The Scarlet Veil

I would first like to say, thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Shebly Mahurin's book The Scarlet Veil in exchange for a review.

I did not read Shelby Mahurin's other book series Serpent and Dove. So, I went into this book blind and I do not regret that decision. The Scarlet Veil took me a total of 20 hours to completely read because I was that engulfed in the story and characters.

Scarlet Veil follows Celie Trembly, who is engaged to Jean-Luc the Captian of the Chasseurs (Hunters). We start with the background of Celie and why she wanted to be the first woman Chasseur. However, we also learn that Jean-Luc treats her differently from the rest of the Chasseurs. He treats Celie as a fragile doll that needs to be protected and safeguarded at all times. This behavior does not feel right with Celie. Celie also learns that Jean-Luc has been keeping something from her. It is not until her friend is murdered that everything for Celie starts to change. From Michal kidnapping her and taking her to a hidden island, to trying to solve murder investigations that might be connected. This is where the story truly starts for our characters.

I do not want to give away more of the story but I truly enjoyed this book. However, there are some aspects that I did not like. For most of Part 1 of the book, the dialogue was “cheesy” almost too cheesy. I do believe that this was a part of the premise of the book to show how (almost) everyone treats Celie. It was not until the final act that Celie finally has this moment of “I am worthy, I am more than a doll”. I do wish it was sooner. In my opinion, Celie's “crybaby/victim” mentality was the biggest pitfall of this book. I truly wanted her to have great character development before the book ended. It is okay though.

When it came to Celie and Michal. I wanted more. Like... A whole lot more. This makes me excited for Book 2. As for the cliffhanger. It was predictable but it will still leave one wanting more from Scarlet Veil. If all of Shelby's books are written like this then Shelby will become my favorite author of all time.


Alright with all that being said here are some twigger warnings/content warnings because “It is better to prevent than to heal” (Shelby Mahurin).

Violence
kidnapping
Slight Depictions of blood/gore
Strong language (I know some find issues with books containing cussing but I would like to let you all know there was a total of 4 times).
Death