A review by zeaing
Bound by Honor by Cora Reilly

sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

TLDR: this book is boring as hell, practically no chemistry between the characters, felt rushed (esp with the amount of loose ends there were) and my two stars are generous.

ive seen this book recommended everywhere so of course i went to it with high hopes and it fell so short. as someone who loves dark romances and books with forced marriages (we don’t talk about it LMAO), seeing people say this was one of the best books in this genre felt like such a let down - but i think many authors mark their books as dark just bc they’re mafia so Reilly gets a pass on this ig.

honestly 75% of this book was just him practically begging her to fuck him despite her not being ready and being scared. idk if i’d call it r*pe but like the first time they were intimate was literally because she wanted to see her sister. even when they eventually did do it imo it just felt like she felt like it was her obligation for letting her see her sister and not like she genuinely wanted him. like he wanted so much from her despite treating her so badly, esp in the first 50% of the book. i could not stand him at all, and my standards for men, esp in dark romances and mafia books is so low but he is deffo not going to be my book bf anytime soon.

like when i said before there was no chemistry, i meant it. he literally treated her like shit, even when he was ‘nice’ until like the very last couple of pages. aria deserves better than him considering how much of a cunt he is. tbh he seems like the character in another book that would be the MMC’s best friend but the one that the FMC low-key didn’t like but put up with him just for the MMC.

i think dual pov couldve really added to this story. like getting to see what luca thought about aria wouldve maybe made my rating a little higher bc arias pov was low-key boring asf. also considering part of the reason for why they even had to get married was bc of the taiwanese mafia, why were the never mentioned ?!?. idk the book just had a bunch of other loose ends but those are like big spoilers. also he cheated on her, idc that they barely had a relationship i CANNOT STAND cheaters in books, i only ‘let him off’ because of their lack of relationship, but i absolutely hate luca.

i liked aria until like the last couple of pages. like she seemed pretty relatable and i understood her a lot and actually agreed with a lot of her actions but with what’s revealed at the end, the way she just low-key forgave him made me want to scream. 

tbh the most likeable person in the entire book was literally gianna, aria’s sister. her and aria’s other sister lilliana were actually pretty entertaining and the only reason this book didn’t have 1 star. like everyone else was so annoying at one point or another but they were just <3

i guess reilly suceeded though, like tbh her writing style was pretty nice so i’ll be reading the next book in the series to see if she improves bc i wanna give her another chance (or understand the hype tbh). i just don’t get how can how you write be so good but what you write be so… bad.

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