there’s no feeling worse to a reader than the feeling of being so excited about a book and being unable to put it down, but at the same time you want to savor it so you force yourself to stop reading to preserve it💔
Thanks to the author for gifting me an ARC from a giveaway!
✩🦋🩸Review:
I need this book injected straight into my veins so it stays with me always!
Picking up where “The Scarlet Veil” left off, “The Shadow Bride” follows Célie and Michal as they set aside their searing attraction to mend the veil and right the balance.
Célie Tremblay has a special place in my heart. While soft and more sensitive than Mahurin’s other characters, Célie is strong in her own right as she navigates life as a newly turned vampire and uses her abilities as a Shadow Bride to mend the veil. She faces many trials and tribulations in this book—including the loss of her sister and her former self—making the transformation she underwent as she discovers her own self-worth that much more powerful.
After Michal turns Célie, their relationship becomes strained. Célie has trouble coming to terms with her new existence and Michal grapples with the guilt he feels for cursing her to it. Their bond strengthens, however, after darker forces push them to work together. I loved watching both of them open up and give in to their feelings so they could become something more…something eternal. The tension and sheer intensity of their yearning is heart palpitating. The spicy scenes even more so! Their banter is also endlessly entertaining. Even when all hope seemed lost, they still managed to make light of it by playing games with each other. Célie and Michal’s chemistry in this book seriously had me kicking my feet and smiling!
Mahurin’s world-building, as always, is fantastic! I really enjoyed getting to explore the realm of the dead. Her depiction of it is eerie, yet peaceful. I felt wholly immersed as Célie ventured into Death’s domain and put her Shadow Bride abilities to the test.
This thrilling conclusion is everything I wanted it to be and more! I adore Mahurin’s characters and the family they formed.
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Genre: young adult, fantasy • Triggers: trauma, death, graphic descriptions of corpses, kidnapping, blood, misogyny, murder • Year of Publication: 2023
Plot: ★★★★
Characters: ★★★★
Writing Style: ★★
Re-Readability: ★★★
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General Thoughts
During the first half of this book I thought I would end up disliking it, and was very disappointed because I have been looking for an aristocratic vampire romance for ages. Not reverse-harm, not vampire warrior, no, the actual aristocratic-long-hair-wine-glass-in-hand-elegant vampire one might associate with figures like Carmilla and Dracula. This is also the main reason I did not DNF this, and I'm really glad I gave it a chance, because it ended up getting better the further I got and had me at the edge of my seat toward the ending.
I do wanna say that I have not read Serpent & Dove and although this is a spin-off with the same characters (just a different one taking on the role as MC), I understood everything I needed to. So, in my opinion, reading the Serpent & Dove trilogy is not necessary in order to read this. Sure, you might not have as much of a connection with the characters when you begin to read, but everything that's relevant to the story is explained quite nicely in my opinion. Now, moving on to the actual review.
Plot
The plot is a murder mystery. Bodies of supernatural beings turn up with two puncture wounds in their throats. Without getting into spoiler territory, I can say that the plot is very interesting and has some nice twists in there, too. You will definitely be entertained by it if you enjoy this sort of thing.
Celie being kidnapped and brought to the vampire castle is a scenario I also enjoyed reading. There was a bit of an enemies-to-lovers dynamic going on at times, since Celie, our MC, justifiably disliked Michal, the vampire king, in the beginning. Yes, I know that being kidnapped and then falling for your kidnapper is somewhat problematic but really, this is fiction and YA (not a dark romance). Celie was not actually treated like a real prisoner, and that only progressed further as the story went on; she was dressed in beautiful gowns, walked around the castle grounds and island, and even went on an undercover mission with Michal at a brothel *ahem*.
Also, if authors tried making every fictional scenario inherently healthy and unproblematic I'd die of boredom. I want that in real life, not my books x). But I digress.
Characters
I really disliked Celie in the beginning. Her actions and internal monologue felt juvenile, to the point where I seriously struggled to believe she was 19 and not, say, 15. I understand that she was supposed to be this soft, feminine and lady-like character and this is actually a character type I'd like to see more of, as feminity is often demonized and seen as weak by readers. However, it wasn't Celie's "lady-like" personality I had an issue with, but how she felt infantilized sometimes. The other characters kept her entirely separate from any plans they made, even if she was directly involved in one of the murders since she found the body. This is a good idea, but the execution made it feel like "go away, the adults are talking" instead of "she is too traumatized to take part in this", which is what I believe Mahurin was going for. It is also easier to believe the former due to Célie's often childish behavior and reactions. You can be soft and feminine but still behave a bit more maturely, which is what I would have hoped for her. Still, her character development was fairly satisfying. She still has a long way to go, I think, and I am looking forward to hopefully seeing that develop in book two.
Michal is a character I hope to see Mahurin elaborate on more. We don't know that much about him yet, so it is really hard to judge. He states at some point, and this is no way a spoiler (honestly, it felt kind of random for him to say it), that he is afraid of love. Why? What happened for him to develop that fear? So far I can say that I love how he has a very ruthless and violent side, but can also be extremely caring and sweet at the same time.
I also loved the side characters, at least the vampire ones, Odessa and Dimitri. Especially Odessa. I cannot say much for the Serpent & Dove characters because they mostly appear in the first section of the book, which is exactly the section I disliked.
In general, I enjoyed the characters. I'm giving four out of five stars, though, because as I said before, I think Célie's character could have handled a bit more maturely in the beginning, especially since she was supposed to be 19.
Writing Style
As always, this is entirely subjective but I include this part in my reviews since writing styles have made or broken books for me, and I would like to offer those interested in the books insights into the style before buying it, so you can decide for yourself if this is something you'd enjoy reading.
Oh boy. I didn't really like it, I fear. Firstly, the narrator is a first-person present tense which is already not my favorite combination, but it is easy to overlook really. The main issues I had were t-t-the c-c-onstant s-stuttering l-like this. It was wholly unnecessary in my opinion and widely overused. I also think we have been past this in publishing and established that there are better ways to write stuttering t-than t-t-this. There are stuttering writing guides online. I actually loved the fact Celie stuttered, since it showed her character development very well, I just wish the stuttering had been written differently.
Secondly, the constant italicization of words for emphasis got on my nerves, too. Using it sometimes is totally valid, but I swear there was not one page without at least four or five italicized words for emphasis, and that's not even counting the constant repetition of sentences that had already been said at some point before, just so the reader doesn't forget anything. Those were also in italics, of course.
Overall, this improved toward the end of the book, though. Celie's stuttering ceased and so did the italicization for emphasis (mostly). Still, this is something that annoyed me a tremendous amount and one of the reasons why it was so hard for me to get through the first part of the book, hence the two stars.
Re-Readability
I think this book can definitely be re-read. Especially if you enjoyed the romance scenes between Michal and Celie, like I did. However, keep in mind this book has about 620 pages so it is not short by any means. Also, I would probably skip the first part of the book if I ever re-read it and jump straight into Celie arriving in Requiem.
Conclusion
In essence, I enjoyed this book. It was exactly what I was looking for in terms of vampire romance, but it also pulled me right into the story and I am very excited to see what will happen in book two, especially after that ending. I don't think I will pick up Serpent & Dove, however, since the story of that trilogy doesn't peak my interest as much.
The Scarlet Veil has left me feeling a type of odd way and I have some rapid fire SPOILERS under the cut
Célie’s goodness was really starting to grate on my nerves by the end of the novel. I know we saw very subtle indications that she isn’t as sweet as we think she is but it wasn’t enough. If the next book is her POV of having to adjust to life as one of the monsters she spent most of this book being disgusted by, I will be 100% on board.
That being said, obviously the melusine’s prophecy was Mihal/Célie endgame and that he turns her into a vampire.
I am a Dimitri apologist until the end. He is an unwilling victim of circumstance. Like, it’s not his fault and he deserves redemption.
The ending is so wildly all over the place. Mahurin really left us in the biggest mess possible…
I don’t see how this could possibly have a second book WITHOUT Célie being a vampire. Her being a ghost doesn’t have the same narrative appeal, since she is still beginning her journey with lust and love and understanding what she wants. I wonder if she will try to fight against being a vampire, if it will cause a rift with her and Mihal..
That epilogue. I’ve been wondering who the big bad would end up being for book 2, so is it in fact Fillipa?? What is she exactly since she can feel nothing? Undead? Is her baby undead? Will she go head to head with Célie now?
