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dean_reviews's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Yes if
You are looking for a very spicy m/m romance book with a slice of life story or self-discovery.
No if
Explicit descriptors of sex or age/maturity/knowledge gaps are not your thing.
I don't know that anything could have prepared me for <i>The Mourning Dove and his Snow Sparrow</i> by Eve Healy. It was a sweet and fast paced story of love and self-discovery.
That does not mean it wasn't full of it's own trials and tribulations or lacking in depth and sadness however.
***Content Warnings for this book:
Explicit Sexual Conduct, Death of a Parent, Grief, Injury/Injury Detail, Blood, Sickness, Death***
The story follows Callum and Aurear as they explore romantic and sexual love for the first time.
Callum
Is a young man who is recovering from loss and loneliness. A man who doesn't know how or where he will fit into the world.
When he stumbles upon Aurear his world shakes and he starts to be able to explore who he is without many risks of consequences from the society that he is a part of.
Aurear
Is a young man whom we meet when he is saved by Callum and becomes a man in his home.
He provides us with an innocent and well-meaning view of the world. As a character who does not have experience in the human world, we see things through his interactions with a childlike wonder. A wonder that, at times, can feel out of place with the adult aspects of the story.
Aurear is both finding who he is while helping Callum to discover who he is as well.
Despite having been a bird he knows a shocking amount of the best practices of m/m intimacy.
If you aren't up for extremely explicit sex scenes, think AO3/fic level of description, this book probably isn't for you (unless you are willing to skim past those parts). But those parts of the book in no means take away from the main storyline. While this isn't an action/adventure story, there is far more plot than I was expecting.
Overall, this was a quick book to read with a sweet overarching story that provided me with a fun way to spend the afternoon reading. While I am unsure I would reach for it again, I did enjoy this book.
***I was provided a copy of this book via NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion and thoughts about what I read.***
You are looking for a very spicy m/m romance book with a slice of life story or self-discovery.
No if
Explicit descriptors of sex or age/maturity/knowledge gaps are not your thing.
I don't know that anything could have prepared me for <i>The Mourning Dove and his Snow Sparrow</i> by Eve Healy. It was a sweet and fast paced story of love and self-discovery.
That does not mean it wasn't full of it's own trials and tribulations or lacking in depth and sadness however.
***Content Warnings for this book:
Explicit Sexual Conduct, Death of a Parent, Grief, Injury/Injury Detail, Blood, Sickness, Death***
The story follows Callum and Aurear as they explore romantic and sexual love for the first time.
Callum
Is a young man who is recovering from loss and loneliness. A man who doesn't know how or where he will fit into the world.
When he stumbles upon Aurear his world shakes and he starts to be able to explore who he is without many risks of consequences from the society that he is a part of.
Aurear
Is a young man whom we meet when he is saved by Callum and becomes a man in his home.
He provides us with an innocent and well-meaning view of the world. As a character who does not have experience in the human world, we see things through his interactions with a childlike wonder. A wonder that, at times, can feel out of place with the adult aspects of the story.
Aurear is both finding who he is while helping Callum to discover who he is as well.
Despite having been a bird he knows a shocking amount of the best practices of m/m intimacy.
If you aren't up for extremely explicit sex scenes, think AO3/fic level of description, this book probably isn't for you (unless you are willing to skim past those parts). But those parts of the book in no means take away from the main storyline. While this isn't an action/adventure story, there is far more plot than I was expecting.
Overall, this was a quick book to read with a sweet overarching story that provided me with a fun way to spend the afternoon reading. While I am unsure I would reach for it again, I did enjoy this book.
***I was provided a copy of this book via NetGalley. This review is my honest opinion and thoughts about what I read.***
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Moderate: Grief and Blood
Minor: Gun violence and Death
the_bookworm_rabbit's review
lighthearted
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? No
3.0
This was a super short and sweet read.
The premise was quite interesting but I wanted a little more from it. I loved seeing Callum and Aurear's relationship develop as they tried to negotiate Aurear's change to human form.
The ending was bittersweet but unneeded in my opinion. The extra scene could have just been a cute part of the story instead of stuck on the end.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
The premise was quite interesting but I wanted a little more from it. I loved seeing Callum and Aurear's relationship develop as they tried to negotiate Aurear's change to human form.
The ending was bittersweet but unneeded in my opinion. The extra scene could have just been a cute part of the story instead of stuck on the end.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
thebookishren's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is the short, magical tale of a lonely man, Callum, and the fox sparrow shifter, Aurear, who captures his heart. This was an absolutely beautiful romance in its purest form. I honestly don’t understand the low reviews on this one because everything about it felt surreal. Their love, the gentle commentary, the passionate love-making, the bittersweet ending. These two spend 50 long years together and while the ending brought me to tears, it was wonderful and emotional.
“ʏᴇꜱ. ɪ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜ.”
“ʏᴏᴜ’ᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ ᴡᴇʟʟ. ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏ?”
“ʏᴇꜱ.” (This part, y’all 😭😭😭)
It’s hard to put into words the beauty of this story. It’s slow pace and steady and lowish angst. It’s not very exciting and not much really happens but that’s okay because it’s simply a love story between a mourning dove and the fox sparrow found in the snow. Callum and Aurear were gentle and pure. They loved hard and supported gently.
This was a comfort read for me. I already know I’m going to buy the paperback because I want to reread this one when I’m feeling down AND I’m obsessed with the gorgeous cover. Bravo!
SPICE: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
ANGST:💧💧
POV: 1st, mostly Callum
𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚. 𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮.
nolemdaer's review
tense
fast-paced
1.75
A bite-sized story! The novella was pleasant enough, but for its size, the scenarios seemed over-dramatic (three near-death experiences in about 150 pages is a little much for me). The writing was very repetitive, as if the character’s thoughts had to be explained and made clear three times over before the story could move on. The book took “tell not show” and turned it into “tell several times not show,” which gave a more unpolished quality to the writing. The romance was nice enough for something of this length but nothing revelatory. Ultimately, this is more of a pick-me-up than a high-quality, fleshed-out narrative, and there’s nothing wrong with that per se—just not really my speed.
Also, I knew the other reviews said this was explicit, but I don’t think I was prepared for just how explicit it really was—definitely not what I usually expect from published pieces! Nothing about it was improperly advertised, so it’s totally all my bad, but I was definitely surprised.
Also, I knew the other reviews said this was explicit, but I don’t think I was prepared for just how explicit it really was—definitely not what I usually expect from published pieces! Nothing about it was improperly advertised, so it’s totally all my bad, but I was definitely surprised.
heathers_books's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
4.0
This novella was very sweet and also spicy!
Callum is lonely on his homestead after the death of his mother and he moves through life without much intentionality until he comes across an injured sparrow who, magically? (idk lets not question the logistics), transformers into a winged man: Aurear.
This little story is very cozy fantasy coded with some sweet endearing moments but also a handful of bittersweet realties.
If you peruse fanfiction with your tags set to hurt/comfort then this is the read for you!
Thanks to Netgalley and the marketing team at BooksGoSocial for the arc in exchange for an honest review!
Callum is lonely on his homestead after the death of his mother and he moves through life without much intentionality until he comes across an injured sparrow who, magically? (idk lets not question the logistics), transformers into a winged man: Aurear.
This little story is very cozy fantasy coded with some sweet endearing moments but also a handful of bittersweet realties.
If you peruse fanfiction with your tags set to hurt/comfort then this is the read for you!
Thanks to Netgalley and the marketing team at BooksGoSocial for the arc in exchange for an honest review!
readingunderadesk's review
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
3.5
This is a sweet (and spicy) little novella about a young man who lives alone in a northern forest and a bird, who also turns into a man, who falls in love with him. While there were various inconsistencies that brought me out of the moment, besides that it was a quick read and the short length made me want to keep going to see what happened between the two. The last chapter, while technically more of an epilogue, was a nice way to wrap everything up too.
Also, can I just say, this cover is BEAUTIFUL?
Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for approving my request!
Also, can I just say, this cover is BEAUTIFUL?
Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for approving my request!
amanisky's review
4.0
Something about this book intrigued me a lot. All I could think of was how lonely Callum must've been without his mom in a ruralesque kind of area with no one to communicate with how monotonous that would be. Another thought that stayed with me was to imagine leaving home really quickly after finding an injured bird and then coming back and seeing a man with wings - I don't know why this sat in my mind for as long as it did but the shock would probably make me faint.
This was a cute read it definitely touched on my feels.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This was a cute read it definitely touched on my feels.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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