#StoryBound is my favourite lockdown read so far!

Edie/Cupcake slips into a parallel universe and finds that her favourite fantasy series is real and she can help to save her ‘book boyfriend’ Kane the Traveller with her knowledge of what is to finally come. But things aren’t exactly as they were in the novels, will she save Kane, get him to fall in love with the princess and ever get home?

I loved the world building and story, though things could be developed more in places. I don’t usually love first person POV books but in this book it didn’t bother me. Can’t wait for the sequel, please don’t take another 7 years! There are questions left unanswered which might bother you if you don’t want to read a series.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for my free advance copy in return for an unbiased review. I highly recommend this book.

Edie has been obsessed with Kane, a character in a fantasy series she adores, ever since she started reading the books. He has been her comfort in a fictional world where she doesn’t have to worry about the fact that she moves around too often to make meaningful connections, or the fact that she has a traumatic past involving her father. Then one day, weird things start happening and she opens the door to a book store and steps foot in the fictional world she adores and comes face to face with Kane.
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This was a pretty average fantasy read for me. If it hadn’t ended on a cliffhanger, I probably wouldn’t be too interested in picking up the sequel when it comes out. I appreciate the slow burn romance, and I like the idea of super short excerpts from Kane’s perspective after each chapter because it reveals parts of him that he clearly likes to hide, however I don’t think they were done that well and I found myself skimming them because they didn’t provide much importance to the plot or character development.

I’ve honestly been waiting for a fun and adventurous YA book that involves travel into a fictional world. And Storybound excels at bringing this to life. It’s full of character growth, marvelous world building, and exceptional writing. I was so invested in this story and the characters that it was sad to read the last line of this book (only because I had to say goodbye to this world).

The execution of this story idea is done splendidly, and McKay’s writing is a breath of fresh air. Her narration of this story is exquisite and really provides a strong voice. Her writing is also lush and full of beautiful prose. McKay does an absolute wonderful job integrating the real world with the story world, and that integration helped to make this book shine.

The world building is just phenomenal. And not just the book world, but the real world is just as mesmerizing. But really, let’s talk about the book world. It’s fantastical and magnificently described. The whole world was so easy to picture in my mind. I could picture everything in vivid colors. The world building was so well done that days after finishing the book, I can still easily picture the landscape. It’s such a unique and rich world.

Now for the main characters. Edena (Edie) is snarky and brave and a strong protagonist. She’s not afraid to showcase her emotions or to put other people first. So, when she walks out onto the pages of her favorite series, she knows what she needs to do: save her favorite hero (who she happens to be in love with) from his untimely and unfortunate end. And then, of course, she needs to figure out how she can get home, but this becomes hard to do when she starts to create friendships with the characters she’s only known through her favorite story. Edie is definitely a protagonist that many readers will be able to relate to, and not just because she’s an avid reader.

Then there’s Kane. Kane is, without a doubt, worthy of all the swoons. Well, after he forgoes his rudeness to our fan-fave protagonist, Edie. Though his rudeness is understandable (you’ll have to read the book to find out why!). But his characterization and growth was fun to see: he’s living in a world full of hardships and at every turn, he has to determine his next move without trying to get killed.

Overall, this book was a fun and exciting read and I definitely recommend this story to those who need a new adventure fantasy read!

The start of the story was a bit everywhere. You had the real world, fantasy world, real world through fantasy world's eyes, and fantasy world through real word's eyes. Let's not forget the book series world. I did enjoy Kane's thoughts that showed up between chapters. These were just quick paragraphs though. Edie was a hit and miss character for me. Didn't like the fact that "love" showed up with very little development other than fighting together. I did enjoy the idea of the story the book just needs some fine tuning.

I received this book from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love this, I really did. The plot is a fun concept, but the execution let it down. The characters are two dimensional and wishy washy, full of poor motivation or instalove. The only one I ended up liking was the cat.

It just felt in good need of a strong edit, and for Edie to stop thinking everyone is as they are in the books when that falls over literally every time she meets someone. And I do get loving a fictional character, even if I don’t go for the whole book boyfriend thing myself, but Eddie’s fascination with Kane borders on pathological. Kane himself is typical “chosen one” and bad but secretly good and every cliche I can think of poured into one book. Ugh.

There were bits I really enjoyed - the idea is good, the peril about the hellhounds is well executed, and the way magic works is interesting. I wanted more answers about the background of it all though, and the villain had no motivation except wanting to rule the world. Just sigh.

I’m frustrated that I want to know how it all works out, but honestly that’s mostly because we get no answers at all in this book. I doubt I’ll pick up the second book. 2.5 stars.

I really loved this book. I’ll admit it took what seemed like forever to really get hooked, but once I was, bam!! I just couldn’t stop. It was funny, had lots of fun details, and Cupcake/Edie/Edena was so human that I couldn’t help but love her. She was kind of a pain sometimes though because she flip flops and it’s a little annoying a few times. Like she learns something and then two pages later she forgets and has to relearn it. But then, that’s the type of thing that makes her so human. The star I took away was because it took me until about 30% of the way through to really get into it and also for the ending. You’re left hanging with no real ending and a thousand questions. So I’m fully expecting book two and I will be reading it once it comes out. One this I really enjoyed was this author has an awesome writing style that felt smooth and witty to me. It’s writing like that that makes me love to read.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

I really tried to get into this one but I just couldn't.
From almost the beginning I felt that this book was a little more juvenile than I thought it would be and that it wasn't going to be the story for me.
I'm disappointed because the premise sounded really promising.
Regardless, I very much appreciate the opportunity to read and review this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This book felt a bit different than ones I usually read. Very slow start but by the last page I was shocked it was done! There was so much more I wanted to know about...nevermind - spoilers. It was the type of story where I felt I was beginning to know the characters and wanted to be in their world (the book one not ours). It could have been a silly teen romance, but instead, as you read along, layers and layers of backstory create an intriguing drama. I hope that there is another one, because there is so much more I want to know.

Oh YAY there will be a 2nd one.

Edie is the heroine of this story, she changes cities very often, her father tried to kill her and her mother is overprotective. She's a fan of The Chronicles of the Traveler and the hero Kane the Traveler. She doesn't expect to find herself in this world when she walks into her favorite bookstore. And yet she finds herself with Kane and all the characters in the story. She's going to have to protect him and at the same time understand why she's in this world.

The concept is interesting, Edie is going to meet her book boyfriend, who wouldn't dream of living that!

I had a good time with all the protagonists and I was surprised by a passage in the book.

Edie, also nicknamed Cupcake by Kane is a pretty brave girl, she takes her mission seriously and she will discover things about herself that she never imagined.

Kane isn't the perfect hero but he doesn't get better the more you get to know him, the more you understand his motives and the more you appreciate him.

I had a great time with this book and I'd love to read the rest of the book to find out how this story will end.

Quick word: A book to have a good time.

I really enjoyed this book. First, it has a great premise. What book lover hasn't thought about what it would be like to live in the stories that you love? While that theme has been done before (and done well!), the added twist of a teen falling into the book and meeting her "book boyfriend" is just perfect.

Second, McKay does an excellent job building, in a sense, two worlds. At first I thought that the excerpts from the book were going to just confuse me, as would all the names of the mythical creatures. But, McKay slowly and methodically feeds you the information that you need to understand the story.

Third, I was actually surprised by the twist. That doesn't happen a lot for me in YA books. And I was surprised in a good way, not in a "that is dumb" way.

Fourth, I liked the ending. I thought that there was closure on some parts of the story, but I am eager to read book 2 (please let there be a book 2!).

What didn't I like--well, even though the world was gritty (I liked that and thought it was well developed), I didn't love the swearing. I found it unnecessary. Still, I will recommend this books to others and plan on getting it for my teen niece.

Thanks NetGalley & publishers for the review copy. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

A little slow to get into, but that could have been me. The beginning felt a little pointless, but maybe it will become important in book 2?
I am a super character driven reader, so whether or not I like a book is deternined by the strength of the characters and after about chapter 12 (of 50) I was hooked. Also, I grew to really look forward to the alternate POV on the chapter breaks.

So much I want/need to know. Can't wait for the next book.

Recommended.

Thank you net galley for providing me this eBook in exchange for a fair an honest review. I loved this whimsical plot and the idea of becoming part of the story. I couldn't read fast enough to see if she could change the ending to a book she loved so much. Great read for bibliophiles!

I not usually a lover of fantasy books, but loved being taken to different places in this book.
Was a great read and would reccomend it to any fantasy lovers out there.

*I was provided an e-ARC of this book by the publisher via Netgalley. This is my honest review*

DNF at 20%

The reason I wanted to read this book was because the concept reminded me of a book I read – and really liked – a few years ago: The Vampire Stalker by Allison Van Diepan.

So when I saw this one was, similarly, about a girl who realizes the world and characters from her favorite book are actually real, I knew I wanted to read it.

Unfortunately, nothing made sense in this book.
Never thought I'd ever say "the fantasy is this book didn't make sense" but eh... it really didn't.

Everything was happening all at once with no reasonable explanations about that fantasy world the protagonist found herself at. Oh, there were "explanations" alright, they just made zero sense. The book’s excuse for the random nonsense shoved at us was literally “it’s fantasy, so everything is possible.” I guess this would make more sense if the events that were happening weren't totally absurd.

Despite being curious at how Edie – the protagonist – and Kane, the love interest, are going to fall in love, I was just so baffled by the ridiculousness of characters' interactions and "plot" that I honestly couldn’t keep on reading. I started skimming, but even then all I wanted to do was put the book aside and pick up something else.

This is not the most terrible book I’ve read, because it didn't anger me or anything, it’s more on the “LOL, I can’t take this seriously, are you kidding me? 😂” side of dislike, like reading a parody that isn't even funny.

Storybound isn’t well thought out, and I didn't like it, but some lines from the beginning of the book that I read were relatable to me, so I really wish the author all the best in her writing 🧡

DNF at 31%

Good lord. Okay. So, hear me out here. I tried. Really, I did. And there was at least one part I enjoyed. But I just couldn't do it.

There was a lot of stuff I disliked about this book. But I want to say that there was one thing I did like. I absolutely adored the premise of the novel. I think it's one that, when done properly, could be amazing. Sadly, it did not work out that way here (for me).

Yeah, that was what I liked. I don't have anything more to say in that vein. Now I'd like to explain why I couldn't make myself finish this book.

For one thing, the voice was not for me. I straight up disliked it. I don't have anything more to say on that because it's just how I felt about it. Maybe other people won't mind but it grated on me.

Another thing was that I strongly disliked Edie, the main and POV character. With her there seems to be a lot of hatred towards teenage girls. There were so many nasty comments about the way the other girls in the story behaved. Her attitude was pretty out of date honestly. I'd expect this from a YA from 2010, not one coming out in 2020. There was too much of a "not like other girls" undertone to her character for me.

But, aside from her attitude, there were other reasons that turned me off to Edie's character. Her insistence that she's in love with Kane, for starters. I get having book boyfriends. I had a ton of book boyfriends as a teen. Most people bond to the characters they read--that means they're good characters! Written well! But no one actually, truly thinks they're in love with them. Teenagers are smart. They know characters aren't real people they can have a relationship with. I don't really think Edie gets that. She's insisting that she has been in love with Kane since she read his first book. And not in a "I love my book boyfriend way". More like "I'm not going to date or befriend actual, real-life people because I have my book boyfriend". That's not healthy. It's just not a healthy behavior to demonstrate. At first I thought we were in an insta-love situation. This would've been . . . less than ideal. But, nope, just a main character that has me worried and seriously put off.

Oh, and, the third reason I don't like Edie? She's contradicting herself constantly. I'm not talking, unreliable narrator or making changes based on new information. I'm talking she says outright she's never really believed in magic or fantasy, then two pages later says of course she's always believed in it. Then another two pages after that she's back to "how can I really think this is real that's ridiculous". It's not to other people either. It's her just thinking to herself. And it's not even presented in a way that would depict disorder or confusion at having your world get turned upside down. It's just irritating, bad writing.

This is my last point I'm going to explain about why I wouldn't finish the arc. The writing just was not good. It was disorganized in the beginning, lacked any sort of the real, significant world-building a fantasy of this magnitude needs, and didn't improve. I think the main thing that bothered me was, the farther I got in, the less annoyed and the more bored I got. I didn't even get to any sort of major romantic or action plot point. I was going to try and stick it out but . . . I just got so bored. Which is probably the saddest thing about the entire experience. At least annoyed I had some emotion. But the writing couldn't hold my attention once I got past that 25% mark. It stopped being irritating and went flat instead. 

Now, I could also go into how the author appeared to use mental illness as a plot device, the use of every YA stereotype under the sun, and the near-immediate attack and dismissal of the only powerful POC that we were introduced to, but I'm not going to. Mostly because I did DNF and those things could be more than they appeared. Maybe these are explored further later on in the book. I don't feel I have enough information to fully judge these things, but this is how they looked at about a third of the way in. That's not great.

Overall I can't recommend reading this one, because I don't think it's really worth it. But, as always, I advise determining that for yourself. 1.5/5 stars because the premise rocks. I just wish the execution was better.

(I received an eArv courtesy of Netgalley! These are my own thoughts and feelings)

I am a lover of fantasy! I love being transported to different places but the time looping, and storyline of it all was a bit overwhelming! I also felt that I was left with way to many questions! I don’t mind reading series I just didn’t see a disclaimer anywhere indicating if this is the first of many! If so great maybe I’ll eventually get some closure but if not well... then that leaves me concerned because there is so much left wide open! I felt myself in panic mode as I got closer to the 100% read mark because again so much was left unanswered!

The characters themselves were great! I loved the different people and places there was just too much trying to be stuffed into one book! The concept was great, and I loved how the excerpts were related to what was going to come! I also loved how strong Edie became! I just wanted more!

This book was received as an ARC from Entangled Publishing, LLC - Entangled: Teen in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I was waiting for a book where the prime focus is being transported into a story and we have not seen many of those since Inkheart and The Book Jumper but in this case it was falling in love with a character and having him literally come to life. As many YA novels whenever there is a dream coming to life there is always a price to pay and that is finding your way through the story and finding your way home. I know our teen book club will have some enticing discussions from this book.

We will definitely consider adding this title to our YA collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

When I first saw the cover of this book, I was immediately intrigued, but it was the tagline that really grabbed my attention! "What if your book boyfriend was real?" I have fallen for many characters over the years and the idea of one of them leaping off the page and into real life is so fun to think about! From the moment I started reading, I immediately connect with Edie and her love of books. I too often use books as an escape from real life and when Edie finds herself sucked into the world of her favorite book, I couldn't read the pages fast enough! I really enjoyed this book! It was face-pasted and exciting and oh my lanta can we talk about Kane? He is swoony and broody and definitely a book boyfriend I wouldn't mind meeting in real life. This book was tons of fun and I am excited to read the next installment of the story! Highly recommend this book!

Edena aka Edie aka Cupcake is a loner, she moves from town to town due to her mothers job. She's never able to make any friends, so instead she reads, really she's an average girl. Until she gets thrown into the world of her favourite book, and finds out that it is real, and now she has the chance to save her favourite character Kane. But will she be able to go back to her own world if she changes his story? And is Edie really just a normal girl?


I have to say that I like the book cover, and I really like the description of this book, just the thought that you get to meet your favourite book character and possibly save them, I just love that concept.
We switch between Edies POV and small excerpts from book five of the traveler chronicles where we follow Kane, which gives us better insight into who Kane is.

Already the moment Edie steps into the Kingdom of Mithres and she makes a binding promise not to change anything, she accidentally does that, which I mean a mistake that all of us could make. But oh boy was that a bad decision. Which gets her stuck in the Kingdom of Mithres for a while, with no way of getting back to her own world.
So she finally gets to go on her adventure with Kane, and hopefully she'll be able to save him from the death that the author wrote for him.

McKay has done a really good job at narrating. It really feels like being in the head of a teen girl, and I would know that. Seriously I love how Edie is written, she is exactly like a real girl. Edie is so relatable and so realistic with her thoughts and actions. She is not just a damsel in distress, but she isn't all badass either. She really seems like a girl that can handle shit and I like that. Edie is smart and has wit, but she isn't arrogant. I can say that she might actually become a favourite character of mine.

It's really funny the first time she meets Kane she is starstruck because really who wouldn't be. I mean if I ever met Jem Carstairs I would definitely have stars in my eyes. But the funny thing is that he doesn't even acknowledge that she is there and when he does it's with so much disdain, honestly I felt so bad for her in that moment. My heart would be broken, but Edie takes it like a champ, because do any of us really believe that our book crush would fall in love with us the moment they see us?
And the worst part, finding out that your favourite character is nothing like you thought they would be, so truly disappointing.
And just imagine, building up these expectations, and view of a person, not even that. Imagine falling in love with that image, and then finding out that they aren't like that at all. And even so that hard part for Edie is also that Kane really isn't the person that she read about in her books, and she needs to disassociate Kane the Traveler from the books with the real Kane Travers.

Kane is just cheeky, and I like that. He isn't that annoying male lead that is all cold and mysterious. I mean yeah she he has his secrets, and he seems all arrogant. But he's a 19 year old boy just trying to survive in a world that tries to kill him. And I really like him, not as much as Edie but close.

Morgan I love his character! Honestly I liked pretty much all the characters in this book, and I was invested in all of them.
Emily McKay, was able to make all the characters likeable for me, which is really hard. But well the only character I didn't like is the villain, which is normal for most.

I just honestly I loved this book, through and through, there wasn't any part of the story that I didn't like. I loved the characters, I loved the action, I loved the romance, how it was slow building, but not too slow.

This is a 5 star read for me, and I might possibly even say that this is my book of the year!
I will again say thank you to Engtangled:Teens Publishing for letting me have an ARC, because this has been my most liked book in a long time!

If it were possible, this would stand at a solid 4.5. I don't think it deserves a full 4 but there were some minor issues that leads it to be a 4.5 rather than a 5.

Storybound reminds me so much of my favorite book of all-time: Inkheart. I've always loved books and the idea of becoming a part of or finding your own story so intertwined with that of a book you love resonates strongly with me. Edie feels a little disappointed, like some of her fellow fans, at the end of her favorite series, about the strong Tuatha and Dark Worlder, Kane the Traveler, the protagonist of the novel series. Both her and her mother have traveled constantly, for both her mother's job and to outrun her father, who spent some time in an asylum and may not be the most mentally stable. Edie and her mom currently reside in Austin and, when her mom must travel away for a little while, Edie follows up on a lead some weird circumstances that isn't sure really happened told her to go check out. Once there, she realizes either the world isn't what she thought it was and her role is more entwined with Kane's than just reading about him, or she's just as crazy as her her father is. Crossing the lines between realistic and fictional situations, Edie has to find where her story connects with Kane's and differentiate the way the story is supposed to go and the way she wants it to go.

I fell in love with the description of this book, again because it reminded me of my favorite book. After reading it, I felt that it missed the mark in a few places, but not enough to lose the reader entirely. The only things I found myself craving were a more seamless transition from the first part to when she crosses over and for the characters to feel a bit more fleshed out. There is so much Edie knows and, being an unreliable narrator, she doesn't tell us all of it. It leads the reader to not knowing the cast of characters as well as we should and not understanding their grand gestures in the same manner Edie does. I loved LOVED the little snippets in between each chapter from the original book and when the ARC deleted excerpts came in? Oh god, I felt things. There is a ton of hidden backstory and backlore you only get through the snippets and I found that is something McKay does well: revealing just enough of the original book to keep you satisfied. If the characters were fleshed out a little more, the story stands well on its own. I am anxious as to if there will be a sequel or not because there is plenty of room for one.