Dark Bound

Shadow and Light #2

by Kim Richardson

The pulse-pounding continuation of the Shadow and Light series!

After narrowly surviving her encounter with the archangel Vedriel, Rowyn finds herself on another Hunt. But there’s a catch. Her new employer is the faerie Queen of the Dark Court, and Rowyn HATES faeries.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Vampires, Romance, Fae, Magic

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 18, 2018

About the author

Kim Richardson is the award-winning author of the bestselling SOUL GUARDIANS series. She lives in the eastern part of Canada with her husband, two dogs and a very old cat. She is the author of the SOUL GUARDIANS series, the MYSTICS series, and the DIVIDED REALMS series. Kim's books are available in print editions, and translations are available in over 7 languages.

Reviews

[Elena Rodríguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
"¿Te das cuenta de lo espeluznante que es referirse a ti misma en tercera persona? Maldita bruja enferma".

Yo venía aquí a por mí dosis de drama telenovelero y lo he obtenido. Me ha enganchado y mantenido en vilo. Me lo he leído en menos de un día. También es que es bastante ligero y se lee rápido.

“-Tyrius sabes lo que te pasa cuando tomas café. No te sienta bien, he visto gatos que se ponen locos con el catnip, pero cuando tú tomas café…eres como cien gatos con catnip combinados. ¿Recuerdas lo que pasó la última vez? El padre Thomas tuvo que utilizar la manguera para evitar que arruinaras su jardín.

-Como olvidarlo- murmuró Tyrius.- El sacerdote me tenía clavado a la pared con su manguera….Dios, eso no sonó muy bien que digamos”.

El libro ha aportado su dosis de drama y no ha sido demasiado innecesaria, al menos por el momento. Eso sí, me ha hecho reír bastante en algunos momentos de lo absurdo que era las situaciones. Sobretodo el gato-demonio. Lo adoro.

“-Soy tu hada madrina. Espera un segundo mientras saco mi varita mágica de mi trasero…

-¡Tyrius!

-¿Qué? Esta Hada de los Diente acaba de amenazarme, Rowyn. No voy a inclinarme y aceptarlo”.

El final te deja con ganas de seguir porque es lo que sucede con estos libros. Pero, antes necesito descansar, si no mi cerebro se atrofia más de lo que debería.

[Nicketa Fox · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am so angry at myself for thinking book 2 MIGHT get better - fun fact: I was wrong

I hated this book so much.

I face palmed so much during this book! Like..... a lot. I don’t think I’ve face palmed or rolled my eyes this much during a book. EVER. I’ve read some bad books, but this may be top 5.

• This whole book, the main character was in heat. If I was a male dog, I literally would have been able to smell her from half the world away, with my scent receptors gone.
So much potential. Ruined. Absolutely ruined by the constant “Jax is dreamy!”; “I tried to get closer to him because I felt the heat”; “I could smell his musk” - literal quotations here.
I’ve read some paranormal romance where the main characters weren’t in as much heat as this character. I became so mad at this book around chapter 3.

• In what world/dimension/scenario would you watch someone get killed/about to be killed right in front of you, standing there believing that you are about to die yourself, but you HAVE TO TRY AND GET CLOSER TO SOMEONE YOU FIND ATTRACTIVE SO YOU COULD FEEL THEIR HEAT AGAINST YOUR BACK WHILE THEY TALKED AND YOU COULD FEEL THE BREATHE ON YOUR NECK WARMING YOUR INSIDES?!
NONE!! That’s how many! NONE!
It was like that link where a bunch of women write notes for male authors on how they’ve written female characters. Only this was a female author so she should have known better!

• The other thing - this character is supposed to be some badass fighter or whatever (I cant actually remember what she is because she is so useless)... so how come she keeps getting her ass handed to her. By literally everyone she fights. I don’t think there’s one fight where she convincingly wins, or doesn’t nearly get killed herself. NOT ONE!!!
Then she goes on in some fights “now I’m getting angry”; “oh no you didn’t. I’m a trained hunter” - again literal quotes; "blah blah blah". If you’re a trained hunter, then why are you constantly getting the crap beaten out of you and why do you only just get saved from these “lesser demons” who you are constantly saying “are easy to kill.” If they’re so easy why did you get knocked the f out and why did you need to get rescued?
Jax says at one point how he’d never seen someone fight like her and that he’d seen girls hold their own before but she was something else. HOW?! WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE!? Has he just watched jelly wrestling and think that was it?! WHAT!? I don’t know what bloody fights he’s been watching because she can’t do shit

• She fights an angel. She says, and I am quoting here “she was fast, but I’m a trained hunter” then in the very next sentence the angel is angry and makes a killing blow to her heart!!!
Now, I’m not a “trained hunter” but I do know some things and one of those things is speed means shit against skill. You’re a trained hunter but someone with, and again I quote, “lesser skills” shouldn’t be able to put you on your ass more times than a stripper goes down a pole in one night.
The only thing that can’t beat skill occasionally is absolute chaos. There was no chaos. There was just your skill vs her anger/speed. Again, she would have killed you if not for a bloody coin.
RIDDLE ME THAT!!!!! How can someone go against some bad ass, trained hunter, but still win (in my eyes the angel won even though she died and put the main character on her ass that she may as well have just lain there anyway). How?!
I’ll tell you how. You have to be a shit hunter with a big ego and no skill. How the f she’s lasted so long I’ll never know.

•I found this painful to read and I don’t know how many notes m/highlights I did literally saying “why is this here?”, “how was this necessary”, the word “no”.


• The only highlights were Danto, Tyrius, and the priest. Jax isn’t really in it enough, and when he is he’s a grade A dick. You’ve been missing 6 months pal.... what makes you think that all of a sudden now that you’re back she needs you? Probably the fact that she does, but that’s not the point.

• I can not bring myself to read the rest of the series.
If I wanted to read about some girl chasing some guys peen; being moister than an oyster; being amazing(ly shit) at fighting etc then I could pic up a porno from a supermarket and call it a day.

I just..... I just can’t with this series.

[Debora M | Nasreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un po' "meno" avvincente del primo. Onestamente mi aspettavo molto di più perché il primo mi ha davvero conquistata. In ogni caso ritmo, personaggi e narrazione hanno retto bene il confronto e meritano 4 STELLE.
Ci piace questa serie, vogliamo il terzo! :-)

[Boundless Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark Bound is thrilling, exciting and one of the best paranormal series I’ve read.

Rowyn always seems to find herself in some kind of a mess. But she always tries to figure out a way out of them. I love Rowyn, she is so bad a$$. She can have arrows shot into her thigh and still that doesn’t stop her. I mean, how can you not love her? She also finds some humor in the midst of it all. It helps though to have the cat Tyrius by her side. I love that Demon.

Just like the first book, once the story starts, it’s a roller coaster. There’s never a moment where you’re thinking, man this boring. There’s no chance, after one thing there’s something else. You never know what Richardson has up her sleeve. Rowyn and Jax’s relationship is explored in Dark Bound. But there’s something that has to keep them apart. Even though you don’t get those hot scorching moments, you feel it. There’s something that lies deep within them, and it’s like they are destined to be a part of each other's lives.

I’ve been a fan of Richardson for a while. It just seems like every book she writes, and she gets better and better. The writing is magic, it’s brilliant, and I can’t get enough. Now I have to wait for #3, and I hate waiting. What’s going to happen next? I have to know. Hurry up book three.

Overall, Five Boundless Stars

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[Mummy's Naughty Corner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this as much as the first but the fairy queen was a nice twist. I'm still interesting in reading more. I need to know whats in store for Jax. It seems like everyone is after Rowyn. I'm glad she saved her Nan's home but it seems like the trouble is only just beginning. I like the way all the creatures are brought into the story and the variety of them.

[Casey Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character is so annoying but the cat is great.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book commences with Rowyn’s grandmother receiving a foreclosure/eviction notice. Now, I don’t think the grandmother’s age has been disclosed but since Rowyn’s mother grew up in that house, I will assume she's lived in that house long enough to pay off a 30 year mortgage. Has she so mismanaged her money that she’s taken out second, third, whatever loans on it? If so, it shouldn’t come as a huge shock that this is the eventual outcome. And $20,000? That’s probably almost as much as the house cost when she originally purchased it. Seems like the author may be applying today’s value to a loan from long ago. My first home cost a bit over $40,000 and the payments were under $400 a month, including taxes and insurance.

Anyway, Rowyn needs to come up with $20,000 in a short amount of time to save grandma’s home. She accepts a job from the dark fae queen that coincidentally pays $20,000 when completed. Rowyn is to find the fae that killed the queen’s son which entails entering Elysium. She succeeds in this endeavor with devastating results.

Jax is whisked off to the Netherworld by Degamon, the demon to whom he’d given his name. Rowyn attempts a summoning spell to bring him back without success.

She has been charged with the murder of the archangel Vedriel and an angel appears to kill her to collect the bounty.

The story ends with Rowyn meeting with Jax’s mother to apprise her of his fate.

[Just Jese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incomplete

I may be judging this sophomore book rather harshly, but with good reason (IMO).
This book feels incredibly incomplete. Like nothing was resolved, at all. You can’t even make a compelling argument that this was just more world building and setting up for a few books into the series.
So Rowyn is attempting to save her grandmother’s house, but she technically doesn’t and the thing they didn’t want to do to help stave off eviction was done anyway.,?
Jax disappeared for weeks and was found him at home, unharmed and keeping his mom company. No explanation was given whatsoever for him being MIA.
The fae job was completed and unleashed a new horror, but apparently that wasn’t worth following up on either or the lore behind it.
Oh s as of let’s not forget the surprise reappearance of a demon who in exchange for a name was allowed to take a whole person, body and soul intact, into the netherworld as payment despite that not bring the original terms.
Why does Danto keep showing up if he add no Rowyn didn’t exactly talk after the whole Cindy death thing?
This story just left everything dangling and I just didn’t get it at all. What was the point if you weren’t going to solve something or other?

[Valérie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quelle déception ce tome ! S’il n’y avait pas eu l’histoire, j’aurais abandonné en route. Comment un personnage peut-il changer à ce point ? Pourquoi un tel revirement de la part de l’auteure ? Incompréhensible.

Dans le premier tome, l’héroïne était un personnage féminin fort, en quête d’identité ne sachant pas vraiment pourquoi on lui vouait une telle haine. La fin du tome un nous en donne la raison, Rowyn est mi ange-mi démon. Cela promettait une suite intéressante qui a fait flop.

Rowyn s’est transformée en pleurnicheuse, se traitant d’idiote tous les chapitres et à forte raison. Elle accumule les décisions stupides et irréfléchies, mettant en danger tout le monde, risquant la vie de son meilleur ami et créant des situations qui conduisent à la mort d’un innocent. Loin de voir un personnage mûrir, on assiste à une régression, l’auteure nous offrant le pire : une jeune femme. Se conduisant comme une adolescente égoïste travaillée par sa libido.

Je doute vraiment de lire la suite .

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really a 3.5 for me.

I love this author. I've been binge reading her books since finding her last month. Always such a huge treat, isnt it? To find a talented new-to-you author in your favorite genre when you were sure you'd already discovered all the good ones? But I have noticed something about Richardson. She's either absolutely on fire with her writing or she's tepid. The tepid is rare, but obvious. This book was a tepid. The adventure, as in book one, was good. Buts thats all there was. There was zero character growth or depth in this second series entry. If this trend continued, the series would quickly read as stilted, vapid, formulaic and passionless. But, since this is Richardson, I'm going on to the next in series and planning on this being a one entry slump. She is that good an author and worthy of such trust.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me encanta mucho la personalidad de la protagonista , después del primer libro ya me había enamorado de Jax y Danto. Pero todo mi fanatismo se lo gana Tyrius el demonio Baal, directamente me extrañaría que no estuviera en algún capítulo. Es un personaje increíble y maravilloso. Puedo decir que con este libro me gustó mucho más Danto que Jax. Me encanta esa delicadeza de vampiro que le precede. Así que si, debo decir que cada personaje que apareció en este y el anterior libro son tan deliciosos de leer. La trama está bien pero se nota que la lucha de Rowyn apenas va empezando, será genial continuar leyendo sus pesares, sus dificultades y su busca por la felicidad. Yo continuaré leyendo la saga por un final feliz para ella y su gato demonio Baal. Mis felicitaciones a la escritora,crea mundos maravillosos como este💖

[Annelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not good as the first one but still

This serie is thrilling. Rowyn got to know more Danto as Jax didn't give her any sign of life during the six previous months. The character of the fae queen was very well described (the crown made of human teeth is genious...and absolutely scary!). The ambiences are realistic.
But... All Rowyn inner speeches about Jax were too much. She sounded like a stupid teenager in heat! Come on, this guy is an a**hole, pretentious, and unfair. Get's rid of him!
I also found that the inner speeches during fights are sometimes useless, senseless, and boring.
But... I love this serie!

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

My biggest issue is when an author makes a major mistake in their own plot and throws me out of the story.

In the first book we have this line from Rowyn, "My earliest memory was of a ghoul demon hiding in my closet, feeding on my pet hamster. It hadn’t been pleased with me after I’d bludgeoned it to ashes with my doll. It had been my first kill. And I was four."

And one chapter into this second book, Rowyn tells us, "I smiled, remembering my first experience as a Hunter. On a cool night like this I killed my first demon. I was fifteen at the time, totally unaware of the demon that had followed me home from a night at the movies."

[Irene Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amusing

The heroine Rowyn Sinclair is one major disaster area most things she gets involved in go awry to the point they would be amusing if they weren't so disasterous. An archangel is dead a Goblin who is saving the world is dead a powerful magic stone he was hiding in the hands of the dark fairie queen the young man she cares about Jax taken by a demon and she is being accused of murder and hunted by angels and it is all down to her. She must be the most hopeless heroine ever.

[Abby G. Amos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Read!

There is a lot going on in this book,but I was able to keep up with everything! There is a war between Angel Bloods and demons, but Rhode seems to be the one to always come out of it! Maybe not on top, but she gets herself into deep mess and with the help of her other worldly friends she makes it. This is different from other paranormal books and I like that. I recommend this book to others!

[Linda Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book continues all the action from the first story. She really doesn't know what to do and has some difficult choices. The lines are blurring for her and her personal feelings are making her doubt herself as well. I would like to have seen more development in her relationship with Jax and her growing more in self confidence considering all her abilities. The ending leaves you hanging.

I am voluntarily reviewing a copy I received.

[DarkDreams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bueno en un principio ya me lo leí sabiendo que era un libro para pasar el rato en el tren (es decir nada serio a lo que engancharme).
Es muy divertida la relación del gato con la protagonista, en realidad gran parte por lo que me leo esta saga es por la relación de estos dos.
Es un libro que empieza con un objetivo y siempre se acaba convirtiendo en un problema más grande en el que la protagonista se ha metido ella solita.
Me daré un respiro de esta saga y la continuaré más adelante. 😘

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action Packed Book 2.

LOVED book 2. This one is so full of action. It kept me coiled with suspense right to the end. The main character, Rowyn, is absolutely amazing and funny. She just keeps running into impossible odds and finds a way to get out of them (most of the time). I can't wait for the next book. Keep them coming.

[Jojo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not all heros wear capes

This series is a part of the Soul Guardian World, a previous series of Kim Richardson with a twist. Rowyan is Angel born but she was injected with demon essence and her sidekick is a Baal demon or a Siamese cat. That should intrigue you enough to get started.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

You take a job from a Queen to find her sons killer, you find him and capture him but you don’t ask for his side of the story. Also you wait until you have the target on the Queens doorstep before you realize that you can’t turn him in. When the Queens guard comes to collect the target you are surprised to find out that the Queen was going to kill him. Are you STUPID!!!

[Darth BookLover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muy entretenida y fabulosa continuación de la saga. Me fascina el ritmo que maneja la autora en cada capítulo. No mete cosas innecesarias. La lectura es liviana y rápida. Te metes por completo a la historia. Sin duda seguiré leyendo más de esta saga en su momento. Por lo pronto recomiendo lean sus primeros dos libros al español. En inglés ya está completa. 4/5 estrellas o 9.3/10

[Xenobia · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book wasn't horrible. I enjoyed the storyline and the world that the author wove. But it was painfully repetitive. Literally. We get it, she's broke. And that is just one of the things repeated a million times. It got to the point that I found myself skipping through whole sections just to get back into the book.

[Danielle Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great series

This is a really great series. Fast paced and incredibly edgy. Plenty of snarky humor, to mix up the truly dark happenings. Good vs evil, but who actually is good, the area is so grey. Great characters with phenomenal world building and a storyline that completely engages you to the point that you can’t put it down.

[mason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loves to read

It's not a bad read but as the books progress, your lead character needs to develop. Making the same mistakes over and over again makes me dislike the character because she's stuck in loop. Learn from your mistakes and move on to a better story line a better character.

[C.J. Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read. Once again the Author has left me wanting more and having me rush to buy the next book in line. New characters clinching at my heart strings and main characters becoming cemented in my brain. A story that captivates its reader and making them want to join the fight!

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just ends

Quick read....because it just stops. I enjoy Tyrius and the halfbreeds, but it irks me when books in a series don’t bother to resolve a plot line. This one isn’t even a proper cliffhanger.

[John Colley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved book 1 not crazy about 2

The first book was amazing and thus I rushed onto book 2 dark bound. Very disappointing. It mainly consisted of the amazing Tirius saying this is a silly plan and disaster happening. Repeat X5. I will read the next but hoping for better things

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ehhh...this had promise but the repeated "jump in with no plan, OMG my friend is in danger/injured/whatever because of me" trope has made me crazy. Good premise but I just don't care about anyone except the cat. :( I'm done.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book but too short

The first book in this series was fantastic and just the right length. This book felt like it ended in the middle of a sentence. The book was going along well and I was into in the story until it was abruptly cut off, an obvious “to be continued”.

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great books to stumble across. I typically binge read a whole series, but I may pace myself. I prefer a story to end rather than bleed over into the next book. Cliffhanger's are not my thing, I always feel cheated when I don't get closure. Closure is one of the biggest reasons I love fiction.