tallyp's review
challenging
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Torture, Gore, Stalking, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Death of parent, Cursing, Child death, Blood, Religious bigotry, Body horror, and Violence
cait's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Kidnapping, Sexism, Torture, Vomit, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Body horror, Death, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, War, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Police brutality, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Violence
kat1105's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, War, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Self harm and Sexual content
mpbookreviews's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Body horror, Confinement, Torture, Blood, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Child death, Cursing, and Murder
ana24gs's review
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This review has no spoilers from the Blood & Honey book but it does have some spoilers from Serpent & Dove.
Okay, I don't even know how to start expressing my emotions towards this book. The start was slow, I felt like it took forever to start the plot, and it wasn't even the most interesting plot. In addition, the initial problem is solved too easily, I hardly believe that the characters have succeeded.
But hey, a bad plot can be fixed with good characters.
...
Well, that was ruined too.
Reid seemed so annoying to me in this book, he was on and on whit that he does not want to be a witch, that he does not want to use his powers, he continues to have super silly prejudices to people who use magic and hide vital information from people until It is strictly necessary to give it (it is one secret, but it’s super vital, I do not understand why he did not say it before).
Lou in this book was thoughtless, but at other levels of thoughtless. I wanted to hit her every time she made a decision, I wanted to yell at her to take two seconds to think about what she was doing, just two, no more. And like Reid, she hides important information, emmmmmmmmmmm, why? Like anyone who hides important things from their loved ones, they hide that information because they did not want the other person to feel bad and other nonsense. The thing is, you can't decide for others what information reaches their ears just because you want to protect their feelings, because if you ask them if they prefer to know the truth or not, 90% of people will say yes, and Reid is one of the 90%.
I didn't care about the other characters, I think my appreciation for Beau grew in this book, but I don't love him or anything either.
I proceed to talk a little about couples or relationships in general (Possible Spoilers, but not really because anyone sees it coming):
Coco and Ansel: Silence says more than a thousand words.
Reid and Labelle: I would have liked to see more of the two, it would have made me like the book much more, their mother and son moments were very tender.
Beau and his sisters: I want to see more of them in the next book, their relationship seemed so cute.
Beau and Reid: Interesting, give me more.
Reid and Lou: Emmmmmmmmmm, wow, I entered this trilogy to see enemies to lovers, and the first book met my expectations on this level, but this book was a total disappointment. Some couples have problems, but you understand why, this couple had problems because they don't communicate. I sincerely wanted to hit them both and yell at them to communicate. And when they finally do speak, I can't even feel happy because it took them almost the entire book and they honestly did the most basic thing anyone would do.
But from the incredible meme you saw at the beginning, the ending was good, I didn't expect it at all, and it makes me want to read the third book. So let's hope the third book is good and doesn't disappoint me the way this book disappointed me.
Before finishing I want to say that the writing also improved, compared to the first book, it is very good.
⚠️SPOILERS⚠️
We started the book and now Lou and Reid want to get intimate with each other, I'm so sure they are the couple who always break the rules in Too Hot To Handle. Then Lou proceeds to come up with a dumb decision, and Reid follows her because, um, I guess he’s super-horny too. And that's the whole book. Lou comes up with something for which no one prepares as they should, Reid follows her and they are surprised if the plan went wrong or not as expected.
I think the moment when I was most upset was when they went to the bar (at the beginning) and people recognize them, and they come out alive by the grace of the divine, there was no strategy, they did not have a plan that they would carry out if things got out of control.
I was also bothered by the level of incompetence of almost everyone, I swear that at one point I wondered what the hell have they been doing all this time that they have been in the forest. I mean, Lou is with her powers through the roof, Reid does not know how to handle them and Ansel can't fight. At least Beau is the comedic relief (making him more proficient than others).
The biggest problem in the book is how, in order to have a conflict, the characters do not communicate, but at levels, that seemed impossible to me in the world of lack of communication. In other words, Reid thinks it pertinent not to inform his companions that he killed the son of the werewolf from whom they want to ask for an alliance, he only says it when they are three minutes away from his pack. And he solves it by saving his other son and a sorry, you know, if you kill someone, save someone else and say sorry. We also have Lou, who doesn't tell Reid that they are killing his brothers, creating mistrust between them, AGAIN. And the biggest moment of miscommunication, not because of how important it was to the plot, but because of the cringe it gave me. When Coco kisses Ansel, and then she starts telling him that she doesn't feel the way he does and Ansel is almost crying. It made me sad, but also die laughing. Coco can kiss whoever she wants and then not want anything serious, but she must be blind if she doesn't realize how Ansel feels about her. And I think this moment of cringe could be avoided if they only talked about what they felt.
Well, after that many things happen, Reid finally accepts that he is a witch, that Lou is a witch, that people use magic and that does not make them bad, blah blah blah, I don't remember how Lou decides to control herself with her powers, I think it’s when she almost burned Coco alive (good timing).
They also capture Madame Labelle, and they better rescue her, I like that lady.
But hey, I think what I liked the most about the book (apart from some relationships) was the end. I had not seen that betrayal of the blood witches coming, I was shocked.
If Reid doesn't find out that Lou was caught I'll shoot him.
Despite my low score, I am going to read the third book, and it better be a good one, otherwise, I will have wasted my time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Grief, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Violence
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