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beth_joey 's review for:
The Scarlet Veil
by Shelby Mahurin
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.