hide her identity as her kind is prosecuted by witch hunters. She ends up having to marry Reid, a hunter of the church to cover up a scandal. Usually, I enjoy enemies-to-lovers romances, but not when they are written like that. I rarely give out 1-star ratings, but I had issues with every single aspect of this book. Apart from what I mentioned below, there were also some fatphobic and aphobic comments in the story.

➽ Worldbuilding: The magic system is lacklustre and the setting is shallow. The author wanted this to be a French-inspired world but it's obvious she didn't do proper research. Instead, she randomly uses French words/phrases whenever she likes (it's not even consistent in the story itself) but doesn't follow them up with anything else. It felt like she just translated what words she wanted and sprinkled them into the story. The idea of the different types of witches was interesting but didn't stand out to me at all. The whole world didn't feel cohesive, as the language is too modern but then the author keeps reminding us that this is supposed to be set circa. 15th century, so there's a ton of sexism and religious bigotry.

➽ Writing: The writing style didn't fit the story. Apart from the constant repetitions of some phrases (like 'my husband/wife'), the author used modern language in her medieval setting (I'm not sure what time period this is supposed to be set in, I think around the 15th century?). It was so jarring to encounter modern colloquialisms in the story at times, as no one would have spoken like that. Louise sings a song that starts with "Big Titty Liddy" multiple times throughout the story and apart from being cringey and vulgar, it didn't fit into the setting at all!

➽ Main Character: Louise was probably one of the least annoying things about this book. I liked that she's in hiding and trying to outrun her past, as she's sick of being seen as a sacrifice. In general, her feisty attitude and humor were endearing at first. I also liked her friend Coco, but she sadly didn't get enough page time. In the end, her vulgar song and language got on my nerves though. Her mindset was way too modern for the setting, but at the same time, she made SO many excuses for Reid's possessive and sexist behavior.

➽ Love Interest: Reid was a horrible character who never changed. He's a witch hunter and works for the church, so he despises witches but has no idea his new wife is one. Reid never makes an effort to unlearn his own bigotry and keeps treating witches like animals. His bloodlust and dehumanisation were unpleasant to read about. His possessive and aggressive behavior never changed and it often felt like it was Louise's task to 'fix' him. There was no nuance in their dynamic and obviously, Reid magically changes his opinion only in the very end via the 'power of love'. Even secondary characters like Ansel - a fellow hunter - slowly change, but Reid clings to the church's teachings, even when they become improbable.

When Reid finds out Lou is a witch, he overreacts as you would expect. There is no moment when he realises witches aren't as bad as he thought. The reason he changes his opinion is only because he loves Louise and not because he saw the error of his ways. Reid doesn't seem to care about all the witches he hunted, tortured and killed throughout the years. His whining about 'Lou's betrayal' annoyed me and I saw no real remorse from him.

➽ Romance: Reid and Louise's relationship was so offputting and unhealthy. The reason they have to marry is so fabricated and ridiculous, it didn't happen organically throughout the story. It's offputting from the beginning that he only marries her, as the city thinks he sexually assaulted Louise. This isn't true, but obviously, the church thinks that he has to 'save his image'. The church is full fo sexist attitudes and Reid isn't much better. He was controlling and possessive over Lou at times and definitely thought she was more like his property because she was his wife. Reid doesn't have any character development like I though and it's Lou who excuses his behavior and tries to fix him. Their relationship was just a big red flag for me!

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beckyyreadss's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to read this book because I had seen this book all over bookstagram and booktok and wanted to read more new authors this year. My first sort of thoughts is that I wanted more from this book, and I didn’t get it.

Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they get burned. As a huntsman of the Church, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. But when Lou pulls a wicked stunt, the two are forced into an impossible situation – marriage. Lou, unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, must make a choice. And love makes fools of us all. This is a young adult romance fantasy novel.

Okay, Ansel and Coco saved this book. I love Ansel. If he was the main character – this book would have been so much bloody better. Coco is a badass protective friend and I want her in my life. But that was about it that I liked. They saved the book. The storyline took me a while to get into as it was quite weak and I was hoping it was a bit of darker romance even with YA but it just barely felt like YA or NA and just felt . . . average. Reid really annoyed the crap out of me and as the main character he just wasn’t “OH MY GOD I WANT HIM TO SAVE ME!” It was just a bizarre and strange read. There wasn’t any slow burn either. It went from we hate each other to we would die for each other in the space of like three chapters.

I really struggled with this book and hopefully now I’m understanding the characters and the world, hopefully I will be able to enjoy the next book.

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rinku's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

When I started reading Serpent & Dove, I was convinced that I would give it two or even one star. The beginning was so cliché and ridiculous, the characters unlikable, and the world flat. This first impression changed while reading and towards the end, I started to enjoy this novel.

Other reviews mention this as well, but the set-up for the story is so ridiculous. The witch Lou and the witch hunter Reid are forced to married because of an absurd moment: Reid is trying to catch Lou after she stole something in a theatre. Of course, it comes to a fight, and they fall in front of the curtain and the whole theatre, half-naked. For Reid to restore his honour, he’s forced by the bishop to marry Lou, just how she’s forced to this if she wants to live. There were some other moments in the story that were just over the top like this.

Other things especially annoyed me, like this overdone twist that

certain characters are secretly related to each other. This is the case with Lou being the child of the witch queen(?) and the bishop and Reid being the child of Madame Labelle and the king. I really hate this kind of plot twist

. I was frustrated as well by this “characters get interrupted before they can tell important things”-cliché.

But like I’ve mentioned, the story gets way more interesting and dramatic towards the end, since the fantasy aspect starts to play a bigger role:

Lou’s mom is able to kidnap her daughter and wants to sacrifice her, leaving Reid and his friends with no other choice than saving her. The finale was so dramatic with Lou almost dying, Madame Labelle actually dying and the reveal that Reid can use magic as well

I furthermore had some problems with the world. Christianity plays a huge part in the world which is a bit weird considering that this is a high fantasy novel? Besides this, there was barely any world building that we get the name of the city that the story takes place only after the first half. I generally liked the French influences in the settings, but those are rarely described, just like the magic system.

The writing style was okay, I guess. It tried too much to be “adult” aka using many swear words and making sexual references all the time but in comparison, the humour is so juvenile. This is apparently often the case with these novels that are marketed as YA but are NA in reality – looking at you, From Blood and Ash. Capslock is also used for screaming which I never like.

Talking about sexual references, those are constantly only made between men and women. It was annoying how much alleged differences between men and women are emphasized and how they say about Lou that she “fights like a man” or that she has “a name of a man”. The story acts like it’s against patriarchy but stuff like this keeps the patriarchy alive. Of course, there are only male witch hunters as well.

It took me some time to get warm with the characters, even though they are quite vividly described. Lou annoyed me at the beginning, and I hated Reid, his anger issues and possessiveness towards Lou. Later, the characters changed positively changed, and I even started to like the shipping since the romance is written well, besides this cliché question-answer-thing to get to know each other. It’s funny how she doesn’t care what others think of her, but he does so a lot. What bothered me though was this implied crush of Coco on Ansel who’s still underage.

I’m really curious to read the next book in the Serpent & Dove series because from what I’ve seen, it’s supposedly worse than the first book.

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marinasslibrary's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Enemies to lovers just never disappoints!
I am obsessed with fantasy that includes witches lately and Serpent & Dove surely did deliver.
I love the marriage out of convenience/ forced marriage trope because it mostly leads to close proximity and only one bed!
Many of my favorite tropes were present and so I already loved the book for that!
Regarding to the plot it was always keep exciting and mysterious and imo not predictable! That is one of my main icks with books but with this one I did not predict the ending the least!
Reid and Lou have a great chemistry from the beginning throughout their highs and lows.
I am really excited to read the next book :)
I highly recommend reading this if you like the same tropes as me!

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