A Review for Blood Bound by Keshia Swaim

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: October 8th, 2013 
Finished Date: November 4th, 2013

Publishers: Spencer Hill Press
Genre: YA, Paranormal,
Source: For Review

Format: Paperback
Pages: 194

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

Starting college a year early is hard. Starting fae college and learning to protect the world from the Unseelie is harder.
Brielle Reed has always been an over-achiever, but this time she may have bitten off more than she can chew. 

Between her crash course in fae politics, struggles to control her new mind-reading ability, training sessions with the demanding Dr. Schwartz, and discoveries about the father who is still a mystery to her, Brielle finds herself longing for a chance at a normal life.

But she may not get that chance. Or chance at a life at all, for that matter.

The Review: Blood Bound is the debut novel by Keshia Swaim telling the story Brielle Reed, a half blood fae who has only recently discovered her lineage and is off to Fae College, her boyfriend Alex is already there so things should be perfect right? Well they would be if she could just keep up with juggling her workload, her boyfriend, discovering who her father really was, mastering her new abilities and gaining the attention of the dean of the college- Dr Schwartz- who will push her to her limits. Not only that but the Unseelie are creeping ever closer to campus, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake and not only did they want her father…now they want her!
I really enjoyed Blood Bound and read it all in one go. I like Fae stories and of course when you get to 17 and only just find out who you really are, there’s some major discovering to do. I liked Brielle as a character, she was easy to connect with and I really felt her relationship with Alex. I loved their secret communications and it helped to feel that they were spending time together even though they were apart. I also like Pamie –her roomie- she is fun and a great partner to Brielle’s personality. The storyline was really good although in the beginning I felt like I was reading a sequel and had to check it out online, they reference some happenings, who her father was and her discovery about herself… it was a tad confusing because I had no idea what she was on about and felt like I had missed some major details. Once that was out of the way, I just carried on and some things were explained but others weren’t really relevant to the story so it was easy to put it to the back of my mind. I liked the idea of the college for Fae, there are full bloods & half bloods with some hint of tension between the two and that’s on the good side, I like how they all have certain powers and that they are different from each other, I liked the lessons they were taught etc. I like that Brielle is new to all of this and we are learning with her, there are some secrets to be uncovered alongside her too which was very intriguing. I like the two opposing sides of the Fae world, it did come across as if politics could become a big factor with it having a council & certain characters views, so if this was made into a series it would be interesting and I’m curious to see how that would play out. The book was really hard to put down and I was never bored, it may not have been all action but there was always something going on to keep me interested and I loved where it all went towards the end, it was a really good addition to the story and gave it a different feel, harsher, more violent and we get a good look at the Unseelie which promises good things for any future books. I thought this had tons of potential and hope it gets picked up for more because the characters & their world have a lot more to give and we haven’t even stepped foot in the Fairy Realm yet!