The concept of this book sounded really cool. I loved the idea of a police force that focused on the supernatural and crimes that happen between them. Unfortunately, this fell short for me. I couldn't get into the story and I feel like the big mystery of who hurt the main character fell to the background when it really should've been front and forward. It just wasn't for me.

Great start to an entertaining new series from Helen Harper. Emma is assigned to the Supernatural Squad which is tasked with addressing crimes involving vampires, werewolves, and other Others. Lots of politics, action, and mystery. Already on book 4 of the series!

Fantastic

A new author for me, I read this on a whim. And enjoyed it tremendously. The characters are well fleshed out. The world is a believable place. Thank you Helen, I’ll be sure to check out more of your books.

Ever since I read 'Wishful Thinking' I have been hooked on Helen Harper's books and have read probably 95% of them. "Brimstone Bound" is a lot of fun: it is incredibly sarcastic and witty (one of my favourite things about Harper's writing) and follows Emma Bellamy's journey of a) being almost finished at the detective academy, b) murdered and c) figuring out why she was murdered and how she came back to life 18 hours later.

The romance is a bit of a slow burn and the supernatural creatures keep Emma (and the reader) on their toes.

Really my only concern with the book is that it features police detectives-- given the current political climate I am wary of any fiction involving police but I do think Harper does acknowledge (although it could be more apparent) that people with power (like police officers) wield it to further their own gains,

I would like to thank the author and the Netgalley website for allowing me to read this book.

It finds Emma Bellamy escaping death every time she comes across a werewolf killer or stumbles upon a paranormal murder.

She is not far from becoming a London detective.

Except that she is brutally murdered and twelve hours later is in the morgue. And alive, too. How did it happen? Who did it? Mystery!!! Except that someone could try to kill her again.

Between werewolves disappearing, a strange vampire following her everywhere she goes, trying to find out more about her murder Emma must hurry before it happens again.

A book read in one sitting so much I love the author's writing, I was immediately hooked on the story so gripping, addictive, captivating, full of intrigue and suspense with very endearing characters. Can't wait to discover the other books.

This was a bit of miss for me. The story, while engaging, wasn't exactly what I had expected. The characters were okay, but there was something lacking in the story that I still can't put my finger on.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw that this was a paranormal urban fantasy set in London, I was excited as most urban fantasy books are set in the US.
I enjoyed how the plot was full of mystery and action and was fast-paced, as it definitely kept me engaged with the book and I wanted to read on.
I liked the characters and felt that they were well written and developed.

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley. It's my first experience with this author and I found her writing to be engaging and immersive. Despite the paranormal elements of the book, it was believable and relatable. I liked most of the characters, but more importantly, I had a clear picture of each of them and understood their motivations. It wasn't a remarkable book. To be honest, I think it could have benefited from the injection of some humor. But it was well-written and I enjoyed it.

I had a hard time with this one. Espesially how Emma (the main character) talked about and remembering police trainee days and what she did then, and the only silver lining with supernatural squad was the cooler weapons... plus i felt that the character was bland and boring. The Vampire aka the love interest, were sort of interesting - but not enough to want to continue the series.

Helen Harper’s witty urban fantasies never fail to delight me, and Brimstone Bound is no exception. The first-person narrator, Emma Bellamy, has almost finished her training as a detective in London when she’s given her final trainee assignment: the Supernatural Squad. Although no one in their right mind wants such a post, she’s determined to make the best of policing the city’s vampires, werewolves, and assorted other “supes.” That is, until she herself is brutally murdered and wakes up in the morgue without a scratch on her. She’s not a vampire now, or a zombie, or anything anyone has heard of. Maybe her boss knows – oh no, now he’s been murdered, although it’s made to look like an accident.

Fast-paced, full of innovative plot twists, and always engaging, Harper’s latest is a quick, juicy read.

I really enjoyed this first book in a new urban fantasy series. I loved the world that Helen Harper created and Emma was a great character to follow around in it. My only criticism is that most of the mystery elements were fairly simple to figure out, but that didn't hamper my enjoyment of the book. I'll definitely be picking up the sequel.

Thanks to Netgalley and BookBuzz, I was able to procure an ARC of Brimstone Bound. While I love all types of fiction, paranormal fantasy is probably my favorite genre. And done right, it can be a really immersive and exciting read.

Brimstone Bound follows Emma Bellamy, a trainee for the London police who is steps away from becoming a detective. Motivated and capable, Emma is in high hopes until she realizes that her last assignment before she qualifies is with Supernatural Squad. Which is exactly what it sounds like--Supernatural Squad deals with the supernaturals that live in London. Known for being a dangerous job, the squad is also poorly funded and has in total three functioning members. It's no wonder any of the trainees want to be assigned there.

Yet Emma grits her teeth and accepts it, knowing how close she is to making detective. She is just getting into the swing of things when one night after work, she is suddenly murdered by an unknown killer. When she wakes up in the hospital morgue hours later, her entire world has been upended. Not only has she realized that she's not human, but that the killer might try to kill her again. A series of disappearances and deaths in the supernatural community seem to be linked to her own murder, and Emma must unravel the mystery of it all before it is too late.

To be perfectly honest, this started off really nicely. The summary pulled me in when I first read it and I always like an air of mystery surrounding my main character's actual origin. Also the fact that she is immortal--like literally immortal--is really cool. She's basically unkillable. And the plot is great--I love the idea of a supernatural Nancy Drew investigating her own death and how it is connected to others.

And Emma really has a personality. She's strong-willed and stubborn and I love heroines who hold their ground. The woman is literally killed and wakes up hours later ready to solve the mystery of her death. If I were in her position, I would probably run away instead of facing my killer.

I think where things went wrong for me was as the book progressed, I kind of lost interest. I still care about Emma's mysterious origin but I wasn't very invested in figuring out who the killer was. Maybe it was the lack of humor in the book--I love humor, any kind but especially dark humor, in my books. And while a joke was made here and there, I feel like the author could have really used dark humor well in a story like this. Anyway, Brimstone Bound felt...bland and so it didn't keep my attention.

Emma is training to become a police detective when she is assigned to the worst post possible for her career, the Supernatural Squad. While investigating a crime, Emma is murdered. Do not worry, she wakes up in a morgue, only to realize someone had killed her and she is no longer dead.

Now Emma is trying to uncover who murdered her, discover where her missing Supernatural Squad trainer went, and decide if the devastatingly handsome vampire is friend or foe? Emma decides to let Lucas, the vampire, help her transverse the supernatural world.

Let’s just say, Harper had me at the intriguing mysteries that she cleverly built into a riveting plot. I will be back for more!

I received this ARC copy of Brimstone Bound from Helen Harper. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Emma is a young detective, what a great idea with a book. I enjoyed the mystery and storytelling in this book. I liked the character of Emma. This book had me wanting to read on and find out more. I loved the supernatural aspect of the book. Some very unique ideas and I like the twists, a little quirkiness, and surprises. Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. *"This book was given to me for free at my request from NetGAlley and I provided this voluntary review.*

Emma Bellamy is training to be a detective and is sent to the super sector, she gets angry because it is the most boring sector of all. And on her first day she is murdered, but in a twist of fate she comes back to life, apparently she is immortal and doesn't know what she really is. So she goes after finding her killer, when disappearances and deaths start to happen, and she believes that everything is intertwined with her death and goes after finding out the truth and arresting the criminal.
I really liked this reading, it is a very short urban fantasy, with captivating characters and an investigation as a focus, which was well elaborated.
We have a world where vampires, humans, werewolves and other beings that live together.

Emma Bellamy is only one short assignment away from being named the newest detective to the London Metropolitan Police Force. Unfortunately, that last assignment is with the Supernatural Squad — a meaningless department, since the supernatural species police their own and are largely confined to a few neighborhoods in London. But then her mentor disappears, and Emma herself is murdered. Left for dead, she awakens twelve hours later in a blazing fire. Determined to solve her own murder and locate her missing mentor, Emma teams up with a gun-ho pathologist, an irritating vampire lord, and the rest of Supernatural Squad … before her killer strikes again ….

Helen Harper is one of my favorite urban fantasy/paranormal romance authors, so I was excited to see that she had launched a new series (and her series, unlike so many others, tend to be a reasonable three or four volumes in length). So I grabbed a copy of Brimstone Bound and dove right in.

I really like Emma. She is driven, compassionate, and wants to spend her life helping people and bringing criminals to justice. She only knows the basics about supernatural beings (she’s not a groupie), but she believes that they deserve the same protections as humans. When put to the test, she proves herself to be clever and quick-thinking, too.

Even better, Harper takes her time with the romance. So-called insta-lust stories annoy me. I prefer it when characters are given the chance to get to know one another, discover each other’s strength and weaknesses, and really fall in love.

I like the world that Harper has created. It is virtually identical to our own, except for the existence of supernatural beings (werewolves, vampires, satyrs, pixies, and others). Most humans go about their normal lives, with only minimal contact with supernaturals; some humans seek them out, while others actively hate them. Although supernaturals might appear to be domesticated, the government understands their true power and threat, and seeks to keep them contained, through both legislation and accommodation (keep them mostly happily, and maybe they won’t go on a bloody rampage).

My only real complaint lies in the nature of the Big Reveal: the identity and motivations of Emma’s murderer. (No spoilers.) I saw it coming, and really really hoped that I was wrong. Unfortunately, I was not.

Overall, I quite enjoyed Brimstone Bound. The story kept me engaged, and I was rooting for Emma the whole way. I look forward to reading the next book, Infernal Enchantment, which released on 1 October 2020 (and finding out if my hunch as to her turn nature is correct).

Recommended to fans of Annette Marie, Lindsey Buroker, Hailey Turner, Gretchen Galway, and S.A. Magnusson.

I thought this was an amazing read from one of my favorite authors! The main characters and storyline are very intriguing and I couldn’t put it down! Highly recommended and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book!

I loved the world-building in an alternate London it was vivid and well written. The MC is a kick-ass heroine who is very close to completing training to become a full fledged detective.

I really enjoyed the original and well done take on the supernaturals in this world. It keeps some of the elements generally expected while adding new and intriguing elements. It was very well written

I feel this is a fantastic beginning to a new series. I am very excited for the next book.

Emma and Lukas have a fantastic team dynamic and are engagingcharacterswith great dynamics.

The book has a well paced stiry arc that keeps you interested. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

I must admit at first I was worried. It didn't grab me right away. As I read more the characters started to grow on me. Emma and Lukas together as a team worked well. The story was steady paced. The characters as they were introduced just added to the story even though they may be in the background (or morgue). Interested to find out more about Emma's past. This was my first book by Helen Harper but definitely won't be the last.

ARC from NetGalley

4.5 stars

This is an excellent first book. It's a paranormal fantasy that's set in England, which is a nice change from the traditional gritty US City. I had a hard time putting it down. The mysteries were done well and pretty much impossible to see coming, though I feel like we sacrifice a bit with this. I'm having a hard time articulating exactly why, but I just feel like there was no foreshadowing, and the big reveals were too uninvolved in the plot. They were too convenient. You spend time trying to suss out who the bad guy is and how things happened only to find that you could never have figured it out just by the nature of the design of it.

I'm big on romance, and there wasn't any of that here really aside from some extremely slow burn beginnings for what is clearly to come, and of which I wholly approve. *waggles eyebrows*

The magic system here, I mean aside from the vamps and wolves, has piqued my interest. We really get some clear foreshadowing <spoiler> on the cover here as far as Emma's powers go, yeah?</spoiler> I'm eager to see where this goes.

I'm eager to see where everything goes. I'm glad I got to read this. If you like paranormal fantasy, you will like this. It's a good one.