Serpent & Dove is a fantasy romance (romantasy) book written by Shelby Mahurin. It is the first book in the Serpent & Dove series. This book has been on my TBR for a couple of years. I finally read it, and I am glad that I did. The story is set in a world where witches and the church are at war. Louise Le Blanc is a witch in hiding; she ran away from her coven two years ago and lives in the city. Reid, a chasseur, is devoted to the church and their ideologies.
Louise a.k.a Lou, ran away from her coven and has been in hiding. The war between the church and the witches is at its peak. So, Louise constantly has to be careful about not revealing herself accidentally or otherwise in front of anyone. She lives in fear, that one day her past will catch up with her. Reid is a chasseur; he grew up at the church and doesn’t know about his family or where he comes from. He believes in the church and in honoring his duty. A series of events lead to Louise and Reid, being forced into a marriage. Now, they are husband and wife that are essentially strangers.
Lou is now living with a husband and others in the place where witches are loathed. She has to hide true herself from Reid. Both of them are unsure of how this marriage will work and give each other a wide berth in the beginning. Lou is quite brash at times, and Reid doesn’t really understand what to make of her. Reid, on the other hand, is very methodical and almost strict sometimes, which Lou is not used to. Slowly, they start coming closer and developing an understanding. Reid is honorable towards his duties, and towards Louise too, but he doesn’t know her secret. The element of magic and dynamics of the fantasy world took a while to understand.
Lou finds herself incredibly attracted to Reid, while Reid tries not to think about being attracted to Lou at all. There is romantic tension between them and I really liked it. They do come to an understanding. There is more to them and their pasts, which has shaped their present selves. Slow and steady, their characters progressed individually as well as together. Their romance has a slow build-up, but I liked it because it suited the story. Lou and Reid’s romance had tropes like the marriage of convenience, proximity romance, and even forbidden love aspects that are really liked. In this fantasy world, it seems to be very black and white. The main theme of the story I thought was this grey area that not all witches are evil nor all chasseurs are either.
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin was a surprise romantasy book for me. I added it to my TBR because I thought it was interesting with its elements of fantasy, romance, and paranormal. I really enjoyed reading it. I liked the journey the characters took individually and loved the romance between Lou and Reid. There were a couple of twists in the story that I had not expected. I liked this book, and I can’t wait to get started on the second book of the series.
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