Soulbound: The Return of the Elves Series, Book 1

Somewhat. I did enjoy the setup and explanations of the culture, but unfortunately the romance was an afterthought at best. The summary had me expecting a marriage-then-love plot with some court politics, but what I got was a lot of background of the world the characters inhabited with little to no depth given to those characters themselves.

No. I feel like friends who enjoy fantasy world-building wouldn't enjoy the shoehorned romance but friends who enjoy romance wouldn't enjoy the drawn out world-building explanations or the very poorly executed romance plot. The author seemed to want to do both, but ended up dividing her efforts too much between them and the story suffered for it.

None of the characters were especially relatable or lovable. They all felt shallow and one-note in their characterization. I would say Adams clearly had a favorite, because that character was given the most backstory and explanation of anyone, that being Lyr. While the author clearly meant for Arlyn to be the main character, she feels more like an alternate point of view to a story mainly revolving around her father.

Actually having spent time on said romance, for one. The summary implies that it is a main plotline but it is actually a background plot that receives little to no development. The characters are just suddenly "in love" with no buildup or effort. While Aryn is initially doubtful about the soulbond, after Kai is injured she is suddenly totally accepting of it. The two only have a handful of conversation in the entire book (most of which is just Kai explaining culture or history to Arlyn) but suddenly they are confessing their love to one another and falling into bed.

If you are primarily looking for a romance, this is really not the story for you. If you enjoy believable character depth & development, this is not the book you want. If you simply enjoy fantasy elven culture, you might really enjoy this book, because that is where the main focus is.

This book does a good job of showing a sensitive yet strong male lead character. I wasn't sure about it at first but it's good.

I enjoyed the story. It was a unique enough fantasy that it kept my interest and I wanted to know more about the world and the people and the culture.

I enjoyed the male narrator immensely - he did a fantastic job! The female narrator, however, almost ruined this book for me. I almost stopped listening several times because of her. She did an okay job with the descriptive bits and the male voices, but her voice for the female lead was grating and childish and made me really hate the main character. She came off so petulant and whiny!! Horrible. If I hadn't already used a credit on this book and if half wasn't being narrated by someone else much better, I would have stopped after the first chapter.

If you are like me, another series is the last thing you need. But this one gets added to the list and gets bumped to the front end for priority too.

This story had great potential, but it was horrible. The characters became too familiar too soon. Some of the details were unnecessary which made the performance sucked.

I was so excited to see this book on Audible. I have a physical copy but haven't had time to read it. The story is great and draws you into the lives of the characters. Bethany set a high bar with her first novel. I can't wait for the second one to come out.

I had a pleasant surprise when listening as I was so excited about the book being on here I didn't look at the narrators. It was a pleasure to hear two of my favorite narrators reading a book I'd been anticipating.

If your looking for a new story to enjoy this is a great start to what I expect will be an amazing series.

Overall this was just a great book with an original storyline!!! I had to read the next and was disappointed when they were over. Simply put, I wanted more!!!

I will want to finish the series very good, with many unexpected turns. excellent mystery, and still calm enough to read to relax before bed.

The stoey was very weak. Many different characters were introduced with dead end story lines. Names were so familiar it was confusing as to who was who at some points. Was promised a strong female character, did not deliver. The main character spent much of her time whining and the strengths that were hinted at became non-existent in this "world". Forced myself to finish since I had paid too much for this story. The narrators were excellent but had weak material to work with.