Review: Bound by Kira Saito

banner created by Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Bound by Kira Saito

Published: October 28, 2011

Pages: 246

Received: as part of blog tour

BUY NOW: Amazon

Sixteen year old Arelia LaRue lives in New Orleans where the music is loud, voodoo queens inhabit every street corner, and the ghosts are alive and well. Despite her surroundings, all she wants is to help her Grand-mere Bea pay the rent and save up for college.

When her best friend Sabrina convinces her to take a well-paying summer job at the infamous Darkwood plantation, owned by the wealthy LaPlante family, Arelia agrees.

However, at Darkwood strange things start to happen, and gorgeous Lucus LaPlante insists that he needs her help. Soon, the powers that Arelia has been denying all her life, come out to play and she discovers mysteries about herself that she could have never imagined. 

I was actually drawn to this book because the cover is so pretty and then once I read the synopsis I was jumping at the chance to read and review it. I have always been curious about all things voodoo, New Orleans history, etc. 

Arelia, has powers that she tries to ignore which include communicating with spirits. All her life she has been taught to respect them, but she has always tried to avoid them if at all possible. Now after taking a job at Darkwood plantation, to try and make some extra money to help with the bills that she and Grand-mere Bea need to pay, she learns more about her past and her abilities. Little does she know that she is being brought into a house that contains curses, ghosts and more.

The different characters are quite intriguing: Arelia, your average middle class girl/voodoo queen; Sabrina, her ridiculously rich/self absorbed best friend; Ivan, the snarky pain in the rear coworker, and Lucas, the deeply secretive owner of Darkwood plantation. Such an unusual mix characters in one story, but they all seem to come together and this story works so well.

The relationships in the story develop at an interesting pace: Arelia and Sabrina are long time friends that hit some bumps along the way, Ivan just annoys Arelia to death, and Lucas is a love interest for both Arelia and Sabrina, which will prove interesting as the story progress in the next books.

Throughout the story you get the chance to learn about historic New Orleans, slavery, voodoo, spirits, and the local cuisine. I am fascinated by all of the history and information about voodoo.

This series is very promising, though I felt like this novel ended a little abruptly and I really wanted more. I cannot wait for the next installment of the series to find out more about Arelia, Lucas, the curse and the different spirits.