Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
Bound as one, to love, honor, or burn. Book one of a stunning fantasy trilogy, this tale of witchcraft and forbidden love is perfect for fans of Kendare Blake and Sara Holland.
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.
As a huntsman of the Church, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. But when Lou pulls a wicked stunt, the two are forced into an impossible situation—marriage.
Lou, unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, must make a choice. And love makes fools of us all.
One of my favorite forms of escapist entertainment is reading Young Adult series of the fantasy/magical genre.
They are generally my BIG OL’ JAM, yall.
What better way to leave all the drudgery and seriousness of being a grown ass adult in the real world behind then to escape to a world where instead of mortgages and chore lists, there is magic and adventure? PLUS completely unrealistic romance too! Wonderful! Sign me UP!
When I found this book, I was TOTES EXCITED. 🙌
But my balloon of great expectations of escaping reality was deflated pretty quickly.
Not because I thought it was an entirely bad book…but because it was just TOO DARN PREDICTABLE.
Ahhhhhh…how quickly I forget that THAT RIGHT THERE can be the very downfall of the YA genre I adore so very much.
While the pages were filled with magic, secrets, wonders, witches, hunters, haters and lovers, it was just way too cookie cutter of a story.
The whole “enemies to lovers” trope, the mistreatment and misunderstanding of those who are different…
SEEN IT.
And YALL…the storyline of two people who can’t stand each other who ALL OF A FRIGGIN SUDDEN fall passionately in LOVE with each other….BLAAHHH SO TIRED OF IT.
I was ROLLING MY DAMN EYES REPEATEDLY around the halfway part of this book.
And do not worry, yall…I am not spoiling SHIT for you because you can know WTF is coming all the way from chapter 1.
Plenty of other books have fallen into the same kind of predictable pages like this, but this one is missing that extra bit of “oompf” those had to set it just a teensy bit apart from all the rest.
This didn’t have a unique flavor…just fell kinda bland for me.
The saving grace for my interest staying engaged AT ALL was the piece of the story that was about the generations of conflict between witches, the church and the monarchy….
Yall know anything that makes a statement about the evils of patriarchy, elitism, religion, classism, gender inequality and the imbalance of power and resources will get my spark going.
But that was the only smidge of a spark yall…no lasting embers of interest were lit with this read.
Don’t have one teensy care to read the other two books after this one…IDGAF what happens next.
Quite disappointed about that actually…I was REALLY looking forward to being swept away by the fantastical…
Boo. 😔