Serpent and Dove

06.02.2021

I have three words for you guys: Enemies to lovers. Yes, I am super basic, but this is indeed my favorite book trope. And to be frank, this book did not disappoint. The slow burn, the learning to not hate each other and slowly developing feelings for the other, LOVE IT. I have to admit that this is another book recommendation that I got from TikTok, but turns out you can get some pretty good recommendations on there.

Serpent and Dove is the story of Louise le Blanc, the daughter of the most famous witch Morgane le Blanc, flees her coven at sixteen years old, after her mother tries sacrificing her in order to kill the king of Cesarine. Louise decides to stop using her magic and lives as a thief, desperately hiding from her mother along with her friend Cosette, a blood witch. In the city of Cesarine witches are hunted, they are presumed to be the worst creatures ever, filthy, lying and disgusting, so when one is found, they are immediately burned. The chapters of the book are split between two characters' perspectives: Lou and Reid. Reid Diggory, is an orphan who was brought up in the Church, and has become a part of the Chasseurs, men, whose only desire and purpose in life is to kill and burn witches. After and accident on one of Lou's robberies, she is now easily recognized by Reid. On their next meet unfortunately, Lou had just come back to her hiding place in the attic of a theater, when Reid sees her, they cause a scene among the people. The Archbishop decides the best way to stop the rumors is to wed Lou and Reid. After the marriage, Lou moves to live in the church, where she and her sarcastic badass attitude pisses of Reid...at least in the beginning. As time passes Lou's feelings start inevitably growing for Reid, as well as his. Lou feels horrible for lying to him, but knowing the way he was brought up and taught, she fears the worst. After an intervention of the witches, and Morgane finding her daughter, Reid learns of his wife's true identity and in the spur of the moment rejects her completely. Lou heartbroken, runs out of the church where she gets kidnapped by her mom. Reid is really mad, feeling incredibly betrayed and truly disgusted not only by Lou but by himself for falling in love with a witch. The Archbishop is set on finding Lou and saving from her mother, explaining that if Morgane kills Lou, all of the king's children will die too. At first Reid disagrees, but Ansel and Coco force him to see reason, and he realizes that even though Lou is a witch, she wasn't evil, and he truly fell in love with her. They start their journey toward Château le Blanc to save her and after arriving there many discoveries are made, and secrets revealed...

Star rating: I kid you not, I read this book in a total of about 6 hours, (I admit I read 80% of it while I was doing online school) and it was absolutely incredible. I loved the setting of it, the French proverbs at the beginning of every part. And of course completely fell in love with Reid (Lou too, to be honest). That's why I'm giving this book a deserved 5 stars.