Book review: THE SCARLET VEIL by Shelby Mahurin

Y’all, when I saw I was approved for this arc I couldn’t get the smile off my face. I devoured this book in just a few days and am already going to pre-order a copy because I know I’ll be reading it again and again.

🩸The Scarlet Veil is an expertly-launched spinoff of a favorite YA Fantasy series of mine (Serpent & Dove), feeling true to the tone and world of the original while also braving new and exciting ground.

🪽Our protagonist, Célie, has an inner journey that made this book a five star read for me. If you read the other books in the series, you know that she’s got a lot to work through — a uniquely horrifying experience, a love that might not truly understand her, and a dream that could no longer be right for her.

🪦Enter: vampires (and their brooding, villainous king).

🧛I don’t want to give much more away because I want to encourage everyone to read it — if you love lush fantasy settings, mysterious love interests, engaging side-characters, and ENDINGS THAT WILL LEAVE YOU DESPERATE FOR THE NEXT BOOK (!!!!) The Scarlet Veil should be at the top of your list!

Note: I don’t think you need to read the Serpent & Dove trilogy in order to understand and love this book, but I do recommend it. It’s one of my favorites!

(Also, I have to give Mahurin major props for how she used her main squad from the Serpent & Dove books. They served Célie’s story well, playing key roles without feeling like just an epilogue.)

Thank you so much Shelby Mahurin, Harperteen, and Netgalley for the e-arc of this book! The Scarlet Veil comes out September 26, 2023, just in time for spooky season 👻

Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

Did I read a book that isn’t out until September & love it? Yes, yes I did.

Shelby Mahurin’s The Scarlet Veil is such a delicious bite of vampire romantasy. It gave me those vampire book thrills I look for: danger, beauty, temptation, & a bite that brings pleasure .

At the beginning of the book Célie is a Huntswoman, the only Huntswoman in a group of men who largely deride her & her abilities. Her fiancé, the Captain, is so busy trying to protect her that he stifles & under-appreciates her in a different way.

Then Célie finds a dead body & in short order is kidnapped by mysterious, obviously dangerous people she realizes are vampires. Two mysteries surround everything: the recent crop of similar deaths in her city & the death of her sister & the trauma Célie experienced in its aftermath.

If you’re looking for an atmospheric vampire book with kissing, check this one out. If you’re looking for a tortured MMC who speaks and moves & acts in a silky, clearly dangerous way, a spirited and beautiful FMC who can talk to ghosts (!), and a prophecy that suggests their romance is doomed, check this one out.

Don’t be mad at me about the cliffie, please! Also I should note that this is a spin-off of the Serpent & Dove series but I’ve only read book 1 in that series & I was fine .

In closing, this book is delivering big vampire energy & I’m here for it. You might want to be too .
4.5⭐️. Out 09/26.

[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of a mural painted on a red background of a white woman with red lipstick wearing a tartan corset & holding a set of bagpipes.]

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC copy of this book to read and review. All of these thoughts and comments are my own.

Spoilers ahead!!!

Read the Serpent and Dover series first!


Celie is still trying to figure out life after the death of her sister and the trauma she went through with being locked into a coffin with her dead sister for two weeks. She’s training as a Chasseur and she’s really just trying to find her spot in this world. When people start popping up dead, she wants to help out and help find the killer. When she overhears a conversation pertaining to her between everyone she cares about, she is hurt. They only see her as a glass doll who needs protecting and they aren’t listening to her. So, she takes matters into her own heads and sets out to try to solve these murders. Before she’s able to get far….she’s kidnapped by a mysterious and dangerous man or dare I say…Vampire.

First and foremost….what the hell. Honestly what kind of ending was that?! I have never been so happily pissed off at a book before. I truly loved S&D but this book may just be better. The characters are wonderful. The plot is absolutely fantastic. The slow burning romance was seriously top notch. I LOVE Michal. I know he’s the morally gray villain and whatever but man I just really love him.

Secondly, Jean Luc and the rest of Celine’s friend gang honestly made me mad. They literally just ignore her plea for help and how she wants to be treated like an actual person instead of a child. Yes, she went through trauma but she’s trying to dig her way out of it and heal/find herself and none of them helped whatsoever by lying to her and hiding the truth from her.

Lastly, I honestly didn’t see the twist coming. I had a feeling that what happened at the end would happen but I never guess the person who did it. That was so creatively done if I may say. Screw Frederic though. He’s a great villain and I absolutely loathe him. I’m praying that Celie isn’t actually dead and she comes back to Michal. They deserve their HEA. Also, Pippa better be pissed off and demand her sister be brought back. I have a feeling that she may be a villain too with the information that was given at the end of this book.

All in all; I really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t put it down. I tried to read it slowly because I know this book doesn’t release until the end of September but man I just couldn’t stop reading it. I need the second book like now. I am so excited to see where this story is going to lead. I will give the publisher and author my kidneys for book two asap 🤪😅

Easily a wonderful 5 star read!

If you read the Serpent & Dove series and enjoyed it, then I definitely recommend this spinoff! When I tell you the burn is slow, the burn is s l o w.
I generally love slow burn romances when it’s a littler faster 😂 like, I just got to a kiss at 67% 🫠 but it is classified as YA, so it’s definitely expected!!

I’m also not a *huge* fan of the “I’m the weakest link” “(don’t)feel bad for me” tropes. Is there an actual word for that??

I did give this 4 stars instead of 5. The point docked for it is purely because of my own enjoyment with the above mentioned tropes!

If you read Gods & Monsters and remember that BOAT SCENE (🥵) then the slow burn is going to be worth the wait in book 2, I can feel it!!! 😉
Overall, this arc is proving to live up to the hype with the murder mystery and forbidden love / enemies to lovers which I’m always a sucker for 😩 also, who doesn’t love vampires and ghosts????

I will always read ANYTHING by this author. Her books have such intense vibes and amazing world building. Thank you so much for the ARC ♥️🫶🏻

I was a big fan of the Serpent and Dove series and could not wait to read The Scarlet Veil.
Shelby did not disappoint with this gothic story, it was amazing! This is a must read for vampire lovers and enemy to romance lovers. I would highly recommend reading the Serpent and Dove series first before starting this book. A lot of the same characters are in this book which I loved! The cliffhanger left me wanting the next book immediately. Great read!

<b> <I> Thank you so much to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of “The Scarlet Veil” by Shelby Mahurin in exchange for an honest review. All of the following opinions are formulated on my own. Any quotes in this review should be cross-referenced with the final copy for any possible edits.</I> </b>

<b> Overall rating: </b> 4.5 out of 5 stars

<b> Favorite quote(s): </b> "A partnership implies trust, but Jean Luc will never tell me his business with Father Achille, and I-
"I will never tell him what happened in my sister's casket."

<b> Do you need to read the series this spinoff is based on?: </b> Yes, you will definitely need to have read the Serpent and Dove series to read this or I suspect you will be thoroughly confused.

<b> My Review: </b> The Scarlet Viel by Shelby Mahurin is a continuation of the Serpent and Dove story with many of the same charcaters from the original trilogy. This story focuses on first huntswoman Chasseur Celie Tremblay engaged to Chasseur Jean Luc as she recovers from the trauma of being in a casket with her sister's body while trying to find a way to protect Balterra from new threats. Celie does not fit in with the other Chasseurs and struggles as her fiance, the Captain, tries to coddle her. When a blood witch is murdered, Celie decides enough is enough and starts to fight back though what she finds lurking in the dark has a blood for vengence... quite literally.

The author does a wonderful job of crafting a unique world and setting the stage. I really enjoyed the use of the French language and gothic styling. I loved seeing characters from the original trilogy return while not overtaking the story. It was so wonderful to watch Celie forge her own path and ignore those who told her she could not succeed.

<b> Room for Improvement: </b> Some of the writing was a bit heavy and difficult to interpret. I read a few passages and had to go back to reread them since they were so confusing. The book also dragged quite a bit in the first 40%. Celie is shrouded in so much mystery, I lost interest a bit because I had no connection with the character.

<b> If you liked the following, you will probably like this book: </b>
<i> -Serpent and Dove, of course
- The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue
- Belladonna
- Kingdom of the Wicked </i>

<b> Notable Themes, Elements, and Tropes: </b>
- Love Triangle
- French Gothic setting
- Murder Mystery

Shelby Mahurin has a way with words that’s hard not to love. The gothic atmosphere was chilling, and Celie was a wonderful MC to follow and I enjoyed her character immensely. I did find the overall story/plot very slow and hard to get into. I have not finished the S&D trilogy and read this under the impression that is wouldn’t be a requirement. After many starts and stops in the first third of this book, I would highly recommend reading the other trilogy first as I think certain character relationships and dynamics are written in a way where it’s assumed you already know all the details. Aside from this, the pacing felt a little unclear for me, but the enjoyment of Mahurin’s prose was the only thing really pushing me along.

I hope you’re ready to hear Celie Tremblay’s story because it is a doozy. There’s a killer on the loose, and Celie is determined to solve the mystery. After joining the Chasseurs and still feeling like an outsider, Celie is kidnapped by a vampire. But when she realizes their goals align, will she finally find her place or return to her old life?

Shelby is an amazing writer. Her ability to create characters is second-to-none. I wasn’t a huge fan of Celie in the S&D trilogy, but Shelby is able to create a character who stays true to the original while also giving her an exceptional arc. Michal’s character is 🤌🏻👨🏻‍🍳😘 and everything we readers love in a morally gray villain/anti-hero.

The final 1/4 of the book was absolute perfection and I just couldn’t put it down. From the brothel to All Hallow’s Eve, I was hooked. I pray that Shelby finishes the second book quickly because I. Cannot. Wait. 🙏🏻

The Scarlet Veil by Shelby Mahurin is the first book in a spin off series set within the same world as Serpent as dove. I loved revisiting the world and seeing some familiar faces but this is definitely a read for fans of the original series as there are several things that would be slightly confusing for a reader coming to this universe for the first time.

Shelby does it again. Her words are so powerful and lyrical I just can breeze through her stories. I loved this. I definitely will buy it when it comes out.
10/10 will recommend.

3.5 stars rounded up. A great read for fans of the serpent and dove series as this book takes place in the same universe with many of the same great characters. The new storyline follows celie as our Mc and while she has an interesting journey it felt somewhat dragged out and then so much action in the last 2 chapters that could have been flushed out more to make the story more interesting. I did really like our new characters we are introduced to, and I think after the cliffhanger we are left with, the next book has a lot of promise.

Thank you so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

As a fan of the original series - Serpent & Dove - I very much enjoyed this spin-off, probably even more than the original series! The standout aspects were:

- the character growth of the FMC
- the tension and romance between the FMC and MMC
- the fully-realized side-characters (helped in no small part from their inclusion in the original trilogy)
- the expansive world-building
- the pacing

This is a 5-star read for me, but minor nitpicks are that parts of it were very, very predictable, and while the FMC made growth, she was still hard to like/respect at certain points due to her helplessness and naivetee. That said, overall, a very compelling read.

The Scarlet Veil brings us back into the world of Cesarine and Belterra, of witches and Chausseurs, of magic and intrigue. This time, we're following Célie, who you may remember from the Serpent and Dove trilogy. She's joined the ranks of Chausseurs and is doing what she can to find her place there; much to her fiancé Jean Luc's dismay. He's doing what he can to treat her like she's made of glass and to keep her from harm's way, but Célie, who, if you recall, killed Morgane Le Blanc isn't as fragile as Jean Luc and the Chausseurs seem to think. After a string of murders ravage the streets of Belterra, Célie learns two things: her friends are working to find the killer without her, and that all is not as it appears. While visiting a loved one in the cemetery, Célie stumbles upon a body and is quickly pulled into the very case her friends excluded her from solving. Abducted, Célie ends up on a mysterious island, Requiem, where she learns that vampires exist...and that they may have sinister plans for her.

I couldn't get enough of this story! Célie definitely steps into her own in ways that I didn't expect--the Célie we know from Serpent and Dove is a bit prissy. She's prim and proper and pretty haughty, which she still is, but she's so much more than that. Célie is surprisingly deep, and I'm so thankful that we've finally gotten her point of view! The vampires you meet along the way are also so complex, and you can't decide from moment to moment if you love them or hate them. In that same vein (ha! see what I did there?!), I should go ahead and warn you, from a romance perspective, this duology is going to be a slooooow burn. If it goes where I hope it goes, that is.

There are also so many parts, especially in the castle on Requiem, that gave me Haunted Mansion vibes--when you read it, if you're a Disney person, you'll know what I'm talking about. It was such a freaking mood!

On a more serious note, this story grappled with anxiety and panic attacks, post traumatic stress disorder, grief, and addiction beautifully. It confronts how so often people are treated as fragile when they're "going through it," but how that anxiety, grief, addiction, etc. isn't the person--it isn't everything that they are, and they don't need to be treated as if they might break just because they have suffered and are coming to terms with life during, and after, that suffering. It humanizes so many emotions that we are often numb to or judgmental of so beautifully. 

Then there's the Epilogue. It's just...flawless. Sure, this book leaves you on a pretty massive cliffhanger, but...it's worth it. I already know that the sequel is going to be everything.

I seriously don't know how I'm going to survive until I get more time with Célie, Michal, and the gang.

If you've ever had your heart ripped out by Shelby Mahurin, you may be entitled to compensation...in the form of reading more and putting yourself through it all again willingly. Does that count as compensation?

As a fan of the original series, I absolutely loved this story! I appreciated the cameos from the original characters as well and I loved that it included Vampires instead of just witches. I loved seeing Celie's growth and overcoming her insecurities. I'm really hoping for a sequel!

Thanks to netgalley for this advanced copy!
While I love fantasy, this vampire/gothic is not my normal fare. After seeing the cover shared briefly on Instagram I decided to go for it. I have not read the original trilogy, so I had a lot of fun jumping into this story as an outsider. It's definitely not necessary to have read those in order to enjoy this book - but it made me want to!

It wasn't a 5 star for me, mostly because I found it difficult to enjoy Celie, our heroine - it was often difficult for me to understand why everyone was so charmed by her. She usually proved herself to be exactly what she feared others thought she was: insecure, incapable, immature, sometimes hysterical. Making poor judgments and poor decisions, throwing tantrums and never knowing what she wants. Always insisting that she is a modern, independent woman who can take care of herself - but she actually can NEVER take care of herself 😂 the story was saved by the side characters who I actually enjoyed quite a bit. I will keep an eye out for the sequel and will probably read the other trilogy, too.

I received an E-ARC from Netgalley. This is my honest opinion of the work.

Let me start off by saying, I was not a fan of how the original Serpent and Dove series went in book 2 and 3 and when I realized Célie was going to have her own book I really had no intention of reading it. This was a happy accident me requesting the book. I read vampire and Serpent and Dove and said why not. Célie character growth is very nice and doesn't come off whiny, weak, prim/proper girl I remember from the original trilogy. I will say there is a lot of references to the original trilogy in the story so I would highly recommend reading before reading this book. The story itself is interesting and introduces new character and creatures along with a new magical location. The story is action pack and very fast moving. I could kind of predict how the story would end but there were unexpected plot twists. Overall a great edition to the Serpent and Dove universe. It reads like a typical vampire romance. And if you are on the fence because of how Blood and Honey and Gods and Monsters turned out to be this book does not drag like those 2 books do and say give it a chance if you like vampire books with a dab of romance.

*4.5

I love Celie and anyone who speaks ill of her will have to get through me first. I loved seeing her journey of really learning who she is finding her confidence. I think that the book is a bit slow in the middle but it lends to character development so I don't mind at all. The mystery is intriguing #tome and I love that Celie can see ghosts. It makes everything so interesting.

Now let's talk about the romance. Michal and Celie are so good together. Yeah their relationship starts because he kidnaps her, so what? Seeing them open up to each other and learn to trust each other was so. All the little things that he did for her to show that he does in fact trust her, they warm my heart.

NOW THE ENDING?! This book doesn't even come out until september but I need the sequel right now.

Also I really loved how all of the previous characters from S&D were integrated into the story. I loved seeing Lou, Reid, Coco, and Beau.

I received an arc through netgalley.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

If you loved the setting and characters of Serpent & Dove, you definitely need to pick up this book. It’s a fun, twisty continuation of the story with Celie as the protagonist. I loved that all the favorites—Lou, Reid, Coco, Beau—were in the story too.

Overall, I enjoyed the chance for Celie to become a strong character and grow into her own. I liked the vampire lore and callback to the heyday of vampire YA. Malhurin’s writing is gorgeous as always and she definitely takes you on a ride.

I did, however, find that the first 60% of the book rather slow. The pacing felt uneven and the characters a bit shallow. To me, there was a lack of strong tension that S&D had in spades. I just had the overall vibe that something was missing as I read. The ending though was the best part for sure and I’m already ready for book 2 after that cliffhanger!

I’d recommend for S&D fans or lovers of YA vampire stories.

Those who enjoyed Serpent & Dove are likely to enjoy this one. That said, it feels more like a continuation than a stand alone, and so it isn't the right fit for our libraries. We always aim for books that stand alone.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC.

Book Name: The Scarlet Veil
Author: Shelby Mahurin

ARC
Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books and NetGalley for Shelby Mahurin’s latest release The Scarlet Veil

Stars: 5
Spice: 2.75

Series-ISH …… this is marketed as a new series but it’s more a continuation
Cliffhanger
Fast Paced
Plot-Centric
FMC POV
High Fantasy with Historical French Vibes

- Topics
- Choices We Make
- Stereotypes
- Feminine Power
- Sisterhood
- Stretching Beyond Stereotypes
- Friendship& Sacrifice
- Tropes
- Enemies to … More (wink wink)
- Love Triangle
- Who Hurt You
- Don’t Run From Me
- Gothic Vampires
- Thoughts.
- Strong Ties to Orginal Series (I stopped after book 2 so I was a bit lost until 30% in)
- FMC was relatable
- A Heroine for Us Anxious Good Girls