alicia_haschytz 's review for:

Vicious Bonds by Shanora Williams

1.0

---

⭐ 1/5

🌶 1.5/5

Unfortunately, I won’t be continuing this series. I was initially intrigued by the concept—two worlds colliding and the characters discovering their mates—but the execution didn’t match my expectations. While this is technically fantasy, it leans more toward alternate realities than the immersive world-building I was hoping for.

Content-wise, there are several issues that made this a difficult read for me. There are instances of overt racism—specifically, the FMC is called a racial slur (“darkie”) without significant pushback from the narrative or characters. The violence in Caz’s world goes far beyond casual gun violence including victim-blaming when a FMC’s clothing is cited as a reason for her assault (not assaulted by the MMC, but still deeply problematic as he’s the one who mentioned how she was dressed).

Drug use is also prevalent throughout the book, with both the FMC and MMC using substances. That’s a personal turn-off for me, and it added to my discomfort with the story.

Stylistically, I didn’t love the heavy use of “telling” rather than “showing.” A lot of the world-building and backstory are conveyed through books the characters read, which removed me from the story. Other reviews mention grammar issues—I typically don’t mind that—but the writing overall didn’t pull me in.

There is a cliffhanger, but it wasn’t strong enough to make me overlook the elements I struggled with in order to continue the series.

That said, I did enjoy the telepathic bond and how it enhanced the intimacy between the characters. The mind-speak element added a unique layer to their connection and made the spicy scenes a bit more engaging.

Ultimately, this just wasn’t for me.