Book Review: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Serpent & Dove
SERPENT & DOVE by Shelby Mahurin (Published by HarperTeen in 2019)

My Rating: ★★★★☆

Wow, what a ride! This book has EVERYTHING I want in a YA fantasy novel—a richly-imagined world, an enemies-to-lovers romance, a fast-paced plot, strong main characters, and well-drawn side characters—and I stayed up until 2 AM to finish it, despite the fact that I had to be up at 6 AM the next day. I found myself immediately and helplessly sucked into the world, and there was nothing I could do but to succumb to the momentum of the story.

Continue reading “Book Review: Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin”

Advertisement

#Februwitchy Readathon TBR!

I’m late to the party, but I just stumbled on Asha’s delightful #Februwitchy Readathon and I couldn’t resist! Here are the basic mechanics of this readathon:

Read witchy books!

The aim is super simple: read books about witches for all of February. There are no prompts, but any books with ‘witch’ in the title, or where the main character is a witch, will count – and to be specific, that’s where the main character is explicitly referred to as a witch on page, not just a book with a magical heroine. Non-fiction about witches is also welcome!

I grew to love reading through fantasy and romance books, so there’s nothing that spells ‘comfort read’ to me as much as a book with both. And also, who doesn’t love witches? There’s just something about this dark and powerful female archetype that really calls to me.

Here’s my TBR for this month. I won’t be reading exclusively witchy books for the month and I might not even be able to finish everything here, but in any case, I feel like I’m really going to have fun with this.


Sea Witch by Sarah Henning

Sea Witch

This isn’t only about a witch; it’s also a fairytale retelling. I hear it’s basically a witchy retelling “The Little Mermaid”, and it sounds to be right up my alley. Also, it’s been on my TBR for awhile, so I guess it’s time to finally pick this up!


Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

Truthwitch

Two witches on the run, a richly imagined fantasy world, and an imminent war – count me in! Among everything on my list this sounds to be the one with the most plot and adventure, so I’m hoping it’ll be a wild ride.


Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin

Serpent & Dove

Okay, I have such high hopes for this one because it uses one of my favorite tropes of all time – the enemies-to-lovers trope! (Not sure about the arranged/forced marriage, though, but I like the former more than I dislike the latter.) Also, it seems to be a witch x witch-hunter sort of romance, which makes it extra delicious for me because there’s bound to be a change of heart on both ends that would lead to major Character Growth. I’m expecting a fast-paced plot with a slow burn romance replete with steamy build-up and banter, and I’m fervently hoping I won’t be disappointed.


The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

The Rules of Magic

I haven’t read the first book, Practical Magic, but I saw this on sale and I couldn’t resist the pretty cover. Also, a family of witches coming of age in 1950s New York – what’s not to love?


That’s it for my TBR! Are any of these on yours, too? Any witchy books that you read and loved? Let me know in the comments!