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Review: Spell Bound by Stephanie Julian
Filed in 3 Stars , Review , Stephanie Julian , The Geeky Lover Posted on October 19, 2011 @ 10:00 am
1 comments
Format Read: ebook provided by Author for review
Series: Darkly Enchanted #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: 279 pages
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Moonlit Night Publishing
Formats Available: ebook, paperback
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Kindle
Book Blurb:
Shea Tedaldi is the only thing standing between her six-year-old brother and the men who killed their parents. Descendents of the ancient Etruscan magical race, Shea and her brother keep powerful secrets that make them the targets of the evil Malandante. They’ve been looking for a safe haven but the bad guys are gaining on them and Shea needs a hero, a guardian who won’t falter in the face of danger…
He’s looking for the key to break the spell… Gabriel Borelli is a warrior born to protect the Etruscan witches living under a curse. He’s dedicated to breaking the spell and avenging the murder of his father by the Malandante. He won’t let anything—or anyone—get in his way. Not even the one woman who may hold the key to his quest…and his heart.
My Thoughts:
Julian’s Etruscian world is something fresh in the world of monotone mytholical settings. Her new series is again set in this world but it takes places before any of her previous series so this is actually a good way to take the chance and jump into her world. It will also show some other aspects to those of you who already fell in love with her work.
In Spell Bound we meet Shea currently on the run with her little brother. An old enemy, Dario Paganelli, is chasing them and they are in dire need of help.The siblings are totally lost in this battle even more so because they don’t know why all this is happening. I have to admit that I never really warmed up to Shea. She is a strong heroine but for me she was at times too angsty and self condescending. She blamed herself for so many things and no matter what she didn’t seem to want to stop doing it.
Gabriel is a Grigorio deep to the bone. He was raised to be one and it is truly his calling, I really liked him. He is a strong and stubborn man but he also has a soft side who isn’t too manly to tell his mother he loves her. *sigh* He has many facets and well he just plain fascinated me- to see his soft and hard edges and the way all those made him the man he is. Just great.
I also really loved the sideplot between Quinn and Serina. So much tension and heartbreak to find in this story. I so hope these two will get their own book. They deserve a shot at love and happiness.
Sadly the mainplot didn’t really keep my attention. I can’t really point out why. Perhaps it didn’t happen enough at times and other times the action just seemed to tumble over each other. The balance felt off. And well I admit it the romance took too long for my taste to really start. The build up was rather slow and my interest started to diminish on the way. Also I missed Julian’s humor a bit. There were glimpses of it but not enough to lighten the overall mood of the book.
It seems my expectations were too high this time. It’s not like this is a bad book it really isn’t but it just didn’t grab me as much as her previous novels did. Nonetheless Spell Bound is the start to a new promising series and well I’m already hungering to see who we will meet in the next book (chants Quinn and Serena). If you like your paranormal romances on the serious side this is just the book for you.
I give Spell Bound 3 out of 5 stars.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.
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I've never even heard of this author, and I read a lot of books and blogs! I was interested when you mentioned witches, but the rest of your review doesn't entice me to pick it up.