Surprise! The very prolific Ali Hazelwood released the audiobook of Bound in November. I had no idea this one was on the horizon but as I’m a big fan and the synopsis seemed different I thought I’d give it a listen.

Veronica “Vero” Mercer grew up with con artists as parents. In grad school for a degree in art history, Vero gets talked into doing a little forgery to keep her friends in their jobs at an art dealer. Her forgeries are so good she comes to the attention of Dr. Viktor Ashworth, a very private, British professor. He too has a little side job for her. He wants her to reproduce an ancient manuscript for him. It’s supposed to be a short term deal, but as Vero spends more time with Viktor and things become more dangerous she has to wonder. What does Viktor really want? And why can’t she seem to stay away?

As I listened to this book, I realized that this author has done it again. She’s pivoted subject matter and type of romance and given her fans a slow burn romance that takes place in a world where our heroine is very knowledgeable about art history and how to forge a books. How does Ms. Hazelwood find the time to both write a novel at breakneck speed and research a new subject matter, assuming she herself wasn’t an art history major? I never felt like I was being sold a bill of goods and found everything she wrote to grab my attention in a way where I didn’t doubt what she had written. She is truly amazing.

I need to also give credit to the two narrators. Brittany Pressley and William Macleod did a great job imbuing the characters with life and personality. Viktor was a little stuffy, but he was English, Immortal, and a professor so that modulated tone fit well. Did you catch that I threw in the word immortal? Yep! The author pivoted genre’s and has given us a paranormal species (race?) that we haven’t read before in any of her past novels. Viktor and his crew were very interesting and I wished that their past had been fleshed out just a touch more, however, I enjoyed what was written and their being immortal didn’t detract from my liking the story or where it led me.

If you’re a fan of Ali Hazelwood’s I think you’ll also like this novel. Bound is different, kind of like her other paranormal series, but not too much like them and not set in that world. I was entertained which for me is what reading or listening to a good book is all about. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

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