Format: ebook
Release Date: March 5th, 2019
Genre: Fantasy – Paranormal
Goodreads
Rating: 2/5 Stars
I really wanted to like this one. Normally I can forgive a lot in Paranormal Romances, and I don’t mind if some elements are weaker as long as others are stronger – the plot can be a bit basic, but if the characters are compelling I’m along for the ride. Unfortunately in Mystic Bonds there were more negatives than positives.
The author definitely had some good ideas, and there were points when I felt the book was really close to redeeming itself, but the truth is this needed some heavier editing – it needs more of a developmental edit and a copyedit. The second half especially is littered with errors; there’s issues with speech tags, typos, and characters names change mid paragraph. While we’re talking about characters, there’s so many. It becomes difficult to keep up with them all, and I found myself struggling to remember who was who, especially as there’s six in the ‘core’ group, who are all ‘different’ in terms of their abilities, then the extended cast.
Those abilities feel all over the place, too. Amina is a mage, but what that means in this world is…wide raging. Her brother is also a mage, who can control technology and weapons. Amina can control every living thing. Despite the fact most of the world is now inhabited by mages, weres, fairies and other fantastical creatures, her brother keeps insisting Amina is a superhero and gives her lots of cutesy nicknames.
There’s three men who are ‘after’ her in different ways – a guy who locks up paranormal creatures so he can drink their blood to gain their powers, a guy who can telepathically control people who does so to keep a town of paranormals under his control, and a werejackal who serves as a love interest. There’s an attempt at a love triangle between the last two, but it falls flat as from the moment she meets Philip he’s creepy as hell. As for the relationship between her and Erik, Erik was an interesting enough character but the romance between them felt like it happened so quick, it was a little jarring. And he eats a troll’s heart which momentarily freaks her out before he explains they get strength from this, in which case Amina finds it all absolutely fine.
The dialogue is weak, and “welcome to the supernatural apocalypse!” is repeated so often it’s frustrating. Amina comes across as naïve and a little flakily, constantly contradicting herself in her choices and internal thoughts. These are the kind of things that when handled well can be really effective, but it doesn’t hit that point here.
Some of the concepts are intriguing, and some had promise, but the characters lacked consistency and it felt like the plot was forgotten for a large chunk of the book, then rushed through. Solomon isn’t a bad writer, but the main issue here comes through with a lack of much needed editing.
Reading Challenge
The Disney Reading Challenge
Prompt: Tangled – Here comes the smoulder – a book with a smouldering MMC
Progress: 3/40 Completed
Unwrapping Words 