A review by ehmannky
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

emotional tense medium-paced
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

 I quite enjoyed this book of witches facing off against Definitely Not the Catholic Church in Fantasy France. I enjoyed it even more because neither the witches nor the Church are portrayed as uniformly good or bad, and there are scenes that draw a sharp parallel that the blind devotion to any religious ideology is dangerous and likely to get innocent people killed. It's also a fantasy world where people get to say fuck and the main female character sings bawdy songs and it's just a generally fun world to inhabit. The characters make the book, and I do hope that book 2 allows for more time with Coco, because she just ruled.

I also love a good "falling in love with my spouse and somehow this makes my wanting them more complicated" trope. And both Lou and Reid hit all of the best notes of the potential of this trope. Their angst in learning to trust each other and falling in love in spite of themselves was just delicious. Their relationship moves fast, especially since Reid is theoretically in love with someone else at the beginning, but it's not as fast as some romances I've read, and I forgive it because I just loved Reid and Lou so much.

God, I hope in the next book Ansel and Coco and Beau can find their way into the throuple of my dreams while. 
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