Title- Blood&Honey
Author- Shelby Mahurin
Series- Serpent&Dove
Published- 2020
Page Count- 528 pages
Publishing House- Harper Teen
Genre- YA Fantasy
Rating- 4/5 stars
About the Author
Shelby Mahurin grew up on a small farm in rural Indiana, where sticks became wands and cows became dragons. Her rampant imagination didn’t fade with age, so she continues to play make-believe every day—with words now instead of cows. She still lives near that childhood farm with her very tall husband and semiferal children. Serpent & Dove is her debut novel and is followed by Blood & Honey. Visit her online at www.shelbymahurin.com.
Taken from HarperCollins Website
Plot
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.
The hotly anticipated sequel to the New York Times and IndieBound bestseller Serpent & Dove—packed with even steamier romance and darker magic—is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas.
Taken from Goodreads
Opinons
To read my review of Serpent&Dove, click here.
For long time readers of my blog, it will come as no surprise that I was very excited for Blood&Honey. After Serpent&Dove became my favourite book of 2019, I would have sold, traded, done anything to get my hands on the sequel. The first release date announced was September 1st, two days after my twentieth birthday. I would have happily skipped my own birthday just to read this book. It didn't end up coming out until September 17th in the UK and I got my copy a couple of days later.
Something I am very glad I decided to do was reread Serpent&Dove first. It had been almost a year since I read it and turns out I'd forgotten basically the entire plot. A refresher was desperately needed. I read it in about two days and I actually changed my original rating from 5 stars to 4.5 stars. This is something I'll expand on in my review, but while I adored this story, I did spot some things I had issues with. Namely, the writing and the pacing. The writing wasn't as sophisticated as I remember it being, but that necessarily isn't a bad thing. The main thing is the pacing. It takes a while to get going and then it jumps from nought to a hundred very quickly. Those are my only complaints and the reason I changed my star rating on it.
Now, the reason you are here, are my thoughts on Blood&Honey. I'll get straight to it. I wasn't the biggest fan. I think I put so much pressure on myself about this book being amazing that I actually ended up disappointing myself. In essence, I found it too angsty and repetitive. It suffered from second book slump, which is such as a shame as I adore this series. What I mean when I say angsty and repetitive is that the central relationship between Lou and Reid felt off. They were at loggerheads for most of the book through everyone's least favourite trope- lack of communication. This became repetitive as they were like "oh I love you but I'm going to leave you". I was not a fan of this element of their relationship. Also, quite a few chapters ended with at least one of them being injured or knocked out, how many times can a person survive those sorts of injuries?
Despite my issues with the plot, I was so happy to be back with the characters. They have become some of my favourite fictional characters. Lou is a badass women who doesn't take nothing from nobody. I find it really encouraging that despite all these traumas in her life she has remained the same person. She hasn't changed her personality that much, yet she has still developed as a character. Reid also went through quite a journey in this book, with regards to his relationship with his mother and brother. The characters in this series feel very real, which is something that keeps on drawing me back to them. I want to know more as I do care about them. I think the characters are probably my favourite part of this series.
A character I loved throughout was Ansel. He was so sweet and the group really needed someone with that dynamic. It was announced before the book came out that a major character was going to die and as I read the book, I slowly realised it was going to be Ansel. He went through a lot. His relationship with Coco and a need to be worthy of his position in the group. While I adore Ansel, he did get a little bit annoying, but that didn't stop his death from being sad. I realised it was going to be Ansel as in theory the group can continue without him, which is so sad as he had a lot of potential. The ending was what really saved this book for me. I think Shelby is fantastic at writing endings. Lou has been possessed by the Dames Rouges and obviously we as readers know this but the characters don't. It shocked me that this was where the book decided to end.
I am very anxious for book three. I know it is going to be an action packed finale as this is a trilogy. I hope nothing too bad happens to my precious beans as they are my favourites. I have treated myself to a Fairyloot special edition box for Blood&Honey, so keep an eye out for when I do an unboxing for this.
What did you think of Blood&Honey?
Carenza :) x
