Kathryn Ann Kingsley

As to be expected from Kathryn Ann Kingsley, To Bind a Dark Heart is a great continuation of To Charm a Dark Prince! Gwen and Mordred's relationship remains, of course, rocky in this sequel so we don't get to see too much relationship growth. This is understandable given the circumstances but it still left me wanting for more! But what we DO get to see is a ton of character growth from both of our main characters. On the topic of characters, in this book we are introduced to Doc the wizard who was such a fun addition to the cast of characters already in this series! I cannot wait to continue reading this series and find out how the happenings at the end of this book will affect Gwen and Mordred's relationship moving forward. The wait for the next book is going to kill me! I'm also (impatiently) waiting for the next book in Kingsley's Deal of Shadows series as well! But I understand, writing great stories like these takes time!… (mehr)

The rating only refers to the first book but this review encompasses the first three books because they are very much one continuous story and it would be hard to address them individually.

I very much enjoyed this story as long as the plot didn't get in the way.
Sadly, it does. Big time.

Let's start on bad and go to worse from there.
First, the sex scenes. I think the only books I've read with longer forplay sex scenes were explicitly tagged as erotica. That in itself isn't the issue... ehem... The weird part is that after endless pages of pretty kinky foreplay, the actual sex scenes always just fade to black or pov switch or cut to "the next morning". It's the tease of the Millenium and I really don't understand why. The books have no problem portraying casual sex at fucking orgies. Why chicken out on a bit of one on one sex?
If you want to leave the sexy times out I am totally fine with that but then leave them out entirely for god's sake. This got more to me than it probably should have. First getting me all hot and bothered with endless suspense and then suddenly "When she awoke the next morning" or some shit. AAAAARRRGG.

Onto the darkness. It seems like the author very much wanted to write a dark story and does a very good job of creating the right atmosphere but she can't stop herself from constantly adding justifications for the actions of her beloved character's. This extends to a much larger problem especially in the third book where morals (or the lack thereof) are thrown all over the place. Consistency is important in all things!

But the biggest weakness of this author is the actual plot construction.
It's incredibly frustrating how lazily the plot is being manoeuvred by the whole zoo of the worst clicheé plot-devices you can come up with. From the unnecessary exclusion of vital details to all the misunderstandings you could possibly imagine, to non-stop illogical or stupid or just completely out of character behaviour sometimes by very old and wise beings just to mention a few.
There are lots of other typical writing sins here as well that are being talked about everywhere but I am too tired to even bother listing them all.

This was a very disappointing insight because the plot only started to really move abruptly one-third into the second book. Almost everything up to this point was just an introduction to the world etc. I thought there was careful plot navigation happening, hidden from view. But not at all. There just was no effort spent into plot development up to this point beyond the emotional character development and general world-building. This series nailed that part! I was totally engrossed in the world and its characters but then the rude awakening happened.
I had a really hard time to actually finish the third book even though I just did it to make sure I wouldn't make false accusations.
I can't even put into words how infuriating it is that this one vitally important aspect of the series is so abysmal while everything else is very enjoyable. I can't fathom how such superb worldbuilding ended up with a disastrous plot like this.

If I had to rate the first 3 books collectively I'd sway between 1 and 2 stars.
So despite my thorough enjoyment of the first book, I don't recommend this series and the first book can not be read as a standalone either.… (mehr)