After narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Dames Blanches, Lou, Reid, Coco, and Ansel are on the run from coven, kingdom, and church—fugitives with nowhere to hide.
To elude the scores of witches and throngs of chasseurs at their heels, Lou and Reid need allies. Strong ones. But protection comes at a price, and the group is forced to embark on separate quests to build their forces. As Lou and Reid try to close the widening rift between them, the dastardly Morgane baits them in a lethal game of cat and mouse that threatens to destroy something worth more than any coven. (Goodreads Blurb)
Blood and Honey picks up right after Lou and Co barely escape the Chateau alive. They hid out in the woods until Lou and Reid are stupid, and then proceed to split up for a while.
I loved diving right back into the world as the action starts off at the right way. Some say that Blood and Honey had the dreaded Second Book Curse but I don't think it did! There were flaws but I loved it, and can't wait for the third and final book!
Blood and Honey is darker than Serpent and Dove, in terms of themes and actions. None of the characters are he same after the Chateau; especially Lou and Reid.
Lou is spiralling; she's way more reckless, doesn't listen to anyone and rarely thinks before she acts. This is the same in her relationships, most specifically with Reid. There is zero communication between them for the most important things and it starts to get annoying because some things could've easily been fixed that way. I do think she is struggling with her power too though, which didn't help. The more Lou is using her magic the more she's losing control of herself, hence the spiral. I do love when a character descends into darkness and tries to find the good in them, and it's done brilliantly here. I actually laughed so much when she tried to dye her hair!
Reid was also struggling for a large part of the book; with his new discovery of his powers he has a large belief meltdown and denies what he is, and what he can now do. Again, he had similar problems to Lou - He had major communication issues, which I think is majorly down to his struggles on how to process his grief, and let's be honest his world has been turned upside down - falling in love with a witch AND finding out you have powers too would do something to you too. Reid makes some insanely stupid and idiotic decisions but I do get why, and they do come back together and sort their differences.
I did however find that a lot of the side characters, like Coco, didn't have much to do but follow the two MC's and there wasn't really any subplot for them so their characters fell a bit short and not that interesting (excluding Beau). I did like Beau's storyline with his father, and the twins Victoire and Violette. I also felt sorry for Ansel - we got to now more about him and he had so many heart-breaking moments. Oh, and we can't forget the gods!!
I did like the plot. It's basically round 2 (three if you count before S&D) of Morgane trying to kill Lou with a lot more danger and threats involved. However, this time Lou and Reid are on the hunt for allies from the Dame Rouges and the Wolves! I loved this added element - it showed there was more depth to the world than just mortals and the witches.
I do now have a clearer picture of the world too - or at least what it I imagine it as - which is a fictional version of France. I love the world setting now and I also still love the little bits of French we get!
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