Book review: Serpent & Dove, Shelby Mahurin (Serpent & Dove #1)

Every now and then you discover a book that you know will be a five star read and will sweep you away in its story, Serpent & Dove did that for me.

Serpent & Dove, Shelby Mahurin (Serpent & Dove #1)

Themes: Fantasy, romance, magic, witches, religion

Reading Format: Hardback

Pages: 528

5 STARS

I knew when I read the blurb of this book that I would surely love it, and I was right. Lou and Reid are polar opposites, one breaks the rules and one enforces them, but somehow they are thrown together. These two characters are so different, but they both have an unspoken need to be loved and cared for. They have been alone and isolated their whole lives, making their friends their family, in this they have something in common.

The world this book is set in has different types of witches, of which the Archbishop and his Chasseurs (I take them to be like his holy posse) despise and are trained to hunt and kill. They do not think of witches as people, they are not worthy of even being referred to as ‘she’ and are called ‘it’ by these men. There’s definitely a divide of the sexes going on here, with the witches only being able to be women and the Chasseur’s being all men. This plays a huge role in this book as Lou questions what is expected of her in the traditional sense as a woman. I love that Lou breaks the rules and asks why when society tries to throw its traditions at her.

As we learn from the blurb, Reid and Lou are forced into a marriage. What Reid doesn’t know is that Lou is someone he should hate with his very being, a witch. But he remains clueless and so we’re able to see their relationship take shape and see how they change and develop each other as characters. I really like these two together, they both fill a whole in each other’s lives in unexpected ways. Lou is witty and hilarious and I love her for it, she was constantly cracking me up and she helps to soften Reid’s character. We see the ‘good guys’ and the ‘bad guys’ though these two, but which is which? This makes the reader question the sides that have formed in this book and why they are there and if they are needed or formed on any truth any more.

I have to give a special shout out in this review to Big Tiddy Liddy, a hilarious pub song that rears its head many times throughout this story. It’s a silly song that Lou sings to try and annoy the guards and the people around her and I love it! It shows how much fun Lou can have and that she doesn’t take herself too seriously, she’s just a fantastic character and this song only highlights this. I didn’t expect to take humour from this book, so I’m very glad that I did. I love that she allows her comic attitude seep into Reid too, especially with his comments on her swearing, it reminds me of Captain America.

Give me a heroic build up, a little squad of characters and a bit of magic any day and I will love it! I honestly adored this book to pieces, it was just perfect.