Review! Shadow Bound by Erin Kellison.

Shadow Bound

Erin Kellison

Dorchester Publishing

June 29, 2010

ISBN 10: 0-505-52829-0

ISBN 13: 978-0-505-52829-2

  

Death

 Some people will do anything to avoid it. Even trade their immortal souls for endless existence.
 
Wraiths
 
Secretly, inexorably, they are infiltrating our world, sucking the essence out of unsuspecting victims with their hideous parody of a kiss.
 
Segue
 
Adam Thorne founded the Institute to study and destroy his monster of a brother, but the key to its success is held in the pale, slender hand of a woman on the run. There is something hauntingly different about Talia O’Brien, her unknowing sensuality, her uncanny way of slipping into Shadow.
 
Twilight
 
This is the place between life and what comes after - a dark forest of fantasy, filled with beauty, peril, mystery. And Talia is about to open the door.

Ever since she was a wee girl, Talia O'Brien has known she was different. No matter how hard she tries, she just can't fit in and be normal. She's always found refuge in the shadows and by touch, she can tell what someone is feeling or if they're lying. Now she founds herself being hunted by wraiths. These are creatures with great strength who steal other's souls by kissing them. These things have been secretly forming their own army and now, they want Talia but what for, no one knows.

Adam Thorne founded the Segue Institute in order to kill his brother. For six years, he's dedicated himself to finding a way to destroy him because he's a monster and he killed their parents but Jacob, his brother, is able to regenerate pretty much any injury, as any other wraith can do and nothing seem to work until now. What Adam never thought is that the answer might lay in a person, specifically Talia. With her ability to walk in Twilight, the place between life and whatever comes next for the dead, she might be the answer to killing not only Adam's brother but all wraiths.
 
Shadow Bound is Erin Kellison's debut novel and I really enjoyed it! What I really liked is that there's not one vampire or werewolf around. I'm not saying I don't like reading about those but it's a nice change of pace to read about wraiths and Death itself, called Shadowman. And yes, the Fae is part of the world-building here. So I definitely thought the storyline was original and refreshing! Talia and Adam have a very interesting chemistry going on. He's the epitome of hero trying to save everyone and when he's not able to, he really beats himself up for it. I was a bit on the fence about Talia. At times, I thought she was able to stand up to Adam and be her own person but other times, I was slightly worried she was going to turn into one of those super-dependent-save-me heroines and I was really hoping that wouldn't happened. I liked seeing their feelings grow for each other though, Kellison didn't rush the romance and I appreciated that. They both have their own issues to get over and it felt real for them to butt heads on certain things.
 
Shadow Bound is a highly engrossing story! Nicely paced with steamy scenes and lots of action, I'm definitely checking out Kellison's next book.
 
 
Lush Rating: 3.5!