Blood & Honey by Shelby Mahurin

|Synopsis|

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.

---

|Review|

Do yourself a favor an either re-read Serpent and Dove or find a summary to help you remember what happened. Blood and Honey starts right where we left off with no kind of backtracking to help you remember.

Blood and Honey suffered from second book syndrome. It had a weak plot line and felt more like a filler. Told from both Reid and Lou’s perspective again we get two unreliable narrators ruled by their emotions. They both thinking they’re doing the right thing for the other without discussing it with each other. They had such a hard time syncing up which made for a ton of misunderstandings between the two. Secrets and lies abound in this book with love being at the center of it all.

We see a darker side of Lou and explore more of the magic we only got a taste of in the first book. Magic can be good or bad it just depends on how you use it. While Lou has good intentions we get to see some of the negative side effects of it.

Reid is such a sad little sticky bun, bursting at the seams with his emotions. Is he huntsman or witch? How can you come to terms with being something you’ve always found abhorrent? He had a ton of inner turmoil that really pushed a wedge between him and Lou.

Even with both struggling internally and within their relationship, Mahurin still manages to bring the steam. We get so many hot and heavy moments between Lou and Reid it was excruciating. 

The pacing stalled a little over halfway through when the group separated. The story just seemed to drag a bit. It’s hard to continue the romance plot when the lovers aren’t together and the romance is key to this story.

The ending gutted me. I knew it was coming but I still shed a few tears so be sure to have some chocolate or tissues on hand. 

While it may not have been as amazing as Serpent and Dove I still enjoyed Blood and Honey and think others will too. At the end of the day they’re still enemies to lovers and they really struggle with that in this book.