ARC, 514 pagesRelease Date: September 3, 2019Published by: HarperTeen
Read from: August 31-September 9, 2019Serpent & Dove, #1Source: PublishersTW: ViolenceFor fans of: Paranormal romance, witches, Upper YA, Forbidden Love
Bound as one to love, honor, or burn.
Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.
Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou's, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.
The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou's most dangerous enemies bring a fate worse than fire. Unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, a choice must be made.
And love makes fools of us all.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I was super excited about this book because of the paranormal romance aspect, as I haven't read one in quite a while. And once I had this in my hands, I was not disappointed at all. This was a very good book. There were some issues, but for the most part, I already can't wait for the next book.
"...the flames come first with the Church. Questions second. It's a dangerous time to be a female."pg. 6
Louise ran from her coven and to escape unknown horrors. She ran to a nearby city where witches are hunted by the Church by witch hunters called Chasseurs. Then there's Reid, the witch hunter. They meet and it ends in their marriage. But of course, when a witch and a witch hunter wed, things don't exactly go as planned.
"I risked a glance at her then. Mistake. She'd propped her knees up, kicking one over the other. Flaunting every curve on her lower body. I swallowed hard and forced my gaze back to the floor. She knew what she was doing, too. Devil."pg. 132-133
For the most part, I really liked this book. Mahurin's prose was nothing short of amazing. It kept me glued to the book and I didn't use tabs this time, but I wrote all the quotes down in my notebook. And I filled up the first 6 pages worth of quotes and notes on the plot. Butttttt I did feel at some times she got a bit.... Long-winded. It was really flowery and got too descriptive at sometimes. I'm not really sure how I felt about it. I liked it, but then again, I felt like a lot of it could have been cut out.
"Greatest fear? This time she didn't hesitate. "Death." I frowned and reached across the table to grasp her hand. "There's nothing to fear in death, Lou." She looked up at me, blue-green eyes inscrutable. "There isn't." "No. Not if you know where you're going."pg. 266
As for the romance, I LOVED it. I'm already a fan of forbidden love, so seeing a witch and witch hunter together are right up my alley. And as all the things come together for this story, it makes it even better. And as a librarian, I will say this is categorized as Upper YA because there is sex on the page. There aren't any body parts mentioned and it doesn't go too indepth, but it is there. (No I am not censoring or telling people not to read it. I just try to write these things in my review because parents ask me these things all the time when they check out books at my library.)
"Love makes fools of us all, darling."pg. 428
The plot is the other thing that kind of got sticky for me. At times I did feel like it was lagging, but that could also be the writing style. But, I did feel like I missed a large part of the back story, and it was finally told. But not until the end of the story. Normally I would have stopped reading a book for that, but the concept of a witch and a witch hunter together were too good to pass up. I HAD to know what happened.
"All of this pain will be over soon."pg. 448
This wasn't as perfect as I had heard, but it was pretty damn close. I already can't wait for the next one. Especially with the bomb that was dropped at the end. I can honestly say this is going to be an interesting series.
Overall, I give this
