'Bound' Little Goddess #3 by Amy Lane

From the BLURB:

Humans have the option of separation, divorce, and heartbreak—for Corinne Carol-Anne Kirkpatrick, sorceress and queen of the vampires, the choices are limited to love or death. Now that she is back at Green’s hill and assuming her duties as leader, her life is, at best, complicated. Bracken and Nicky are rivalling for her affections, Green is gone taking care of his people, and a new supernatural enemy is threatening the sanctity of all she has come to love. Throw in a family reunion gone bad, a supernatural psychiatrist and a killer physics class, and Cory’s life isn’t just complex, it’s psychotic.

Cory needs to get her act and her identity together, and soon, because the enemy she and her lovers are facing is a nightmare that doesn’t just kill people, it unmakes them. If she doesn’t figure out who she is and what her place is on Green’s hill, it’s not just her life on the line. She knows from hard experience that the only thing worse than facing death is facing the death of someone she loves.

Because loving people is easy—living with them is what takes the real work, and it’s even harder if you’re BOUND.

Cory, nee Lady Cory, is settling into her role as Queen of the fae foothill slowly but surely. With Green by her side as well as her elfin husband Bracken and her Avian partner, Nicky, Cory is assimilating to her Queenly role with aplomb (and only a few minor hiccups).

Cory is also finding time to finish her university degree – with a concentration on business and kingdom ruling. She is even making new human friends while she attends school, giving her tenuous connections to the world she left behind.

But a sinister presence threatens to destroy everything that Cory has worked so hard to protect and accept. A malevolent presence – with a smell of decay and nails-on-chalkboard sound – is stalking the foothills. It’s up to Cory and co to protect their own and eradicate this new evil, nicknamed the ‘Hollow Man’.

‘Bound’ is the third book in Amy Lane’s ‘Little Goddess’ paranormal erotica romance series.

In the first book, ‘Vulnerable’, it seemed as though Cory’s journey was all about accepting her ‘otherness’ and opening her eyes to the supernatural. ‘Wounded’ saw Cory nursing her grief while struggling to accept the responsibilities of the foothill. ‘Bound’ sees Cory’s focus shift to the mending of her love life as she compromises and accommodates her three permanent lovers and mates.

Green is away on business for two weeks when ‘Bound’ begins, as his sexual healing takes him inter-state to strengthen his various allegiances. But being away from his beloved is soul-crushing for both him and Cory. While Green is away on business, Cory must step up and become leader in his absence – a task she is overwhelmed and humbled by, even more so when the Hollow Man comes to terrorize. It’s interesting to read Green and Cory apart – in many ways their romance has been an assured constant since the first book. As distance makes the heart grow fonder, it’s nice to read how much they depend on each other and crave one another.

But ‘Bound’ is really about Cory’s evolving relationship with the other two men in her life. Bracken is her ‘husband’ – they are bound in mortality and fidelity. Their relationship is fiery and intense, and as vital as breathing to both of them. Nicky is an ‘Avian’, a shape-changing bird/man. He and Cory were accidentally bound in a mating ceremony, and because Avian’s need their mate to live, Cory has no choice but to accept his complicated love. Nicky and Cory’s love is tepid and complicated compared to her lush passion for Green and Bracken. In this book, Cory has to find a balance with Nicky and accept the boundaries of their mating.

This book really highlights Cory’s growth. She is becoming impressively queenly, especially in how she gathers new supernatural’s to the foothill and protects those in her kingdom;

“We live in a vast world, Davy. Bigger than you imagine, more complicated than you ever thought possible. And Kyle has made you a part of it, and that’s for him to explain. It’s scary. There are deaths and pain and brutality that I don’t ever want you to imagine, much less know.” I turned to Bracken now, and was going to take his hand, but he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, giving me just enough room to turn to her, as she sat on the wet metal bench in the rain. “But there’s sweetness here too, Davis Stacia – remember that when you talk with Kyle. So much of it hurts, but there is sweetness, and beauty, and love.”

‘Bound’ is a great new instalment in the ‘Little Goddess’ series. Cory is coming leaps and bounds in her queenship, and her romance is heating up and balancing out. I love Green and Bracken, and while Nicky still reads like a third-wheel, I'm impressed by how Cory works the complications of their mating. I can’t wait to read fourth book, ‘Rampant’.

5/5