Bound By Duty by Stormy Smith Spoiler-Free Review

Amelia grew up in a world of half-truths. She knows she's an Elder but has no idea what that means. Her father reminds her daily that she must maintain control but he refuses to explain why. Even worse, she's betrothed to the prince of the Immortals and she doesn't even know his name. Finally breaking free to live a few normal years at a community college, the last thing Amelia expects is to find her best friend in a cheeky Southern girl and to fall for a self-assured human who sees her for who she is and not what she'll be. As she learns more about herself, Amelia realizes the line between love and duty is a thin one. As her power continues to increase exponentially and her questions are slowly answered, Amelia must make the ultimate choice. The question is, will her head or her heart win the battle?

Bound By Duty by Stormy Smith is a book that I'd recommened to any urban fantasy novel lovers. It has a captivating plot, magic, a monarchy, mystery, and swoon-worthy males. With that said, I did not immdetialy fall in love with the book, as I tend to do for most fantasy novels. It was good, that's for sure, but it wasn't like 'I'd marry it if it were possible,' good. Consider it friendzoned.

To start off, let's discuss the main character: Amelia. She is an eighteen-year old university student, who just happens to be magical. She has no idea what she is capable of, just that she tends to involutarily shoot beams of purple power in the worst situations possible. Oh, she also has purple eyes to go with that. She has no idea how to control this power of hers, and her dad is no help at all. When he wasn't ignoring her existance when she lived with him, he was lecturing her and critizing her. She knows that she's an elder, but she hasn't the slightest clue what that means. To add the mysteries in her life, she is bethrothed to The Prince Of Immortals, who she has never met, let alone know his name.

Amelia leaves her father's home to go to university. There, she meets her roomate, Bethany, who is any girl's dream best friend; she's girly, cheeky, and sweet. She's also extremely loyal and understanding towards Amelia. She also meets this guy named Aiden, who won't leave her alone. He is your typical good-guy who simply wants the girl. Another guy she meets is Micah, who Bethany is crushing hard on. Also, she has a brother named Cole, who left home when she was ten, and since then has been out searching for answers to help her.

There is a lot of mystery surrounding what she is and what she is capable of. There are a variety of cute relationships in the book, not all neccessarily being romantic. There is a reccuring theme of betrayal, as well as many surprises throughout the book that catch readers off.

What I didn't like about this book was that it was slow at parts. Some chapters were so exciting I was skipping through them, while others were a challenge to finish. Another issue for me in this book is the conversations between characters. I wasn't very invested in the exchanges between Aiden and Amelia or Amelia and Bethany. They seemed almost boring to me. Finally, there seemed to be a constant theme of Amelia crying throughout the book. Girl cries a lot, man. For me, every time something bad happened, I expected Amelia to cry. I was never dissapointed.

In conclusion, this book was good, and I would recommend giving it a try. I would rate it four out of five stars.

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