Serpent & Dove: 1

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You'll have a better understanding of the characters, their relationships, the world-building, the magic system if you read Serpent&Dove first. Célie, and all of her friends, have been through a lot, and you won't be able to fully grasp any of it if you just start with TSV. I’m not going to delve into too much else because it’s really difficult without spoiling, but I just wanna say… that ending… lmao, y’all are gonna hate Shelby for the ending in this book because I know I do😀 So, have fun with that! Speaking of, we have the good ol' power imbalance romance bingo: old sensual vampire patronizingly guiding our virgin ingenue with the IQ of an oyster, so she can realize some supposed potential buried deep in there, like the prize show pet that she is. So romantic.

The ending was pretty anticlimatic. They've gone to so much pain and shit. I went through so much just to finish this series and hoping the end will save it, but no sir that did not happen. Everything was super convinient. The villains were all handled extremely easily, like they are not the most powerful man and woman in this world and some even the oldest. They've lived for centuries and this is how they are defeated really? Morgane is supposed to be this super evil and smart villain and this is how it ends for her. Really? Disappointing is an understatement. The ending was so rushed that the author didn't really bothered to make it satisfying. Everything wraps up? That seems to be good enough. No need for it to actually be a great ending. ALSO THIS MICHAL'S WORDS FROM THE B&N BONUS CHAPTER??? his words make it even more heartbreaking that now célie is a vampire😭 Here, I am going to play the French teacher and correct every single one of them. There are so many that I spotted while reading that it hurts my eyes! Feel free to skip to the next paragraphs if you are not interested. Shelby Mahurin writes French like she writes English, which is wrong because both languages are so different in so many ways, so are the sentence structure and grammar. Dame Rouge: A Dame Rouge is a Blood Witch. They get their magic from within themselves, and so are not beholden to the rules if it requiring balance. The magic of the Dames Rouges is therefore wild. It can be unpredictable, and is more feared by their society. Most Dames Rouges have scars marring their arms from the self-inflicted wounds of previously casted enchantments.

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This romance is one I can’t wait to see further developed, and one I desperately hope has a happy ending by journey’s end. And another special shoutout to Jean Luc whom I despise and I hope his teeth fall off *casts spell* To make matters worse, you’re so bad at your job that your fiancé is constantly trying to hide how bad you are so you don’t feel bad Shelby Mahurin is the author of the Serpent and Dove series. Serpent & Dove was her debut novel. She is also the author of the upcoming vampire romance book, The Scarlet Veil, which is set in the Serpent and Dove world. How Many Books Are in the Serpent and Dove Series?

Second, another redeeming trait of hers should be that she always perseveres. But since she resolutely keeps making the dumbest choices, her determination soon reads more and more like childish petulance and stubbornness, than anything else. Gods and Monsters started weakly. I couldn't put past the first half of the book because the plot drew out into unnecessary parts, or that I believe it could be cut short into the major event. And I am not sure if I recall it correctly, but I can't seem to keep up with the shift in the storyline; from confronting and taking arms with Morgane le Blanc to saving a possessed Lou and helping to remember a memory loss Reid. I’ve been a fan of Shelby Mahurin since the start. I LOVED the Serpent and Dove trilogy and it has become somewhat of a yearly tradition to reread them around Halloween so imagine my excitement when The Scarlet Veil was introduced. It’s Shelby Mahurin writing VAMPIRES! IN THE SAME UNIVERSE! WITH THE SAME CAST! This book was everything I wished for after finishing Gods & Monsters and I was even more excited to have received an ARC. When I tell you I basically dropped everything to read The Scarlet Veil, I mean it. Following Celie, The Scarlet Veil begins as a string of grisly murders sweeps Belterra. Yet Jean Luc—her fiance and the Chasseur captain—keeps Celie away from the details until she’s thrown into the center of the investigation.

I suppose I should also mention that I cried three separate times during the epilogue of this book. So do with that information what you will! In fact, Célie has already undergone such a huge transformation by the start of this. Gone is the clingy ingenue and in her place, a determined young woman who intends to protect herself (and others) by taking up a balisarda and becoming the first woman Chasseur (which I thought was pretty badass of her.) Celie is an incredible heroine - she is underestimated, overlooked, thought of as someone needing protection, to the point where she almost believes it herself, but her character development in this book is amazing. She is determined and kind and must learn what she wants out of life, particularly after the trauma she’s been through, and I adored her.