Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️'s Reviews > Serpent & Dove

3.5 Stars

I picked this up because I saw it being touted in some places around GR and booktube as a "racy" YA romance that was (perhaps) edgy enough for some people to feel it should have been classified more as New Adult a la ACOTAR.

And because I had a Barnes and Noble gift card burning a hole in my pocket.
So I picked up this and Ninth House.
And perhaps a couple other things.



It also felt very season appropriate to read about witches and buy black books with snakes on the covers. Very Halloween/October of me, no?

But I digress.

As I was saying, I picked this up because I love me some racy. And because I also loved the premise of a witch marrying what amounts to a witch hunter.

And while I will say this book definitely had more swearing, "racy" language (for a YA), and a somewhat lukewarm sex scene, it didn't feel like anything I hadn't read before...but keep in mind, I'm also very forgetful these days. And not the target audience here. So take that as you will.

Regardless.

I thought the story itself was solidly entertaining, although nothing super extraordinary. The pacing was good and the world-building was decent. I will say that some of the characters felt slightly two-dimensional at times.

Most notably though, the relationship between Lou and Reid felt very groundless to me. They went from meeting and hating each other...to spending a week basically occupying the same room whilst doing their best to ignore each other...to being in love and boinking within a very short time period. It felt very sudden and shallow and I think Mahurin could have done a better job at laying the groundwork for their romance - and thus what amounts to the main focal point of this book.

Their "love" just didn't feel like it was palpable enough for me to believe that either one would feel the way they supposedly did during the events that occurred toward the end of the book.

Keeping in mind this is a debut series by a debut author, however, I have a good feeling about the potential for the next book in the series. This was definitely a strong debut and I look forward to more from this author.