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lifeinthebooklane's review
2.0
I'm a little on the fence with this one, there were parts I loved and other aspects that didn't work for me. Times when I couldn't put it down and others where I had to re-read a paragraph to make sense of it. The ending was quite a shocker and definitely has you intrigued as to what will happen next.
I liked Mina, she really didn't have her s##t together but for me this actually made her much more realistic and eminently more likeable. I would have liked a little more depth from some of the supporting characters, particularly Erik, Charles and Phillip, at times I felt I learnt more via what others TOLD me, rather than through what I experienced. However there was enough development for me to enjoy the book.
I know this is both (a) fiction and (b) PNR/alternate reality, therefore "made up", but some elements of the plot just stretched the imagination. Looking at blurbs for future books I'm presuming the bad guy in this (who wasn't paranormal) was perhaps being helped by other "beings", however in this book there was no real recognition or acknowledgement of his actions being impossible. The characters also felt more Young Adult than the late 20's early 30's they were meant to be. In fact had the very brief, single sex scene been removed this could easily have been a YA book.
At times I was totally absorbed by the story, particularly during scenes of action and scenes heavy with dialogue. Sadly there were passages where the heroine actually narrated the story to the reader, rather than allowing them to experience it for themselves. It was almost as though someone was recounting an event or memory, resulting in the story losing it's flow and pace and disconnecting me from the book. This very tell not show experience extended into the somewhat limited emotional aspects of the book. The very brief mention of how Mina felt, and that information was sometimes very contradictory, conveyed no essence of fear, anger, anxiety or passion. The lack of any detailed descriptions of feelings was a significant negative for me.
On balance there were more positives than negatives for me and at some point I hope to continue with Mina's story.
I liked Mina, she really didn't have her s##t together but for me this actually made her much more realistic and eminently more likeable. I would have liked a little more depth from some of the supporting characters, particularly Erik, Charles and Phillip, at times I felt I learnt more via what others TOLD me, rather than through what I experienced. However there was enough development for me to enjoy the book.
I know this is both (a) fiction and (b) PNR/alternate reality, therefore "made up", but some elements of the plot just stretched the imagination. Looking at blurbs for future books I'm presuming the bad guy in this (who wasn't paranormal) was perhaps being helped by other "beings", however in this book there was no real recognition or acknowledgement of his actions being impossible. The characters also felt more Young Adult than the late 20's early 30's they were meant to be. In fact had the very brief, single sex scene been removed this could easily have been a YA book.
At times I was totally absorbed by the story, particularly during scenes of action and scenes heavy with dialogue. Sadly there were passages where the heroine actually narrated the story to the reader, rather than allowing them to experience it for themselves. It was almost as though someone was recounting an event or memory, resulting in the story losing it's flow and pace and disconnecting me from the book. This very tell not show experience extended into the somewhat limited emotional aspects of the book. The very brief mention of how Mina felt, and that information was sometimes very contradictory, conveyed no essence of fear, anger, anxiety or passion. The lack of any detailed descriptions of feelings was a significant negative for me.
On balance there were more positives than negatives for me and at some point I hope to continue with Mina's story.
princessleopard's review against another edition
3.0
Preface: I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review
Explicit content: Violence, kidnapping, attempted sexual assault, death
Actual rating: 3.25 stars
I read a lot of books with potential but weak execution, and this is a typical example. You have an interesting premise with an excuse to go full fantasy-kitchen-sink, but nothing's really done with it. There's no attempt to explain what happened or why the world is the way it is, or any real internal logic (turns out there's fairies and trolls and all that stuff, but also angels and literal hell - and no one thinks this is remarkable).
Aside from a world, in a story, you also either need a strong plot, or strong characters, and this novel has neither. Plot-wise, it's just a lot of waffling as our characters float from one town to another without any real purpose. They kinda wanna save their friends, but take their sweet time. They kinda feel like they need to go to the town they see in their dreams, but don't really know why. They kinda want revenge on the villain, but after he gets sent to literal hell (?!) they just forget about him, until he pops up again, like every bad slasher villain ever. Any time something bad happens, either our MC pulls new powers out of her butt, or someone else swoops in to save the day, rinse and repeat.
Similarly, the characters are fairly bland and one-dimensional. Our main character knows almost nothing about her own powers, despite having had them for 9 years when the story opens. Similarly, she learns absolutely no lessons about risking herself to help strangers, despite doing so leading to the kidnapping and captivity of herself and her brother for six long months. She's just naive and trusting to a fault. The other characters are similarly one-note. Erik is big and gruff and protective (i.e. every were-creature ever). Her brother is...there, sometimes (I'm not sure he even gets to legit use his powers a single time). The girly girl is girly. The bartender is...also there. Felix is a gentle giant. And Philip is a psycho. Seriously, there's supposed to be a love triangle, but there's absolutely no competition. Erik is a big tough hot-but-gentle guy who actually talks about his feelings like a mature adult. Philip controls peoples minds for the greater good and...psychically makes normal humans commit suicide? Traps the main character in solitary confinement for a week? Chops off a rule-breaker's hand? But he's supposed to be a good guy at heart, just misunderstood. Eye roll. I also get the nasty feeling he's this triangle's "winner" - like Erik is going to sacrifice himself for them, or something. Ick.
All that said, the writing style to this isn't terrible. There's nothing particularly offensive or irritating. It's just a bland, paranormal fantasy read. Nothing really to hate, but nothing really to love, either.
Explicit content: Violence, kidnapping, attempted sexual assault, death
Actual rating: 3.25 stars
I read a lot of books with potential but weak execution, and this is a typical example. You have an interesting premise with an excuse to go full fantasy-kitchen-sink, but nothing's really done with it. There's no attempt to explain what happened or why the world is the way it is, or any real internal logic (turns out there's fairies and trolls and all that stuff, but also angels and literal hell - and no one thinks this is remarkable).
Aside from a world, in a story, you also either need a strong plot, or strong characters, and this novel has neither. Plot-wise, it's just a lot of waffling as our characters float from one town to another without any real purpose. They kinda wanna save their friends, but take their sweet time. They kinda feel like they need to go to the town they see in their dreams, but don't really know why. They kinda want revenge on the villain, but after he gets sent to literal hell (?!) they just forget about him, until he pops up again, like every bad slasher villain ever. Any time something bad happens, either our MC pulls new powers out of her butt, or someone else swoops in to save the day, rinse and repeat.
Similarly, the characters are fairly bland and one-dimensional. Our main character knows almost nothing about her own powers, despite having had them for 9 years when the story opens. Similarly, she learns absolutely no lessons about risking herself to help strangers, despite doing so leading to the kidnapping and captivity of herself and her brother for six long months. She's just naive and trusting to a fault. The other characters are similarly one-note. Erik is big and gruff and protective (i.e. every were-creature ever). Her brother is...there, sometimes (I'm not sure he even gets to legit use his powers a single time). The girly girl is girly. The bartender is...also there. Felix is a gentle giant. And Philip is a psycho. Seriously, there's supposed to be a love triangle, but there's absolutely no competition. Erik is a big tough hot-but-gentle guy who actually talks about his feelings like a mature adult. Philip controls peoples minds for the greater good and...psychically makes normal humans commit suicide? Traps the main character in solitary confinement for a week? Chops off a rule-breaker's hand? But he's supposed to be a good guy at heart, just misunderstood. Eye roll. I also get the nasty feeling he's this triangle's "winner" - like Erik is going to sacrifice himself for them, or something. Ick.
All that said, the writing style to this isn't terrible. There's nothing particularly offensive or irritating. It's just a bland, paranormal fantasy read. Nothing really to hate, but nothing really to love, either.
malus23's review
3.0
Noticed the author mentioned in the front that this was an early work she had come back to re-edit, and it did feel more polished when i read it than some of the older reviews suggest it used to be.
There were some interesting things, some just so-so things, overall it was a decent middle-of-road level book.
There were some interesting things, some just so-so things, overall it was a decent middle-of-road level book.
charlieschifo's review against another edition
5.0
*I received a free copy of this book from the author via voracious readers only in exchange for an honest review*
I fell completely in love with this book right from the start, it’s jam packed with amazing characters, a compelling story, so many different supernatural creatures and a love triangle. It had great pacing, character development and world building. It had everything you could possibly want and I cannot wait to get started reading the next book. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would!
I fell completely in love with this book right from the start, it’s jam packed with amazing characters, a compelling story, so many different supernatural creatures and a love triangle. It had great pacing, character development and world building. It had everything you could possibly want and I cannot wait to get started reading the next book. If I could give it more than 5 stars I would!
lahendricks's review
CC Solomon's Mystic Bonds is the first book of her Paranormal World series. It introduces an alternate universe where the Event unleashes latent paranormal abilities in a percentage of humans and kills millions of others through disease. Mina and her brother Charles are supernaturals that are struggling to make their way in the world. They are captured and held as slaves by the pesky humans. Thought they are able to escape, they are forced to leave friend behind. Heading out into the world yet again, they look for allies to help them free their friends and stop the humans from causing more pain.
This is a fun and quick read. I found the worldbuilding similar to Nora Roberts' Chronicles of the One series. Mina and Charles are a hilarious pair. Erik's grumpy foil to Mina's endless optimism moved the story along adequately. I definitely recommend this book to lovers of paranormal/urban fantasy!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This is a fun and quick read. I found the worldbuilding similar to Nora Roberts' Chronicles of the One series. Mina and Charles are a hilarious pair. Erik's grumpy foil to Mina's endless optimism moved the story along adequately. I definitely recommend this book to lovers of paranormal/urban fantasy!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
duchessnikki's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
kblincoln's review against another edition
3.0
In a post apocalyptic word where small groups live in walked enclaves: conflict exists between normal humans and those with powers.
When we first meet Amina she and her friends live in a prison run by a sadistic human who uses their blood to make a serum conferring powers on humans.
She escapes, but has to leave her friends behind . On her journey to find help and the handsome man she keeps seeing in a dream she meets other people (always one man and one woman oddly) also dreaming of safety. Together they form a group of 6 that a prophet tells her will be the deciding force when a great evil enters the world.
This one was not to my taste. I am not a fan of Ill defined broad powers or magic system with no rules. Amina is a witch, but doesn’t do spells although paragraphs are devoted to explaining witch vs mage etc via info dump. Also her brother is described as a tech mage able to control electricity but also stop bullets (telekinesis?)
I also wasn’t happy with the meandering plot. She wants to save her friends but will “try out” a new city for a month? The prophet Anna Mae tells them important info and shows strong powers but completely disappears from the story in the last part of the book when Amina’s friends face trouble from the city’s were pack?
Amina is imprisoned and then let go because the head guy feels sorry for her?
For me this fell into the double trap of an ok defined problem for the main character coupled with too broad powers that seemed to be quite capable of major damage to their enemies but never deployed. Probably won’t be following along to the next book despite the major cliffhanger and surprise return of someone we thought gone forever at the end of the book.
When we first meet Amina she and her friends live in a prison run by a sadistic human who uses their blood to make a serum conferring powers on humans.
She escapes, but has to leave her friends behind . On her journey to find help and the handsome man she keeps seeing in a dream she meets other people (always one man and one woman oddly) also dreaming of safety. Together they form a group of 6 that a prophet tells her will be the deciding force when a great evil enters the world.
This one was not to my taste. I am not a fan of Ill defined broad powers or magic system with no rules. Amina is a witch, but doesn’t do spells although paragraphs are devoted to explaining witch vs mage etc via info dump. Also her brother is described as a tech mage able to control electricity but also stop bullets (telekinesis?)
I also wasn’t happy with the meandering plot. She wants to save her friends but will “try out” a new city for a month? The prophet Anna Mae tells them important info and shows strong powers but completely disappears from the story in the last part of the book when Amina’s friends face trouble from the city’s were pack?
Amina is imprisoned and then let go because the head guy feels sorry for her?
For me this fell into the double trap of an ok defined problem for the main character coupled with too broad powers that seemed to be quite capable of major damage to their enemies but never deployed. Probably won’t be following along to the next book despite the major cliffhanger and surprise return of someone we thought gone forever at the end of the book.
iffy_loves_books's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
niklit's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
I think the main character spent too long considering the "other" romantic option when all points indicated it was no contest.