Blood & Honey & Slumps
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Hello Hello,
Today’s post is going to be a little different. For one, it’s been awhile since I’ve written about Serpent & Dove, so I wanted to welcome you all back to my tiny corner of the internet. For another, this book took some time to finish.
When I started reading it, I was reading the physical copy. Then I moved to the Kindle version. Finally finishing it off via audiobook on my 12 hour road trip I took earlier this week. Never have I ever read a book in three different mediums before, it was an interesting ride.
The reason it took so long to complete was because I fell into a small reading slump. That happens from time to time. Now I know there are thousands of readers out there who can plow through 50-60 books in a matter of months. I am not one of those. It’s not that I don’t have the time, nor was I not interested in the book itself, I just don’t have the desire to do so. Sometimes, I’m just tired and want to play my stupid little mindless game on my phone while a tv show plays in the background instead. And that’s totally fine.
If you are a reader who’s getting down on yourself because you are not reaching a reading goal, it’s ok. It happens. Life happens. There were times there I didn’t reach for my book for weeks. I just wasn’t feeling it.
Remember, you are reading because it brings you joy. If it starts to feel like a chore, it’s ok to take a break. Your books will be there waiting for you when you are ready to pick them up again.
Now, let’s get into Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin. This will definitely be a shortened review, mainly because this is the second book of the trilogy…and full disclosure, I don’t remember all of the minor details. 🙃 Let’s Go!
Quick synopsis: Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from a coven, the kingdom, and church—fugitives with nowhere to hide. To survive, they need to acquire strong allies. But Lou starts to turn to the darker side of magic, desperate to save the ones she loves, costing Reid the one thing he can’t bear to lose, herself. His vows were clear: where Lou goes, he will go; and where she stays, he will stay. Until death do they part.
Non-spoiler review:
Overall, I really liked this book. We were able to dive more into the blood witches and how they get their magic, met some werewolves, and we got to see Lou and Reid get even closer.
The connection these two have is pretty adorable. I will say though, Lou was making me a little annoyed (mad) at a few parts in the story. As she is struggling with dark magic taking over her, she uses that as an excuse to do some terrible things. AND nothing irks me more than when two people who love each other just won’t let the other one know what’s going on. Especially when it comes to how they are feeling.
There’s one point where Lou is keeping a secret from Reid. He finds out about it eventually, because, spoiler, the other person always does, which makes him super mad at Lou and now he can’t fully trust her. But, Reid also kept some things from Lou as well. Granted, his stuff happened way in the past before they even knew each other, but it was information they needed to know before going forward with the plan. Communicate people. Please. If you love each other as much as you say you do, it should be ok.
There were a couple times in this book where I felt like this was a filler novel. A placeholder between book 1 and 3. A couple things could have just been explained in the first book, and a few things could have been explained at the beginning of book 3. But I still enjoyed the ride.
Not much else could be said before I spoil anymore for you, so let’s get to the nitty gritty of the story.
(I know I said this was going to be a shortened review, but hey, I was a different person when I started writing this.)
BEWARE: Spoilers ahead:
We begin in the woods with our heroes concocting a plan to gain some strong allies to defeat Morgane. They learned that Morgane is planning to crash the Archbishop’s funeral. This plan will require the help of the La Voison - Queen of the Dames Rouges (blood witches) - sworn enemies of Lou and her kind.
The Dames Rouges coven use magic with their blood. They have to draw their own blood to access their magic, leaving them covered in scars. I did like the part where they explained they used to use their own tears, but because tears come from strong emotion, the magic was too unpredictable. Thus, resorting to using blood.
Getting La Voison to agree to help them is a battle in itself. Lou has to find a missing child from the coven and Coco has to agree to stay with them before La Voison will get on board. This is where we find out that Morgane is finding all of the King’s offspring and killing them. Starting a game of cat and mouse between her and Lou.
Next, Lou explains to Reid that they need to have the werewolves on their side as well. Reid then discloses that he actually murdered the alpha male’s children many moons ago (ha) before he became a captain of the Chasseurs. They fight, Lou can’t seem to trust Reid at the moment, Reid is afraid they won’t become allies because of what he did.
During all this time, Reid is battling with the fact that he is a male witch. Growing up hating any magical being, this is a major hill he needs to climb. He refuses to learn magic, but in order to defeat Morgane, he just may have to.
After several fight scenes, Lou using too much magic that almost gets her killed, and finally a reluctant alpha agreeing to help them, an alliance is formed.
Side bar: these are no “Twilight” werewolves. The way they are described makes the transition seem brutal and gross. Bones snapping, faces morphing, there’s even a couple of times they stop mid-transition to speak.
Everyone shows up to the city where the Archbishop’s funeral is being held, but they have to remain hidden since they are all wanted for the murder of said Archbishop. This is where we get a few flashbacks from Reid about how the Archbishop basically raised him from a young boy. He’s coming to terms with the fact that he was his only father figure and he was the one who killed him. I love how we are able to get more of where Reid is coming from as a character. He really has grown so much in a short amount of time.
Lou and Reid talk about their feelings (finally) and they do it. In a fade to black PG-13 kind of way. Bonding them even more.
After the funeral, nothing happens. Morgane never shows up, causing everyone to second guess what’s going to happen next. This is when Morgane plays another game with Lou, making her venture down into the catacombs, where Morgane herself is waiting (kinda).
Another fight scene ensues, a plot twist is revealed, and someone dies (no not Lou or Reid, but someone important enough to make me gasp and shed a little tear).
When the group reconvines at their base, Lou goes off to discuss the next steps with La Voison. Here, the blood witch poisons Lou and another witch possess her body.
bum bum buuuuum.
And this is where we are left. Mess. All a mess. Tune in next week (month) to find out what happens next.
Ta ta for now.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5 Stars