Great! A straight forward adventure fantasy read in the YA world. I was hoping for more surprise or a bit more of a twist but overall it’s a great book. I think it will resonate with a lot of teens.

I sadly DNF this one for now but I’m not opposed to reading more of her writing as I enjoyed book one

I am so glad to have been able to read this book. I can’t wait to read the next one. Reading this book definitely took a little longer but I loved it all the same. Love the characters and their journeys.

I'll be honest, I definitely feel like this was just a filler book. I hate saying that because I love Serpent & Dove but this one definitely had middle book syndrome. Shelby Mahurin's writing is still strong and beautiful in this book and it was a good read. I just felt like it was a copy and paste of the first book in a new setting. Nothing really changed. It actually felt like characters regressed from the first book. Still lying to each other and causing a lot of issues that could have been avoided with a simple conversation but I have high hopes for the final book so I'm excited for that.

My student's adore this series! I've listened to many conversations about their love for these characters!

The first book in this series was fun and I enjoyed it. This one felt a little more like a slog; the different perspectives at the beginning were confusing; I had a hard time telling the speakers apart until they went their separate ways. Lou and Reid's search for allies was a bit disjointed - the timeline was hard to follow, and their motivation was a bit scattered. I'm also put off by their constant need to sacrifice their relationship for each other; it's a plot device that bothers me.

I will give the next book a try, but this one suffered from the "second book in a series" syndrome.

No one is more disappointed that I am that my MOST anticipated 2020 release didn't work out the way I had hoped, but here we are. Serpent & Dove was a surprising favorite last year; I've read a good bit of YA fantasy, and it offered unique glimpses at some of my favorite tropes, a cast of characters with diverse personalities, and a slow burning romance to die for. Jumping into Blood & Honey, I wasn't exactly sure what we would get, but I didn't think it would be 600 pages of absolutely nothing happening but Reid and Lou fighting. The previous installment worked so hard to organically bring this couple together, and I was excited to explore some of the bombshells dropped at the ending of the first book while seeing our two main characters grow as a couple, but alas, this didn't happen. I found myself truly missing so many of the supporting characters who took book 1 from being a good read to a fabulous one. Right on schedule, 80% of this book was slow and I trudged through hoping for something big to happen, and of course we're left with a wild cliffhanger to ensure that, even if you were mad at the lack of substance in this book, you'll probably check out the last book to wrap things up. I have no desire to be mean in this review, so I'll just say that I hope this installment works better for you than it did for me. The cover art is stunning, and it will look gorgeous on any shelf!

This is a hard review to write. I was so looking forward to this book because I LOVED Serpent and Dove. But I think this was definitely a case of where the author pushed what should have been a duology into a trilogy and it really shows. This book is slow and most of it is just filler. There were a few good moments and I enjoyed the carnival aspect but it could have been edited down to fit in with the final book and would have been stronger for it. Obviously I'm still going to be continuing with this trilogy because I love Lou and Reid so much but I was fairly disappointed. Three stars is generous and that's sad, because the first was a five star for me.

What usually happens when the first book in a dualogy blows up and gets turned into a trilogy? Annoying disaster happens... the dreaded Second Book Curse, where it gets streched into nothing good but the beginning and the end. I really enjoyed the first book Serpent & Dove but this just became Lou and Reid bickering to each other most of the time and that just got tiring to read (for 528 pages, really, why so many pages???). Will I be reading the third book, yep, yep I will because the ending was so good and now I must know what happens.

Though I will say that I still enjoyed this book and mostly it characters, I will admit that this had a lot if second-book syndromes. It felt slow and not entirely necessary and I still am somewhat surprised there's a third book coming for this.

This was considerably less fun to read than the first book in the series. Blood & Honey is very focused on Lou and Reid's relationship, with unending conflict and drama with very few sweet or tender scenes to redeem how emotionally difficult the rest of the book is to read. I had to push myself through to finish this so that I can read the final book, but if I hadn't enjoyed the first book as much as I did, I'd have given up on the series halfway through this one and just stopped reading.

4/5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-arc

The cover is as beautiful as the story itself. I love my babies so much !!

Shelby has done it again. I hung on to ever word and had difficulty putting this one down. I CANNOT wait for book three!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

What can I say about this book... I was disappointed with it. This book was clearly a fill for the trilogy and doesn't really continue the plot. The reader ends up in the exact same place as the first book, which left me feeling unexcited for the next one. Hopefully the third book in this series will bring the series to an epic conclusion that we will make up the ground the second book lost.

Claud Devereaux is the MVP of this book.*
Oh, and Coco. Coco forever. ❤️

*BUT. There is also a LITERAL DEUS EX MACHINA here. LITERALLY. Not sure how I feel about that yet, because Deus Ex Machinas, by their definition, are a sort of cop-out. A cool, if somewhat predictable, cop-out, but a cop-out nonetheless.

So....I wrote about my thoughts on the first 75% of the book below, and...about 5% later, my exact beef with the book was validated:

<i><center>"I couldn't blame her. I couldn't hate her for what had happened. I'd made a choice, same as the Archbishop. Lou might've lied. She might've deceived me. <b>But when I'd followed her to the Chateau, I'd chosen my fate, and I'd done it with my eyes wide open. I'd chosen this life. This love. </b>And with my fingers trembling in hers, with her heart beating alongside mine, I still chose it."
"But now...now I tired of hating that man. Of hating myself. That hatred could crush a person. Even now, it weighed heavily, a millstone around my neck. Strangling me. I couldn't hold it much longer. I didn't want to. [...]
Magic was just one part of her.
It was part of me.
And we would find a way forward together."</i></center>

UGH.
YES.
THIS IS MY POINT.

It seemed to me that this is where Reid ended up at the end of S&D, so for him to backtrack so much, even in the wake of the Archbishop's death, seemed redundant and unnecessary.

The last 15% of this book was the strongest because we moved away from the Reid/Lou focus and expanded outward to include the other characters and the conflict at the heart of the first novel. Its not entirely fair to compare my readings of the two books since I read S&D at the end of the summer before classes started, and I'm reading B&H now, in the middle of the semester, when the metaphorical shit has hit the fan in my personal life, but until two nights ago, I could easily put this book down -- something I couldn't do with S&D. I *had* to finish the first one and tore through it appropriately.

Again, I think this is reflective of the narrow, relationship-centric focus of B&H. You can easily sum up the majority of the plot in 1-2 sentences because not much *actually* happens: Reid & Lou (& company) go to find allies in their fight against Morgane. There is much tension and bickering between the two of them, leading to them "breaking" up, only to be reunited on plot event later.

Oh, and while I still appreciate Lou's healthy sexual appetite and portrayal, I find it very hard to believe -- even as thwarted as they have been for the whole second book -- that they'd have sex right after the Archbishop's funeral and before they went off on their big battle. It's not just a YA trope -- and it's actually my husband's pet peeve because traumatized people don't immediately jump into intimacy, in whatever form -- but it irked me a bit here.

But, all of that being said, I'm still way too invested in Lou and Reid's journey -- especially after that loss! -- and of course I'll read the 3rd book. My main hope is that loose ends are tied together, and that they are loose ends, and not red herrings. Like, much was made of the Dames Rouges' tear magic in this book (okay, not *much,* but it seemed important and relevant) so I'd like that to come back around. Also, the lovers from the first book, whose story set off this tension...they seemed important. Fingers crossed.

10/11/20 -- 73% Done: One of the things I loved most about <i>Serpent & Dove</i> was the way Mahurin engaged with and complexified dichotomies: good and evil, magic and non-magic, religious and pagan, sinner and saint, male and female. There was so much going on in the first book, and it created a rich background to the world she had created.

<i>Blood & Honey</i>...spends too much time with Reid and Lou.
<i>But they're the protagonists...? Of course she should spend time with them!</i>
Yes...but hear me out. One of my biggest pet peeves is when characters are angry with each other just for the sake of tension/conflict.
(This was a big issue for me in <i>Hunted By The Sky</i>: cool premise, but the two protagonists were always hyper-emotional with each other, which is what generated the conflict.)
Even in S&D, yes, Reid and Lou fought with each other, but there were moments of tenderness and quiet and understanding that made their relationship <i>real</i>. I believed that they loved each other, and overcame their differences. Yes, the relationship was built on a lie, but within the world of the book, it made sense. And Reid's actions at the end, to me, made it seem like he chose Lou over everyone and accepted her.
So I get really irritated when it seems like characters backtrack. Much of the novel so far has basically been Lou and Reid (1) gathering allies and (2) fighting about how different they are and how each one isn't being what the other one wants them to be (i.e., Lou is pissy because Reid isn't using his magic and is clinging to his prejudice; and Reid is pissy because Lou is...recognizing the stakes of the situation (? IDK. Reid annoys me in this book) and is being a witch).
Now, this all (to me) contradicts the relationship Mahurin spent a whole book developing. Because while there are big issues in their relationship, those aren't the focus/reason for their fights. For me, S&D was about Reid overcoming his prejudice about witches and realizing that people are complex -- not all witches are good, and not all religious people are bad -- but his inability to let go of that in this book, especially when it comes to his own power, is just frustrating for me.
And, on a structural note, so much time spent on the relationship minimizes the amount of time with other characters/in the world. It's a much narrower story -- and given that this is a trilogy, and we're building to some sort of battle -- much of this second book feels like it was stretched out and the conflict between Reid and Lou is done only to force them apart again.

Did we learn <b>nothing</b> from <i>Deathly Hallows</i>?! Angsty teens running around the woods dealing with their relationship issues doesn't usually make for a good story.

3.5 stars.

I'm a bit split on how to feel about this one.

First, I liked this one a lot more than <i> Serpent & Dove </i>. I appreciated the character development and world-building expansion. I thought there was a good amount of plot and suspense, and I enjoyed the new characters. This holds promise for me to see what the final installment is like as there are a lot of layered plots and conflicts that have been hatched. The ending was quite a devious surprise.

Second, I can see why a lot of people found this slower and I agree that the book is quite circuitous in the big picture; it certainly seems like a filler second book. I also was able to predict one of the major events at the end of the book - although the predictability of that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the story.

All in all, pleasantly surprised that I didn't write this series off from the basis of book 1! It was enjoyable.

What can happen when a witch hunter marries a witch? Leaving off where Serpent & Dove ended, Reid and Lou are on a mission to defeat Morgane, Lou’s mother, and rekindle their relationship based on what happened in the past. Along with their old and new allies, the duo battle against those that are planning to stop their plan and those that are determined to separate them. Mahurin can take a fantasy story with action and romance, to bring to light the struggles of newlyweds getting to know one another. Blood & Honey is recommended for those who are fans of the Throne of Glass series.

✨ 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ✨⁣
⁣
“‘I’m a witch, Reid. A witch. I have the power to protect the ones I love, and I will sacrifice anything for them. If that makes me a monster—if that makes me aberrant —I’ll don the teeth and claws to make it easier for you. I’ll get worse, if that justifies your twisted rhetoric. Much, much worse.’”⁣
⁣
𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 & 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 by 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐛𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧⁣
☆ ☆ ☆.5⁣
⁣
This is a very delayed review because I wanted to take some time to articulate my thoughts, but I still haven’t gotten to that point, so here we go. 😅⁣
⁣
Unfortunately, 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 & 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 took me right back to the same reasons I initially 𝐃𝐍𝐅’𝐝 𝘚𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘵 & 𝘋𝘰𝘷𝘦, in that 𝐋𝐨𝐮 and 𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐝 can be two of the most 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 and 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 children ever. It’s a little bit exhausting following the drastic ups and downs that comprise their relationship.⁣
⁣
That being said, I really enjoyed other elements of this book that didn’t focus on the two of them. I liked reading about the Blood Witches and the acting troupe. And that cliffhanger had me reeling!⁣
⁣
I’ll definitely still read the final book, and ultimately, I finished 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 & 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 glad that I read it. But I feel like it could have been so much more. 🤷🏻‍♀️⁣

This second book in the series is best read after Serpent and Dove in order to understand the events taking place.

After escaping from Morgane with their lives barely intact, Reid, Lou, and their friends have gone into hiding in the forest in order to plot their next moves. They resolve to find allies in their fight against Morgane, the Chasseurs, and the King. Gaining the support of La Voisin and her sisters as well as the loup garou will prove to be a dangerous task that no one is quite prepared for, and asking the king to help them out is also a risky proposition. When everything goes wrong and it seems like Lou is spiraling down into a dark place, she and Reid begin to grow apart. They will have to reconcile their differences if they have any hope of fighting Morgane and winning.

This book emotionally wrecked me. I don't want to spoil anything, but there were so many heartbreaking things that happened. I could not put this book down. The events were so intense and the characters were so realistic that it was easy for me to be invested in the story. Moral complexities and different relationships are explored in detail. Some of the content is quite graphic, especially the violence toward the end. I didn't care for the bad language used, especially a couple of offensive words in particular, and I don't personally agree with some of the views and lifestyles presented. In spite of those things, the story came alive for me, and the cliffhanger ending was a killer. I cannot wait until book three.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. A positive review was not required, and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Actually liked this one better than book one! Started a little slow, but picked up a lot as it went on.