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4.09 AVERAGE
4.09 AVERAGE
"You’re doing it again,” he says at last. I look away quickly. “Doing what?” “Romanticizing nightmares."
⚰️ Mini Review ⚰️
Ok in all honesty I saw this book and just read vampires and it was by @shelbymaurinauthor so I said BUY. Well I didn't realize it was a Serpent and Dove spin off!!! I'm so happy we got to see the S&D characters so early in the book. I absolutely LOVED this one. I want to read it all over again. The only thing I hate is that ending! Why? Why must authors torture us with cliffhangers? I need the next one NOW. It was so beautiful. That's saying a lot considering I didn't really care for Célie in the S&D books. She wasn't bad but just not my fav character, but this book changed that and I understand her better. I do feel bad for Jean Luc though. Ugh I just want more more more!
⚰️ Mini Review ⚰️
Ok in all honesty I saw this book and just read vampires and it was by @shelbymaurinauthor so I said BUY. Well I didn't realize it was a Serpent and Dove spin off!!! I'm so happy we got to see the S&D characters so early in the book. I absolutely LOVED this one. I want to read it all over again. The only thing I hate is that ending! Why? Why must authors torture us with cliffhangers? I need the next one NOW. It was so beautiful. That's saying a lot considering I didn't really care for Célie in the S&D books. She wasn't bad but just not my fav character, but this book changed that and I understand her better. I do feel bad for Jean Luc though. Ugh I just want more more more!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
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
adventurous
dark
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Beware this as an audio is pretty addictive! I absolutely loved this dark and atmospheric vampire romance. The vampires are as they should be, terrifying and sexy! The book also brought in lots of vampire myth, with silver, sunlight and coffins all being featured throughout. I don’t know if one coffin trope is a thing - but I think it is now. The murder mystery element was great - I loved the plot and the ending is pretty dramatic (what you want from a vampire romance). The FMC is great, defying social expectations to become her own. The narrator does a great job, especially with the internal monologue of the FMC. The enemies to lovers is also perfection. Definitely up there with my fave vampire books. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an audio ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.
Not feeling a connection to these characters or plot, unfortunately
#54- I loved the Serpent and Dove Series so much. I was shocked a few months ago when I noticed this book out on NetGalley. I was even more surprised that I was able to get an ARC. It picks up right where Gods and Monsters leaves off. This time it follows Celie as the main character. She is pretty immediately kidnapped and taken to a world of vampires. It does end in a cliffhanger (which I hate) but over the book was so good and I will impatiently be waiting for the next one (hopefully in 2024).
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fun but I felt this was lacking severely in places and a bit dragged out.
The MMC definitely felt inspired by Rhysand from ACOTAR and there were a few other things that felt like they were also inspired by ACOMAF. And honestly despite all those inspirations I really didn’t find the romance very believable. Like yes it was “slowburn” but the lack of emotional tension made it hard to believe the characters had developed any authentic feelings. If anything it felt like attraction by proximity and sexual tension.
I thought the FMC was alright. Nothing like Lou from the prior series (which by the way should be a requirement prior to reading this due to all the backstory from that that kept being referenced).
Was it predictable? Maybe a little too much but the journey still made it worth the read, I think. And after that ending I honestly want to read the next installment just to see what happens now.
Overall 3.5/5
The MMC definitely felt inspired by Rhysand from ACOTAR and there were a few other things that felt like they were also inspired by ACOMAF. And honestly despite all those inspirations I really didn’t find the romance very believable. Like yes it was “slowburn” but the lack of emotional tension made it hard to believe the characters had developed any authentic feelings. If anything it felt like attraction by proximity and sexual tension.
I thought the FMC was alright. Nothing like Lou from the prior series (which by the way should be a requirement prior to reading this due to all the backstory from that that kept being referenced).
Was it predictable? Maybe a little too much but the journey still made it worth the read, I think. And after that ending I honestly want to read the next installment just to see what happens now.
Overall 3.5/5
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A little bit of a predictable ending, but I massively enjoyed this book. To cover off the ending briefly, I think this book really only set up one character to be the villain, so when they were revealed it wasn't the plot twist it was intended to be. But other than that, I think this was an amazing read. For something that is 622 pages long, I truly don't think it felt like it because Shelby Mahurin was able to keep the pace and tension so strong that it drove the story forward really successfully. As a character, I loved Celie's growth from who she was in the Serpent & Dove series to who she became in this. I definitely always viewed her as the innocent and somewhat weak one in the group, despite her actions at the end of Serpent & Dove, and I think her friends saw her in the same way. Even she saw herself this way. But with the support of Michal (and eventually Lou, Coco, Reid and Beau), she became so much stronger and surer of herself, whilst also retaining a bit of that innocence that makes her character so adorable. As for Michal, he's definitely a morally grey hero, and he makes some seriously violent and just generally bad choices throughout this story. But the softer side that Celie helped him uncover was so incredibly swoony, and I loved those moments where his vulnerability and affection for her snuck in - they genuinely gave me butterflies. As for secondary characters, I'm particularly intrigued by what's going to happen with Dimitri because he's almost positioned as a bit of a villain by the end of this book, especially given what he's willing to do to achieve his goal. He might have a really cool redemption arc, I don't know. The murder mystery plot was unexpected to me, even though it was obviously covered in the synopsis. I liked how Michal and Celie came together to investigate, and I loved how that investigation was littered with the discovery of new species and many moments of romantic tension between the two of them. I'm someone who generally doesn't think vampire-y stuff (ie. blood drinking and sharing) is all that exciting or appealing, but the way Shelby Mahurin described those scenes between Celie and Michal might make me a changed woman. Despite the fact that the plot was a little bit predictable towards the end, I still think the pacing of the various reveals made this book so compulsively readable. Plus the tension in that final scene was so insane that those 20 pages flew by in a second for me. I am genuinely so excited to read the next book in this series - I need it now.
I am a Dimitri apologist and if he doesn’t survive this series, I will leave all my books in a tiny library.
I truly do not know if I can rate this properly until I’ve read the second book. For now, I’ll leave it at a tentative 3.5 rounded up to 4.
Spoilers but I need to list out my questions and thoughts somewhere so I’ll remember them when the second book is out—
Celie was really starting to grate on me by the end of the book. Goodness was definitely her /weakness/ at a certain point. I know the melusine obviously predicted that Mihal would turn Celie into a vampire, so I’m hoping that’s what her POV brings us in the next book. And that we get to experience this seemingly gentle butterfly turn into the monsters she spent most of her book being repelled by.
Filipa surprised me though. Is she a big bad? Did the baby even survive that type of thing? What has she even come back as?
Why didn’t Mila tell Mihal who the killer was? That just seems like an odd plot hole….
Also are Jean Luc and Dimitri dead.. then? If “the sea swept them away?”
Is Odessa dead? Mila doesn’t think so.
I truly do not know if I can rate this properly until I’ve read the second book. For now, I’ll leave it at a tentative 3.5 rounded up to 4.
Spoilers but I need to list out my questions and thoughts somewhere so I’ll remember them when the second book is out—
Celie was really starting to grate on me by the end of the book. Goodness was definitely her /weakness/ at a certain point. I know the melusine obviously predicted that Mihal would turn Celie into a vampire, so I’m hoping that’s what her POV brings us in the next book. And that we get to experience this seemingly gentle butterfly turn into the monsters she spent most of her book being repelled by.
Filipa surprised me though. Is she a big bad? Did the baby even survive that type of thing? What has she even come back as?
Why didn’t Mila tell Mihal who the killer was? That just seems like an odd plot hole….
Also are Jean Luc and Dimitri dead.. then? If “the sea swept them away?”
Is Odessa dead? Mila doesn’t think so.
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No