Saturday, January 28, 2012

Review: Bound by Kira Saito

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Bound
Kira Saito
Release date: October 28th, 2011

Goodreads / Purchase

Sixteen year old Arelia LaRue lives in New Orleans where the music is loud, voodoo queens inhabit every street corner, and the ghosts are alive and well. Despite her surroundings, all she wants is to help her Grand-mere Bea pay the rent and save up for college.

When her best friend Sabrina convinces her to take a well-paying summer job at the infamous Darkwood plantation, owned by the wealthy LaPlante family, Arelia agrees.

However, at Darkwood strange things start to happen, and gorgeous Lucus LaPlante insists that he needs her help. Soon, the powers that Arelia has been denying all her life, come out to play and she discovers mysteries about herself that she could have never imagined.

*A copy was provided by Kira Saito for review purposes*
This cover is gorgeous, and the intriguing synopsis about voodoo had me excited to read it. Sadly, this wasn’t for me. Even though the plot was mysterious, the characters were infuriating.

Let’s start with Arelia, who has been hearing spirits her whole life. She’s taken a summer job at a plantation which appears to be filled with spirits and strange happenings. Arelia comes off as very immature for the most part of the book. She would overreact to the smallest things, as well as believe everything her jealous best friend told her (which we will get to in a bit). But then when it comes to voodoo, despite having heard spirits her whole life, she refuses to believe any of it. I could not, for the life of me, understand this girl. She lets herself get backstabbed by her best friend, lied to, then simply forgives her. This best friend, Sabrina, I despised her. She is the definition of spoiled, and a complete bitch. I didn’t understand why they were even friends. As for Lucus, the love interest, he was an ok character, but never really gave off any sort of charm. All in all, the whole cast was a big disappointment to me. I didn’t connect with any of them, nor did I understand their reactions to any of the events that happened in the book. They all seemed very stiff; unconvincing.

The plot started off really interesting with a good amount of mystery. I haven’t read many books based on voodoo so it was different. I liked learning about the lore, but unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of digging into it until the very end. I wish we had delved deeper into Arelia’s abilities. As soon as the plot starts getting more complex, the book ends; it felt unfinished.

The book is not awful, it does have promise. With some editing it could even be pretty good. But as is, I couldn’t get myself to enjoy it very much.  

2 Hot Espressos
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Giselle

Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

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22 Responses to “Review: Bound by Kira Saito”

  2. Amy

    It’s too bad that this book wasn’t very great for you. I won this back in December and still haven’t gotten around to it. I will be in no rush now. I hate not having character connection. It sounds like it could have been a good book with a little more work.

  3. Kristan

    This sounds like the same problem I just had with the last book I reviewed. The main character bugged me and made it so hard for me to connect with her. And if I can’t feel anything for the characters then I most likely won’t feel anything for the story.

    Too bad the story didn’t do it for you though. The voodoo sounds pretty cool, haven’t read a book about it.

    Kristan @ Lost Amongst the Shelves

  5. K R Weinert

    Thanks for the honest review. I’m into character based novels, and unless the the plot’s super spectacular, a book without cool characters just won’t do it for me.

  6. Sam

    Thanks for the helpful review. It’s a shame this book wasn’t better for you, Giselle – it sounds like it had a lot of promise though. Voodoo isn’t something I have come across much in YA either so that aspect does sound interesting. I hope your next read is a better experience! 🙂

    Sam @ Realm of Ficton

  7. sonia

    Ack, this looks so good that I’m so disappointed you didn’t like it. I might check it out anyway, though just for the New Orleans vibe.

    xoxo
    -S.

  8. Heather

    Bummer that it turned out that way, it sounds so good! I love the premise. If there is a free preview of it somewhere I’ll check it out before I give it a try.

  9. Giselle

    Thanks guys. Maybe some of you will enjoy it more though.

    @Heather: There’s a short excerpt here when I was on the tour for it a few weeks ago:
    click here. There me be something longer on the author’s site I haven’t checked.

  14. CYP @ A Bookalicious Story

    Aw damn, I was intrigued by its cover and synopsis when I received the tour invite for this book’s Bewitching tour. (Lucky I didn’t RSVP!><)

    I may sound a little bimb now, but I really can’t stand a romance book when the male love interest is unimpressive or as you’ve said “never really gave off any sort of charm”. And I hate spoilt brats. Spoilt brats real life are a pain in the ass, and now the book wants me to read about them?

    Great review, though! Very informative, and at least now I know not to pick it up!

  16. Celine

    I was really interested in reading this book but maybe I shall read it when I have spare time. Even though you didn’t quite enjoy it, this is still an awesome review, Giselle! ♥ Thank you for sharing this with us! 🙂

    Celine @ Forget-me-not

  17. A Canadian Girl

    Aw, it’s too bad the content doesn’t live up to the pretty cover. Thanks for the review, Giselle. I haven’t read many books involving voodoo either but I’ll skip this one since I don’t like the sound of the MC or her best friend. Forgiveness is good but in this case it seems like it’s granted too easily.

  21. Cambria

    I am sorry to hear you didn’t like this. The cover is just gorgeous and really pulls you in. But after reading your review I can understand why it might not be for me. Thanks for your honest review!