New York Times Bestseller * Indiebound Bestseller * An Amazon Best Book of 2019 * B&N’s YA Book Club Pick
“A brilliant debut, full of everything I love: a sparkling and fully realized heroine, an intricate and deadly system of magic, and a searing romance that kept me reading long into the night. Serpent & Dove is an absolute gem of a book.” —Sarah J. Maas, #1 New York Times bestselling … book.” —Sarah J. Maas, #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Court of Thorns and Roses series
Bound as one, to love, honor, or burn. Book one of a stunning fantasy trilogy, this tale of witchcraft and forbidden love is perfect for fans of Kendare Blake and Sara Holland.
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.
As a huntsman of the Church, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. But when Lou pulls a wicked stunt, the two are forced into an impossible situation—marriage.
Lou, unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, must make a choice. And love makes fools of us all.
Don’t miss Gods & Monsters, the spellbinding conclusion of this epic trilogy, coming July 2021!
more
A brilliant debut, full of everything I love: a sparkling and fully realized heroine, an intricate and deadly system of magic, and a searing romance that kept me reading long into the night. Serpent & Dove is an absolute gem of a book.
This book was such a great surprise. I am always very skeptic about books that appear everywhere online. Being an author I know how publishers send these beautiful hardcover books to reviewers and bloggers in exchange for a bit of publicity, so I take the hype with a bit of salt. But the blurb was intriguing so I decided to give it a chance. I bought both the hardcover and the audio book and absolutely loved it. Love stories where the lines between good and bad are not that well defined and where the characters are flawed in in need of a change. Both Reid and Lou were such characters, but there were so many other amazing side kicks such as Ansel, Coco, Madame LeBlanc, and even the annoyingly cocky Bo. Another aspect that resonated with me was the mixture of fiction with some things that ring too close to the truth historically. A magical book about the transformative power of love. Highly recommend it.
– 4.5 stars –
I love paranormal/fantasy romance, but I haven’t read that many that focus on witches. This book has awakened my love for them, and I can’t wait to read more books that feature witches. Serpent & Dove is a mature Young Adult Fantasy romance, that kept me entertained and interested until the last page. I usually have to get familiar with a new world and characters when I start a new series, but that was not the case with this book. It was really easy to follow and the pace of the story was great. Louise le Blanc is a pretty awesome heroine, I loved her personality and street smartness. She did a great job in taking care of herself. Her banter with her ‘enemy’ Reid was so much fun, and I enjoyed seeing how it developed into something more. She is a witch and he is a witch-hunter, they shouldn’t make sense but were great together. They were a great match. All the side characters were amazing as well. I especially loved Lou’s best friend Coco, and Chasseur in training Ansel.
What I loved most about this book was the world that the author Shelby Mahurin has created. It was so original and captivating. I could really imagine everything that happened in my mind. I was sucked into the story and it felt like I was one with the characters. I laughed when they did, and cried when they did. This story had everything I wanted: humor, suspense, mystery, action, and of course romance. This book is long but it didn’t feel like it. There was no dull moment and everything was connected. I loved the plot twists which I feel added another layer to the story. The ending to this book was also executed really well. It made me anticipate the next book without having me on edge for a year. Like I mentioned earlier, this book is a fantastic debut novel and I can’t wait to see what the author has in store for us next.
-Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live-
I definitely enjoyed Serpent and Dove. It was a little bit off slow at the beginning but it definitely got better with the progress of the plot. The storyline was intriguing, and the characters developed were captivating.
Lou and Chass, our main characters, are trapped by the circumstances, which lead them to the only solution -marriage- This agreement is unpleasant but required for both of them.
“A witch and a witch hunter bound in holy matrimony. There was only one way such a story could end—a stake and a match.”
Talking about the characters, Lou is a badass heroine, she is fiercely capable of defending herself. I truly enjoyed it.
“If a man touches me in any way without my permission, I’ll cut him open.”
In addition to that, she drives Chass nuts with her ‘inappropriate’ behavior, and Chass -Reid- is Lou’s words a pompous ass, but a completely kind gentleman.
Their dynamic is lovely and their chemistry is palpable
Seeing them grow together, as friends and as a couple, as I said before, was fantastic. The slow burn
“If she was destined to burn in Hell, I would burn with her.”
Also, The dual POV was one of my favorite things about this book.
I was not sure how I would like this book when I decided to pick it up. Now after having listened to the audio book for this, I am so glad I did! This first book for a series was really awesome. I’m eager for book two and feel like I have to wait forever now.
I loved that this small group of characters came together to save each other and have become their own family, no longer two sides fighting. The ending of this book left you hanging for sure, the must need to know what will happen next, what does it mean, that final line, who will this have impact one.
Step back in time to the Dark Ages… to the late 1400’s to be precise (around the time of the Spanish Inquisition), and to the city of Cesarine, Belterra. A time where the church ruled with an iron fist and no one was safe from its wrath… especially if you were a witch! The Archbishop of Belterra has made it his life’s mission to hunt and burn every witch in the kingdom, and with the aid of his personal huntsmen, the Chasseurs, he’s managed to kill quite a few women suspected of being witches, brutally ending their lives atop of a fiery stake.
The Captain of the Chasseur was none other than our hero, the handsome 6’6 redhead… Reid Diggory. Orphaned at birth, he grew up in the church with all the other orphaned boys of the city. When he was old enough to work, he was assigned to the Archbishop as his personal pageboy and then when he was tall enough, he was moved to train as a Chasseur. After proving himself worthy during a clash with the werewolves, he was quickly promoted to the Captains position.
Our heroine is the beautiful Lou, a witch moonlighting as a common thief and living in the attic above the city’s theatre complex; hiding away from her mother and coven. I love her snarky attitude, especially towards the church and her witty and funny disposition; she’s very easy to love. Lou has gone through a lot her during short 18 years of life, but everything change the day the Archbishop forces her to marry Reid after a public altercation at the theatre. It was interesting watching them deal with each other as a married couple, especially in the beginning when they were both strangers to each other. I especially loved how respectful Reid was towards Lou, defending her honour when others tried to discredit her, and that said a lot to me his upstanding character.
I really enjoyed the storyline and all the adversities our heroes had to face, alone and as a couple. I also loved all the secondary characters and the contribution they brought to the storyline. The author did a great job with her character development and world building, making you feel all the emotions and turmoil every character was experiencing. You could really feel how oppressed and indoctrinated the people were by the church and experience their hatred towards the all the witches and other supernatural beings in their community. Shelby Mahurin is a master weaver of this imaginary world and you really can’t help but get caught in her web of words. I’m looking forward to continuing this series with Book 2.
OMG I loved this book! I’m ashamed of how long it’s been sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. I should have read this ages ago. The characters, the world, the magic – it’s amazing!
Loved this debut from Mahurin. I always love a good witch story and this book definitely provided one.
Lou ran from her coven 2 years ago and became a thief living in Cessarine where witches like herself are hunted and killed.
Reid is a Chasseur, trained his whole life to hunt down the witches and believes the only good witch is a dead witch.
The fued between the church/Chasseurs and witches is a very old one and Lou is caught up in the middle.
While she used to see things in black and white, good vs evil, she know is discovering that you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover or trust in what has been taught to you your whole life.
I loved, loved, loved Lou’s character!! She is sassy with a joy for life and a won’t back down attitude. I have a love for sticky buns just as she does and I loved that about her. I loved the way she really tried to figure out why people believed the way they did and how their beliefs contradicted what they taught in many cases.
The other characters were great as well. I loved Lou and Reid navigating their feelings and coming to realizations about themselves and others.
It was filled with magic, secrets, love and hope.
Great plot, not so sure about the main couple. Felt a little forced
I heard many great things about his book but I was a bit worried that is it over hyped like many books, so I went in skeptical. But I’m to report that I actually really liked it.
Way more than I thought I would. I liked the snark and humor but also the twist and turns it threw at us. Some I saw coming, some and the final was a surprise to me.
I loved that the roles were almost reversed here. We have, Lou who is the cocky and dirty minded one and then we have Reid, the innocent Chasseur. Which made it often really comical. Lou just knew how to get to him, and push hos buttons but once warmed up he was so much fun as well.
I did enjoy the slow-burn romance between the two a lot. But I also liked the friendships in this book, between her and Coco and her and Ansel as well.
We get a bit of everything in this book, snark, romance, action and being on the run all the time.
Overall it was rather fast paced, some parts felt a bit slower but overall it went by way to fast.
The end leaves us with a cliffhanger and I cannot believe I have to wait soo long to find out what happens next.
I rate it 4 and looking forward to book two very much.
This book has so many of my favorite things, all wrapped up in a beautiful package. Enemies to lovers! A marriage of (in)convenience! Witches! A witch falling for a witch hunter!
I couldn’t put this book down. It got me out of a nasty book hangover I’d been suffering for days, and totally swept me away. I loved it.
As soon as I read this blurb, I was like, count me in! Witchy is my name and witchy wars are my game! However, I wasn’t sure what I would get, but what I got is one of my favorite books of the year!
I loved both points of views! Lou was ambitious, perfectly flawed, spoke what was on her mind, and down right awesome. Reid was strong willed, innocent yet not innocent, and so dang swoony! And the chemistry between Lou and Reid was so freaking good! Don’t let me forget the side characters! Coco! Ansel! Beau! You three were beautifully created beings!
I must say, there were some amazing descriptions with the witchy things, and the world building was wonderful. There were twists, multiple ones in fact! And the writing was so addicting that I finished this huge masterpiece rather quickly for me! Now to wait for book 2 will be utter agony!
Picked it up because Sarah J. Maas had a review on the cover…. I couldn’t put it down. Stayed up until 2 am finishing it because it was so good!
• •
: Serpent & Dove
: Serpent & Dove #1
: Shelby Mahurin
: 5/5
I can finally say that I understand what the hype is about. I LOVED THIS book!! To me this book is enemies to lovers perfection. AND I love enemies to lovers. There was so much tension and I lived for it! I fell in love with Lou and Reid, their characters had so many layers and I feel like we haven’t even gotten to the bottom of it. The secondary characters where so much fun as well and I can’t wait to read more about them. The pacing of this book is done really well, it kept me entertained and wanting to keep on reading and I did not want to stop. I also loved the magic system, I mean it is clear that I loved this book. For me it definitely lived up to the hype! As you might have noticed, I recommend this book especially to those who love enemies to lovers with some witchy vibes.
A lot of my reviews are also available with photo at my Bookstagram: @justmyfantasyworld
I went into this with low expectations and I was blown away.
I opened the first page and wasn’t sure I would enjoy it and out of nowhere I got sucked right in. I kept telling myself “Only one more chapter and I’ll put it down.” That ‘one more chapter’ turned into me devouring this story. I’m so mad at myself that I didn’t pick up all three books when I brought Serpent and Dove.
Excellent story telling and I LOVED the character. Lou and Reid were a perfect blend for each other. I did enjoy some of the plot twists even when I saw them coming.
My Rating:
Type: Series – Book 1
Genre: Fantasy, Witch World, Magic
Primary Characters: Reid Diggory, Louise, Coco, Ansel, Beau
Narration: Dual POV
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book when I started. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Setting was so very different than what I initially thought. The European French setting is amazing. It’s like fantasy world set in France where people speak French words, but it’s not exactly France-France. It’s got a medieval vibe and it sort of resembled a several mixed culture.
Plot starts exactly as stated in blurb. Lou has fled her coven and deserted her magic. Very few are aware that she is a witch. Reid is sworn to church and is Chasseur. He has lived his entire life hunting for witches. An unexpected event will bind them in holy matrimony – marriage.
Banter was the best part of the book. It made me laugh out loud at several instances. Some parts are very hilarious, yet book balances with equal amount of depth, action, relationship development and character growth. Best hilarious moments were with – “Big Tit*y Liddy” song and the situations in which it is sung always made me laugh out loud.
Lou and Reid’s love/hate relationship is awesome. It was alluring to see them fall in love with one another along with understanding each other’s nature vs fighting the principles of their nurture. Questioning everything they learnt from childhood and seeing a different part of truth is a beautiful part of the story. It highlights Nature Vs Nurture beautifully. There were some twists that took me by surprise and some that I guessed but it didn’t ruin the experience for me at all.
Loved the stoic, serious, shy and prude nature of Reid. Bold, sassy, foul-mouthed and daring Lou is stellar. Coco as a best friend is perfect. Ansel & Beau were topping on the cake. I’m still skeptical about Jean Luc, lets see how he turns out. Madame Labelle turned out different.
The action was lively and very well structured. It does have some gore of hunting witches and burning them, yet its an astounding read. Plot does have a depth. Its well written, fast paced with adorable characters. Book has a potential to explore variety of magic system. A type of magic is from nature and asks balance and other magic system where its coming from within. There were instances where the era/dystopian world didn’t resonate well, but apart from that it’s a good.
Overall, it’s a captivating YA fantasy read. If you’re a lover of fantasy books action and vivid imagination, go ahead and pick this up. You even have a enemies-to-lovers backdrop romance as an additional topping. I am intrigued enough to see what happens next in Lou and Reid’s World.
Follow me
https://meander23.com
https://instagram.com/meander_read_roam/
Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took residence in the one town she thought she’d be safe, Cesarine. Hiding in plain sight, Louise gave up her magic and became a street thief. But the atrocities of the Church will never let her forget she is a witch. The Chasseurs hunt any who would dare show magic in the city, and she is reminded time and again why she must never use her power. But when a public incident involving Louise and Chasseur Reid Diggory threatens to bring embarrassment to the Church, they will find their fates woven together. Bound by marriage, witch and Chasseur must find a balance, and Louise will have to be ever so careful.
Serpent & Dove is one of those books I picked up and put down time and time again at the bookstore. The cover lured me in, the premises sounded interesting, but I was worried it would fall into the repetitive young adult tropes. Then I received it as a secret Santa gift and decided to give it a try. And I am glad I did.
Do not expect a magic heavy story. If anything the magic accents the storyline instead of being the main focus. Yes, Louise is a witch, but using magic in Cesarine is a death sentence. In this world, magic evokes a smell that is impossible to miss. However, Louise is not defenseless without her magic. She has a sharp wit and survival instincts that save her in some of the most precarious situations.
Reid is set in his ways, as can be expected, and watching Louise unnerve him time again with her behavior is hilarious. While he tries to be in a constant state of control and seriousness, Louise breaks out into bawdy tavern songs and embarrasses him for the fun of it. With the two being complete opposites, it makes their story all the more entertaining. And Shelby Mahurin has a knack for putting her characters in compromising situations, ramping up the tension, and switching points of view in the next chapter, leaving you to wonder what happens next.
The romance in Serpent & Dove takes an extremely long time to develop, as it should. Most of the tension and conflict built into the story does not surround the relationship, but the outside forces opposing Louise. And by the time the plot starts to edge the two towards one another, there is enough history between them to make it work. I loved every moment of it, and I am not the type to root for romance in a novel.
Serpent & Dove is a well crafted story of enemies to lovers. There is a little bit of everything mixed into the storyline, daring heists, action, friendship, sisterhood, proof that love can be a powerful magic all it’s own and so much more.
I was nervous going into this because it has had mixed reactions/reviews. But I ended up really enjoying it. I liked the characters, world, plot, and pacing.
Lou was probably my least favorite character, but I don’t hate her or anything. She was very brash, but almost to the extreme. She definitely thought she was witty. But it’s really easy to be cruel and sometimes she thought she was really harsh to Reid. He tried to be understanding and I didn’t like her behavior with him. But I am open to character development.
Reid was more interesting to me. He was a huge internal struggle to deal with and that is fascinating. I am very interested to see where his story goes. Coco is another character I really enjoyed. She is pretty mysterious. I would love for her to become a POV character-just saying.
Then, there’s Ansel. Sweet precious Ansel. I just loved him. I want to protect him. I am very excited, but nervous to see where he goes in the future.
I like the witchcraft elements. There are different types of magic and how the power is obtained. That’s a magic system I enjoy reading about. It could’ve been better explored/explained but, again, it’s a series so I’m not going to be hyper-critical of that.
The plot was compelling and kept me engaged. The larger political/social conflict is interesting, but not as good as the internal and interpersonal conflicts. Like I said, Reid’s internal struggle is particularly well done. I’m more interested to see where those plots go.
How many books will be in this series? I really hoping for a duology, because I’m over big drawn out series.
Serpent and Dove completely took me in and wouldn’t let go. I burned through it in a few days and immediately started book two when I finished. If you’d love a dark fantasy with a fresh twist on witchcraft, an intense arranged marriage/enemies to lovers romance and a little bit of heat (and a lot of sass) then you’ll love Serpent and Dove.
This story dragged me in, it’s an enemies to lovers, marriage of convenience PNR with brilliant world-building, characters I love, and a storyline that will keep you seated until you are done reading. Lou is a strong female character, yet vulnerable inside with her emotions, then we get a strong hero on the outside yet so immature in other ways that makes him intriguing, having both POV has made this story more interesting, deepening the insight of what is going on around, and why they are behaving the way they are. It took me a long time to get to it as my reviewing schedule didn’t allow me to get to it as an ARC, but now I finally did and the audiobook was phenomenal. I love Saskia Maarleveld and Holter Graham, Saskia is one of my favorite narrators for this genre and she did a terrific job, while I didn’t know Holter as much before this one and he stole my heart bringing Reid voice to life.