Book Review: Bonded by Thorns (Book One)

A mate bond is very rare and sacred. It’s said to be the calling out of your soul for another; the melding of hearts; the quintessence of life itself

Okay, so I didn’t realise that this book was part one of SEVEN BOOKS. S E V E N. Dear lord. I just heard that this was a retelling of Beauty and The Beast, and I love a fairy tale – all of them. Even the originals in all their creepy, dark, and disturbing glory i.e., Hans Christian Anderson’s version of ‘The Little Mermaid’ is not for the weakhearted chaps. But everyone loves Belle, maybe because the girl likes books (a woman after my own heart), and she’s feisty – like who doesn’t love a bit of sass?

We have ‘Bonded by Thorns’ written by the sisterly duo Elizabeth Helen. Our Heroine, Rosalina, is not that feisty. Nor is she that strong in the beginning. She is the town weirdo – or the weirdo’s daughter. Not sure which is better – Yup she likes books, especially romances (again, woman after my own heart). Heck, she even works in a bookstore! One that no one seems interested in visiting. Why is she the town weirdo? Her father spends most of his time hunting down the ‘Vale’. Aka the world of fairies, in his never-ending search for his wife, whom he believes was stolen by the Fay. So yah, half her town thinks she (and her father) are crackers. But the town does love Lucas. Why? Because he saved her life when they were children – little do they know he is one abusive sonofabitch. So, the fact that Rosalina finds herself chased through the briar by a load of goblins into the arms of four extremely handsome Fay princes is a win if you ask me. Aside from the mischievous Prince of Thorns who is hellbent on draining the Briar of its magic with all his dastardly thorns. That’s a downer – oh and the curse where they literally all turn into beasts at night. Charming. Well, you can’t have beauty without the beasts.

 I won’t lie, I needed this book. It is fun, light-hearted and has some great spicy scenes (we all love some spicy scenes, don’t lie) I will also say that this is a win for BookTok. Trust me, I am just as surprised as you are – BookTok delivered something great, that I love. Heck even the villain, The Prince of Thorns is good-looking and wickedly charming, which puts our innocent and timid heroine in a bit of a dilemma. He’s a very tongue-in-cheek morally grey man I must say.

 Lastly, not a fan of the cliffhanger at the end which meant I ordered book two on Amazon faster than you can say ‘Enchanted Castle’. But, I liked that this book had different POVs where you can gain insight into each of the four princes and into our Heroine; It is not one-sided, full of projections and misunderstandings. What it does is add depth, and layers which means the next seven books have been set up perfectly, I guess we’re in for a bumpy steamy ride.