Serpent & Dove 3-Book Paperback Box Set: Serpent & Dove, Blood & Honey, Gods & Monsters

4.5

Shout out to my friend Katelyn for recommending this, she was so right. What a fun ride! This is such a good example of YA Fantasy Romance tropes, edgy imagery, and angst done well. Is this high-brow literature? No. Are some elements ridiculous? Yes. This is a book best enjoyed if you can channel your teenage rebel brain and not take it too seriously. The book doesn't seem to take itself that seriously, either. It feels like if the author had to make a decision, they choose based on what seemed the most entertaining, and for my reading experience that was not a bad thing. The romantic leads were nicely matched with each other, clearly they both needed to grow, and their complimentary strengths and weaknesses would push each other to grow in the best directions. I thought the supporting characters were compelling as well. I had a blast listening to this audiobook. I rarely want to jump into a sequel when I finish the first book of a series, even if I liked it, but this is one of those cases where I do want to just stay in this story. (TBD if I actually will though

This book surprised me! It’s a YA fantasy book told from two POVs. Lou, the MFC, was a quick witted, very capable, independent and adorable woman. The slow burn romance in the book was endearing and cute at times.

I love books about witches mainly because most revolve around strong women against the church, against the patriarchy. This has all of that but was also a story we hear too often in the real world. The main conflict centered around groups of people that were born to hate each other and the impossibility of accepting the other’s differences and beliefs.

Ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and I loved it enough to read the second one in the series, Blood & Honey!

Very unique story. Loved the characters and their depth and story arcs! Excited for the rest of this series!