Soulbound (Darkest London, #6)

by Kristen Callihan

[Amanda]

4.5

I told myself to take a break from historical romance, and Soulbound is where I landed. Partly because it was sitting on my desk, but also partly because, while it’s paranormal, it’s technically historical romance too. Hey. I ease out of historical romance slowly, okay?

But this was precisely what I needed. PRECISELY. Kristen Callihan weaves such an intriguing world, and it expands with each installment. Plus, if my bookish memory serves me correctly (and that’s always an issue), Adam and Eliza were introduced in the previous book, Evernight, and it wasn’t a pretty relationship.

I mean, how does a romance blossom out of a relationship where Adam had Eliza chained to him? (And no, it wasn’t in a sexy way, either.)

But Kristen Callihan handles it beautifully, and really, there’s nothing I love more than a well-executed enemies to lovers trope. The enemies to lovers aspect helped to ease the eye-rolls of the soulmate factor. Often, it serves to fall precariously close to instalove, but Adam and Eliza (more so the latter) fought it, and it was only after they came to know each other that they embraced their fate.

And Adam. OH, ADAM. You see, part of my needing a break from historical romance stems from the overwhelming number of heroes who can’t seem to be without a woman warning their bed. They bed women frequently, often ending a relationship with a mistress mid-book (seriously, how do I keep finding books like that?). But Adam has been cursed to not feel anything until he finds the other half of his soul.

So, you know, there’s little lovin’ to be had that way. He’s celibate, essentially, for 700 years. And honestly, his lack of sexual experience made his interactions with Eliza all the more swoony. I like to see a rake fall hard for one woman, but there’s something infinitely sexy about a man who waits (intentionally or not) for his beloved.

As for the other, non-romance happenings in Soulbound (because there are some of those!), it was good. I figured out what the Golden Horn an Bas was long before they found it. (Because duh, I’m that good at guessing and it made sense given the clues.) But man. That ending. It was cruel and ripped my heart out (heh), but I was happy when Eliza and Adam finally found a way to be together.

I also found St. John’s POV to be useful for a couple reasons: 1, now I want to read his story (obviously), but 2, his POV gave us a glimpse of what was happening outside of Eliza and Adam’s POVs that we would not have been able to get otherwise, and it served to give us more answers (but also raise more questions). Gooooood stuff.