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A review by the_cover_contessa
The Shadow Bride by Shelby Mahurin
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Thank you to Harper Colins and Edelweiss for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
To say I was excited to read this installment in the Serpent and Dove world is an understatement. The Scarlet Veil was one of my top reads for 2024. I enjoyed Serpent and Dove by The Scarlet Veil too Mahurin's story and writing to the next level. And since it ended on a huge cliffhanger, I had been chomping at the bit to get an early copy and see the outcome.
This book starts off right where the last book left off, so don't go reading this thinking you'll understand anything at all. You have to have the background from the first book. I would even say you need the background from the Serpent and Dove trilogy to truly understand it all. Reading this series without having read the trilogy will ruin relationships for you and leave you wondering about the magic system and how the world was built.
Celie is a vampire and her world has been thrown into upheaval. Death is hounding her to take her place as his bride and she is trying her hardest to adjust to her new life while keeping her friends safe.
I really loved Celie's growth in the first book of this series. I wasn't a fan of hers from the trilogy but The Scarlet Veil really pushed her to a height I wasn't expecting. Unfortunately, she didn't grow more with this book. That growth leveled out and this book was more about her fighting the good fight and saving the world (and her friends and family along with it). She does come into herself a bit as her new form: a vampire. She learns what she needs to do to survive. But above that she is the same.
I will say I enjoyed the romance in this. It was a slight slow burn, which we had in the first book, as well. But the first book showed the relationship might not go anywhere where this book focuses on her and Michal becoming closer and falling into each other. Michal had the most growth in this book of any of the characters. I do wish there was more than one point of view in the book so I could have been a bit inside his head.
More than anything, I love the side characters in this book. I feel like they are my friends given their development from the beginning of the first trilogy. I enjoyed how they were always there for Celie, accepting her for who she is and not judging her for who she was.
The pacing of this book was definitely slower for me than the first. I didn't feel drawn to run and read it whenever I had a chance, though I wanted to. And there were times I was actually bored and found myself skimming and then having to go back so I could understand what was happening. I dare say it suffers from second book syndrome even though this series is a duology. The journy the characters take is kind of all over the place jumping back and forth between the veil but never getting anywhere until the very end. The story was a little disjointed, as well. Sometimes I was totally lost as to what the characters were talking about or doing and how it related to the story. Other times they would come to conclusions that I didn't really understand. Perhaps had I read the books back to back I may have been more in tune, though I do remember the first book quite well.
There were quite a few plot holes, with things being forgotten that were important to the story line making for a messy read at times. Elements that made no sense being part of the story and leaving me wondering why they may have even been introduced if they were never fully developed. It pulled me out of the story and made me feel lost. And I had a hard time visualizing some of the scenes.
Overall, this was more disappointing to me than I would have liked. I did enjoy the story and I was pretty happy with the ending but overall I just felt like it wasn't as tightly put together as the first book.
To say I was excited to read this installment in the Serpent and Dove world is an understatement. The Scarlet Veil was one of my top reads for 2024. I enjoyed Serpent and Dove by The Scarlet Veil too Mahurin's story and writing to the next level. And since it ended on a huge cliffhanger, I had been chomping at the bit to get an early copy and see the outcome.
This book starts off right where the last book left off, so don't go reading this thinking you'll understand anything at all. You have to have the background from the first book. I would even say you need the background from the Serpent and Dove trilogy to truly understand it all. Reading this series without having read the trilogy will ruin relationships for you and leave you wondering about the magic system and how the world was built.
Celie is a vampire and her world has been thrown into upheaval. Death is hounding her to take her place as his bride and she is trying her hardest to adjust to her new life while keeping her friends safe.
I really loved Celie's growth in the first book of this series. I wasn't a fan of hers from the trilogy but The Scarlet Veil really pushed her to a height I wasn't expecting. Unfortunately, she didn't grow more with this book. That growth leveled out and this book was more about her fighting the good fight and saving the world (and her friends and family along with it). She does come into herself a bit as her new form: a vampire. She learns what she needs to do to survive. But above that she is the same.
I will say I enjoyed the romance in this. It was a slight slow burn, which we had in the first book, as well. But the first book showed the relationship might not go anywhere where this book focuses on her and Michal becoming closer and falling into each other. Michal had the most growth in this book of any of the characters. I do wish there was more than one point of view in the book so I could have been a bit inside his head.
More than anything, I love the side characters in this book. I feel like they are my friends given their development from the beginning of the first trilogy. I enjoyed how they were always there for Celie, accepting her for who she is and not judging her for who she was.
The pacing of this book was definitely slower for me than the first. I didn't feel drawn to run and read it whenever I had a chance, though I wanted to. And there were times I was actually bored and found myself skimming and then having to go back so I could understand what was happening. I dare say it suffers from second book syndrome even though this series is a duology. The journy the characters take is kind of all over the place jumping back and forth between the veil but never getting anywhere until the very end. The story was a little disjointed, as well. Sometimes I was totally lost as to what the characters were talking about or doing and how it related to the story. Other times they would come to conclusions that I didn't really understand. Perhaps had I read the books back to back I may have been more in tune, though I do remember the first book quite well.
There were quite a few plot holes, with things being forgotten that were important to the story line making for a messy read at times. Elements that made no sense being part of the story and leaving me wondering why they may have even been introduced if they were never fully developed. It pulled me out of the story and made me feel lost. And I had a hard time visualizing some of the scenes.
Overall, this was more disappointing to me than I would have liked. I did enjoy the story and I was pretty happy with the ending but overall I just felt like it wasn't as tightly put together as the first book.