Synopsis

After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Dames Blanches, Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from coven, kingdom, and church—fugitives with nowhere to hide.To elude the scores of witches and throngs of chasseurs at their heels, Lou and Reid need allies. Strong ones. But protection comes at a price, and the group is forced to embark on separate quests to build their forces. As Lou and Reid try to close the widening rift between them, the dastardly Morgane baits them in a lethal game of cat and mouse that threatens to destroy something worth more than any coven.

The hotly anticipated sequel to the New York Times and IndieBound bestseller Serpent & Dove—packed with even steamier romance and darker magic—is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas. 

 

Audiobook Mini Review

2 to 3 stars

 

What did I read exactly?????

For about 80% of the book I wanted to give it 2 stars. Then the ending was close to a 4,5 stars. This felt like a filler book.

 

I don’t know if Shelby Mahurin is very clever or foolish but she took a big gamble here as Lou is … so dark! So far from the sassy, dauntless and fun heroine that I got to love in the first book.

I guess it matches her “descent” but that made for a hard book to read.

I disagreed with her ….all the time.

I wanted to shake some sense in her, to halt her fall into the dark side…just like Reid tried.

 

It did not help that the great love story from the first book was burned into ashes her with only heated arguments and make up sex.

 

I am also angry at the ending, at who was sacrificed and at the same time, admiring the twist about THAT character’s secret.

Yet I think this sacrifice could have been prevented if HIM made another choice.

 

I’d say only Reid here remained a constant in my affection even if he was very conflicted and thorn in this one.

Well Reid and Ansel. Because I love Ansel very much and I was angry with Lou for crushing him at some point.

 

See? I am a big mess of resentment!

 

As this is a very disorganized review, I will sum it in bullet points:

 

*Lou is so changed that you won’t recognize her and you will be frustrated with her;

 

*Reid is still being Reid, a good guy, loyal and knowing what’s wrong and what’s right. He’ll still battle with his conflicted feelings of who he is;

 

*There is sizzling attraction between Lou and Reid but they seem rather to have sex than make love and communicate. The very explicit sex scenes have me decidedly classifying this book everywhere BUT YA!

 

*There is a quest to unite different factions to vanquish Morgane and we’ll have a taste of the different universes. I loved Nicolina’s character by the way!

 

*The plot feels sluggish for the most part of the book but it accelerates past the half of it and truly takes off in the last 10 to 20%;

 

*Witches are real and very grey here, not the happy and sweet kind like we had in the first book most of the time, Morgane aside;

 

*The ending will leave you part bereft, part in awe and mostly frustrated because you have a cliffy.

 

Will I read the third book?

Yes because I think this one was Lou’s descent and the last will be her ascend …hopefully.

 

Have you read it? What did you think of it?? I feel like the odd sheep here guys!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Sophie

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40 Comments

  2. I had a hard time with this one too! I really disliked Lou in this, and felt like all the tension, and all the chemistry of Lou and Reid was completely abandoned in this book. Reid got annoying at some points too because the severe angst between the two of them was too much to handle.
    It dragged for so long, picked up at the end and then I was so confused because I hadn’t heard it was going to be extended until after I finished Blood and Honey. I liked it? But like, i was super disappointed. I HOPE it wraps up better.

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  3. I feel so sad for this book and Shelby!! This series was only supposed to be a duology, but because the first book sold so well, the publishers pushed her to write a third book, so I feel like she just pushed all of her plot to book 3, and this one became filler. It breaks my heart because I loved the first one.

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  8. Oh, I’m so bummed to hear that you didn’t like it 🙁 It definitely sounds like second-in-a-trilogy syndrome. I have the book sitting on my shelf, and am realllyyyy tempted to just let it sit there looking pretty.

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  13. I haven’t read it yet, I have it on hold at the library. But now I am kind of wondering if I should wait and re-read book one again as I don’t remember any of the details really. And if there is another book coming too…. maybe I need to wait and read them altogether since I won’t want to re-read them all again then, especially if I end up not liking this one like you. – I chronically can’t make decisions LOL

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