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eve_reads 's review for:

Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
4.0
adventurous dark emotional lighthearted sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Overall Thoughts:
⁕ The characters in the book are very archetypal and common in YA fantasy, BUT Mahurin backs up their portrayals really well.

⁕ The main romance is one of the better enemies to lovers I’ve read. It doesn’t feel rushed, and even after the characters develop feelings there’s still lots of uncertainty between them.

⁕ The magical system in this one is really interesting. Forget the whole “spells require energy” thing! Mahurin makes her characters sacrifice things of equal value to the spells they cast — but it’s all up to their interpretation of what that means.

⁕ I was disappointed by how this book approaches gender. It takes a very binary perspective and ties womanhood to reproduction, which is super exclusionary.

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