Blood & Honey

Serpent & Dove, Book 2

By: Shelby Mahurin

Narrated by: Holter Graham, Saskia Maarleveld

Length: 14 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

The stakes are higher. The witches are deadlier. And the romance is red-hot. The eagerly anticipated sequel to the New York Times and Indiebound best seller Serpent & Dove is perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and is an instant New York Times best seller!

Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from coven, kingdom, and church - fugitives with nowhere to hide.

To survive, they need allies. Strong ones. But as Lou becomes increasingly desperate to save those she loves, she turns to a darker side of magic that may cost Reid the one thing he can’t bear to lose. Bound to her always, his vows were clear: where Lou goes, he will go; and where she stays, he will stay.

Until death do they part.

Don't miss Gods & Monsters, the spellbinding conclusion of this epic trilogy, coming July 2021!

©2020 Shelby Mahurin (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

Excellent narration

The production and narration of this story was excellent and anyone looking to just listen to something in the background would find this a good one.

However, I felt the story to be not nearly as good as the first. Reid and Lou as characters bothered and frustrated me the entire time and it took months for me to finish the book. For a good story, I would keep looking.

An emotional ride!!!

I went from hating not mc to loving one and then the other...and then to loving both! What complex and beautiful writing!!!

Unnecessary

Really unnecessary and leaves with a confusing cliffhanger. Nothing happens very YA like. Didn’t like the ending and Morgan is still the only bad guy in the book.

Fantastic

Loved this one even more than the first. Strong story all the way through. Can’t wait for the next book.

Wow

This has a whole different feel to it than book 1. The tone is far more serious and there isn't as much comedy to break up the tense moments. The shift does feel natural considering what happened at the end of book 1 and I thought the story progression felt natural as well. This ends on a bit of a cliffhanger and I kind of wish I had waited until it was closer to the release of book 3 to read this one. Book 1 had a far neater ending. I finished both books in less than 3 days.

What did I just listen to?

So many things happen and it seemed pointless. So many plot points came out of nowhere and I was left thinking "This would have been nice to know earlier." They also made some plot points seem really important and it turns out they weren't. Lou and Reid basically spent the entire book arguing, feeling guilty, and giving each other bedroom eyes. There was information/ character that they mentioned in the beginning and they never talk about it again till the end and you left confused trying to remember.

(SPOILER)
Bas came back and I loved Bas in the last book and he got his memories and then suddenly he was gone like what the hell?! I had to reread the parts trying to find out where they went but no they just ignore the whole ordeal like it wasn't important. Umm Excuse me it sounds like a pretty big deal to me!!!

I still like the book, but it was frustrating as hell. The voice actors are amazing.

Bewitching. Busy. Bewildering.

Not as amazing as Serpent & Dove for me, but a good story from Mahurin featuring our favorite characters. The gorgeous voices and performances of Saskia Maarlevveld and Holter Graham do not disappoint!

⚖️ Plot: I was a little lost at first. You just kind of get implanted right into the book without much connection from where we left off. I‘ve never get more of a need to have reread in preparation. A bewildering start and a busy middle.

🗺 World: I felt like this book was a little too contained. I prefer when it wondered through different parts of the realm with multiple stories converging at the end. This was not there here.

💑 Characters: Lou truly went through a descent here. My heart broke for Reid. The majority of the book was so much fighting between the two that I needed a break from them sometimes. I wish there were an epilogue which resolved the final betrayal more. It would have made it more believable for me.

Not nearly as good as the first book

I find the narrator is basically chew the scenery in the second book and it’s really over the top and a lot of the verbal handwringing done by the main characters makes them really aggravating to listen to -I think this book proves sometimes you don’t need a trilogy. You can do the same thing in two books.

The male voice actor

I loved the first book but this one was just a little much for me. So much angst and so many dumb decisions being made where in the last book it didn’t feel like that. Lou and Reid’s romance feels more forced in this book. But the absolute worst part of this is the male voice actor. My god he’s terrible I’m sorry. He sounds so grungy and raspy the whole time. It really ruined a lot of scenes and half of his accents I couldn’t understand. The female voice actress though was great so that at least balances it out a bit.

Loved the Story but...

I loved the story! but often found it difficult to listen to due to the "over acting" in the performance.