This Blood that Binds Us (1)

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The ties of blood are a symphony of hearts, playing a melody of love that resonates through generations.” Wren has never stolen a life, but that doesn’t stop her from believing her darkness makes her a walking nightmare. Harboring a power so lethal, unpredictable, and entirely forbidden by kingdom law, Wren’s spent her whole life hiding what she is—who she is. A bloodwitch. In fact, if there is one thing I think Cokeley NAILED in this novel, it is the pacing. The plot unravels at a very comfortable pace, the romance takes its time in the best way, and everything feels right in terms of the timing. The ending here is not one you will see coming, and Erin leaves you wondering as the story continues into book 2.

Hi, I’m Erin, and if you haven’t guessed by now, I’m more than a little obsessed with all things fantasy and morally gray characters. I’m a wife and mom to a little boy, I currently live on a very tiny island off the coast of Alaska, and I survive on cold brewed iced coffee. I hold a degree in Film and Media Studies, but decided to shift my focus to where my true passion lies—writing dark fantasies with messy relationships. The bond of family isn’t limited to DNA. It’s the love, respect, and support that truly define it.” Everything spoke of their Savagery, said they were cursed men and women with darkness consuming their souls, unable to feel outside of themselves. They were creatures driven by hunger, unable to control themselves around humans. Everything said they were monsters, but Wilbur wouldn't accept that. He couldn't. The man he met that night was more than just a mindless, hungry monster. He felt things, Wilbur was sure. He sounded lonely, sad even, under the predator eager to control. I believe the characters had some amazing development, especially when it came to a certain devastatingly handsome, Dark Art. I believe he grew the most throughout the story. I loved Wren as our FMC. The strength and power she possesses makes her such a threat and she wears that with pride. I respect her greatly for that, knowing how much she had been through. You could really feel how each character felt while only reading through 1 point of view. I found that fascinating! The strongest family ties are often the ones woven through friendships, compassion, and shared moments.”The love between friends is a kind of blood connection – invisible, yet deeply felt and unbreakable.”

Wilbur walked so lost in thought he failed to hear the twin pair of footsteps fall in step with his own. Above him, a crow sat, watching. there had been more of this around as well recently. I know I am using capitalized words now, but this is a review, not a published book I'm selling to people under false promises for money. But that killed me throughout this book. You have somewhere to stay tonight?" She asked after a moment. He shrugged and offered a small smile, scooping his latest book into his bag.All of this makes up an incredibly fun cast in our more tense and worrying plot. Seeing these characters deal with the rough situations they end up in means we get to see how their views change throughout this. I found this incredibly satisfying to watch. Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. You can not die," she muttered, "not anymore, but you are no longer alive as your time has passed. Unless you wish to meet me, you must take from others what you cannot have yourself. And because you must take, I must curse. I curse you" she said, eyes twinkling. "with the strength of the moon and the speed of stars. I curse you with power and youth. You will not decay, you will not change, you will not settle. I Curse you with time, unending and unyielding, and worst of all I curse you with fear, fear for what you have refused from me. In your unbroken death, you will once again be powerless. I curse you," she finished peering into his hiding place as if she knew where he was; as if she wanted this curse to take place. "May this curse never be broken." Going in I didn't realize this book was just part one, which is kind of important because this sets up A Lot. Especially the last couple chapters. Knowing that makes the pacing make a lot more sense though. Overall this was a very cute book and I look forward to the next one! This goes past just romance and has a very interesting story dealing with old power that I can't wait to see the progression of. I don't wanna say too much because spoilers but I do highly recommend this book and my only real complaint was that there was a fair amount of spelling errors. I'm gonna assume that's because it's an ARC though.

Family is a mosaic of relationships, built on love, shared experiences, and the choice to stand by each other.” The characters are just painstakingly dull. I understand that the author was going for a "respectful" play on vampires, but there was a way to do that without making them lifeless. (pun intended) The main character was also just as dull as the rest of them. Family isn’t just a lineage; it’s a network of hearts, each contributing to the tapestry of your life.” They're together too much of the time where I wanted scenes of them separated, so I can see more of Kimberly doing shit on her own and Aaron doing shit on his own. Instead, they're only kept apart for a minimum of a few paragraphs, but it certainly doesn't feel like it because you're reminded of them in each other's prolific monologues about how cool Kimberly/Aaron is and how much they love being around them. It falls into the telling more than showing. I'm constantly being told how cool they think the other is an how well they get along. I keep being told of how much chemistry there is between them except all I see is a tumbleweed passing by from how dry their conversations are. You were lost in your head. Its' closing time." She said curtly, still looking wary. He shook his head and stood, muscles protesting weakly after hours of disuse. He mildly wondered if that would still happen if he turned.the dynamic between the four brothers, luke, zach, aaron, and presley, was great and i really enjoyed reading about it. at times, i did feel that the three older brothers were a bit overwhelming. the author posted on tiktok about how luke and zach were the over-protective brothers and aaron was a big cinnamon-roll. i felt like it was too much in some areas. like the author was trying really hard to make them fit those characterizations and ended up making luke and zach over-protective in areas that other characters didn’t even need protection and aaron an overly-spiced cinnamon-roll that made him seem immature. (hopefully everyone understands what i’m trying to get across.) again, this was in some scenes and not throughout the entire book. The ending of this book 🤯 It has me on the edge of my seat and I cannot wait for The Bonds That Break Us! I was really looking forward to this book. Like many others, I found this book through TikTok and was immediately intrigued. I patiently waited for it to release, and when I bought it I was so excited to start it. But ultimately, this book is a catfish. OH MY GOD is it bad. This book reads like a 2012 Wattled story that should have never even been up on that app. This story was so badly in need of an editor that I'm curious if it was written in the notes app - because some of these mistakes should have been fixed through Word or even having gramercy installed. There was also some beautiful prose hidden between lots of action. (I wish there was more time to breathe around some of these lines to really take in the beauty of it)

The beauty of blood relations lies in the shared history and unconditional love that flow through our veins.” Every character was so well developed and it was the most enjoyable first in a series book I’ve read in years.Overall I have to say the story was captivating. For a debut novel she did a really great job. This book is about a war between Legion and Kingdom with a subplot of discrimination between those who are transcendent (can shift into beasts) and those who are not. The FMC Wren (a rare blood witch) has more power than she thinks she can handle and spends her life suppressing her magic to keep herself safe. When she falls into the chains of Legion and is used as a pawn in their war she takes matters into her own hands making a deal with the Kingdom and a ruler she never wanted to side with. In the vast expanse of life, blood relations are the constellations that give us a sense of belonging.” her heartbeat was identifiable, thundering. it was beautiful music to my ears. the best sound in the entire world.”