Thank you to NetGalley for a free eArc in exchange for an honest review.

This story is perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas. I was hooked on this story from the very beginning! I loved most of the characters and felt all of their emotions throughout the whole thing. The story building was fantastic, although I did feel like the plot whisked by a little too quickly at points. I can't wait for the second book to explain things and further my love!

I genuinely enjoyed this book and I thought that the tag line was definitely accurate. If you are a fan of Sarah J Maas and Leigh Bardugo you are going to love this book! I didn’t find anything that I disliked about the story and thought it was engaging, interesting, and well written from the start. I am excited that I can preorder the second novel already and can’t wait to read what comes next!

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good forbidden love trope and this one was absolutely a winner. It was such a great read. I love how unique the world the author built. The plot twists were amazing. I really hope there is more books in this series.

Thank you kindly to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for this review copy.

This book was magical, beautifully written and so well thought out! I enjoyed every second reading this epic tale and struggled to put it down. The shocking twists had me gasping, the dramatic irony had me gripping the edge of my seat in anticipation and the sizzling passions between the central pair got me all flustered in the best way.

Davis’ world is so intricately woven together. I love how the author portrayed the different bird species and their cultures. She manages to build a world that is believable and easily understandable but no less interesting. The magic system was fascinating to read about and I cannot wait to learn more.

The author never forgets that her characters have wings and writes their movements so well. The characters were fleshed out and their different perspectives were easily discernible from one another in each chapter. They each had such a distinct voice. I was quite annoyed by Lyanna’s arrogance at the start of the novel but she goes through many challenges which allows her character to develop and grow.

Read the full review at mousethatreads.com

I loved the majority of this book. The world-building and plot were so unique and so well-developed I was constantly entertained with the detail and I felt like I was in that world when it was being described.

The characters were lovely but not exactly memorable. Having a heroine who was so confident, sassy and, occasionally, hot-tempered was a delight. However, there were some instances where Lyana got on my nerves. Xander is a poor sweet soul and yikes he went through it.

THE ROMANCE:
Insta-love isn't always my cup of tea and aspects of this romance were heartwarming and swoon-worthy and other aspects fell a little flat for me.

Overall, I enjoyed this book but I didn't love, love it.

Incredible world building, I could picture everything in my head like I were part of the book. Great character development, although I wanted to shout at Lyana and Cassi a few times. I love short chapters, so that's another win. The book has an instalove, that doesn't bother me but may be something you dislike. That end though, just give me the next book, please

Thanks Netgalley for the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.



This book was phenomenal. I loved it from the very first page. And what an ending!!!!

Even the blurbs set this book up to be something magical and amazing; A princess longing to be free... A bastard aching to belong... Fate brought them together, now destiny will tear them apart... Three shocking betrayals. Two star-crossed lovers. One unforgettable journey. If you like fierce heroines, brooding heroes, forbidden romance, and action-packed magical adventures with twists you'll never see coming,

I mean come on!!! What more can one person ask for in a book? I found the world building to be spectacular, the characters are people with bird wings, some have magic but are not allowed to have it and need to keep it secret or they are executed because its considered evil???? The 3 way love trope gets me a bit, not very fond of the whole betrothed to one brother but secretly in love with the other deal. And the secret spy childhood best friend was a bit of a low blow. But it really was a good story. I enjoyed it tremendously and cannot wait for the second book to come out this July.

This book!! It was fantastic!

It did take me a little while to finish it and I wanted to finish it for release day originally, but then I got into a slump, so I’m a little late now.

Anyhow, this did not belittle my enjoyment of „The Raven and the Dove“.

This is a Tristan and Isolde retelling, which I only realised after someone told me about it, but I see it now. It is a wonderful story of two people who fall in love with each other, but due to different circumstances cannot be together.

Lyana is a princess who possesses magic, but she has to keep this gift hidden at all costs, because people with magic are deemed curse in the kingdoms and magic bearer no matter of what stand will be executed. Only her best friend Cassie knows about this magic.
Rafe is the bastard son of the dead king, and half-brother to the crown prince Lysander, who has a handicap and isn’t strong enough to participate in the courtship trials. The two look almost alike and therefore Rafe takes his brother’s place and the start a dangerous game where no-one ought to know about their deceit.

The Raven and the Dove is a story with action, royalty, magic, forbidden love, deception, betrayal and dangerous intrigues in play. Everything I love in a book. Additionally, it includes gods and a mystery as the folk living on the floating isles believes they are gods-blessed and that the gods gave them wings in order to be free of the humans living below the sea of mist. There is a lot of potential in this as throughout the book there are little hints about the relationships with the humans down below and the ones that were granted wings. I do believe the author gave the world a detailed history that is yet to be revealed and I hope we will get more information on this history in book two and the next installments in the series.

Generally speaking there were no gaps in the story telling. Everything was well explained and made sense, too. The writing is flawless in my opinion. Perfect tone and narrative, perfect way of describing all the different characters. There are multiple POVs in this book and every POV felt unique. Every character’s thoughts and feelings were well explained and every single one of them worried about different things. I loved how deep they all felt. Only with Cassie I didn’t really click in the beginning, which most likely was due to the fact that she has a lot of secrets herself. Things that she is afraid to admit towards herself, too. If the ending of this first book was any indication however, I do think that I will like Cassie more in the future. I think she has some great development ahead of her.

As well as Lyana, Rafe and Xander.
Rafe will probably have to go through the biggest changes of them all due to something that happened at the end of "the Raven and the Dove“.
I am not sure how that change will look, whether it is going to be for the worse or for the better, but I do know that what happened broke my little fangirl heart.
Lyana as well have to change. She is a good-natured dove and she is pure and friendly to everyone. She is not naive exactly, but she might be too easily blinded. She will have to become fiercer. And either she does become fiercer or she will break apart.
As for Xander; I think he might turn out to be the strongest of them all, because the worst possible thing already happened to him and I am sure it felt like his world would crumble apart, but he is still standing strong and he still has a goodness in him that I honestly didn’t expect after what happened. I am very intrigued to see what else might become of him!

All in all a fantastic book that deserves all the stars and definitely more than the 5 I am able to give here. The 500 pages didn’t feel like 500 pages at all. In fact, I thought this book was over way too quickly and I am happy that this is going to be a 4 book series! And there is so much potential, so I am intrigued to see where the story will continue from here on!

p.s. the link for the instagram review will follow shortly.

A briiliant magnum opus by a talented author. I was blown away by the detailed world building.

The story had me from the get go where the four protagonists lived in the flying cities in the sky. All the different houses came together to choose their mates for each kingdom. But they had to undergo the trials to get the first pick.

The author's writing was descriptive in its careful detailing. Each word was chosen to give a powerful imagery. The subplots melded seamlessly, though romance was quick. The characters were varied, and some needed to grow up fast. Emotions soon seeped into the take when betrayal and lies found their space. The author knew how to draw me in one page at a time, with twists and mystery.

The plot was captivating with a mysterious king obsessed with the prophecy. The story had magic and dragons, love and friendship, deceit and adventure.

Quite a roller coaster.

“The Raven and the Dove” is a book that surpasses my expectations. It’s hard to believe, since any Kaitlyn Davis book is by default amazing in my world. But her last story is so… magical. I loved every word, I loved the characters and I cannot wait for the next book.

Actually, I still have a broken heart about the ending, but I’ll get to that soon.
Ok, the plot has a certain degree of political intrigue, as initially each representative of each kingdom needs to compete for a mate. But once the competitions are over, a new political intrigue, much more interesting arises. We have dragons, ravens, doves, wings and magic! We have a love that goes against all principles, even if our protagonists really try to stay away.

Kaitlyn Davis does wonders creating the sizzling scenes, the ones charged with emotions. So these were by far my favorite scenes of the entire book. When Lyana and Rafe meet, the connection is so strong and they feel the pull of the magic within. Later in the story, the forbidden romance is so well described. Rafe’s torment is by far an amazing creation.

The world that hosts this romance is beautifully created as well. It left me with a desire to learn more and I hope the next books in the series will show many other unexplored aspects of it. The ending killed me. Reading the last chapters was like having my heart ripped away, piece by piece. It was something I did not see coming and it blew my mind.

A point that must be mentioned here is the diversity we have. Lyana has dark skin and is easily accepted by those of white skin and black wings. Acceptance and understanding is highlighted through several chapters. The beauty of being different is well presented. I like that.

Well, what can I say? I loved this book, I adore Kaitlyn Davis and all her stories – especially this one. “The Raven and the Dove” has so much more to tell and it’s just the beginning. It will be an amazing journey and I cannot wait to continue the story.
Please read it, please read all her other books. They are very good!

2.75

Sadly, this disappointed me. It had a strong start, I was invested and liked the idea with the mystery of the courtship trials. Afterwards I was only half interested when all of that breezed by. Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it, I'm not too sure, but at that time it felt like it dragged plot wise. It didn't engage me as much as I'd hoped it to. This might be the case of going in with too high expectations. I don't know yet if I'll continue with series.

I wish I read this sooner because it was sooooo good. Everyone needs to read this!! I fell in love with this like immediately! I cant wait to read more!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was fast paced and the characters were wll rounded. It was a little too long for my liking and it didn't grip me as much as I would have wanted to, but I can definitely recommend it!

good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good

I requested this book from Netgalley with a giddy hope that it would be what the cover promised it might be: an epic fantasy romance set in the skies. But honestly this book was just… perfectly okay. Lately, I’ve read some really unique and well-written fantasy books and unfortunately for this book, it’s struggling to compete. It’s not unlike a lot of other YA fantasy series you’ve probably read.

So, what's the reason I put this book down with only a quarter left to finish?

The Raven and the Dove is a young adult fantasy story set in a unique world on isles in the sky! And in this fantasy world, there are people called Avians, who essentially are human despite the fact that they have wings. There are seven houses, each house shares the same type of wings. Although the people of the seven houses worship a different god, they all share the same belief that magic is a symbol of evil. Each year, these houses come together for an event known as the Courtship trials, where the royals of each court compete in a set of events that match them with their mate. There are four central characters and rotating POVs in this book:

➽ Lyana – Princess Lyana of the House of Peace, representing Aethios, god of the sun and the skies. Her people have Dove wings. She is about to compete in the Courtship trials to compete for her mate.

➽ Xander – Crown Prince Xander of the House of Whispers, representing Taetanus, god of death. His people have Raven wings. Xander has a disability and fears it will make him less of a man and of a Prince. But lives to serve the people of his House.

➽ Rafe – Bastard and half brother to Xander. He is loyal, quiet and subservient to Xander. Rafe is about to compete in the Courtship trials under the guise of his brother Xander, who has asked him to compete on his behalf.

➽ Cassi – Orphaned, loyal and closest friend to Princess Lyana. Has Owl wings. Is currently on a secret mission in order to save the future.

My biggest gripe with The Raven and The Dove was that it lacked a well-defined world. Which is largely because the reader is kept in the dark about so many things. I think my frustration with this story would've been alleviated if there was more focus on world building. Because this world is trying to be innovative and do something different, but it just didn't work for me because of the lack of tactful exposition in the right places. The reader isn't even told the name of the species in this book, there is one throwaway line referencing ‘the avians’ roughly halfway through this book. Which I think is somewhat ridiculous.

This book is also marketed as being perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Leigh Bardugo. Both of whom, I really like and factored into me requesting this book up. As of late, Sarah J. Maas is known for writing exceptionally smutty YA books with questionable euphemisms. Leigh Bardugo is exceptional at characterization and very subtle, sexy dialogue. Both of which, really appeal to me. Both of which, were also absent from this book. Which is perfectly fine, a book doesn't need to have those aspects to be good. But, The Raven and the Dove is a lot more juvenile than what it's being compared too and I don't think that's fair to it.

Aside from my gripes with the world, the characterization here was okay. Lyana is a main character people will easily like. She is bold, unafraid and slightly rebellious at times. Cassi’s arc is also interesting, but you don’t really know much about her secret mission, other than it appears altruistic. They also have a dynamic that reminded me of Safiya and Iseult from Susan Dennard's Witchland series, whom I love. Rafe and Xander's point of views were also easily palatable, just unmemorable personally.

Although the essence of the story is really lost of me. The plot is given continuous momentum, with frequent events like the Courtship trials (that are slightly glossed over...), a few battles with dragons (because dragons exist in this world too) that help this book move at a fast-pace. However there's no tangible presence of a threat or antagonist in this story. I read ay least 70% of this book, and there's only vague, ominous mentions of a fire god gaining strength. And so I really struggled to attain any satisfaction from this story. The magic system is relatively straightforward. However like so many other things this story is trying to tackle, the magic system goes without a solid explanation. You get bits and pieces of information here and there, and you have to piece those bits together like a puzzle.

Unfortunately, this book felt so... unnecessary. And boring. Although Kaitlyn Davis is a seasoned writer, with many published books to her name, I honestly struggled to see that here with the messy plot and world-building. I do hope this book finds its audience regardless.

Let me start off by saying the blurb makes me want to one click this book in a heartbeat and once I started reading, I was hooked. I loved how the author took me on an unexpected adventure with flawed characters who really bring out my emotions. I want to see where this series leads and what will happened next so I’m looking forward to the second book. This book has many characters which is a hit for me. I’d recommend it!

The Raven and the Dove is the first book in a new series.

I voluntarily received and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

Final Rating: 5 Stars

If you're looking for a tale of love, friendship, brotherhood and destiny that is going to rip your heart out, here it is.

When I picked this up, I didn't think I was in a fantasy mood, but something about it just hooked me wrote away. I really enjoyed the world being built - and I'm excited to see jk ow it continues to develop. But the characters were what really shone for me.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Raven and the Dove was a pretty cute book. Of course, it had it's danger, betrayal, and romance just to spice things up. I will admit though, I had my boring moments with this book. However, it's all my fault because I just had days where I just didn't want to read it. Or any book really. Then I would randomly get in the mood to find out what was going to happen. The day I did, I devoured this book rather quickly.

In it, you will meet Princess Lyana. She is a dove and is about to pick her mate during the courtship trials. Enter Rafe, the guy pretending to be his brother (the actual Prince), he is a raven. Of course, this is where the fun of betrayal starts to happen. Then we actually get to meet more of the ravens and I feel bad for Lyana.

Not going to lie, I didn't like the raven queen. Plus once Lyana came to their little world she was in constant danger (or at least it seemed that way). Sounds awfully suspicious.. and now I don't know what to think about the ending.

So many things happened, and again.. so much betrayal too, and I'm wondering how the heck Lyana and Rafe are going to handle things. I don't even care about the actual prince, Xander, because he was acting like a dick towards the end. Don't get all butt hurt that she actually ended up falling for your brother when he was pretending to be you.. and just happens to be more likable in my eyes.

Ugh, definitely need the next book!

As soon as I saw that this was a retelling I knew that I both needed to read this right away but also that I would need to guard my heart while doing so. I don't know how many of you know the story of Tristan and Isolde, and while I have never read the actual tale, the movie that came out in the mid 2000s with James Franco and Sofia Myles was my favorite for a really long time. Call me a glutton for punishment but that is my most watched movie of all time. If you don't know anything about the pair, you might want to look up a synopsis before you dive into this to see what you might be getting yourself into.

On to the plot. This entire book was built upon an incredibly unique premise. Right away in the epilogue, this King who is on a boat on a sea surrounded by mist feels a presence come into the world, "she" he refers to her as. It's not clear who this "she" is exactly but before he dies from wounds he sustains from a dragon, he tells his only son, "Your queen is here" and then basically makes it sound like they are destined for each other and that their pairing will save the world. Since we don't know much of anything at this point, we also have no idea what problems this world even has to solve. I was sure intrigued, though.

Once we get into the actual book we learn that this is a fantasy world that features a bunch of floating...islands? I think they're islands anyway?? That make up different kingdoms that feature a different group of people who have wings of a specific breed of bird. Our main female character, Lyana (dove wings) is the princess of the House of Peace. Since their House is kind of the main one, the courtship trials which are held once in a generation are being held there.

On the morning before it all starts, Lyana and her best friend Cassi fly to a secret spot of theirs just to catch a peak of even the first of the other kingdoms to arrive. It turns out to be the Ravens. Somehow a dragon (which it seemed never usually made it up that high) shows up and one of the Ravens is engaged in battle. Long story short only the crown prince (Xander) and his bastard half brother (Rafe) which had planned on participating in the trials in place of his brother who is missing a hand were ahead of their group. Xander flies back for reinforcements and Rafe is left to try to take on the dragon. He sustains life-threatening injuries. Lyana saves him and they bond when they figure out they both have healing magic in a world where magic is seen is a horrible thing and people are usually killed for.

As you can imagine, things go to hell because as expected, Lyana goes through the entire trials things Rafe is the prince when really he is not and she wins up promised to Xander.

A few other pretty big things happen, too. We catch a few glimpses of that prince I mentioned from the prologue and there's a spy involved whose identity I never would have guessed and that person ends up in a very interesting predicament at the end of the book. Well, everyone does, really. To be honest, they're all in a pretty shitty place (which, again, since I knew the story of Tristan and Isolde it really didn't surprise me).

I'm just now seeing that this is a four book series which I am so happy about because I'm pretty sure this story is going to go to some pretty amazing places. The writing was incredible honestly. From the world-building to the characters, to the flow of everything in general--I was so impressed and am dying for that next book.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and Kaitlyn Davis for an eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! ♥