Review: The Scarlet Veil ~Shelby Mahurin

 

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Format I Used: E-book

Pages: 640

Running Time: 18h 40m

My Rating: 5 stars

Publication Date: September 26, 2023

I went through a phase where literally all I read was vampire books (thanks Twilight) and then I was sick of them and didn't want to read them anymore... Until this book that is. This book was everything I never knew I needed and then some.

If you haven't read this book and are planning on it, please back away from this review now, because there will be SPOILERS (also some spoilers for the Serpent and Dove series)

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It took me a little longer to get invested in this one, because it took Celie a long time to finally find her footing and grow more confident in who she was. I was so glad that she was able to start seeing how important and powerful she was even if it was in a way that was different from the people that she loves. I was a little frustrated with her and how black and white she saw things for a while (although a lot of that can be blamed on how she was raised) but as the story went on, she started questioning things more.

I loved that there were so many familiar faces in this book, while still being able to stay its own story. It was actually so spooky and much darker than I was thinking it would be (even though that's a silly thing to say because it's VAMPIRES so of course it's going to be spooky and dark)

I LIVED for the back and forth between Michal and Celie, and I really can't wait to see if we get to learn more about the... future that predicted that Michal would take a bride that was described to be an awful lot like Celie. and then kill her.. which... well you can't see my face right now, but. I like that Michal didn't treat Celie like she was made of glass. He pushes her (and sometimes comes off as a jerk which, yeah, he is...) and tells her that she is much smarter and stronger than everyone (including herself) thinks that she is.

The part with the silver dress... I may cry.

This was a slow slow slow burn romance, and I liked it so much. But just be aware of that going in because if you're expecting lots of romance right off the bat, you'll be disappointed. It hits heavy on the Enemies first in this enemies to lovers book.

I really really like Dimitri, which has me nervous because my track record with lovable side characters is not good. They either turn out to be evil or get killed. And considering what happened to Ansel in From Blood and Honey, this has me REAL NERVOUS.

I also think it will be interesting to see what's going to happen with Jean Luc. I have very mixed feelings about him. I hate the way he treated Celie as if she was something so easily breakable, but avoided actually talking to her and trying to help her. He lied and hid things from her. He also called her some mean things when they met up again. I was so frustrated and irritated with him on Celie's behalf. I think he does care for her, but he's so old fashioned and in the "girls can't do anything" mindest. Where I don't want him and Celie together at all, I hope he does get to go through some major character development.

The actual bad guy kind of sort of surprised me. Like, I didn't like this person to begin with, but I just assumed that it was a normal dislike, nope turns out this person was REAL BAD. So that was nice. I was suspecting everyone else. Whoops.

The cliffhanger ending had me so stressed out, but also now I can't stop thinking about it, and how long it is until I can read book 2. So BRAVO Shelby Mahurin, you've got me hooked again.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read an ARC

Did This Book Make Me Cry? Yes.