Unbound by Christy Healy - Book Review

Publication Date: 16th Jan 2024

Genre: Historical Fantasy, Romance 

2.7 Stars 

One Liner: Got potential (not a B&B retelling) 

Rozlyn Ó Conchúir spent the majority of her life waiting to find the right person to break her curse. She feels she has a chance of taming the dark magic in her when she meets Jamie. However, a betrayal unleashes the inner monster. 

Now, she is the ‘queen’ leading a solitary life, and Jamie wants help. Can she give him what he wants? What does it mean for her? 

The story comes in the third-person POV of Rozlyn and Jamie. 

My Thoughts: 

Before I proceed further, can I ask who on earth came up with the idea to market this as a gender-bent B&B retelling? Even the author calls it Midir & Étain retelling in her note. That’s how it should have been promoted. (Not that I know the original Irish story, but this isn’t Beauty and the Beast)

The story is divided into two parts and an epilogue. We get Rozyln and Jamie’s alternate POVs in different timelines within each part. The time jumps are easy enough to follow. Here, I don’t mind being duped right in the middle of the action and getting snippets from the past in installments. It works, even if a major chunk of information is missing. 

What I do mind is the lengthy dialogues (monologues). While the banter between the lead characters is fun at times, the sizzle isn’t fully there. For a long time, I couldn’t decide if I wanted them to be together or not. 

We have a ‘beast’ who is so beautiful that you’ll be reminded of it a million times (TBH, half the time, I imagined her as a vampire). The MMC is, of course, very handsome. Even if Rozlyn’s beast is supposed to be her attitude, it doesn’t work much. At the most, I’d call her a privileged brat and selfish. She’s no monster (the shape-shifting doesn’t count). Jamie is no angel, so I don’t mind some of her decisions. 

The setting is quite good, but I wish there was more. We are introduced to many mythical Irish creatures, which I like. Yet, they are so easily tackled that it makes me feel bad for them. Come on, the creatures are supposed to have killed so many people. Make the fight last a while. 

I don’t mind the anachronisms much (it will annoy some readers, so pick it up based on preferences). Would I have liked the book more without them? Not really. However, I would have liked it better if the story was set in a fictional world. An advantage of this is you get to make your own rules. 

The writing is flowery and descriptive, which means the pacing is uneven, and the book drags in many places. And yet, the details aren’t fully clear. The power/ magic thing is hazy. I thought it would get clear over time, but I can’t say it did. 

The epilogue is what we’d expect from a romance read. That said, I’m not 100% sure about a certain aspect. 

Nevertheless, thank you for the list at the end. It provides the pronunciation for all the Irish terms. I’m more than happy to pretend I pronounced them right when reading the story. 

To summarize, Unbound has its moments and introduces us to some creepy mythical creatures and gods, but it ends up as an average read. It's okay. Not a clean romance, but is not spicy either. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing, for the eARC.  

#NetGalley #Unbound