It was a sweet story but felt more like a short novella. I was expecting to be happier but there were multiple times the story took a really sad route, I was glad it had a happy ending.

For the length it was well developed and I did enjoy the conflict.

Thank you to Eve Healy and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"The Mourning Dove and his Snow Sparrow" is a beautifully crafted tale that delicately weaves together themes of love, loneliness, and the transformative power of connection. Set in the secluded forests of the North, the story follows Callum, a young man who has known only solitude and the company of nature. His world takes an unexpected turn when he discovers an injured fox sparrow that can transform into a winged man named Aurear.

The bond that forms between Callum and Aurear is both tender and captivating. As they navigate the complexities of their relationship, the story explores the depths of human emotion and the longing for warmth and companionship. The romance between them unfolds with a sense of urgency, drawing readers into a realm where the boundaries between bird and man blur.

Eve Healy's writing paints a vivid picture of the enchanting forest setting, immersing readers in the quietude and beauty of nature. The emotional journey of the characters is portrayed with grace, evoking a range of feelings from joy to heartache. Despite the brevity of the story, the author skillfully crafts moments of intimacy and vulnerability that resonate long after the final page.

"The Mourning Dove and his Snow Sparrow" is a gem of a novella that will captivate lovers of fantasy and romance. Its unique blend of fantastical elements and heartfelt storytelling offers a bittersweet exploration of love, loss, and the transformative power of human connection. Prepare to be swept away by this poignant tale of two souls finding solace and warmth amidst the cold embrace of the forest.

A very quick but cute story!

There were a few things I did have to get past - the romance develops *very* quickly. I guess that is to be expected in a such a short story, but between that and the fantasy aspect of it, I wasn't quite sure how to take the romance. Callum is a human and Aurear is a bird who can turn into a man and they seemed to go very quickly from unable to converse due to the bird-ness, to full on lovers.

Other than that it was an enjoyable story. Touched on loneliness and nature. I think I wouldn't have enjoyed it if it were longer, although if it were longer, some of the "unbelievability" of it could have been fleshed out more. Alas, a catch 22.

2.25✨
The Mourning Dove & His Snow Sparrow is about a man who finds an injured bird and begins to care for it, when one day, it turns into a man. I went into this book with an open mind. The cover is beautiful, and I thought the premise was intriguing and the setting super cozy. However, for me, this read a bit younger than I expected. Both of the characters/narrators read very child-like, and the delivery of the plot was somewhat underwhelming (I feel like central external conflict with the hunter was glanced over). Also, I felt there was a lot of telling as opposed to showing, especially from Callum’s POV. Sadly, this story didn’t quite work for me.

OOOOOH MY GOD I WAS <b>NOT</b> READY FOR THIS LEVEL OF EMOTION. IT'S 10PM AND I AM <b>CRYING</b>

What can I even say? I just wanted a quick read with a bit of smut.
I wasn't prepared to fall in love with these characters. I wasn't ready for the cute fluffy romance. I wasn't planning on crying over my kindle because of a bird!?

My ONLY criticism is that I thought they're first night together was waaaay too unbelievable- this guy was a bird. A literal bird, until a few weeks ago. He doesn't know much about the human world but he knows how to pleasure a man?? It should have been more clumsy and awkward✨️

I loved it otherwise, not expecting the feels, but it was so worth it!!

This was a super short and sweet read.

The premise was quite interesting but I wanted a little more from it. I loved seeing Callum and Aurear's relationship develop as they tried to negotiate Aurear's change to human form.

The ending was bittersweet but unneeded in my opinion. The extra scene could have just been a cute part of the story instead of stuck on the end.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is follows a guy who discovers a snow sparrow outside and takes him in. When he came back to with food for the bird, a man was now where the bird was. From then on, the story progresses especially their relationship.

The cover and title caught my eye, but I basically went in blind without reading the description fully. The cover is quite cute and colorful, I love illustrations of characters on covers.

As for the book, it was a quick read and it does have a sweet romance along with some spicy scenes in which that terms refers to sexual situations. I think this was a unique story about the sparrow transforming into a human and overall, things were straightforward. There is also the exploration of identity, sex, and the theme of loneliness.

the book initially asked me for the cover, it is very beautiful and colorful and invites you to read. the book itself is interesting, the story flows quickly and is very sweet. the book has few pages and is a super quick read especially if you are trying to get out of reader's block like I was. very nice, recommend!

Short enjoyable read with cute characters that will make you smile as you read . And will let you get lost in the story

I really enjoyed this book, it was short, fun & easy to read. I read it in one sitting, would recommend if you’re looking for something to read fast that’s also enjoyable!!

This books lovely cover is what drew me to it. I will say that I don’t typically read this genre, and was surprised by just how explicit it was (no fault of the author or publisher it was clearly stated I was just surprised is all!) but it was enjoyable nonetheless. It was sweet and had two adorable main characters. I didn’t enjoy the overdramatize scenarios though. I also didn’t quite enjoy how childish Aurear, since he had obviously never been a human before he was unsure of a lot and it was slightly uncomfortable for me just how childlike he seemed as well as the whole bird thing.

I don't think I have read anything as bizarre as this before...Who would have thought to write a love (read: smutty) story between a fox sparrow turned human with wings and a lonesome man with unresolved mummy issues? While this setting was unique and got me hooked at the very start, the plot was rather slow-moving. I think this a consequence of multiple (read: at least 30 pages out of 120) of explicit smut - almost like you're reading a lengthy wattpad/AO3 fanfic - and a lack of an actual conflict.

I appreciated the effort to include Aurear's POV but felt that there could have been more chapters dedicated to him in the first half of the book. The two male leads really did not do much in the story apart from intense love-making and taking care of each other in every other chapter. I felt that there could have been more actual action as their routines in the book began to feel mundane towards the end of the book. The "conflict" resolution was abrupt, cliche, and unexciting and leaves the reader wondering if they should have just stopped reading after the first sex scene. Moreover, the writing seems amateur and there was more telling than showing. As a result, the overall prose appeared really sloppy and draggy where the characters said so much yet so little.

Lastly, I personally felt really uncomfortable with the idea and overtly vivid descriptions of having sex with a half-human-half-bird - hmm is this bordering the line of beastiality...? If you're looking for a rather mindless read that contains a ton of explicit beastial smut, this book is for you. Otherwise, I think you should dedicate your time to a more fruitful read.

I liked The Mourning Dove and His Snow Sparrow by Eve Healy.
Also the art on the cover is absolutely gorgeous!

It was a short and easy read but it just didn't grip me.
I feel like if it was longer that I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

I would still recommend this book.
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was definitely a short steamy read; coming in at just 120 pages it was a quick, light read. Even with it being novella-length, the character development was still well developed and enjoyable. There was some spicy scenes and could get pretty emotional particularly near the end.

4/5 stars

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

This book caught my attention the moment I saw it on NetGalley and it did not disappoint. It was short but still managed to have so many twists and turns unexpectedly. It was a little weird how often we got reminded that he was a bird and the spicy scenes made that all the weirder like yea he’s a human form
But he’s a bird soooooo.

This was an incredibly cozy and sweet little fantasy story.

I was absolutely hooked by the gorgeous cover. The pure and heartfelt loneliness Callum experienced at the beginning of the book, and Aurear’s earnest desire to take care of Callum and learn how to be human made the short 140 pages fly by.

I would probably call this fantasy realism, or possibly monster romance, because Callum almost immediately accepts Aurear’s magic, but the townspeople have a harder time accepting him. There is some violence and a stressful scene near the end of the book that make this a little more than a fluffy romance, giving the book depth and a solid finish, emphasizing taking advantage of all the time we have with our loved ones.

Thank you Net Galley for the chance to review this sweet book.

This is the short, magical tale of a lonely man, Callum, and the fox sparrow shifter, Aurear, who captures his heart. This was an absolutely beautiful romance in its purest form. I honestly don’t understand the low reviews on this one because everything about it felt surreal. Their love, the gentle commentary, the passionate love-making, the bittersweet ending. These two spend 50 long years together and while the ending brought me to tears, it was wonderful and emotional.

“ʏᴇꜱ. ɪ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪꜱᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴛᴀᴋᴇ ᴄᴀʀᴇ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜ.”
“ʏᴏᴜ’ᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ ᴡᴇʟʟ. ᴀʀᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏ?”
“ʏᴇꜱ.” (This part, y’all 😭😭😭)

It’s hard to put into words the beauty of this story. It’s slow pace and steady and lowish angst. It’s not very exciting and not much really happens but that’s okay because it’s simply a love story between a mourning dove and the fox sparrow found in the snow. Callum and Aurear were gentle and pure. They loved hard and supported gently.

This was a comfort read for me. I already know I’m going to buy the paperback because I want to reread this one when I’m feeling down AND I’m obsessed with the gorgeous cover. Bravo!

SPICE: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
ANGST:💧💧
POV: 1st, mostly Callum

𝘼𝙍𝘾 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚. 𝙈𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮.

What a cute love story. Space was alright. I’d recommend this book to a couple friends cause I think they’d like it but it wasn’t for me, however I still thought it was a good book!

Well.. this was different. I mostly wanted to try this because of the gorgeous cover.
It didn’t go as expected.

☙ ⏤⏤⏤⏤ ❧

❥ Short Synopsis:
Callum is a lonely guy who lives in the woods by himself.
After years of taking care of his sick mother, she dies and leaves Callum behind.
With no one else around, his life becomes empty and meaningless.
One day, Callum finds a hurt Fox Sparrow and takes it home to take care of it, only for the bird to turn into a man. A man with wings that is, who’s really still a bird..


☙ ⏤⏤⏤⏤ ❧

⁂ My opinion:
This story didn’t really work out for me. At first I expected this to maybe be a shifter romance? But it isn’t. The man is actually a bird. Because of that, he doesn’t understand how to ‘be human’, leaving Callum to have to explain the simplest of things, which makes his character feel quite child-like in my opinion. Next to that, we’re reminded multiple times that ‘he really is a bird’. That combined with some very very explicit spicy scenes.. I don’t know. It was a bit uncomfortable to me.

This is the first book I've read about a bird turning into a human, so I was intrigued. Aurear and Callum's love is one of a kind. It's sweet, it's healing, and it's something else, and I don't think I'll look at a sparrow the same way again. The book is descriptive enough. It helped me visualize the setting and the characters' emotions pretty well in my head. Also, as I read, I wasn't sure how the ending would turn out, but when I got there, I thought it was perfect for the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this ARC.