Bound and Determined REVIEW!

My Review

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 stars

THIS BOOK. Almost 800 pages…and every one worth it. I love it all, the drama, the wild ride, the emotional rollercoaster that gave me a serious book hangover. Honestly, I never paid attention to its epic length because I was so captivated. It’s raw and heavy, yet also epic and healing, and I absorbed every moment of these characters I’ve grown to love.

The author is a queen at character emotions and such, at slowly reeling you in until you feel like the characters are literal real people you know and talk to and just…ahhh!!! It’s so GOOD. Not to mention her prose, which I absolutely love! It’s lush and poetic, beautiful and strong, wordy yet rich with depth. The imagery and metaphors were beautifully vivid and I really enjoyed how it engaged my brain. It’s not an easy read, at least, not if you’re in a rush. But again, I loved that. (That isn’t to say I don’t like simpler, to-the-point writing – I so enjoy that too! It’s just that this writing style fit BAD like a glove.)

Also, the historical research that went into this must’ve been a beast to tackle! Grace A. Johnson did an incredible job bringing the setting to life and making every detail as period-appropriate as possible, including the phrases. I obviously didn’t live in the 1600s, but nothing really jumped out to me as being out of place. I always have SO much respect for these authors who tackle historical fiction. It’s hard, guys. (*shakes head at my younger November 2021 self for choosing to write a historical fiction* I was naive to think it’d be manageable enough. But it’s worth it.)

So, I’ve already brought up the characters. Each one is distinct, feels realistic, and is so wonderfully complex. I love how they each have little quirks too, things you subconsciously take note of and only help to round them out. (Like Keaton’s imperceptible smirk. That is just…SO HIM.)

I love Rina. Her ramblings, her resilient nature, her Rina-ness, all of it. She went through soul-crushing, life-changing things in this book (like, really. Even more so than Held Captive and Prisoner At Heart. The latter of which I must needs review sometime. It’s awesome.). Her character arc came to an epic conclusion in this third installment in the Daughters of the Seven Seas series, as Grace A. Johnson wrote about in a series of blog posts. After having been so strong, she’s finally brought to her knees and faces off with the fact that she can’t control it all. And all she can do is trust God. (Chapter 48 is one of the most powerful things I’ve ever read. I start to cry every time I read it.) Rina brought us on a journey that showed who she truly was as a person, and was simply so satisfying.

Keaton is one of the most intriguing characters I’ve met. He’s so enigmatic and deep and poetic, but also gruff and toughened and has something of an explosive temper despite his stoicness. (His personality is just fascinating.) I LOVE the guy. No, I’m not excusing the foolish, jerky things he did at times, but augh, he was also so broken, had so much going on under the surface. Dear fellow. I cried for him more than once. His character arc was amazing and so impactful.

Daisy… *drops everything I’m holding and bundles her in hugs* Precious Daisy. She was so tormented by her past and spent so much time running, again and again and again and again, into the same brick wall. Even though the horrors of what she went through aren’t something I have, I still related so much with her. Maybe because life is a battle against sin. Her arc was so very powerful and incredibly done.

I’d like to mention every character, but this review is getting so long. I’ll just shout out ELLIOT. My boy. Forever love him. He’s just perfect. He makes every scene he’s in fun, brings it a new level of excitement and awesomeness. His interactions with Keaton crack me up. As for our boy Xavier… *beams* We got a much deeper, closer look at him in this book, and I loved e v e r y minute of it. (Please give us more, Grace!) Crimson, Billy, Mav and Dick…I’d love to talk about them all, but I really need to cut this short before it turns into a novel of its own! XD (Oh, nearly forgot about JULIUS!!! I LOVE HIM.)

In terms of the villains, I don’t view Scarlette as an antagonist… actually, I guess she is, but the potential in her is so strong!!! Same with Tomas. Either way, I think they can be redeemed. And I SOOO want for that to happen. Quinn broke my heart. I was getting ready to deeply like him. Never mind about that. Both Crofton and Foxe have great enemy chemistry with Rina, weird as that is to say, and I love to hate them both, though I’m very interested in the bits of humanity I see peeking through Foxe sometimes.

Bound and Determined featured the wildest of action/adventure scenes! Y’all, I can’t describe how annoyingly invested I was in those last several action sequences…I felt like it was a movie I was watching – better yet, a movie I was in. Some minor details confused me, but, well, I was reading s u p e r fast to find out what was going to happen, so I really don’t fault the author for that.

The suspense. The battles. The action. Impeccable. I love writing a solid action sequence, but it’s tricky for me to choreograph the fights and picture it playing in my mind realistically. The author did an AMAZING job with that in this book. Like, the actions flowed into each other and were dynamic, ever moving, every shifting. Super fun to read. (Okay, more like torturous, but that’s what I’m here for, m’kay? I like reading a book and getting lost in its pages. And if you read this book, I know you like the same thing. *beams*)

I’m just half-way glad I didn’t read this book at night because, dude, I can’t promise I wouldn’t have stayed up till the morning reading it. (The only reason I wish I had read it at night would be because then I’d be by myself and I could feel free to weep at any moment I wished. I did tear up at several moments – couldn’t help it – but when there are other people in the room, it’s awkward.)

I know I’m going on and on about how well-written it was, but I have to at least mention one more thing in that regard… THE DIALOGUE. It was positively delicious. Such as when Keaton says “You’re good, Daisy. Eleven years ago, you couldn’t keep up” to a serious statement she makes. It all really flows from the characters’ personalities, dreams, fears, etc., if you know what I mean. Just really good.

The whole plot was just epic. So many twists and turns. I don’t think I predicted much, but if I did, the suspense made it even more intriguing. As you probably know, the content was very heavy since it dealt with prostitution and just all the darkness that goes along with that, not to mention a miscarriage that broke my heart. But then the healing found after those awful things was so beautiful. The author included a content/trigger warning in the book for you to read, but the short of it is, it’s not for young or sensitive readers.

As for the romance (which said category I almost forgot about reviewing? How could that happen?!!), I LOVED IT. I’m in awe of how she was able to create a three-dimensional romance so strongly character-driven and colored by each character’s individual backstory and motivations, and how she had them grow closer to each other by growing closer to Christ. Just beautifully done. Although there were many sweet moments that melted my heart, it did get uncomfortably intense at times, during the attempted seduction scenes. The romance was one of the aspects of the story that surprised me by how deep and dark and real it got, but that only emphasized the light and healing.

The themes lingered with me long after I’d first read this book. Despite some theological differences, the heart of the messages really touched me and were expressed beautifully through the characters’ struggles, dark moments, and moments of awakening.

Some of the numerous themes that stuck out most were as follows: (1) It doesn’t matter what our past is, God’s forgiveness still covers it, His mercy is still for all who will repent and accept Him, His grace is always enough. (2) Despite all our failures, we are enough through Christ. (3) Sometimes the Lord takes precious things away from us, and sometimes He throws us into the middle of chaos and the enemy’s lies fill our minds…all we can do is trust Him. There is nothing He can’t control, nothing He doesn’t have a reason for. (4) Just because someone isn’t showing it doesn’t mean they’re not falling apart inside, not dealing with more darkness than we could imagine. (5) ACCEPT HELP FROM THOSE WHO LOVE YOU (6) True. Love. Is. Real. It involves sacrifice and though you may never feel worthy of that sacrifice on the other person’s part, you are. (7) The power of prayer.

There ya have it. Obviously I took away a lot from this book. (And technically, I could go on. *chuckles*) I SO appreciate the author’s passion for Christ and how she unashamedly weaves that into her books. Hats off.

Epic is the word that keeps coming to mind when I scavenge for good descriptors of this book. Epic and beautiful. Yes, it has heavy, dark, soul-crushing moments. Things get uncomfortably intense sometimes. But it also has moments of healing, hope, and redemption. If that sounds like something you’d enjoy, I highly recommend it.

*collapses onto a couch after writing this review* (It is so hard to capture everything I thought about it in only a few thousand words. But I did my best. Just rest assured there’s a lot more I could say about it, and ignore any typos you might catch. Tally ho.)

A FEW FAVORITE QUOTES

“Grace for tomorrow, mercy for yesterday, and strength for today.”

“Sometimes you must acknowledge what you are before you can change who you are.”

“In the end, He was Lord over all the if onlys and all the endless possibilities, and He knew which path was the best to take. Even if it were the most painful.”

DISCLOSURE: I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

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About the Author!

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Have you read any of the Daughters of the Seven Seas series yet? Do you enjoy pirate romance stories? Are you a huge fan (like I am) of high-stakes, fast-paced action scenes and battle scenes? What’s a fictional character that deeply intrigues you?