Check out my Goodreads review here!
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Unlike many other fantasy sequels, this book managed to impress me and not fall victim to the sequel syndrome. There really NEVER was a dull moment, and while I liked Serpent and Dove better, I still liked this book but for different reasons!
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Firstly, I want to address the main issue that most people had with this book, which was Reid and Lou’s relationship. I’m here to tell you that if you were super annoyed with the constant issues and conflicts between the couple, that is totally valid and I had the same feelings.
However, I LIKED the fact that there were relationship problems because it was realistic. After the first book, where Reid and Lou fall in love and sacrifice for each other and stuff, we should EXPECT to still see unresolved issues- everything is not going to be perfect. And I think that is what Shelby Mahurin did really well: she wrote a realistic development of a relationship AFTER the magical love story told in the first book. (And there were still spicy scenes so I’m not all that mad!) I understand that we can never get that golden enemies-to-lovers banter back that we had in the first book since Reid and Lou aren’t even enemies anymore. But, there was still some funny banter!
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Unlike many other people, I was fine with Lou’s personality in this book. She definitely made super bad decisions and acted immaturely, but I would rather have a flawed character than a perfect one. I especially loved how we got to see her become more morally-grey- which was a contrast to the first book, where one of her only main traits was being obnoxiously… obscene? Extra?
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The only thing I’m going to say about the ending is… I am in denial and hoping for a “sike” from Ms. Mahurin in the third book.
