morganthebee's Reviews (489)

 Unbound is a terrific follow up to Unworthy, with more of everything that was good about the first book in The Blacksea Odyssey trilogy: an adventurous story, witty characters, humorous banter, strong women, and great relationships. Unbound excels with more detail and depth to the world, and a darker storyline that delves into the psyches of our protagonists and their friends. There is a lot of cursing and a bit of spice, so if those aren't your thing just be warned before you dive in. 

 

I loved all the characters, even the awful ones, and the development of the relationships between everyone felt very natural and realistic. I especially adored Quinn, and seeing her slowly open up and learning to trust Nyssa was one of the lovelier parts of the story. I can't wait to see where book three takes us, and am hoping for a deeper dive into the hinted at third romantic relationship. Please don't leave me hanging, J.A.! 

 

I will say that I did still have some frustration with the changing perspective and not always knowing right away whose view we were seeing, but it was done a bit more deftly here and I was able to figure it out faster than I was in Unworthy even though we were seeing through more perspectives in Unbound, so that was definitely an improvement. 

 

I received a free ARC from the author, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I went back and forth quite a bit on what rating to give Back in Your Arms. I feel like it's not quite a 4-star read for me, but I also don't think it deserves a 3-star, so I'm erring on the higher side. I loved Sawyer, I enjoyed Quinn, I liked the side characters (except the one I wasn't supposed to, of course). I think there was just too much happening and not enough focus on any one thing, and that was a detriment here. 

 

I really wanted to see more of the recovery of the relationships between Quinn and both her sister and her mother. I felt like the house aspect wasn't very developed, it was just a vehicle to get Quinn back to Kingsford, and while it did bring some character development for Sawyer the resolution of it just felt odd to me. 

 

Overall it is well written and I definitely don't regret reading it, but I've enjoyed other Monica McCallan books more.