Review: Blood & Honey (#2) by Shelby Mahurin

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Goodreads | Waterstones

After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Dames Blanches, Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from coven, kingdom, and church—fugitives with nowhere to hide.
To elude the scores of witches and throngs of chasseurs at their heels, Lou and Reid need allies. Strong ones. But protection comes at a price, and the group is forced to embark on separate quests to build their forces. As Lou and Reid try to close the widening rift between them, the dastardly Morgane baits them in a lethal game of cat and mouse that threatens to destroy something worth more than any coven.

I’ve heard a lot of mixed (and frankly bad) reviews for Blood & Honey, and I was a little hesitant going into this one. Serpent & Dove was my second-favourite book of 2020, and re-reading it recently reminded me of just how much I loved the opening of this series.. However, Blood & Honey is a little different.

I can see why people dislike this book, because it is just very different from the first one. I think expecting less from this one because of other people’s reviews definitely helped, as I went into this not knowing what to expect from it. Whereas the first book focuses a lot more on the developing relationship between Lou and Reid, this one moves away more towards the action focused subplot of book 1.

What you are now is not what you’ve always been, nor is it what you always will be.

From the very start, this book was action scene after action scene. It never let up and became darker and more rushed. Each scene felt unpredictable and stressful and I never knew what was going to happen – which I really love about these books. I feel like nobody is safe and anything could happen – and Blood & Honey proved that!

I do wish this book had made me more emotional, I feel like some of the scenes should have made me cry but didn’t. Although I do love the characters and I feel like there is a real feeling of found family in this book especially, I did miss the character development and focus on the relationships and friendships we had in the first book.

You are a snake. Shed your skin if it no longer serves you. Transform into something different. Something better.

I’m really looking forward to seeing where Gods & Monsters goes after this one! Although I didn’t quite enjoy this one as much as Serpent & Dove, I think the main thing to keep in mind is that these are two very different books. It’s just a shame that this one was missing some of my favourite parts of book 1!

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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