Skip to main content

Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin [arc review]

Bound as one to love, honor, or burn
The romance was beautiful.
The rest needed some work...

Serpent and Dove by @glimpses_of_my_books
Blurb:
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.

The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou's most dangerous enemies bring a fate worse than fire. Unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, a choice must be made.

And love makes fools of us all.

The review: 3 Stars...

Writing a review for a book that leaves you in the fence in the end is not easy... 
Serpent and Dove had an outstanding romance! I was enthralled by Lou and Reid the whole way. Their story was more than just the usual hate to lovers. Reid may not have known for most of the book, but she truly was his enemy, he truly and deeply hated her kind. There were no grey lines and there was no world in which he wouldn't. As Lou accounted herself, that was who he was, he knew no different. 
Reid is a good man, a noble man... but one brought up with a very specific set of beliefs.
Lou is a firecracker. Her personality is contagious and easy to love.
The way their relationship progressed was written nicely, I enjoyed their hatred, their banter, their passionate moments... all of it.

However, all that is rather clouded by a book that was deeply infused in religious jargon. When I was half way through the book I realized that almost every single page had some religious comment or other. This can be a problem -and was- in many ways: many readers do not like religion in their books, that is problem number one since there is NO escaping it; many Christians don't like their faith being mocked and well... this book wasn't kind to Christianity at all; and many readers like me,simply do not enjoy how repetitive a book becomes when a religion, political agenda, or other gets shoved down the readers throat. 

The second problem with the book is the vulgar language. Now, I read dark romance/erotica/etc and I am used to a lot of it, but it has to be done right. Here the vulgar language was used to differentiate Lou's care free attitude from Reid's uptight one. There are a million different ways to do that, the vulgar language given Lou was not needed. Some of it was funny, but  a lot of it was unnecessary and just made me roll my eyes.

Lastly but definitely not least, this is NOT YOUNG ADULT! the vulgar language combined with the one rather graphic sex scene pushes this book into the romance category with fantasy as a subcategory or vice versa with an YA theme. In other words: New Adult Fantasy. This is only YA if you are one those people that insists on calling acotar by Sarah J Maas YA. On the back of the arc it is written "A steamy YA series launch perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas". Well, yes. I agree with the comparison. But no, because all of SJM's latest books are not YA. 


Find the book at: GoodReads - Amazon



Comments

  1. I agree with this review 100%. I had such high hopes for it, but the style, the turtle paced plot, and the blatant attack/commentary on Christianity left a bad impression. If this was geared toward any other faith, it wouldn't have left the publishing house. It was too much for a story that was too little.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This person is very right. I find that people feel at ease to attack Christianity. But the same doesn't happen with other religions very often. Are the authors that stupid and mean that they don't care about someone else's religious sentiments.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Radiant Sin (Dark olympus) by Katee Robert [arc review]

This is sadly, not going to be a very popular review. I adore Katee Robert. But this one just wasn't for me. It wasn't a terrible book or anything like that, it just left me wanting more and very puzzled. Every one of the books in this series follows a certain trope and/or subplot genre. Neon Gods is very much a Greek Mythology retelling;  Electric Idol  has the plus size influencer and the sweet bad boy, it is a very modern contemporary romance;  Wicked Beauty , and my favorite so far has that hunger games/dystopian vibe. Radiant Sin  is a murder mystery. The 'one house'/'one train' style that has always been so popular. Here lies problem number one for me, because I don't like murder mysteries at all. Even on my teen years when I read a lot of mystery it was never those. Problem two- there were way too many characters in that house, and they all got their time on the page making it one very confusing mess. It was very hard to follow at times. I think this

The Book Hater's Book Club by Gretchen Anthony

The Book Hater's Book Club  at first appears to be about a struggling bookstore and its imminent sale. Elliot, the co-owner of Over the Rainbow Bookstore, started  The Book Hater's Book Club , a newsletter of reading recommendations for the self-proclaimed non-readers of the world, because he believed there was a book out there for everyone. Something I wholeheartedly agree with! For years he and Irma have kept the store going and always had a recommendation in hand. When you finish this book, you will have yet another list of books to read.  However, this book is about more than just books and a struggling bookstore. It is also about grief, the price of secrets, and a little more grief.  You see, Elliot is gone, and his grief-ridden business partner has agreed to sell the store to developers. Problem is, she didn't tell that to anyone until the deal was almost done. Which is making her daughters ask questions. Why is she selling? Is it grief alone? Is there something else

A Romance Catch Up!

 It has been a crazy month and I fell behind badly on my reviews! But here are some highlights for you. Barbarian Lover (Ice Planet Barbarians #3) Ruby Dixon  2.75/5 Although I liked this one it is my least favorite in the series so far. The book was going well until a little over the halfway point when it just doesn't read right. She accepts leaving someone behind too easily and although up to this point the book does a good job at dealing with infertility it all of sudden throws it all out of the window. So good, I will carry on with the series, but not great. A Precious Jewel (Stapleton-Downes #2) Mary Balogh  3/5 This was different, unique. And I like that about it. I have not read any other book quite like it. She is a prostitute;  he starts of as just any other client. The story was sweet and interesting . The MC comes across  rather clueless at times,  but it is somewhat endearing. The romance is believable  and they make a very charming couple! The Gunslinger's Guide to