A review by imaginationindex
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

“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 are burned.

Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou's, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.” 

What I Loved:
  • Enemies-to-Lovers paired with a marriage of convenience with a sprinkling of sharing-one-bed and “that’s my wife”… 🙌🏻 
  • I loved the two secs of witches, Dames Rouges and Dames Blanches. I’m curious to learn more about the Blood Magic as well as
    how Reid was able to do magic when we should have been dying 😅 
  • Ansel, you sweet boy! Coco, what a badass! I like how we flipped the script on traditional gender roles
  • This is a perfect example of new adult stories; our characters are adults who can make their own decisions and swear.

What can burn (this seems very aggressive but I was going for a theme 🧙‍♀️🔮✨)
  • While the fantasy world was a total vibe, there are some moments where the religion aspect of the anti-witch stance gets to be a bit much. That might just be me but the Archbishop needed to relax 95% of the book
  • I noticed a lot of re-explaining and telling. I get that we had the dual POV and catch up might have been needed, but I thought it was clearly shown so we could have saved ourselves a few pages.
  • Genuine question, when were we? The France inspired world was cool but we had swords and monarchy, but full theatres and working bathrooms 

The building of tension was well paced and I will be continuing with the series with Blood and Honey up next ✨🩸🍯✨
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