A Ferry of Bones and Gold: Soulbound Book 1, Hailey Turner

When you owe a blood debt to gods who see humans as pawns for their own games and retaliations, you're not left with too many options other than to fulfill it the best way you know how.  But for Patrick, he finds that each and every time he comes close to fulfilling that debt the odds are increasingly against him.  With the help of a sexy wolf he's both drawn to and wary of, he'll get the chance to test everything he's made of, everything he could become.  But those tests and trials just might be the death of him.  His past is back to finish what was started in a blood-covered basement and the event that shattered Patrick's world.

Patrick has a lot of guilt and while I wanted his history and the details of the pivotal moments of both his childhood and the Thirty-Day War a lot sooner than we get them, I felt that they came at the right time and were confessed to the right person.  Though I did feel that the reveal was a little tame compared to the events that preceded it.  I'm hoping we get a little more detail about it all and all the intricacies of the gods' meddling in Patrick's upbringing as the series progresses.  We're given a good basic picture of who this man is and why he is the abrasive, seemingly apathetic, and aggravated man we meet so I'm really interested in deepening that understanding.

Jono...there wasn't actually a lot of information about him.  We get quite a few basics, a general set-up for who he is and why he's in a position to be a partner to Patrick, but we get very few instances of his point of view or detailed musings about his past, motivations, and feelings.  I want so much more it's not even funny.  Though I will say that each time we get a chapter from him it felt well-placed and well-timed...I just want more; especially about his past and his relationship with his beast and patron.

There's a solid cast and I have to say my favorite members are the ones that show up right near the very end.  Patrick's old unit steals the show and I hope so hard that they get a lot more page time.  As the story gets more crazy and exciting there are quite a few loose ends, tangents, and events that don't get wrapped up in book one of this series, as is expected.  I'm looking forward to more confrontations with Ethan, seeing more magic, and watching Patrick and Jono navigate their bond.

The writing sucked me in right from the very beginning.  Each time I had to step away (heaven forbid that my kids needed to eat) as soon as I picked the book back up it was like I never left.  Hailey Turner is consistently amazing at creating a vivid story that engages the reader in so many ways.  Intimate moments are tender yet still pack a serious punch, chemistry is palpable, action leaps from the page and makes you read faster to catch up with your increased heart rate, and while each story in a series ends on a slightly open-ended note for both the couple(s) and the plot it's not a cliffhanger or an ending that's just a ploy to get you to purchase the rest of the series.  You're compelled to get the rest of the series because it's just That. Damn. Good.  So it is with the Soulbound series.

*$4.99 on Amazon or FREE on KU!