Customer Reviews

Darkness Bound (Chimney Rock)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Just finished DARKNESS BOUND by Stella Cameron. Whidbey Island in Washington State. Werehounds, werewolves, fae creatures kept me turning the pages fast. The hero is Niles and he is to die for. Dark but strong and he would do anything for for Leigh, a human who is widowed and searching for a new start. I love the twists and turns in this book. I hope the next one won't be long coming.

I couldn't wait to read DARKNESS BOUND, the first in Stella Cameron's new Chimney Rock paranormal series, and it's as thrilling, sexy and fabulous as I'd hoped. An intriguing world that mixes fantasy, reality and believable characters. I love Stella's New Orleans and she brings Whidbey Island with the same skill and attention to detail. But I especially love the characters -- Niles is a to-die-for hero! I don't want to give away too much of the story but I'm already eager for Book 2 in Chimney Rock!

This story is a real pick-me-up for the paranormal genre. Enjoyed every word and now I want the next book. The hero, Niles, and heroine Leigh are a dynamic duo but also sexy and romantic. More, more:) I should say the story is gripping and the author can write plots and evil types that don't let up.

Stella Cameron has a wonderful gift for how she introduces a reader to a fantasy world. The reader is given explanations and front row seats as the story takes off and the plot unwinds without bogging down in too much detail too fast and there was no mistake of not enough detail either. As the reader, I got smugly complacent thinking that 'ok, I know how this is all going to go down'. But brother/sister, I got the surprise of my life. What looked like predictable characters and plot was not.

This fantasy world starts out introducing us to the little fledgling team of werehounds who are battling extinction and the werewolves their enemies as the hounds seek to protect each other and the humans around them. Their hope is for their leader, Niles, to find a compatible mate in the woman who is returning to live in their small island community.
At first, Niles is all business and has a plan which goes south the moment he realizes that Leigh might just come to mean more to him than the survival of his race. Niles is a complex character with both inner demons and enemies that can't wait to get him.
Leigh is returning to the cottage her late and much loved husband left her to start her life over. She used to work as a game programer for Microsoft, but has taking the business management over for the local bar and grill to bail out its owner Gabriel. She is afraid that she must make this new start or slowly waste away from her true self.
Niles and Leigh's relationship starts out slow and tender as trust is built as they help tackle each other's issues. Meanwhile we are introduced to the delightful characters working at Gabriel's, Niles' team of hounds, an adorable little dog, a cunning kitty, and a lot of other scary characters who go bump in the night.
Odd things are happening on the island too. Women disappear and return several days later, someone wants Leigh's land really bad, Leigh keeps seeing and hearing things she can't explain, and its hard to tell friend from enemy in some cases.
As Niles and Leigh's relationship comes to the point, he must now somehow tell her who and what he truly is without terrifying her into running all the while he must protect her from the wolves and everyone else who wants her for who and what she is.

I really enjoyed the idea of the hounds, the fae, the wolves, the vampires, and a few others that will remain nameless for spoiler purposes that live right alongside and amongst the humans. I'm now rooting for the hounds who are more kickbutt than the average pooch. Think large and then larger- now your getting warmer. And guess what, the wolves and the vamps are not the heroes here though there may be one or two exceptions.

The plot twisted its way to the end leaving lots of dangling threads for the next book in the series, but a satisfying resolution for a few of the threads. I'm really looking forward to more from this world.

I've been waiting for this book and I'm not disappointed. Darkness Bound delivered everything I want, 3D characters, a plot that works and makes you want to know what happens and fast, and a relationship that's romantic and sexy. I hope Stella Cameron writes a lot more paranormal books.

I didn't hate the book or the characters but Ms. Cameron was just trying to do too much in one book. There were werehouds, werewolves, a fae who remained shapeshifted in the form on a tiny cat, fae, half- human/half-fae, vampires, and the odd human or two thrown in there. On top of the creature cornucopia, there were to many story lines and some of them conflicting. Leah was human all of her life until she comes to Chimney Rock to live and discovers she's a half-human/half-fae. My problem with this line of story was that Leigh came to Chimney Rock several times with her deceased husband. During none of those times did she discover her "otherness". It was only when she came to live there that the half-fae side of her was reveled. I didn't see any explanation in the book as to why that was......it just was.

Additionally, there were just too many characters in the mix to get a good bead on the story. An excommunicated fae, Sally, who had her own motivations as to why she helped the humans and werehounds. The humane vampire, Saul, who's motivations you weren't entirely sure about. Molly who had no purpose and added no real value to the story. Gary was thrown in the end as an afterthought, it seems. The explanation of his rogue behavior was cavalierly explained away by him saying that he should have been in charge. There was nothing else...just that. He turned traitor and sided with the werewolves because he wanted to be in control of the team. Very anemic, indeed.

The book was just too confusing to be enjoyable. The story wasn't terrible. It just needed to be pared down, considerably, to add to the readers enjoyment. It had a lot of potential.

As it is, I can only give this story 2 to 2.5 stars.

ARC Provided by NetGalley