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Bound and Unbound #2
Unbound
A five-thousand-year-old woman who has outlived empires and a doctor who’s spent his life fighting death collide in this novella from New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.
Lilit of Nineveh has spent millennia in control. As a powerful revenant, she enforces one rule above all: protect mortals. Disciplined and focused, she has never made the same mistake twice, and she has learned that attachments can only lead to ruin.
Enter Roman Martin. An overworked and relentlessly kind ER physician, he is the one mortal Lilit cannot quit. Any relationship between them is against everything Lilit has fought for. Still, she keeps coming back to him.
Until someone starts hunting Lilit, and Roman is caught in the crossfire. When everything comes crashing down, Lilit must choose between the world she has sworn to protect and the man she was never meant to love.
Lilit of Nineveh has spent millennia in control. As a powerful revenant, she enforces one rule above all: protect mortals. Disciplined and focused, she has never made the same mistake twice, and she has learned that attachments can only lead to ruin.
Enter Roman Martin. An overworked and relentlessly kind ER physician, he is the one mortal Lilit cannot quit. Any relationship between them is against everything Lilit has fought for. Still, she keeps coming back to him.
Until someone starts hunting Lilit, and Roman is caught in the crossfire. When everything comes crashing down, Lilit must choose between the world she has sworn to protect and the man she was never meant to love.
Audiobook
First published July 14, 2026
About the author
Ali Hazelwood
40 books190k followersI'm Ali, and I write contemporary romcom novels about women in STEM and academia. I love cats, Nutella, and side ponytails. I'm also currently learning to crochet, so as you can tell I'm a super busy gal with an intense and exciting life!
I only use Goodreads as a reader, to review and hype books that I've loved (many of these book are ARCs received from fellow authors).
I only use Goodreads as a reader, to review and hype books that I've loved (many of these book are ARCs received from fellow authors).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
July 15, 2026
Thoughts
The ONLY FLAW? this was TOO FUCKING SHORT 💔 oh my god I love them so much I could cry😭 are we getting more installments or?? Because my days does Ali know how to do this shit to perfection!!!! The back n forth between them to emotional dialogues 🥹 I need more of them y'all don't understand I ATE this up! Ali in her paranormal dark academia has got to be my new favourite era more than STEM I fear --,or actually give me anything Ali Hazelwood and I'll end up devouring or it consuming me!! Gonna end this with stating the obvious [ THIS ACCOUNT IS A ALI HAZELWOOD STAN ACCOUNT ]
Plot Summary
Lilit of Nineveh has spent centuries protecting mortals while keeping her emotions firmly under control. But everything changes when she finds herself unable to stay away from Roman Martin, a kind-hearted emergency doctor she was never meant to love. When Lilit becomes the target of a dangerous enemy and Roman’s life is put at risk, she must choose between her duty and the man who has captured her heart.
My Bookstagram
The ONLY FLAW? this was TOO FUCKING SHORT 💔 oh my god I love them so much I could cry😭 are we getting more installments or?? Because my days does Ali know how to do this shit to perfection!!!! The back n forth between them to emotional dialogues 🥹 I need more of them y'all don't understand I ATE this up! Ali in her paranormal dark academia has got to be my new favourite era more than STEM I fear --,or actually give me anything Ali Hazelwood and I'll end up devouring or it consuming me!! Gonna end this with stating the obvious [ THIS ACCOUNT IS A ALI HAZELWOOD STAN ACCOUNT ]
Plot Summary
Lilit of Nineveh has spent centuries protecting mortals while keeping her emotions firmly under control. But everything changes when she finds herself unable to stay away from Roman Martin, a kind-hearted emergency doctor she was never meant to love. When Lilit becomes the target of a dangerous enemy and Roman’s life is put at risk, she must choose between her duty and the man who has captured her heart.
My Bookstagram
Read
May 28, 2026She made it to Mohabbot 😭
Want to Read
June 1, 2026thank god ali's here to save 2026
July 16, 2026
2 🌟🎧
i found this pretty mid and boring 😴😴 … i just did not care or connect with either character or their story oopsss 🤷🏻♀️
i found this pretty mid and boring 😴😴 … i just did not care or connect with either character or their story oopsss 🤷🏻♀️
Want to Read
May 27, 2026Every single one of your works, I have devoured. Can't tell you how impatiently I'm waiting for July 14th. You write it, I read it.
Did Not Finish
July 10, 2026I cannot with these narrators
July 15, 2026
Review (July 2026):
3.75/5 stars
2/5 spice
2.5/5 audio
Audio Review:
As a currently audio-only production, I’m definitely really disappointed to say that I didn’t love this audiobook for multiple reasons!
Reflective of the character she was voicing, Tara Fatehi, a new-to-me narrator, has a very ambiguous accent, and I appreciated that. However, I was less than impressed with her narration. I am guessing that English is potentially not her first language, so I don’t want to judge too harshly, but her narration included a lot of very awkward pauses in the middle of sentences that didn’t work well with the actual flow of the sentence. That being said, I really enjoyed how she read the character as “dry”. I think that was a great choice to properly portray our FMC!
Dean Miller, the narrator for the MMC, also new to me, in my opinion, was the more enjoyable narrator of the two. I think he did an overall good job, though he had significantly less “screen-time” than Tara.
One thing I will praise about the audiobook is it is duet-style, which I’ve come to really appreciate when done well.
In regard to the production quality from this Spotify Audiobooks production, this is where my other main issue lies. It was very obvious when certain lines were recorded. You could tell the quality of the audio and the sound of the narrators voice was noticeably different when something was re-recorded. I do want to note that this was something I only noticed from Tara Fatehi’s portions. Though this is most likely because her narration made up probably about 80% of the audiobook. The re-recorded sound quality was more muffled and almost at a different pitch. I also think the narrator forgot the exact voice she did for the character because the small re-recorded sections were not the same as the rest of the time. It definitely took me out of the audiobook when it happened, but at least it was only a handful of times.
Book Review:
This story definitely felt like quite a departure from everything else Ali Hazelwood has previously published. Even including the first book in this interconnected standalone series, Bound. It honestly didn’t feel like I was listening to an Ali Hazelwood work at all, and I say that very neutrally. I love an Ali but I also really appreciated this deviation.
Though I am incredibly grateful to have gotten any work from Ali Hazelwood in 2026, I am a bit nervous at the direction she may be taking with her work in the future. While I can’t say I’m obsessed with absolutely everything she’s written, she is easily my favorite romance author. That being said, I have much better luck with her contemporary work than her paranormal work. And I especially have loved her more rom-com style work over some of the more serious contemporaries.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised by Unbound! Unfortunately, Bound was one of my least favorite works from Ali so far, so I was uncertain how this “sequel” might go. But I did really enjoy it! And I think one of the things I enjoyed most was the very dry and sort of “unlikable” FMC. When done well, I tend to really like those characters. I felt similarly with her FMC, Rue, from Not In Love, who I know is not her most beloved FMC, but I thought Rue was great! And in this case, Lilit was also really intriguing and cool to me.
In regard to the story itself, I thought the first half was stronger than the second half. I do wonder if this novella could have benefitted from being a full length novel, since I felt like things were super rushed to tidy up at the very end.
This isn’t my favorite Ali, but I still had a good time with it, and overall thought it was stronger than Bound.
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Original post (May 2026):
So glad 2026 got an Ali release, I was nervous there for a while!!
3.75/5 stars
2/5 spice
2.5/5 audio
Audio Review:
As a currently audio-only production, I’m definitely really disappointed to say that I didn’t love this audiobook for multiple reasons!
Reflective of the character she was voicing, Tara Fatehi, a new-to-me narrator, has a very ambiguous accent, and I appreciated that. However, I was less than impressed with her narration. I am guessing that English is potentially not her first language, so I don’t want to judge too harshly, but her narration included a lot of very awkward pauses in the middle of sentences that didn’t work well with the actual flow of the sentence. That being said, I really enjoyed how she read the character as “dry”. I think that was a great choice to properly portray our FMC!
Dean Miller, the narrator for the MMC, also new to me, in my opinion, was the more enjoyable narrator of the two. I think he did an overall good job, though he had significantly less “screen-time” than Tara.
One thing I will praise about the audiobook is it is duet-style, which I’ve come to really appreciate when done well.
In regard to the production quality from this Spotify Audiobooks production, this is where my other main issue lies. It was very obvious when certain lines were recorded. You could tell the quality of the audio and the sound of the narrators voice was noticeably different when something was re-recorded. I do want to note that this was something I only noticed from Tara Fatehi’s portions. Though this is most likely because her narration made up probably about 80% of the audiobook. The re-recorded sound quality was more muffled and almost at a different pitch. I also think the narrator forgot the exact voice she did for the character because the small re-recorded sections were not the same as the rest of the time. It definitely took me out of the audiobook when it happened, but at least it was only a handful of times.
Book Review:
This story definitely felt like quite a departure from everything else Ali Hazelwood has previously published. Even including the first book in this interconnected standalone series, Bound. It honestly didn’t feel like I was listening to an Ali Hazelwood work at all, and I say that very neutrally. I love an Ali but I also really appreciated this deviation.
Though I am incredibly grateful to have gotten any work from Ali Hazelwood in 2026, I am a bit nervous at the direction she may be taking with her work in the future. While I can’t say I’m obsessed with absolutely everything she’s written, she is easily my favorite romance author. That being said, I have much better luck with her contemporary work than her paranormal work. And I especially have loved her more rom-com style work over some of the more serious contemporaries.
Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised by Unbound! Unfortunately, Bound was one of my least favorite works from Ali so far, so I was uncertain how this “sequel” might go. But I did really enjoy it! And I think one of the things I enjoyed most was the very dry and sort of “unlikable” FMC. When done well, I tend to really like those characters. I felt similarly with her FMC, Rue, from Not In Love, who I know is not her most beloved FMC, but I thought Rue was great! And in this case, Lilit was also really intriguing and cool to me.
In regard to the story itself, I thought the first half was stronger than the second half. I do wonder if this novella could have benefitted from being a full length novel, since I felt like things were super rushed to tidy up at the very end.
This isn’t my favorite Ali, but I still had a good time with it, and overall thought it was stronger than Bound.
—————————————————————————————
Original post (May 2026):
So glad 2026 got an Ali release, I was nervous there for a while!!
July 7, 2026
Getting an Ali Hazelwood arc is a dream I hope I never wake up from, thank you Netgalley!!!
I enjoyed this so much. The relationship between Lilit & Roman was actually really well structured, which is something I often worry about or miss with novellas. Their love story felt real and had me hooked from the start. The plot itself was great, though it wrapped up a little too quickly for my liking. Can’t lie though, this novella unexpectedly put me through a lot of emotions.
Anyways, Roman is the greenest green flag to walk this earth and I will stand by that! 😤
Genuinely need Ali to stay dabbling within romantasy as she kills it every time. Can’t wait to read what’s next.
I enjoyed this so much. The relationship between Lilit & Roman was actually really well structured, which is something I often worry about or miss with novellas. Their love story felt real and had me hooked from the start. The plot itself was great, though it wrapped up a little too quickly for my liking. Can’t lie though, this novella unexpectedly put me through a lot of emotions.
Anyways, Roman is the greenest green flag to walk this earth and I will stand by that! 😤
Genuinely need Ali to stay dabbling within romantasy as she kills it every time. Can’t wait to read what’s next.
July 13, 2026
What to expect in Unbound:
-revenant x human physician
-established relationship (they've known each other for a decade)
-who did this to you?/touch him and die
-angst
-suspense/mystery on the side
After listening to Bound last year and absolutely LOVING it, I was so excited when it was announced that we'd get another book in this universe! While I feel like you could read Unbound as a standalone and be okay, I do feel like it's better if you've read Bound.
Unbound gives a glimpse of Lilit a powerful revenant who has been around a very long time. Lilit does her best to keep the peace with the other revenants around the world while trying to protect mortals from getting caught in the crossfires (ie turned to revenants without their permission). Lilit never expects to fall for a mortal herself, but that's exactly what happens when she meets Roman a pediatric physician. He's charming, relaxed and most of all someone who Lilit has a hard time quitting. The logistics of their relationship don't make sense - she's immortal while he's a mortal...how would that even work? But when Roman and Lilit find themselves in danger they have to figure out who is trying to take them down and why?
First of all this audiobook was fantastic! I loved the audio narration by Dean Miller and Tara Fatehi. They both did such a wonderful job of brining Roman and Lilit to life! And the duet style narration was chefs kiss. I kept wanting to have more conversations between these two!
I loved the little twists and turns in this audiobook that I did not see coming. I love a little bit of angst in my romances and Ali always delivers! I wanted Roman and Lilit to get their happy ending more than anything - especially since they had such a history together. I also loved the suspense in Unbound and never would have guessed who it was that was such a threat to Lilit and the other revenants. While technically a novella, I never felt like the book was rushed and really enjoyed Roman and Lilit's story!
I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook from Spotify Audiobooks/NetGalley
-revenant x human physician
-established relationship (they've known each other for a decade)
-who did this to you?/touch him and die
-angst
-suspense/mystery on the side
After listening to Bound last year and absolutely LOVING it, I was so excited when it was announced that we'd get another book in this universe! While I feel like you could read Unbound as a standalone and be okay, I do feel like it's better if you've read Bound.
Unbound gives a glimpse of Lilit a powerful revenant who has been around a very long time. Lilit does her best to keep the peace with the other revenants around the world while trying to protect mortals from getting caught in the crossfires (ie turned to revenants without their permission). Lilit never expects to fall for a mortal herself, but that's exactly what happens when she meets Roman a pediatric physician. He's charming, relaxed and most of all someone who Lilit has a hard time quitting. The logistics of their relationship don't make sense - she's immortal while he's a mortal...how would that even work? But when Roman and Lilit find themselves in danger they have to figure out who is trying to take them down and why?
First of all this audiobook was fantastic! I loved the audio narration by Dean Miller and Tara Fatehi. They both did such a wonderful job of brining Roman and Lilit to life! And the duet style narration was chefs kiss. I kept wanting to have more conversations between these two!
I loved the little twists and turns in this audiobook that I did not see coming. I love a little bit of angst in my romances and Ali always delivers! I wanted Roman and Lilit to get their happy ending more than anything - especially since they had such a history together. I also loved the suspense in Unbound and never would have guessed who it was that was such a threat to Lilit and the other revenants. While technically a novella, I never felt like the book was rushed and really enjoyed Roman and Lilit's story!
I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook from Spotify Audiobooks/NetGalley
July 14, 2026
4.5 Stars
Of course I would finish the new Ali Hazelwood in a day lol. I feel like I say this about all of her books, but this was so good!! I don't think I enjoyed this as much as Bound, but it works so well as a follow up to that world. I will say that I wish this had a trigger warning for as it's the focus of the plot for the last handful of chapters. If I had been forewarned I might've taken a little longer to start listening to make sure I was ready for that, but I'm happy everything worked out in the ending.
Of course I would finish the new Ali Hazelwood in a day lol. I feel like I say this about all of her books, but this was so good!! I don't think I enjoyed this as much as Bound, but it works so well as a follow up to that world. I will say that I wish this had a trigger warning for as it's the focus of the plot for the last handful of chapters. If I had been forewarned I might've taken a little longer to start listening to make sure I was ready for that, but I'm happy everything worked out in the ending.
July 12, 2026
Thank you Spotify for the ALC! I loved this vampire ish book in the same world has unbound with some familiar characters! This book follows victors sire, lilit who has been pining over a human.
I really enjoyed the dichotomy between death and life and keeping secrets because there is no point telling things because of what the other can’t know and how that plays a role in relationship. I also loved the little bit of vampire politics put in as well. I think I wanted a bit more and think it was a novel length plot in a very short novella so it felt a bit empty at times.
I love Ali hazelwood
I really enjoyed the dichotomy between death and life and keeping secrets because there is no point telling things because of what the other can’t know and how that plays a role in relationship. I also loved the little bit of vampire politics put in as well. I think I wanted a bit more and think it was a novel length plot in a very short novella so it felt a bit empty at times.
I love Ali hazelwood
July 15, 2026
Oh this was so Mohabot coded — bless you Ali
July 15, 2026
3.5
if ali writes it, i read (or listen to) it!!
if ali writes it, i read (or listen to) it!!
July 15, 2026
I listened to this book in one sitting before bed, and I definitely stayed up later than I should have because I couldn't stop listening. I always devour Ali Hazelwood's books, and Unbound is no exception. I wasn't expecting this story to make me cry, especially not for the reasons it did. You'll just have to read it to understand what I mean.
Lilit and Roman's story is raw, emotional, and surprisingly grounded, making their connection feel incredibly real. My only complaint is that I wish this had been a full-length novel. The story was so compelling, but it wrapped up too quickly and left me wanting so much more.
Unbound follows Lilit of Nineveh, a powerful revenant sworn to protect mortals, who has spent centuries avoiding attachments until she finds herself unable to stay away from kind-hearted ER physician Roman Martin. When a deadly threat targets Lilit and puts Roman in danger, she must choose between honoring her sacred duty and saving the man she was never supposed to love.
Thank you Spotify for this ALC!
Lilit and Roman's story is raw, emotional, and surprisingly grounded, making their connection feel incredibly real. My only complaint is that I wish this had been a full-length novel. The story was so compelling, but it wrapped up too quickly and left me wanting so much more.
Unbound follows Lilit of Nineveh, a powerful revenant sworn to protect mortals, who has spent centuries avoiding attachments until she finds herself unable to stay away from kind-hearted ER physician Roman Martin. When a deadly threat targets Lilit and puts Roman in danger, she must choose between honoring her sacred duty and saving the man she was never supposed to love.
Thank you Spotify for this ALC!
July 11, 2026
After listening to Two Can Play and Bound, I knew that I would love anything Ali Hazelwood chooses to write for audio-first releases. When I discovered that Unbound would be a companion novel to Bound, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to listen early.
I found this one so interesting, because instead of the mortal falling for the immortal love interest, we get the opposite. Lilit is an extremely old revenant, and hopelessly in love with her mortal doctor situationship- Roman. As an added bonus: there’s also a murder mystery and revenant politics involved. This was such a quick listen, and the duet narration style was extremely engaging due to the wonderful performance from the narrators. I listened in one drive/ sitting, and didn’t pause it for even a moment. Absolutely obsessed with this world, and look forward to any other audio-first stories from AH!
Unbound is available as an audiobook on July 14, 2026. Thank you Spotify Audiobooks for gifting me with an ALC (via Netgalley), all thoughts expressed are my own.
I found this one so interesting, because instead of the mortal falling for the immortal love interest, we get the opposite. Lilit is an extremely old revenant, and hopelessly in love with her mortal doctor situationship- Roman. As an added bonus: there’s also a murder mystery and revenant politics involved. This was such a quick listen, and the duet narration style was extremely engaging due to the wonderful performance from the narrators. I listened in one drive/ sitting, and didn’t pause it for even a moment. Absolutely obsessed with this world, and look forward to any other audio-first stories from AH!
Unbound is available as an audiobook on July 14, 2026. Thank you Spotify Audiobooks for gifting me with an ALC (via Netgalley), all thoughts expressed are my own.
July 15, 2026
Ali can do no wrong!
For this being a novella, I am honestly amazed by how much she was able to pack into it.
I felt instantly intrigued by Lilit and Romans connection and was so eager to see where their story was going to go. I cheered for them the entire time and loved watching their growth, even over such a short period of time. The mystery throughout had me not wanting to stop listening until I found out who was behind it all.
If you are a fan of paranormal romance then this one should definitely be added to your list!
The duet narration was incredible and really brought this story to life!
Thank you to NetGalley and Spotify Audiobooks for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.
For this being a novella, I am honestly amazed by how much she was able to pack into it.
I felt instantly intrigued by Lilit and Romans connection and was so eager to see where their story was going to go. I cheered for them the entire time and loved watching their growth, even over such a short period of time. The mystery throughout had me not wanting to stop listening until I found out who was behind it all.
If you are a fan of paranormal romance then this one should definitely be added to your list!
The duet narration was incredible and really brought this story to life!
Thank you to NetGalley and Spotify Audiobooks for this ALC in exchange for an honest review.
July 15, 2026
At this point, Ali Hazelwood is her own worst enemy as it is so hard to read her new books without comparing them to her incredible backlist. Unbound was okay, but I think it’s undoubtedly her weakest book. Both the main characters felt incredibly bland and the primary conflict was rushed. I appreciated getting more insight into the world that she started building in Bound, but there wasn’t enough of it to flesh out the story. The saving grace was that despite this being so short, this did have AH’s trademark charm and I did find myself invested in the story (even though upon reflection, I can’t quite put my finger on why).
July 14, 2026
The story was interesting but I kept getting distracted by badly stitched together audio clips. I also wanted more personality from Roman other than in love with Lilbeth. Surprising lack of spice from Ali Hazelwood as well
July 15, 2026
Looooove a paranormal Ali 🙂↕️ Excited to eyeball reread this in the fall!
July 14, 2026
Unbound is a paranormal romance novella, and I leapt on it as soon as it released today on Spotify, after loving Bound last year. They're connected so I do recommend reading Bound first, but it is summarised pretty well.
For a novella somewhere around 200 pages, I was expecting the plot to be quite light, and for the romance to be the main focus of the book, so I was very pleasantly surprised by how much plot there actually is here in Unbound. The plot feeds perfectly into the romance, because it forces revenant (aka vampire) Lilit to confront her love for her longtime (but casual) lover, a human doctor named Roman. The yearning and love between Lilit and Roman is high, and I loved their story. I actually found it quite emotional and I teared up twice!
The duet narration is incredible for Unbound, and the female narrator has a very specific accent and intonation that really gives a sense that 5000 year old Lilit is a woman out of time. I think you'll either love or hate the narrator's choices for Lilit, and I was on the love side of the fence, and it matched everything that the book itself said about her accent. From a technical perspective, there are some of the female narrator's lines that were obviously recorded in a different session than the lines before or after it, because I could noticeably hear a difference in the sound quality on those lines, like the microphone was further away or something. It's noticeable for sure, but not the end of the world.
Overall, it's a great novella and I love that it's getting a print release with the connected standalone Bound.
For a novella somewhere around 200 pages, I was expecting the plot to be quite light, and for the romance to be the main focus of the book, so I was very pleasantly surprised by how much plot there actually is here in Unbound. The plot feeds perfectly into the romance, because it forces revenant (aka vampire) Lilit to confront her love for her longtime (but casual) lover, a human doctor named Roman. The yearning and love between Lilit and Roman is high, and I loved their story. I actually found it quite emotional and I teared up twice!
The duet narration is incredible for Unbound, and the female narrator has a very specific accent and intonation that really gives a sense that 5000 year old Lilit is a woman out of time. I think you'll either love or hate the narrator's choices for Lilit, and I was on the love side of the fence, and it matched everything that the book itself said about her accent. From a technical perspective, there are some of the female narrator's lines that were obviously recorded in a different session than the lines before or after it, because I could noticeably hear a difference in the sound quality on those lines, like the microphone was further away or something. It's noticeable for sure, but not the end of the world.
Overall, it's a great novella and I love that it's getting a print release with the connected standalone Bound.
July 15, 2026
This audiobook for unforgivably bad. I'll get it out of the way that it's not Ali Hazelwood's fault that the narration and production of this audiobook is awful, but this is a novella that is only available on audio and was written as a Spotify Original, so I had no option but to listen to the audiobook and therefore I think it's fair to include the audio production in this review.
The male narrator was perfectly fine while voicing Roman, but the voices he did for some of the other characters were highly questionable. The female narrator, who is narrating Lilith and is reading all non-male speaking lines, was so bad. From what I can tell, she's never done an audiobook before and it was glaringly obvious. This was not helped by the extremely poor production of this audiobook that had her very very frequently rerecording lines, in which she would be speaking in an entirely different accent/cadence/speed and with significantly lower audio quality to the extent that certain rerecorded lines sounded muffled.
The story itself is also fairly weak. When doing a novella you already have only half the amount of time to develop the relationship, and yet we barely got any relationship development. We start the novella with both of them already having feelings for each other, but never get to see why these two would have those feelings or how they would work together in an actual relationship.
For a vampire romance it's absolutely insane
The male narrator was perfectly fine while voicing Roman, but the voices he did for some of the other characters were highly questionable. The female narrator, who is narrating Lilith and is reading all non-male speaking lines, was so bad. From what I can tell, she's never done an audiobook before and it was glaringly obvious. This was not helped by the extremely poor production of this audiobook that had her very very frequently rerecording lines, in which she would be speaking in an entirely different accent/cadence/speed and with significantly lower audio quality to the extent that certain rerecorded lines sounded muffled.
The story itself is also fairly weak. When doing a novella you already have only half the amount of time to develop the relationship, and yet we barely got any relationship development. We start the novella with both of them already having feelings for each other, but never get to see why these two would have those feelings or how they would work together in an actual relationship.
For a vampire romance it's absolutely insane
July 14, 2026
Not as spicy as your usual AH fare, but I ate this up in one sitting. The emotions that coursed through me, girl. Intrigue, kilig, indignation (you'll find out), heartbreak, relief.
For any Mohabbot stans drawn to this book because of the rumors and the cover, I'd like to report that Roman is not actually as old as Jack Abbot. He's 35...but Lilit is oooolllllddddd. So it's still technically age gap romance. 😏 Roman is also "O negative, which comes in very handy during mass casualty incidents." The scream I scrumpt. AAAAND he has a few gray hairs. That's good enough for me!
Anyway, it's refreshing to read a book where the FMC is stronger the MMC...and it turns him on. A man written by a woman, and I love it. He's perfect. She's perfect. The narrators did a great job, and I have no complaints.
For any Mohabbot stans drawn to this book because of the rumors and the cover, I'd like to report that Roman is not actually as old as Jack Abbot. He's 35...but Lilit is oooolllllddddd. So it's still technically age gap romance. 😏 Roman is also "O negative, which comes in very handy during mass casualty incidents." The scream I scrumpt. AAAAND he has a few gray hairs. That's good enough for me!
Anyway, it's refreshing to read a book where the FMC is stronger the MMC...and it turns him on. A man written by a woman, and I love it. He's perfect. She's perfect. The narrators did a great job, and I have no complaints.
July 15, 2026
I had so much fun with this audiobook. It pulled me in right away, and before I knew it, I was at the end wondering where the rest of it was.
I loved the balance between the romance, the suspense, and the paranormal elements. Every chapter gave me another reason to keep listening, and I was completely invested in these characters by the end.
The duet narration was excellent and added so much emotion to the story. It made an already engaging novella even harder to put down.
My only complaint is that it ended too soon. I would happily read a full-length novel with these characters because I definitely wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
I loved the balance between the romance, the suspense, and the paranormal elements. Every chapter gave me another reason to keep listening, and I was completely invested in these characters by the end.
The duet narration was excellent and added so much emotion to the story. It made an already engaging novella even harder to put down.
My only complaint is that it ended too soon. I would happily read a full-length novel with these characters because I definitely wasn’t ready to say goodbye.
July 13, 2026
5/5 stars! I absolutely love Unbound. If Ali Hazelwood writes it I will read/ listen to it. I was extremely excited to receive an arc of Unbound as Ali Hazelwood is one of my favourite authors. Unbound is the second book in the Bound and Unbound duet. Both Bound and Unbound are 5/5 stars! I was hooked from the very first chapter and could not turn it off. I finished the audiobook in one sitting. Unbound is releasing July 14, 2026. Thank you so much to Netgalley, Ali Hazelwood and Spotify Audiobooks for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook.
July 14, 2026
3.5 Stars
July 14, 2026
Ms Ali is baaaaack.
Fangs out 🦷
Glasses on 👓
Read about horny vampires in STEM. 🩸🧪
Fangs out 🦷
Glasses on 👓
Read about horny vampires in STEM. 🩸🧪
July 14, 2026
2.75⭐️
2.0🌶
4.0🎧 duet
Moved very fast for a novella. Needed more time to build characters and plot.
2.0🌶
4.0🎧 duet
Moved very fast for a novella. Needed more time to build characters and plot.
July 14, 2026
My main complaint is that it should’ve been a whole book not a novella. Miss Ali set up their relationship so well and then all the exciting drama was so fast!!
July 15, 2026
T'was very enjoyable, indeed.
July 15, 2026
5 fking stars.
one of the best books i have read this year!
one of the best books i have read this year!
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