Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Game of Gold by Shelby Mahurin

15 reviews

imaginationindex's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“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.” 

What I Loved:

• Enemies-to-Lovers paired with a marriage of convenience with a sprinkling of sharing-one-bed and “that’s my wife”… 🙌🏻 
• I loved the two secs of witches, Dames Rouges and Dames Blanches. I’m curious to learn more about the Blood Magic as well as
  Spoiler

  how Reid was able to do magic when we should have been dying 😅 
• Ansel, you sweet boy! Coco, what a badass! I like how we flipped the script on traditional gender roles
• This is a perfect example of new adult stories; our characters are adults who can make their own decisions and swear.

What can burn (this seems very aggressive but I was going for a theme 🧙‍♀️🔮✨)

• While the fantasy world was a total vibe, there are some moments where the religion aspect of the anti-witch stance gets to be a bit much. That might just be me but the Archbishop needed to relax 95% of the book
• I noticed a lot of re-explaining and telling. I get that we had the dual POV and catch up might have been needed, but I thought it was clearly shown so we could have saved ourselves a few pages.
• Genuine question, when were we? The France inspired world was cool but we had swords and monarchy, but full theatres and working bathrooms 

The building of tension was well paced and I will be continuing with the series with Blood and Honey up next ✨🩸🍯✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Vomit, Religious bigotry, Cursing, and Death of parent

smuttymcbookface's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Shelby Mahurin created a beautiful, dark world with clashing Christianity and magic within Serpent & Dove. The plot developed wonderfully, with small hints and clues as time went on as to what secrets the characters were holding.

The characters themselves were well-written, both nuanced and flawed, and we were clearly able to see their struggles and trials as they developed into more understanding versions of themselves.

The only reason I've not given this 5* was that I found it to be a little too simplistic/YA at times, with some plots neatly lining up with one another, or ridiculously convenient plans (such as Coco being part of the infirmary and just happening to be able to take ownership of Lou).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Xenophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Animal death and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent

melissafelicia's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this story. I liked the vibe of the world, a sort of Renaissance French witches vs religious witch hunters story. I disliked the male mc at first but as his character developed, he started growing on me. The main plot was a bit predictable, but there were still some plot twists I didn't see coming. I'm curious about the rest of the series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Sexism, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death

selestre's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Blood, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

Minor: Kidnapping, Self harm, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexism, and Child death

ldermer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Vomit, Child abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Domestic abuse and Sexual harassment

pattyblom's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Overall a nice story, but it lacked some depth and world building in the beginning of the story. I also had to reread paragraphs to understand the story. And also the end was

Spoiler

a bit anticlimactic.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Murder, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Child death, Suicide, and Self harm

onemamareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Misogyny, Death, Murder, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Gaslighting, and Genocide

lifeonasofa's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Serpent & Dove 🐍 Review 

“Why the fuck is everyone in this kingdom trying to murder my wife?” - Shelby Mahurin 💖

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.25 stars 

I’ve had this book on the shelves since I joined booksta. It was so hyped! But with the hype came a lot of “meh” review too, so I just never got around to it. I opted to listen to the audiobook because why not? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I actually really liked this book! The start was a little slower but I still loved all the witchy vibes. Yes, it was predictable, your classic “I’m a monster and he’s a hunter” love story. But I found it written in quite a humorous way, I loved both Lou and Reid - they were so feisty! 🙈

I have to say, I don’t think I ever really felt the “enemies” part, we defo could’ve had a bit more fighting between them. I did like that it wasn’t just an easy acceptance from Reid, it made it all the more funny when he ended up with coco. Love her btw. 💪🏻 

Whilst this book remained pretty surface level, it was a great set up. It left endless possibilities for the series and I already have book 2 ready to go! It’s odd because I wouldn’t necessarily force this book onto people, it’s not mind blowing. I just really enjoyed listening to it! I had my lunch in my car several times just so I could read more 👀

Have you read the series? Which book was your fav? 💕

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, and Sexual content

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death of parent, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Misogyny

nebulasaurus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Bullying, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Body horror, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Blood, Physical abuse, Self harm, Gore, Grief, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence