Book Review :: Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin

Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin
ISBN: 0063041170
Series: Serpent & Dove #2
Also in this series: Gods & Monsters
Published by HarperCollins
on 2020-09-01
Genres: Fantasy, Magic, New Adult
Pages: 532
Goodreads

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.

Last updated on 10 November 2021

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My thoughts on Blood & Honey

After reading the first in this series, Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin and loving it, I was so looking forward to picking up Blood & Honey. I started this book in January. Early January. I finished in it early April. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before. I don’t think it’s ever taken that many months for me to finish a book.

Blood & Honey was so much harder for me to get into. It was a struggle, to say the least. When I started reading it, I wasn’t excited by it like I was Serpent & Dove and the thought of picking it up and reading it felt like a chore.

But I persevered. And it got better.

A lot better.

And I don’t know if that’s because I found my groove and I got out of a reading slump or the book genuinely got better to read … but whatever it was, I ended up enjoying it in the end.

“What you are now is not what you’ve always been, nor is it what you always will be. You are a snake. Shed your skin if it no longer serves you. Transform into something different. Something better.”

The story continues on after Serpent & Dove and Lou and Reid are running and fighting for their lives, alongside and also against, many of the characters we meet in the first book. There are twists and turns, betrayals and hard deaths, love and life. It’s definitely a book full of ups and downs, and a lot of action.

No spoilers here, but the ending was such that the third book is going to be a whirlwind ride of a conclusion.

If you’re into medieval witches, religion-vs-magic, young adult verging-on-new-adult novels with great characters, a sassy romance, a bit of French thrown in there, and a lot of bloody action, then this is a series for you! While Blood & Honey was only a 3.5 star read in the end for me, I will be reading the next in the series, Gods & Monsters, which comes out in July 2021.

Have you read Blood & Honey? Or any other books by Shelby Mahurin? What did you think?