Serpent & Dove #1 | 513 Pages | 2019
Serpent & Dove at a Glance
- Overall Rating: ★★★★★
- Heroine: I def have a crush on her
- Dude: If Matthias looked like Conan
- Steaminess: How did they not fall off of the roof?
- Brutality: Lots of knives to throats
Pairs Well With
Whatever you can drink and sing Big Titty Liddy to.
Review
Wow. I absolutely loved this book. Witches and witch hunters falling in love. Deception and magic!
Lou is everything I want in a heroine. She is sassy and strong and obviously hiding from some serious secrets. She is a witch in hiding from her coven due to reasons unknown. Although, the plot isn’t super deep so you can probably guess the reason.
Speaking of the plot. For a person who hates religious themes in books, I have been loving them lately. Shocker, but the church wants to burn the witches. It’s not that deep and reminded me a bunch of a Sarah J. Maas book in that respect. And I LOVE SJM, but let’s be honest that the plot to ACOTAR is not deep. But it moved. I devoured this book in like 2 sittings because the pacing is amazing. Until the end. Honestly, I feel like the book could have ended about 80 pages early and had a more cohesive feel. But i’m not mad because I loved every second of it.
The romance to action component was 100% what I wanted. There is a lot going on, but at the same time, the romance didn’t feel like it was forced into the story. It was natural and well-timed.
The magic system needs some work. I got it, but I didn’t really understand how they could do temporary things instead of the 1:1 rule. There is a sacrifice for all magic… unless it’s permanent? I just missed something probably.
I know a lot of people don’t like Reid. And yeah, he is a racist douchebag at the beginning. Much like our friend Matthias Helvar. But people grow and change. Reid figures his crap out and is not a horrible jerkface by the end. Much like our boy Matthias. Still, he won’t ever be my favorite because first impressions are also a thing.
I can’t wait for Blood and Honey!
Have you read Serpent & Dove? Let me know what you thought in the comments!

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I love your review! I came to similar conclusions with different takeaways. I loved the romance-to-action ratio; as for the magic system, I didn’t completely understand how it worked. Also, I’m not crazy about blood magic? Or about breaking fingers to make spells.
I really dislike Matthias Helvar, so Reid didn’t work for me. I now want to see how opinions on Matthias match up with reactions to Serpent & Dove.
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It seems like anyone who dislikes Matthias feels similar about Reid. They have very similar character traits and arcs.
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I freaking loved this book! It was so good! The characters were amazing! I’m glad you loved it too! I can’t wait to read Blood and Honey!
Great review!
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Thanks!!! I am so excited for Blood and Honey!!!
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You had me at witch & witch hunters falling in love. Added to the TBR! Great review!
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Thank you! I hope you love it!
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Great review! I loved this book as well. I couldn’t get enough of the relationship between Reid and Lou!
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Love them so much!
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