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Serpent & Dove

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Serpent & Dove

By: Shelby Mahurin
Narrated by: Holter Graham, Saskia Maarleveld
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About this listen

An Amazon Best Book of 2019

New York Times Best Seller

B&N's YA Book Club Pick

Indiebound Best Seller

Number Six on the 2019 Kids’ Indie Next List

"A brilliant debut, full of everything I love: a sparkling and fully realized heroine, an intricate and deadly system of magic, and a searing romance that kept me reading long into the night. Serpent & Dove is an absolute gem of a book." (Sarah J. Maas, number one New York Times best-selling author of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series)

Bound as one, to love, honor, or burn. Book one of a stunning fantasy duology, this tale of witchcraft and forbidden love is perfect for fans of Kendare Blake and Sara Holland.

Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.

As a huntsman of the Church, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. But when Lou pulls a wicked stunt, the two are forced into an impossible situation - marriage.

Lou, unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, must make a choice. And love makes fools of us all.

Set in a world of powerful women, dark magic, and off-the-charts romance, book one of this stunning fantasy trilogy will leave listeners burning for more.

©2019 Shelby Mahurin (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Fantasy Fiction Literature & Fiction Magic Paranormal Paranormal Romance Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Witchcraft
All stars
Most relevant  
He was quite rushed a lot of the time, compared to the female narrator. Both did a great job! Story was awesome, loved the characters and how they developed throughout the plot.

Male narrator spoke too fast

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The story was good, an interesting take on conflicting philosophy & faith using fiction. Just like wars in real life - everyone thinks they are right, but really no one is the good guy.
The voice acting of the man was really not very good. He either sounded monotone or when he tried accents, showing gender or emphasis it sounded awful. It was a pity because it distracted from an otherwise good book.

Listen at 0.9 speed.

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I cannot finish the book thanks to the male narrator. Sounds like he's reciting awful slam poetry.

Fantastic story, male narrator sucks.

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I tried sooooo hard to ignore how bad the male Narrator was, I tried changing the speed setting during his chapters. But lord above I couldn’t do it.
Saskia was amazing and engaging and her accents were effortless. I’d love the story, I just felt like I hearing nails on a chalk board every time Holter spoke.

Couldn’t do it.

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Great story however was put off by the male narrator who spoke too fast, was very nasally and would often mumble the ends of his sentences, which made it hard for me to actually like the male character because he sounded like he hated everything

Mumbling male narrator

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Flippin loved this. Lou’s everything. Reid gives all the “touch her you die” moments a girl could want and set in a Hunchback of Notre dame aesthetic 😍
Romance and snow and sticky buns and so much sass. This is my fav of the three.

Well that ripped my heart out

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I felt I had to comment on the make narrator as there are so many negative reviews which I don’t agree with. I almost didn’t listen to the book because of the reviews but I really didn’t find him that bad. His pace was fine and his characters were also fine. I think it’s always hard moving between a make and female narrator but don’t let the negative reviews put you off :)

Good story, make narrator not so bad

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If it wasn't for life's distractions I could not have put this book down.
It was a little slow at first I felt but picked up straight away after I felt like taking a brake from it. 
I loved the characters  the world they belonged to the magic and the excitement it left me want to know more. 
Cannot wait to finish the rest of the series. 

magic, mystery, romance

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Step back in time to the Dark Ages... to the late 1400’s to be precise (around the time of the Spanish Inquisition), and to the city of Cesarine, Belterra. A time where the church ruled with an iron fist and no one was safe from its wrath... especially if you were a witch! The Archbishop of Belterra has made it his life’s mission to hunt and burn every witch in the kingdom, and with the aid of his personal huntsmen, the Chasseurs, he’s managed to kill quite a few women suspected of being witches, brutally ending their lives atop of a fiery stake.

The Captain of the Chasseur was none other than our hero, the handsome 6’6 redhead... Reid Diggory. Orphaned at birth, he grew up in the church with all the other orphaned boys of the city. When he was old enough to work, he was assigned to the Archbishop as his personal pageboy and then when he was tall enough, he was moved to train as a Chasseur. After proving himself worthy during a clash with the werewolves, he was quickly promoted to the Captains position.

Our heroine is the beautiful Lou, a witch moonlighting as a common thief and living in the attic above the city’s theatre complex; hiding away from her mother and coven. I love her snarky attitude, especially towards the church and her witty and funny disposition; she’s very easy to love. Lou has gone through a lot her during short 18 years of life, but everything change the day the Archbishop forces her to marry Reid after a public altercation at the theatre. It was interesting watching them deal with each other as a married couple, especially in the beginning when they were both strangers to each other. I especially loved how respectful Reid was towards Lou, defending her honour when others tried to discredit her, and that said a lot to me his upstanding character.

I really enjoyed the storyline and all the adversities our heroes had to face, alone and as a couple. I also loved all the secondary characters and the contribution they brought to the storyline. The author did a great job with her character development and world building, making you feel all the emotions and turmoil every character was experiencing. You could really feel how oppressed and indoctrinated the people were by the church and experience their hatred towards the all the witches and other supernatural beings in their community. Shelby Mahurin is a master weaver of this imaginary world and you really can’t help but get caught in her web of words. I’m looking forward to continuing this series with Book 2.

Strangers can fall in love...

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Well written and magical, it's actually phenomenal. The characters have been thoroughly developed and it's very easy to tell why this book got the hype.

W0W JUST W0W

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