Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Șarpe și porumbel

Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

Șarpe și porumbel by Shelby Mahurin

48 reviews

jays_fairytales's review against another edition

tense fast-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

3.0

Overall, I enjoyed this book just about as much as one can enjoy a formulaic, new adult fantasy romance novel. Don't get me wrong, I am not using the word "formulaic" here with a negative connotation. I am a 20 something neurodivergent girlie with an unpredictable life - I will take formulaic where I can get it. And I think reading should be fun and NA Fantasies often do it for me. Although Serpent and Dove will by no means grace my favorites shelf with ACOTAR and A Discovery of Witches, it got the job done.

Mahurin's writing is fun and easily digestible, but there were moments where I was taken out of the story. Most memorably, Mahurin uses the phrase "poor boy" twice in two paragraphs. Stuff like that irks me, so if you're sensitive to careless phrasings, just look out for that. The book is very heavily influenced by scripture, and King James scripture at that. Plus with all the bits and pieces of what I assume to be 1800 French culture mixed in, the dialogue gets a little interesting. What makes up for all of that though is Lou, our main character. She's sarcastic and crass and mouthy, just the way I like all my female characters. She says whatever she wants and her counterpart, Reid, more than carries his weight in their conversations. I think good enemies to lover fiction must have conversations that feel like tennis matches, where characters are throwing verbal assaults back and forth, each wittier than the last.

Speaking of the characters, Mahurin does a fantastic job of toeing the line of what is morally just in this work, which I loved. The two main characters, Reid and Lou are from two different worlds, and should be enemies by definition. I think where a lot of authors miss the mark on stories like this is the nuances between right and wrong in two warring groups. This story is written in that nuance. I didn't walk away feeling like one side was more right than the other which I appreciate, and is just a nice nod to reality. And as Reid and Lou draw closer together during the course of the book, you get to see them both learn more about the other person's beliefs in a way that makes me excited to see what direction Mahurin takes with their growth and development and the overall plot in the next two books.

Once again, the story was very formulaic. It really wasn't the kind of book that I tore apart eager to get to the end. It's more the kind of book where you can guess what's about to happen before it does, but you like the characters enough to stick around and see how they will react in the circumstances. It also felt very oddly paced. There needs to be a delicate balance between telling the love story and world-building in fantasy novels such as these, and this one was disappointingly lacking in both.

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sophiexxjones's review against another edition

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emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The first two thirds of the book were brilliant. The romance felt natural and the world building was great. However, the last third of the book falls flat with the sheer amount of exposition. The majority of the book is paced really well, but it slows right down in Part III to explain all the backstory. If it had been better woven into the first two parts, this would’ve been an easy 5 stars. Serpent & Dove is heartbreaking, funny, exciting, and terrifying, but some pacing issues let it down unfortunately.

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maxima5's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

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kinsportch's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

3.0

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veganecurrywurst's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I did like the relationship that was developing between the two main characters, although it felt at some points uncomfortably toxic. I absolutely hated the ending and the storyline between Lou her mother and the other witches. I think I'm not going to continue reading the series's due to this. The POC representation was laughable. But I would recommend reading this book if the themes generally interested you, because you might actually enjoy it.

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lizzyluck's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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martharosen's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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? It's complicated

3.0

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strange's review against another edition

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Okay, so this is technically a spoiler but I think people should know it before going in to the book. This book has the main two characters getting together because of a false sexual assault accusation. I get it if people can like this despite that, and maybe I could if there were many other good things this book had to offer, but for me for this book, that’s an immediate no.

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ana24gs's review against another edition

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dark funny

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book may seem like it was written for ten-year-old’s, maybe the way the main plot begins is ridiculous, maybe the characters speak like nine-year-old’s, and maybe the characters are not very original in the fantasy world, but all that doesn't matter because I found the book to be verry entertaining.

I needed to read an enemies to lovers romance with a fantasy subplot, and I got it by reading this book. I wasn't expecting the super plot, I wasn't expecting deep characters, I wasn't expecting a complex world, I needed something easy to read and I got it. This actually was a really funny experience; I couldn't stop reading it.

But I suggest being prepared for how ridiculous it can be at moments, MANY MOMENTS. I can only prepare you for this with this quote, DIRECT FROM THE BOOK: “Big Titty Liddy was not very pretty, but her bosom was big as a barn. Her creamery knockers drove men off their rockers, but she was blind to their charms…”.

Speaking of this, I feel that because of the dialogues and how immature the characters were, you expect it to be a book for teenagers, teenagers from eleven to fourteen years old, but because of the serious topics they touch, such as prostitution, sexism, murder, witch hunt, an explicit sex scene, deformation, neglect of minors, religious extremism, self-flagellation in order to perform magic, and I don't know what else, you'd expect it to be a book for an adult audience.

Despite this, you may like it if you know what you're getting into, a romance of enemies to lovers that unfolds as you expect, with a fantasy plot that also unfolds as one expects it to unfold.

☢️ SPOILERS ☢️:

Okey, as I said the characters are very bland, we have seen them a thousand times in a thousand books with similar themes. But still, I am going to talk about them.

Lou: She is a girl who is not like other girls, because she thinks for herself and is super open with her sexuality, that is fine, it does not bother me, but it is nothing new, so it does not impress me. She is brave, strong, sarcastic, funny, kind, nothing I have not read before. She has the worst mother in the world and an interesting witch power. I take this as an opportunity to say that I like the magic system of this book, I like that there are limitations when using them because it creates tension in the reader, you know that the actions that the main characters carry out come with consequences.

Reid: The author does something with Reid that I liked. Reid is a super religious boy, extremely religious, and hates witches. But that's not what interests me about his character, he develops as anyone expects. What interests me about his character are his anger issues. It is very common to see extremely violent male protagonists, but it is never presented as something dangerous. In this book it is very clear that Reid has anger issues, he is aware of it, he is aware that it is not normal to feel so much anger and so much desire to strangle people and, although it is difficult for him, he is able to control himself. BECAUSE HE KNOWS IT'S NOT NORMAL, AND IT'S NOT OKEY TO BE SO VIOLENT AND HAVE SO MUCH ANGER. It’s shown how it should be shown, a mental health problem that can be managed with good control techniques (and I think medicine, but at that time that does not exist).

Coco: Cosette, she's here because I really liked her.

Anzel: My only opinion is that he's cute, I'm not even going to deny it. He is immature, yes, but it is understood because of his religion.

Labelle: I really liked this woman, super smart, she doesn't bite her tongue, she speaks her mind, and I'm very curious to see how she will handle her relationship with Reid now that he knows that she is his mother.

Lou's mother: The worst mother in the world.

Fangirl moment, let's talk about romance:

I LOVED THE ROMANCE GDABCSDJNLFKD, I walked in for an enemies to lovers romance and this book did not disappoint, from their banter with each other, to the moments where they cared for each other and got jealous. THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO SEE. I don't care that Lou makes fun of everything Reid does and at times I have a hard time understanding why he, in the end, falls in love with her, and that Reid does the bear minimum that any good husband can do (not hit her), their scenes together are super cute and I super love them together because they really care about each other and understand each other. It broke my heart when Reid found out that Lou was a witch and told her that she was no longer his wife AUCH, it hurt a lot. But now they are fine, and I hope they continue to be.

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daisy_jane's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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