Reviews with content warning for Death - Blood & Honey

4.5⭐️/ 1🌶️

Lou and Reid’s story was far from over with this sequel! As if anything would get easier for these characters, they now had to figure out how to stop Lou’s mother a.k.a. The Queen of Witches essentially, and ensuring she didn’t try to get Lou again in order to carry out her evil plans. This story once again had adventure, danger, magic, and the occasional bash and sometimes reckless behavior from Lou. Lou, Reid, Coco, Ansel, Beau, and Madame Labelle found themselves trying to figure out how to stop Morgane (Lou’s mom) and trying to find allies to help them stop her.

I always imagined magic to be a wondrous, exciting thing, but that was the furthest truth from what actually occurred in this book/series. Anytime Lou used her magic there was always a give and take to it. In order to utilize her magic, there needed to be balance, and in order to do that it resulted in Lou giving something up in place of the type of magic she wanted to use at certain moments. Seeing the magic over the two books so far made me realize that magic wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. The type of magic in this book required even giving parts of yourself that unbeknownst to me (until now) could actually have strong effects such as, changing the type of person you were. For Lou and others like her that was always something that required a type of sacrifice to use their magic, and the magic in this story specifically highlighted just how far Lou was willing to go in order to protect Reid and her friends, even if it meant giving up a memory, breaking her bones, the list goes on, but the main point was even I was beginning to worry about the lengths Lou would go with her magic.

Between trying to evade the Chasseur’s, Morgane, and other potential bounty hunters, Lou and her friends were faced with a lot of obstacles. The first book set the tone for what would only be the beginning of this adventure of magic and danger lurking at every corner. Meeting new people who would help Lou, and simultaneously becoming allies alongside her too. As if that wasn’t enough, there was the inner struggle that Reid had with his knowledge of having magic, and he wasn’t all to excited to learn more about it. This book dived more into each of the characters struggles from their own relationships between one another to their own individual weaknesses. Lou was caught between trying to help in anyway she could, but sometimes the prices she paid in using her magic seemed more and more reckless. Reid was unsure why Lou would start to keep secrets from him again, and wasn’t sure if he could entirely trust her with everything that had been happening thus far.

OH. MY. GOSH! One of the things I love about this story is how just when I think I know what’s going on, the story would take a new turn, and be like, “GOTCHA! PLOT TWIST!” As a whole, this story dealt with trying to build alliances in order to take down Morgane, but towards the end, the plot twists came at me, and I. WAS. SHOOK! I definitely wasn’t expecting what happened at the climax, had me crying over it, and UGH WHY?! WHY DID THIS BOOK HAVE TO HURT ME TOWARDS THE END?! I’m serious though, probably my favorite parts were towards the end, and again, the plot twists were so good, that it was right till the very end that had me ON EDGE! Phew, it was a wild ride, mixed with danger, fear, and worry. Even the new characters introduced were so intriguing that there was more to them than I could have ever imagined. Lou and Reid were put to the challenges in their relationship, but it made them stronger and realize they needed to work on themselves in order to properly be husband and wife. I can’t even begin to imagine how the last book is going to end?! AHHH! Needless to say, I gotta know how this trilogy ends, and see my faves get their happy endings!!!

Content Warnings

akrafi's review

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adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

The action never disappoints but the drama was heavy in this book. The awkward tension and the constant squabble of Lou and Reid was taking away from the rest of the events happening. There's a war happening - they're fighting, they're about to die - they're fighting. The ending did make me tear up a bit and I was shocked by the plot twist. It's a really great book but definitely a different tone then the first.

Content Warnings

wayamom8's review

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

m_egg_o's review

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Content Warnings

selestre's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

Content Warnings

taka_kateryna's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

mixed_emoticon's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

TLDR Review for Blood & Honey

4/5 stars

Highlights:
📚 Book 2 in a Trilogy
🪟 multiple character perspectives
🇫🇷 French Setting
✨ Magic
🎙️ Witty Banter
🎭 Secrecy and dishonesty
🥸 Identity
💝 Devotion
🕊️ Diplomacy
💔 Heartbreak
👿 Corruption
🔪 Betrayal
🩸 there's (still) graphic murder, dying, and death

Content Warnings

kitsunasaur's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I originally dnf’d this book, due to it being frustratingly slow and boring for 85%, but I wanted to finish the series. I liked the first book so much and I hear the third book is better. Rereading it as an audio book from the beginning helped a lot. The acting really helped the slow parts and made some characters more lovable then before.

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