Bound

by Amanda K. Dudley-Penn

Marissa Dalene has been sheltered by her loving family for most of her life. Imagine her surprise when she finds herself the object of interest for two vampires...
Nicolas who loves her and will do anything to save her from bringing her into the darkness in which he lives and Bernard, who has been ordered to kill her and fights his own battle to save her even if that means turning her into a monster like himself.

In this battle of wills Marissa finds that she may have to stand alone and make the decision herself to save not only her life but everyone she loves.

ebook

First published July 1, 2013

About the author

Amanda K. Dudley-Penn was born in June of 1977 in Tullahoma,Tennessee. She has loved writing from a young age and spent her time writing stories and poetry for those close to her. It became her dream to become a published writer. With the support of her three children and husband, she began writing her first novel, The Hidden in 2008 and finished it in June of 2012. She is currently the author of four series, The Alexandra Denton Chronicles, The Brazil Werewolf Series, The Preston Vampire Series and The Roses and Blood Series and she is working on the release of three more series, The Angel Essence Series, Night in Eden Series and The Prophecy of Darkness and Light Series. She currently lives in Grand Prairie, Texas with her husband, David and her two youngest children, Isabella and Joshua.

Reviews

[Maki ⌒☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bound took a while to get started. The first half of the book was almost nothing but exposition, setting up the premise of the story. There was so much information being thrown at the reader so fast, it felt incredibly clunky.

After the plot and characters are established, though, the story slows down a touch, and things actually start happening. Once I hit that point in the story, I was much more invested in the story.

The vampires seemed a bit Twilight-esque...the main clan only feeds on animal blood, and they've got a dainty female vampire who can see the future, and they've got to gather together their vampire family to fight a war against the evil vampires who don't share their views. However, there's also a plot involving some of the older vampires being mistaken for gods, which was actually fascinating to think about. I'd normally groan about a book trying to shoe-horn in vampires AND a Greek god reference, but it doesn't seem so insane the way this book handled the issue.

The romance between Marissa and Nicholas is incredibly rushed. Part of it is explained through Nicholas' back story, but even so, it happened way too fast for me to get invested in them. I don't care about them for the same reasons I don't care about Stephan and Elena in Vampire Diaries.

I think that if the book had taken a slower pace, it would have been a stronger story. Longer, yes, but the book would have benefited in the long run.

It was definitely a neat take on vampires, though. I'll give it that.

[Mackenzie Raye · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this wasn’t my favorite book from this author, Roses and Blood holds that title, I did find the book enjoyable just difficult for me to follow. Many different characters to keep your mind interested in the story. Each character brings a unique point of view to the table while spreading their story onto the reader.
If you like vampires, the non-fancied up ones, this book might just be right up your alley. Talk about secrets and lies; page after page you learn more about the head Vampire and her ways to twist her history on Earth. The location of the story was spot on and well introduced into the book by the author.
You might ask why the five-star view? It is because I cannot fault the author for an excellent book because it didn’t fit my reading style. To be fair and honest, this book is worth reading and you might just enjoy it.