Happy Saturday everyone! I finally finished Blood & Honey. It’s been out for a while now, and I wanted to read it earlier, but… things like that just never go to plan, do they?
I started and put down this book quite often actually. The same thing happened with Serpent & Dove, and I ended up loving that one when I finally settled into the story. I’m sad to say that with Blood & Honey, it didn’t entirely go like that. More on that later.
This review will be spoiler free, but might contain spoilers from Serpent & Dove, so beware. Oh and also, you can find my actually spoiler free review of Serpent & Dove here!
Blood & Honey
By Shelby Mahurins
My Rating: ★★★.5☆Published 1 September 2020 by Harper Teen
fantasy | romance | young adult
After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Dames Blanches, Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from coven, kingdom, and church—fugitives with nowhere to hide.
To elude the scores of witches and throngs of chasseurs at their heels, Lou and Reid need allies. Strong ones. But protection comes at a price, and the group is forced to embark on separate quests to build their forces. As Lou and Reid try to close the widening rift between them, the dastardly Morgane baits them in a lethal game of cat and mouse that threatens to destroy something worth more than any coven.
What I Liked
So I really enjoy the world. I think it’s fun, and this book showed that there is a lot more to discover besides witches versus humans versus werewolves. More players enter the game, and it was interesting to find out 1: who the hell they were, and 2: what the hell they were.
I personally thought that S&D was very slow, and more character driven than plot driven. Blood & Honey is definitely the same, and it took me a minute to get into it again. I think most of the characters are very enjoyable, and I really like how they work in a group. I think that if you enjoyed S&D purely for the characters and the world, you’ll have a good time with this book as well.
What I Liked Less
Like I said, if you like the characters and the world, Blood & Honey will probably be a fun read. If, however, you are looking for plot development, you’re not going to find it here. I said this book was slow, and I really mean that. There’s just not a lot going on in this book. Our group has to secure two, preferably three, different alliances, and for some reason that takes 500 pages. It really suffered from second book syndrome. The ending left much to be desired, despite that I really liked the buildup to it. But I am hopeful that Gods & Monsters will be a lot better, since it will be the final installment.
And that’s it! Even though I found Blood & Honey enjoyable, there were some things I found lacking. Some honest advice: if you are still debating whether to read Blood & Honey because you found Serpent & Dove merely “okay,” this probably isn’t your book. But if you like the characters and the world, then definitely go for it!
Find more reviews in my review archive!
