I am absolutely amazed at how much I loved this book! I have been looking for a new series since many of my current favorites are ending. Brimstone Bound has catapulted Helen Harper's series to my followed series and made my TBR pile much higher.

A young rookie cop is assigned to work with the "usual" supernatural characters that live just out of sight of human Londoners. This job is not on her bucket list but she needs the work experience, so on duty she goes. By the end of her shift, she's dead! WTH!!! But she doesn't stay dead for long and now she has a brand new list.

A really good entertaining story line that is still light hearted enough to keep you chuckling as this young police woman finds herself in a world she has no clue about.

I received this book for free to review.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me interested and wanting to pick up the book from one day to the next. There were a lot of twists and turns as the main character tried to solve the murder of her mentor. It also had a surprise ending too! I am definitely interested in reading the second book when it comes out in October!

I loved the premise of this book, alternate London with a kick-ass heroine who is on her last training placement before qualifying as a detective. Getting sent to the super squad was not part of the plan and ending up in a morgue was definitely not in the program. I really enjoyed a fresh take on supernaturals. While many of the familiar elements are there, the author adds something unique to her supes. 

This is the start of a new and intriguing series that I, for one, will gladly follow. 

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Helen Harper never fails to create a heroine who entertains and her new book delivers a great character in Emma Bellamy. Emma has been doing everything right on her track to succeed as a London detective - her training is just about complete when she is given a final assignment that just doesn't quite seem right for a trainee of her caliber. A stint with the Supernatural Squad - not something that is looked upon very highly. Very quickly Emma finds out nothing is as it seems and she may have to place her trust in the most unexpected places. Helen always builds complete worlds for her character to live within and once again she has created a really fabulous universe. I can't wait to see where the next book takes Emma to - it will be a darkly intriguing adventure I'm sure. Don't miss this first book in a new series (- and if you haven't read any of Helen Harper's books do yourself a favour and go look up her catalogue. You won't be sorry.) Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

**4.5 Stars**

I have been eyeballing books by this author for forever, have most on my wishlist/want to read list, but I have only ever read one other by her and it was forever ago so I was excited to jump into this urban fantasy (with such an eye-catching cover!). Set in a modern day England with a twist, Emma is on her last rotation during her training to become a detective. Expecting an easy office job with cyber crimes, instead Emma is assigned to the Sups squad, the police task force that deals with relations between humans/police and all manner of supernatural creatures. What seems like an uneventful two weeks quickly turns into the most important investigation of Emma's life.

Brimstone Bound was as if an urban fantasy had a love child with a Law & Order style police procedural story, creating something super engaging and unique for me to read. The world building alone is enough to make me want to pick up the next book in the series, the details of the pack and werewolf hierarchy as well as all the other paranormal creatures were interesting. Add in the investigation and police policies and I wanted to solve the mystery just as much as Emma. I had a hunch that turned out to be correct about the killer but I still enjoyed the ride to find the truth.

Can I just take a minute to tell you how much I love Lucas and that I hope he stays around just as much in the next book? To be perfectly honest, I would love for him to be a possible romance for Emma, but I would gladly just accept him lurking on the pages as a side kick too- this is not a romance in any way, but a girl can hope. Hands down he is my favorite character right after Emma.

I recommend Brimstone Bound for anyone who loves vampires, werewolves, murder mysteries, urban fantasy and police investigations. I am glad that the next book is released soon!

Emma Bellamy has one last assignment before becoming a detective. She is sent to the Spook Squad - a branch of the force meant to liaise with London's supernatural set. When she is murdered in a back alley on the way to meet her supervisor, Emma becomes more entangled with the monsters than she ever hoped to be. If rising from the dead wasn't enough to spook a girl, Emma has to find out who murdered her mentor too - and it will take the help of a master vampire to do it.

This was an interesting take on a supernatural society, however Emma's lack of interest in her own resurrection kinda bothered me. She compartmentalized her death so well that if became an afterthought for the entire novel. This maybe an attempt to draw out the series, but it left me wanting more of her character.

Brimstone Bound, by author Helen Harper, is the first installment in the authors Firebrand series. Protagonist Emma Bellamy is a detective-in-training with the London Police. She's just entered her final rotation at the top of her class when she gets disastrous news. After everything she's worked hard for, she ends up being assigned to the Supernatural Squad instead of her coveted Cyber Crime. The Supernatural Squad is where the worst of the worst are dumped. On Emma's first day, she meets her new mentor, Detective Constable Anthony Brown who she will work with for the next 2 weeks.


Soho is an interesting place. 2,000 Vampires live here in a feudal system of governance alongside with (4) Werewolf clans. There are also ghouls, and gremlins living here. The balance between the supes is delicate to say the least. One wrong move, and the Supe Squad will be the first to fall. After all, they are just curtain dressing to keep up the appearance that the humans care. On her first day, she encounters two werewolves at each other’s throats which she curiously breaks up. But, after being lured out to Soho in the middle of the night by a curious message, she ends up dead. Ah, but what would be the point of this story if she stayed dead, yeah?


So, 12 hours later, according to her new friend in the coroner's office, she literally rises from the dead without a scratch on her. Determined to find out who killed her, Emma starts her own investigation. She's assisted in her quest by Lukas who is the vampire in these parts. Lukas may be the one person to make sure that Emma doesn't end up dead again. He's also the one who asks the hard questions; just why is Emma still alive after her brutal encounter with a killer? What is Emma anyway? But the mystery is just beginning. Tony is found dead. The werewolf Emma met the day before is dead, and her sister is missing, and the twists are just getting started.


The one thing you can take away from this first story is that the author has chosen not to name what Emma is even though the cover of this book clearly hazards a guess into that direction. When reading a book that is also a mystery, a reader must fully take in all characters whether they are on screen or just off screen. Of all the characters involved in this series, I have to say Lukas is the most curious. It's more than apparent that he's not going to let the Emma question go. It's also apparent that there's a connection between the two. It won't be long to find out what happens next. The next installment releases in October

Well, I’m on the fence with this book. On the one hand I liked the world, and I saw potential in the story. On the other hand there was no character development at all and the set up was beyond suspension of disbelief. Further the “twist” wasn’t surprising, although the reason was. I’ll probably pick up the next book in the series and hope for a little more.

This is the first book in a new series by an author I really like. As with a book with these conditions, I eagerly started it. I liked the beginning, but it seemed a little slow…until Emma dies. Then the book becomes spectacular. I loved all the characters even though the identity of one didn’t really surprise me. LOL! What did surprise me was the solving of the mystery. I was absolutely shocked by who the bad guy is. I wasn’t too convinced of the reason as it seemed a little too strange, but I was thrown. This was an excellent series started, and I’m definitely eager to read the next one. Highly recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

I really enjoyed this book, it was a strong beginning for the series, with both likeable and horrid characters, the fun is working out, who is who.

Emma Bellamy is one assignment away from making Detective when she’s assigned to Supernatural Squad, and it’s her worst fear becoming true, because nobody wants to be assigned to Supernatural Squad.

While attempting to solve the mystery of a missing werewolf, Emma meets a mysterious vampire, manages to get herself killed and wakes up in the morgue.

An excellent read, I’m looking forward to the next title in the series.

Emma Bailey is living a great life, up for her final rotation in the London Police force detective training programme she gets assigned to the Supernatural Squad (usually given as a punishment for the truly useless) rather than the Cyber Crime assignment she (and her accountant boyfriend Jeremy) was expecting.

At first Emma is mortified at being given the dunce assignment, then excited at the idea of being a liaison between the humans, vampires and werewolves, complete with special cool weapons. But then Emma finds the Supe Squad consists of three underwhelming individuals whose only role appears to be appeasement of the Supes, they don't even get to investigate crimes involving supernaturals - they do that themselves.

Then Emma gets brutally attacked while supposedly awaiting her boss in a London churchyard and wakes up lying on a mortuary slab accompanied by flames and a smell of sulphur! At first Emma blames her boss for her 'murder' or at least for setting her up, but when he goes missing too she realises there is something more sinister afoot. Werewolves are disappearing and Emma needs to find out who is responsible, and she'd kind of like to understand who wants her dead.

Although there are a lot of very familiar characters and tropes in this book (enigmatic and charming vampire lord, aggressive werewolf clans, etc) I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Fast-paced, funny, intriguing and twisty I didn't spot the individual behind the werewolf disappearances until it was spelt out for me.

First in a new series which looks like being fun and doesn't take itself too seriously, I can't wait to read the next one.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

4.5 stars
Helen Harper is one of my auto read authors. I love everything she has written and almost fainted when I saw she has a new series. Just like some of her previous series Brimstone Bound is set in London and its so nice to be back. The book features an intricate mystery filled with paranormal creatures from werewolves to vampires and another unique heroine that I absolutely adored. Brimstone Bound is another great series by Helen Harper and I am looking forward to book two.

Brimstone Bound by Helen Harper (Firebrand #1) 4.5 stars

This is a start of a new series by Helen Harper. Ms. Harper is the author of several books that I have read or listened to such as - The Lazy Girl''s Guide to Magic and How to Be the Best Damn Faery Godmother in the World (or Die Trying). Those books had a irreverent tone with sassy dialog. Brimstone Bound is more serious in tone with a mystery plot as its main focus. Since this is the first book there is quite a bit of background to set up.

This world accepts the existence of supernaturals - vampires and werewolves and others. Emma Bellamy is a member of the Metropolitan Police Force in London and on her last training rotation before graduation. Instead of going to the cyber crime division, she is sent to the Supernatural Division for her last two week rotation. Her supervisor, Tony, is murdered and the investigation of that murder is the mystery plot. In addition, there is a mystery on who Emma Bellamy is due to an event that happens early in the book. I won't spoil it, but right now there are only listings for this book and the next, Infernal Enchantment. I wonder if two books is enough to resolve the hanging threads. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next one.

Thank you Netgalley and Helen Harper for this ARC.

This was a good start to a new UF series by Helen Harper, featuring Emma, a trainee detective who's been doing quite well and is anticipating her final training rotation to be in the department's Cyber Squad where she ultimately hopes to be permanently posted. Instead, she's assigned to the Supernatural Squad, a dead-end posting with a small group of cops charged with policing London's supernatural beings, mainly vamps and shifters who live in a particular part of London. She quickly finds out that the squad is really just window dressing and the supes themselves do all of their own policing. Even worse, on her first day on the job, she's brutally murdered, only to wake up in the morgue, alive but with absolutely no memory of anything that happened since her supposed murder. When she charges off to investigate, she discovers that her crusty supervisor on the squad has also been murdered, in such a way as to seem like a suicide (and he doesn't resurrect as she did).

Now Emma's got to solve both her own murder and her supervisor's all without letting anyone know that she actually died (her body was brought in as a Jane Doe). She quickly acquires the attractive vampire lord of London, who was investigating her assumed murder, as an ally. After this setup, the rest of the plot is like a police procedural with supernatural world building thrown in. It was fast-paced, and kept my interest, and I'm definitely invested in finding out what's behind the mystery of Emma's resurrection. The only thing that didn't make sense to me was Emma's lack of curiosity about how she survived her own murder. I found it hard to believe that she could just ignore all of that and carry on with her investigation anyway. I'm hoping the next book provides some more clues.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this copy of Brimstone Bound for review.
Alright, this was fun! I started this book after dinner on a Sunday night, and stayed up until midnight to finish it, surely the sign of a good book.

An urban fantasy in the traditional sense of the word (this isn’t erotic urban fantasy), this book focuses on the exploits of a trainee police detective on rotation with London’s Supernatural Squad. Deemed the place where potential goes to die, Emma Bellamy is less than thrilled when she’s assigned to the squad, and even less so when at the end of her first day, she gets her murdered.

Brimstone Bound was fast-paced and additive, and while I did guess at least part of the final mystery, I enjoyed the journey. The world of supernatural focused primarily on Vampires and Werewolves, although it alludes to a greater world, something I assume will be explored further in later books.

I got Dresden Files vibes from this book, as it gave that kind of serialised murder mystery type vibes, although, if I’m being honest, I liked Emma a lot more than Harry Dresden. I enjoyed the relationships between characters in this book (work, friendship, etc) and while I’m hoping that in later books, there might be a romance between our main character and a certain broody vampire, I also appreciated that it seems as if there’s groundwork being laid, so the payoff – if there is one – should be greater.

Basically, if you’re after a good time, you should read this book.

This was an incredible book that I for one couldn’t put down. Emma’s story was riveting form the start to the end and it has just begun. I can't wait now for the next installment.

I'm not sure what I was expecting with this one, but it surpassed my initial thoughts. It's a bit of a slow start, but then you're hooked. Fun little read and I will surely be keeping an eye out for future installments. Likable characters, believable world-building = fun escape for a few hours.

This is book one of a brand new urban fantasy series and I leaped at the opportunity to read and review.
I found myself struggling to get into this world and when I actually did, I found myself struggling to stay in this world. Don't get me wrong, Ms.Harper wove a brilliantly alternate London filled with supernatural creatures like vampires and werewolves so that wasn't the issue. The issue for me was Emma, the protagonist of the story. I did not connect with her at all. Maybe it was a you, it's me scenario but I really did not bond with her. Her idealistic views on how great the police is probably helped with that.
Consequently, some things didn't quite fit either, and seemed pretty unrealistic to me (yes yes I know, it's fiction) but she's essentially a rookie police detective and yet still, she was able to lead an investigation. Nope. That was a huge NOPE for me.
All in all, it was an ok read but it really didn't blow my mind. Would I pick up book 2? I might or I might not.
3 stars for the win though
**A copy of this book was provided through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

When I began this book, I was excited to read it. The blurb was intriguing, the cover was beautiful, and it was a supernatural/paranormal mystery. It ticked all the boxes for me!

The worldbuilding in this novel was great. I loved how Harper began the story by building a supernatural world into the London we know in this day. I thought that was an extremely different setting than I had seen before. I liked how Harper wove the worlds and rules of vampires and werewolves into the modern mundane world, giving each set of creatures a full backstory.

Unfortunately for me, this book fell a little flat. I didn't feel connected to the main character, Emma, because we didn't learn anything about her other than she was a police trainee, some sort of supernatural creature, and had a boyfriend who wanted to quell her dreams. I felt that the fact she took over an entire investigation, with no help from the other colleagues at Supe Squad to be a little unrealistic. I didn't think someone who was a trainee would feel confident to take over an investigation, especially when senior colleagues were involved.

The ending was truly shocking. I didn't expect it at all; however, the reasons given were weird. I felt that it, again, was unrealistic. However, it did have the shock factor that makes a good mystery. I felt myself wanting to know more as I read the book! I had no idea who the killer was until it was revealed, which I loved.

Overall, I will give this book 3 stars. The world building was great and it had the perfect shock value. But, for me there was no connection to the characters and at times felt unrealistic.

I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book starts out with a seemingly normal setting- a couple is going about their daily lives; one in the final stretches of preparing to become a police detective, and the other, an established office worker. They have some issues in their relationship, but don’t seem to be anything they can’t work out. She goes to work in the morning, gets an unexpected posting for her last two weeks, (the supernatural beat) and by night she’s been murdered. But- the murdering business just didn’t stick. She wakes several hours later in the morgue, and that’s where the real story kicks off. Turns out, she’s supernatural too, but nobody knows what kind. So, she has to solve her murder and several others before she can get any peace of mind or hope to complete her certification.

If you’ve read any of the author's previous works, you’re familiar with her ability to write intriguing backstories and worlds, and the ability to keep you guessing. This is definitely one you will enjoy- it’s not as lighthearted as the Lazy Girl's Guide... series, but more like the Highland Magic series. Honestly, I’ve liked just about everything put out so far by this author and will definitely be reading the rest.