Book Review: Bound by M. J. Stevens

Hey guys! Heather here, with my monthly post. Up for slaughter, ahem, review is this little gem.

Bound by M. J. Stevens

 If Mellea had known that helping an injured stranger would result in an engagement – hers – she probably would have left Leo lying where she found him.Forced into the world of Selestia’s ruling family, the Guardians, Mellea must learn to negotiate politics and personalities she never thought she’d encounter. But this secret and glamorous world is not all as it seems. 

When a timeworn enemy remerges and threatens to bring a new era of war and destruction, Mellea is forced to make a choice that will change her life forever.

Bound is exactly my type of book, so forgive me if there is a little gushing I can’t control.

Set in a land ruled by Guardians, who live in a shiny, crystal (like, actually) castle, with mega-rich, mega-swoonworthy characters and I was hooked. That’s without the action, cute-as-a-baby-button-on-a-bonnet side characters, AND VIDEO GAMES.

It was pretty great.

Mellea was the type of strong character I love to read about. She’s stuck in a pretty shitty life, with high-strung parents, and an awesome-sauce best friend who doesn’t return her feelings, but she doesn’t whinge and bitch about it like any normal person would. She has a plan. Of course, no book would be a great book if the MC’s plans actually went accordingly. Fast forward a few pages and in flies (yes, flies) Leo with his cocky attitude and her plans are sent right out the window.

Leo is exactly the stubborn, cocky, internally wounded, love interest that makes me swoon. There are secrets and magic and power and such cute little scenes that Leo’s character is put together bit by bit. At first, I really wanted to hate him, but Melanie makes that nearly impossible.

The only bit of criticism I had was that I would have liked to feel the book more. There were some pretty intense scenes – especially what happens at the end – but we are only told what Mellea is feeling, and I think if I’d been made to feel it along with her it would have made the climax that much more powerful.

If you enjoy thorough world building, action, love, and monarchy check out Bound. It was a very cozy, enjoyable read.

Book review: Moonless by Crystal Collier

Hey guys, I guess I should totally start out by introducing myself. I'm Heather, Sharon The Awesome's assistant. As well as keeping her on top of All The Things in the lead up to Sleeper's release, I also do any reviews she needs me to. With that said, here is my first. Moonless, by Crystal Collier.

MOONLESS is Jane Eyre meets Supernatural.

In the English society of 1768 where women are bred to marry, unattractive Alexia, just sixteen, believes she will end up alone. But on the county doorstep of a neighbor’s estate, she meets a man straight out of her nightmares, one whose blue eyes threaten to consume her whole world—especially later when she discovers him standing over her murdered host in the middle of the night. 

Among the many things to change for her that evening are: her physical appearance—from ghastly to breathtaking, an epidemic of night terrors predicting the future, and the blue-eyed man’s unexpected infusion into her life. Not only do his appearances precede tragedies, but they are echoed by the arrival of ravenous, black-robed wraiths on moonless nights.

Unable to decide whether he is one of these monsters or protecting her from them, she uncovers what her father has been concealing: truths about her own identity, about the blue-eyed man, and about love. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with the man of her dreams and risk becoming one of the Soulless.

- Blurb from Goodreads

Let me first start off by saying I’m not the intended audience for this book. I don’t read a lot of books set in ‘ye olde times’ but with that said, I really enjoyed it.

Moonless finds Alexis going through a pretty unstable time in her life. She’s just become old enough to be married off, keeps having some pretty disturbing dreams about the future, and is being practically stalked by a blue-eyed hottie.

Great start to a book.

What I really liked about Moonless was it kept you wanting more. There was so much suspicion and unanswered questions right from the start that as soon as a question was half-answered, another one would pop up to say howdy.

Collier weaved interest and intrigue right from the beginning and it wasn’t until the very end that she gave you all the pieces. I love books that keep you guessing and this was one of them.

On top of the mystery, there were two really great characters that stood out. The first was Alexis’ sister-aunt Sarah. She was flirty, and vivacious, and fun in a time when woman really weren’t supposed to be. I could totally picture her going without stockings for a day, or waving her bloomers out the bedroom window, just so people knew she was home. We could totally be friends.

Then there was Bellezza. I think I fell in love with her as soon as she was introduced. She is cray-cray to the maximus and if Crystal wrote a book about her I’d be the first to buy it, no matter when it was set. If you love a character who would burn down your house and paint her face with your blood – here she is. She’d even do it with a smile.

Now, despite all that, I did find Moonless hard to get into. I couldn’t figure it out at first and it took me a few chapters in to work out what had me so confused. There’d be certain scenes were Alexis would mention one person and then use the pronoun for another. This seemed really odd to me until I worked out why. During the first half of the book, Alexis doesn’t know Kiren’s name so she just refers to him as ‘He’. And once I worked that out, everything became so much clearer.

Lastly, if you’re worried about a lack of swoon (which I totally was) because of the setting you don’t even need to worry. Kiren brought swoon to the table and made it his bitch.

If you love books with mystery, swoon, a character that grows into herself, and some pretty awesome creatures, Moonless is definitely for you. (Just remember what I said about those first few chapters).

Luuuuuurve, Heather.