My Review of Spellbound by Kodilynn Calhoun

Spellbound

Kodilynn Calhoun

Published: March 12, 2012

I received Spellbound as a complimentary book in exchange for my honest review of it.  

I have read another of Kodilynn Calhoun's works before and I had my breath took away with such descriptive words that painted beautiful worlds, I didn't know if she could pull it off again.  But she did and even better!  

Spellbound is a strong story about love, fate, and redemption.  Our main characters, Wylde and Kascien, are as different as the moon and sun, and yet as we always learn opposites will attract.  

The story begins with Wylde's father, King of the Wyverns(dragon people) decreeing that she must pick a suitor or he will pick one for her.  She is furious and shifts into a beautiful dragon and roams the sky in an attempt to release her heartbreak at this news.  

Flying too close to the Shining Cities( like the modern cities of our world) she senses another of Dragon blood.  This is where Wylde comes in contact with a drakehound mutated with dragon blood inside it dying in the forest.  Wylde reads it's mind and realizes that the drakehound has been forced to fight it's entire life; she swears vengeance on the one that has did this.

Sneaking upon Kascien, the slave bound human in charge of the drakehounds, Wylde discovers she cannot kill him because he is as much as a slave as the drakehounds are.  She promises him salvation if he will help her release the animals into freedom.  

Kascien knows his decision will put his life in danger but he cannot say no to the princess.  As they make their way to the Kennels, everything they believe and know will be put to a test.   

It is an epic journey that they have to go through find what they want most in this world.  

There aren't many young adult stories about dragon shifters so this was a welcoming change.  

Calhoun creates beautiful pictures with her words, painting intense images inside your head as you read her stories.  I felt like I was really there in the Shining Cities with the magi, or walking in the red desert near Vanla.  

Another interesting factor in this story is how Calhoun took our modern devices and worked it into this story when speaking of the Shining Cities, and  combining it with a very medieval type feel with the dragons.  

There is so much going on with this story it was hard for me to put it down.  Yes, it has romance, but the romance isn't overpowering in the story to take away from anything else.  There is also mystery, magic, and some very serious fight scenes that any action hero could sit up and take note of.  

This is a story that both guys and girls could read and truly enjoy.  I actually came away learning something from Spellbound; you should always stand up for what you believe in, even when the odds are against you.  Wylde definitely does this and doesn't run away when things get scary.  She is a powerful, strong, and courageous female.  

Spellbound is an easy read that moves very quickly.  It has complex characters and writing that will blow your mind away with creativeness.  

I cannot wait to see what Kodilynn Calhoun has in store for us next.  

If you are interested in Spellbound to read on the Kindle, please click below:

You can also find it at Barnes and Nobles and Smashwords

Review: The Other Covenant

For anyone, who wants to read a paranormal thriller, but doesn't want the sexy hot romance or goriness that is sometimes associated with these genres, I believe this novel is definitely worth a read.
This supernatural book is written more through a technical scientific way, going into detail and explaining why there is magic in this world.


I have recently read the book, The Other Covenant, by Caroline Crosby. It is a deeply layered story about people who use black magic to further themselves and the country, and about the people that use white magic to try to counter the evil that some black magic users represent.  

Our heroine of the story, Elizabeth, is a very interesting character.  She has so much control over her magic, her life, and her emotions.  When she first meets someone that she has heard of all her life as being an adept with the covenant, someone that isn't on the good side, she is concerned whether she should help him. But because of her honor and the goodness inside of her she has to help him.  

This story was exciting in some places, but in other ways it was a bit boring.  I was very taken with the way Miss Crosby used such scientific ways to describe magic using; the psychic bands that they operate on.  I liked how there was an art form to understanding it, instead of just making it very "magical" without any explanation.  I, however, don't think I could follow some of the explanations because it tended to get long winded and more and more complicated.  

I am a huge history lover, and I fell in love with how some chapters had more of a historical background,especially with how the United States of America was formed with the help of some paranormal influence.  

I think Elizabeth is a special person.  She is so patient with explaining everything to the bodygaurd, and even has to explain things a couple of times.  I think the author really wanted the audience to realize that Elizabeth has a lot of power but is the epiphany of good, even with all the power she has running inside of her.

When the characters are reading the manuscript, the chapters will jump from present day, back into the past of the manuscript.  I, personally, love when an author does this.  I like getting background information throughout the book, instead of it all being lumped together in a few pages.  I liked that very much because it helped me understand things better in steps then having to look back at what was going on.  

Not only could this book be considered a paranormal thriller, it could also be grouped in as a mystery too.  It has a very good "who dunnit" theme running through the book that will have you guessing up to the very end.  Miss Crosby did an excellent job of keeping me on the edge of my seat with the action during the fight scenes.  The only problem with that was: there wasn't enough fight scenes!!  I wish there were more to show more of what Elizabeth is truly capable of, physically and psychically.

There was some romance sprinkled here and there; as well as foreshadowing of another romance under way.  I didn't really find the romance aspect very convincing.  It seemed to be a little forced, and at times, unbelievable.  Which is saying a lot when the book has supernatural in its essence.  

There were also spots when the dialogue became a little choppy, jumping from one speaker to the other so quickly, it was a little hard to keep up.  I found myself going back and re-reading some lines just to make sure I knew who was saying what.

Other than those things, I think this has the potential to become a very well known and interesting series.  It does end very abruptly, but I like it, because it has you wishing you could just get a hold of the next one asap!  It is in true cliff hanger fashion and I definitely have to applaud the writer for the ending; it was awesome.  

Overall, I think The Other Covenant, was a good book.  It wasn't one of my favorites by any means; but I enjoyed reading it and I will definitely be looking for the next in the series.  This book could appeal to many different kinds of readers because of the scientific way it goes about explaining the supernatural aspects; but it also has so much drama and mystery in it that it keeps the story interesting.  And really who doesn't get excited when witches and black and white magic is involved?  I love magic!