🤍 Thank you so much @harpercollins for the arc of one of my most anticipated releases!

I have been eagerly anticipating this sequel to The Scarlet Veil and it was everything I wanted it to be, and more!

I loved exploring the depths of the characters (especially Celié) and the plot was intense and eery. It was dark, gritty, and I’m definitely adding this to my favorite vampire books!

Not to mention the romance 🔥 had me absolutely obsessed.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★/5
Steam: open door

What a great ending to such a great duology. I love this world and have been following it since the release of Serpent and dove. While this book would be a great conclusion to the universe, I really appreciate how it leaves the door open for future stories. I would love to get even just a novella of Filippa and Dimitri and of course Michal and Celie and the inevitable proposal.

We pick up more or less where the last book left us. Celie is back home, sans Michal. she is also now a vampire. This book is all about self acceptance and growth. Celie must accept her new normal, her feelings, and that things don't always work out as planned. I must say, she is a much bigger person than I am. If I were in her shoes I would have completely written Filippa off and also shunned Dimitri. Her journey is really great, though I in a way wish she stayed a vampire, but I am happy that at least Michal changed with her.

Michal also grew so much. As someone who was over 1000 years old, it was nice to see that you can change and grow as a person. As the book went on he continued to let Celie see the more vulnerable side of him. I loved seeing how down bad he was for her. These two truly made each other better people. She helped him tear down his walls and he helped give her the strength to forge her own path in life. They compliment each other very well. Let me tell you though, the tension was THICK with these two. the slow burn was sloooooow, but it paid off.

It was so fun seeing so many beloved faces: Lou and Reid, Coco and Beau, and even Jean Luc. I wish we got a bit more closure between Jean and Celie though.

Overall, this was a great ending to yet another great series.

Thank you to the publisher and author for an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love the second book in the duology. It was a perfect ending to Celie and Michal’s beautiful romance.

4.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins, and HarperCollins Children's Books for this advanced copy.! You can pick up The Shadow Bride now.

The Scarlet Veil was one of my top reads of last year, and I'm so glad that The Shadow Bride followed it up beautifully. It had sweeping romance, enormous stakes, and deadly vampires, witches, and revenants. But at its core, this story is all about family, both chosen and by blood, and the lengths we're willing to go to to keep our families safe. All of the sibling dynamics just had me tearing up, y'all.

We're also introduced to a new villain in this book, and can I just say.... they gave me massive chills. Shelby Mahurin balanced the perfect amount of entertainment and horror with this character, and I fear they stole the scene every time they were on the page. The increased stakes and drama were just delicious (and heartbreaking).

Célie and Michal's relationship also blossomed in the best way, with tension giving over into romance and intimacy, and both of them showing vulnerable sides that they only hint at in The Scarlet Veil. I did NOT expect this book to get as spicy as it did, but it honestly felt so real for these characters and what they've been through. Célie has spent most of her life sheltered and under society's thumb, but now she has the freedom and confidence in herself to take what she wants (and we LOVE that for her). Plus, seeing a murderous, morally-grey man go soft only for her will never not have me giggling and kicking my feet.

All in all, a fantastic conclusion to this duology (and the overarching story started in Serpent & Dove). You will not want to miss this one!!

I received a copy through Netgalley for review on the wire.


Let me firstly say I loved The Scarlet Veil, I love the characters in this world, it's always nice to see Lou, Reid, Coco and Beau make an appearance.

Celie has become a vampire, and it's not going well. Her sister Filippia has been resurrected but isn't quite right, Death is still meddling- wanting to use Celie's powers as a Bride of Death.- those who should of died, death touches them and spares their lives, allowing them to continue, are those who can touch the veil between life and death.

It's really a story of the power of love, of sisters, of family, and how far you will go to get to those you care about. And that nothing, not even death himself can stop you from getting to that person.

Death needs to be put back in his place, the veil needs to be closed, before the living and the dead are on the same realm and the world ends. Death doesn't actually care, he's more interested in experimenting. To see how far he can push the limits of his power. But in a human body, he's not in full control of all his powers anymore.

Celie and Michal have to figure out where they stand with one another.
Fillipia wants nothing more than to get her daughter Frostine returned to her for someone who has lost everything, her life, her daughter, her lover. Can she return to the woman she was? Not quite so dead, but not quite so alive either.
Celie needs to come to terms with what she's been through, first after killing Morgaine, being killed by Federic, becoming a vampire. With Jean Luc and how she left things, with her fears and traumas she carries. Her feelings for Michal.

Bonus characters: Mathilde (Lou's great-grandmother) she's a real piece of work, Celie's mother who barges her way into a island full of creatures who would kill her- just to confront her daughter for impropriety. A basket of kittens.

I promise it's not all doom and gloom and there's a lot of it. But there is a happy ending!
I really loved the way this got wrapped up.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

4.5 stars

This was quite the ride! It lost me a little in the middle but there were so many twists and turns in the last part. Célie and Michal did and excellent job convincing they "felt nothing" for each other throughout this story lol. The tension and slow burn between them was perfect for them as their relationship developed. Loved seeing all the side characters again. I loved the epilogue to this. Overall, a great ending to the series.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

This book fried my brain but in the best way!

This was my most anticipated book of 2025 and I loved it. It was such a great finish to the Scarlet Veil duology. I was invested as soon as I started the book and could not put it down.
There's so much I loved about this book I don't know where to start or how to put it into words.

Still utterly obsessed with Michal. I love the banter between Michal and Celie even more than in the first book. And the slow burn! To die for. I think Celie had so much character growth in this book especially.
I love that we got to see more of the Serpent & Dove characters in this one as well.

There was one piece that affected my rating otherwise this would have been a 5 star read. Without outright stating what it was (it would be a huge spoiler), it was something that played a big part in how the book ended.

I would definitely recommend this to romantasy fans and fans of Shelby Mahurin!

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 Stars.

🩸 The vibes:
- book 2 in duology
- YA Paranormal romance
- Vampires
- open door

🩸 My thoughts:
Picking up shortly after book 1 ends, the Shadow Bride continues the dark, paranormal journey. To avoid spoilers, I won’t give a synopsis but will share general thoughts.

🩸 This felt like a vampires meet zombies mash up. It’s fun and if you read The Scarlet Veil, I can see the need to read this one for the conclusion. Know going in that while book 1 stayed in a closed door (albeit sexy, toe-the-line, closed door) zone, this book goes fully open door and is much more explicit than the first. Considering this is a duology, I don’t love that there’s varying levels of spice involved, and considering it’s YA, I had additional concerns. See YA considerations for more info.

🩸 Let’s dive into the book and story itself. While the first 15% felt a bit slow and confusing, the story got rolling and pulled me in. I really loved Michal’s growth and getting to know him better in this book. We got to see more of his backstory which I’ve been waiting for. And as for Célie, I loved to see her in this new element. I felt like we got some solid moments of her past too. I enjoyed seeing a FMC that has a softer side but has strength in that. And the basket of kittens. STOP IT RIGHT NOW.

🩸 The side characters were fun and enjoyable, and we even had a new side character introduced in this book which provided some very sweet familial moments.

🩸While reading, some moments felt forgotten about in the plot. Such as the womb, the insurrection, and the revenants. The maelstrom confused me in some parts, and I had a hard time visualizing some of the scenes with the veil. All the death concepts felt almost like inception for me- where I was questioning what death even is by the end.

🩸 Overall, while there were a lot of elements that didn’t make a lot of sense for me throughout the journey, this was an entertaining paranormal romance that had a lot of twists and turns.

🩸 The last chapter was my favorite. 😭❄️

YA Considerations: ghosts; vampires; séance to summon the dead (Bloody pentagrams involved); resurrected corpses; blood drinking (both in violent or sexual manners - vampires); torture; desire to be physically intimate; grinding; licking; undressing top; tying arms to restrain in a sexual manner; touching body parts in detail; orgasms; oral; the deed on page

Note- language; open door
Release date: March 25, 2025.

Thank you so much to Shelby Mahurin, HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperCollins, and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

This is a great sequel to an equally great first book in The Scarlet Veil duology. Celie and Michal are both so easily likable that for the first part of the book, it's infuriating to watch them be kept apart by other people and then by their own respective hang ups. Given that one of Celie's hang ups is that she was turned into a vampire by Michal in the aftermath of her dead sister rising from the grave... well, it's pretty understandable why Celie might have some issues at the start of this.

But that makes way for a great payoff to all of the madness from the previous book, and a perfect cap to not only Celie and Michal's romance but all of the other relationships (both romantic and otherwise) from the larger world of the series. A part of me is hoping that a certain two characters get their own spinoff book, but to say more about that would be a spoiler.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for a free eArc in exchange for an honest review!
I definitely liked the sequel more than book 1! Michal is by far what made this book so good. The characters are all well rounded and I enjoyed seeing them get a happy ending. There definitely were plot lines I didn’t care for though. There was a bit of dragging in the middle that could’ve been shortened during editing, but I still really enjoyed this one!

4.5/5 stars! An excellent conclusion to the Scarlett Veil duology! This is a fast paced, fantasy with just the right balance of romance. I often find that there sometimes is more of one than the other, but Shelby manages to balance fantasy and romance perfectly. This is an excellent depiction of enemies to friends to lovers and a true slow burn. I loved watching the relationship of the two main characters grow throughout the duology. The world of Serpent and Dove has an excellent element of found family, only strengthened by this duology. The humor in this is wonderful. I caught myself giggling out loud a few times thanks to some sassy side characters. I loved Celie as a main character. I loved her heart. She was strong yet still feminine. Often in fantasy books if a woman is strong they are often depicted as less feminine. I enjoyed that that was not the case here. The story is beautifully written. Though at times it is dark, it contains charming whimsical elements (ex: basket of kittens and a Mary poppins esque bag) Definitely will read more from Shelby and would love more from this world!

After the conclusion of the first book, I could not wait to get my hands on this story.

The start of the book was fantastic at drawing me in, but as the story progressed I felt like the plot and expanded worldbuilding started to unravel. There were a lot of things that just didn’t make sense and I found it pulled me out of the story.

This was still an enjoyable read and the ending was good.

The Shadow Bride picks up shortly after the ending of The Scarlet Veil, only now Célie and her friends must deal with the aftermath of Michal’s choices. Adjusting to her new reality turns out to be the least of her problems when she and her friends find themselves in a battle completely stacked against them. After all, there is no greater villain than Death…

This was a wonderful conclusion to their story. If you love vampires, slow burn, and enjoyed The Scarlet Veil, this is for you!

I think I'd give it a 3.5. It was a good book, it just wasn't something that gripped me the whole time. Occationally I would find myself distracted from the book and desire to do other things and it almost felt like a chore to pull myself back. I think i enjoyed Celie but she was just overcome with self doubt a bit too much. Her revelation at the end was good but i wish it held a bit more courage. Having Dima and Michal and even Pip come back at the end being fully restored as human was a sweet ending and makes for a nice HEA but it also felt a bit too easy. Weirdly I think Satine'd role and her growth were some of my favorite parts of the story. I would be interested to see if there is another spin off book with maybe Jean Luc to see if Celie has anymore growth during cameos she would make there. All in all, it was a good book and I enjoyed being in the Serpant and Dove world again!

I loved Serpent & Dove, so when I discovered Shelby Mahurin was writing a spinoff duology set in the same universe, I was beyond excited. And these books lived up to my expectations! I loved the characters and the appearances we got from some beloved friends from the original trilogy. The Shadow Bride is a fantastic sequel and the conclusion readers will be hoping for. The romance, the characters, the ending - loved it all! If Shelby Mahurin writes it, I will read it!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC!

I adore the realm of Serpent & Dove and was so thankful that we readers were invited back into the character's lives in The Scarlet Veil and now The Shadow Bride. First let me say that I love Ceilie - that it was her time to shine. Not often do FMCs within the romantasy genre celebrate grace, femininity, and gentleness. I devoured The Scarlet Veil, but with The Shadow Bride I felt that maybe it could have been spread out into a trilogy or some elements have been trimmed down within this book. Pacing was all over the place. BUTTTTT, still. I love that character, and Shelby Mahurin did a the sweetest epilogue...I am going to miss each and everyone of the characters.

When Serpent and Dove came out in 2019, I fell head over heels in love with the world and characters Shelby Mahurin creates, and after reading The Shadow Bride six years later, I’m happy to report that her writing has only gotten better with time. No one else does supernatural fantasy quite like her, and I’m excited for the rest of the book community to devour The Shadow Bride when it releases tomorrow!

One of the things Mahurin is best at is creating complicated female heroines. It is so rare to read YA fantasy books about characters who are traditionally feminine. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sword-fighting badass FMC as much as the next girl, but I also like the softer heroine who doesn’t need to wield violence to be strong. Watching Celie come to terms with who she was—and who didn’t have to be—was incredible, as were the reactions of those around her. Overcoming trauma can be just as terrifying as facing a dragon, and the complexity of Celie’s journey felt raw and real.

The romance in The Shadow Bride was also one for the history books. Let’s just say Michal knows exactly what to say and how to say it. Watching Celie and Michal fight (and fail to fight) the pull between them was swoon-worthy, as was the way they loved each other. He even talks her out of a panic attack (swoon), and she saves him just as much as he saves her.

Watching the Serpent and Dove cast flit in and out of this storyline was hilarious. Lou always knows how to break the tension, and Reid is as exasperated as always. And the epilogue? You’ll laugh as much as you’ll cry. If you like YA fantasy or vampires or vampire YA fantasy, then this series is perfect for you!

Read if you like…
🩸”In this lifetime and every other.”
🦋 Found family + blood family
🩸Death is an evil gentleman bastard
🦋 YEARNING (such yearning)
🩸Phanthom of the Ophera but make it hotter and with vampires
🦋 Michal adopts seven kittens because Celie thinks they’re cute
🩸Lucious descriptions and decadent language
🦋Emotional rollercoasters that will leave you reeling (in a good way)
🩸Reid is still a little afraid of Lou (but loves her for it)
🦋The perfect balance of external and internal conflict
🩸Ancient witches who really really really love their dirty books
🦋 Complicated sibling relationships grounded in love
🩸A mother trying her best to chaperone three (maybe four…?) horny couples
🦋 Strength that looks different for everyone who holds it
🩸Michal, I didn’t realize you liked trees that much (if you know, you know)
🦋Mostly accurate panic attack depiction and real-world grounding techniques
🩸”Touch her and you die slowly and brutally because I’m a creative immortal vampire king with endless amounts of time.”
🦋Eternal love (and boy do they test that)

The Shadow Bride was a great follow-up to The Scarlet Veil and, honestly, I enjoyed it more than the first! Celie's character development over the course of this series is so well done, and I love how it's balanced with her relationship with Michal, her friendships with Lou, Reid, Odessa, and the rest of the gang, and the plot itself - Death made for an intriguing villain who had some entertaining one-liners. Just as a note, I'd definitely qualify this as upper-YA, similar to the Kingdom of the Wicked series. One thing I can't *not* comment on is the repetitive use of the word "however." I haven't seen any early reviewers point that out yet, but the word is used 298 times. For reference, Celie's name is used 312. It was literally EVERY. OTHER. PAGE. at times and it drove me insane - every time I saw the word I rolled my eyes and it pulled me out of the story. I remembered it being a problem in the first book, but it didn't go away in the second and it just...I don't know why I'm so passionate about this but WOW. And it didn't even always make grammatical sense/add to the story! One of the sentences I sent to my friend in particular was, "How can I condemn my sister, however?" Like what???? As I'm typing this I'm getting upset again and seriously contemplating dropping another star because, like I said, it completely removed me from the story. ANYWAY, if you can look past that, I'd highly recommend this one.

4.25 ⭐️ The almost perfect ending to this duology. Even though I fell even more in love with my darlings Célie & Michal in this book, I wanted different resolutions for a few things. Just like in the first one, the found family aspect was everything to me. I loved how every side character got their moment to shine, which is exactly why one of the small flaws for me was that separation toward the end. I also wasn’t a huge fan of how the whole situation with Death was resolved, not because it didn’t make sense for the story, but just as a personal preference, I would’ve liked a different ending :(

Despite everything, the epilogue left my heart so full and I finished the book already missing them and wanting to reread it all over again, this is definitely one of my favorite duologies!!

I had a grand ol time reading this book.

I want to start by saying that I haven’t read the Serpent & Dove series. While you don’t necessarily need to read it to enjoy this series, I do recommend reading that one series first because of both spoilers but also because it’ll definitely help you develop relationships with the characters.

Some characters in this duology have relationships outside of this duology, so you almost feel like you’re missing out a little.

So, this book specifically, what a wonderful conclusion! This one had all the elements I loved in the first book: strong character development, compelling plot, and an addictive fantasy world. I’m curious to see what else the author might choose to do with this world, or if this is the end.

I highly recommend having this book on stand by after finishing the Scarlet Veil. Books that I think you would enjoy after reading this series include Tethered, Shatter Me, Lightlark, and Half-Blood. If you like fantasy romance of the young adult category, are a sucker for vampires, and love a dramatic, political plot, this one is for you.

Thank you so very much to HarperCollins, Shelby Mahurin, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own and are not influenced by the manner in which I received it.