Blood And Honey - Shelby Mahurin.

Blood And Honey.

Author: Shelby Mahurin.

Pages: 560 Pages, Paperback.

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, YA, NA, Witches, Magic, Fiction, Paranormal.

Published: July 2, 2021 by Harperteen.

Goodreads Rating: ★★★☆☆ 3.58

Hello, my fellow readers. Today I'm going to talk about 'Blood and Honey' by Shelby Mahurin. This is the second book in the Serpent and Dove trilogy.

To be honest, it took me a while to finish this book. And now that I finished it. I still don't know what happened. The book was really slow, until page 400. So nothing much happened to move the plot along, and there weren't a lot of parts that added anything to the story. The characters are still in the same position as they started and they felt completely different to me than in S&D. I really liked Serpent and Dove! But Blood and Honey was something else...

When I started this book, I thought that the relationship between Reid and Lou would grow bigger and be more romantic. But all Lou did was whine a lot and let's be honest... She was a selfish b*tch almost the complete book, with her impulsive decisions where nobody had something to say in it. She promised that she wouldn't lie anymore and all she did was lie to Reid. And I get it, she wants to protect him. But it caused her more problems than if she just told him the damn truth. There were a lot of parts where communication didn't happen and it got me annoyed at a certain point. I didn't like how Lou her character changed in Blood and Honey. She wasn't the fun/independent woman from S&D anymore. 

However, the side characters like Beau and Ansel got a way better character growth (not that they added anything important to the story, but I liked them better than our MC's). I loved how subtle their emotions got in some ways and how they wanted to grow in ways to be better persons.

The other (extra) characters are more on the sideline.

The fun part of the whole story is that you get to know more about the magic (and its nature), the Blood Witches, and some other creatures. And that was kinda it for me... 

The World-Building is bigger than S&D. Because the group is traveling and they get to certain places. The description of how the places look isn't specific as in S&D. But you get a good idea of what the place looks like. In this book, I finally got a map (see picture below).

I really hoped this book would make the series even better, but sadly the good story of this trilogy stopped after S&D... I do consider reading Gods & Monsters. Just because I want to know what happens next. But not anytime soon. This book was super slow (almost got me into a reading slump) and the story didn't get anywhere. The plot was too weak to make the book good enough. It kind of breaks my heart to say that I didn't like this book as I wished I would. Anyway, maybe I will enjoy Gods & Monsters and maybe you will enjoy Blood and Honey.

Synopsis:

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.

Love, ❤

DarkBlue.