Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review! This book was really really good, but it just didn’t hit the fifth star for this ranking. I loved the basis of the plot revolving around Zoey, an immortal demonologist at the Research Institute of Demonic Entities and Rarities (RIDER), and her life both past and present. When witches start being killed and the assumed killer is her older brother (a vampire) she finally leaves the confines of RIDER. The story unfolds here and without any spoilers, it gets very interesting very quickly.

I think my main “issue” with the book was that the pacing felt very off. One second I was reading some action that flew by in a few short pages and the next I was reading something that felt very insignificant for at least 20 minutes. The book was still great and I highly recommend it, but just be prepared to get a little bored in between the important scenes. Also, the author did an amazing job developing her characters and gave them a purpose to be in the book and I didn’t feel like any of them were there just to fill space.

I would rate this read a 3.25 out of 5 stars. What initially drew me to this book was it’s description of being “The Vampire Diaries meets The Da Vinci Code”. As a lover of The Vampire Diaries in general I was excited to give this dark academia urban fantasy book a go since I love all things Sci Fi/Fantasy in general. The book fell flat for me since it’s a short book (approx 328 pages) and it took me 4 days to read since I just couldn’t get into it…usually I would have finished a book like this quicker. It felt slow/boring for me until the END of chapter 10 and FINALLY I was on board and really enjoyed the story. It’s a good book, just not great. It’s a nice YA read if you like all things vampire/witches/demons etc. I liked seeing her character development come into place during the middle/close to the end of the book, how she finds her brother and they get a second chance to be siblings again…and the ending was a nice wrap up and hopeful for Zoey’s future. I liked the main character Zoey since I could relate to her being the shy, meek person who doesn’t want to stand out and does what she’s told so it’s even better when she really gets a chance to break out of her daily normal life and find herself and start really living the way she wants. This book was a good/fun adventure and if you like a strong female main character and all things fantasy you’ll probably enjoy this book!

𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐋𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬
𝟒 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬


𝐓𝐋𝐃𝐑: This was a fantastical tale, and I devoured it. There is something about a polished ambiance and fully grown and built characters that is soooo enticing.
The story's language was another highlight for me. The writing was witty and easy to read.



𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: The fact that Zoey Prescott, a bookworm and demonologist at the Research Institute of Demonic Entities and Rarities, never grows older allows her to devote more time to her research (RIDER). Although the mind-bending hypnotherapy treatments meant to assist her remember, they seem to do more harm than good, she is also there to figure out why she stopped ageing at the age of twenty-two.

In the wake of a serial killer's rise to power, Zoey goes against the advise of her coworkers and searches for the homicidal vampire responsible... who happens to be her brother. RIDER won't stand by and watch while Zoey skewers her evil sibling. She now stands in the company of her ex, who left her for a mortal (and no, she is not over it), and a young witch who may be the next target of the killer.



𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝: The characters. They were all so richly written and fully developed. I also loved the suspense and mystery surrounding the plot. It kept me guessing until the very end. I LOVED the ending. Won't share more to avoid spoilers.

This novel is different from most fantasy novels I've read (not a lot) in that it establishes a very strong environment that feels real, you end up forgetting the fantasy at times. The world is truly beautifully imagined. In a never-ending chain of shocking revelations, the author guides the reader through an universe that is both wholly original and rife with familiar concepts like dark academia.



𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞: The book starts off amazing and ends on a bang. There is a part in the middle that feels almost ...useless... It really brings you off the flow of wanting to stay at the edge of your seat.



𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭? Yes, I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a good dark academia and fantasy novel. It has the perfect mix of both genres.

Goodreads review link: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4938500666?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1

Thank you NetGalley for lending me the ARC to read for an honest review.

I like the premise of the book, the character zoey was interesting but I felt like the pace of the book wasn’t paced well enough. Too fast in the beginning, too slow in the middle .. etc. I enjoyed the style of writing and may try this author in the future again.

Arc from netgalley

This book was a good debut. The plot was interesting and I was invested the whole way. Zoe the FMC was solid and fleshed out. I would continue this series.

I loved the premise of the book. The beginning and end of the book both were really interesting and captured me.

However there were a lot of other things in between that I felt were lacking. For example, there was a lack of world building- I wish there was more information about the inner workings of Rider. There were too many flowery descriptive words, which contradicts the fact that there was no suspense, the twists and turns just seem to happen. The characters, which there were plenty of, were okay, and I never connected with any of them. The story seems to drag in the middle which makes it hard to power through and want to finish, even though the ending of the book was great.
This did not feel like dark academia to me which it is said it is supposed to be.

I loved the premise of this book, but not the execution. The story did not hold my attention and I had a hard time finishing it. The writing style was flowery but not in a way I typically like and the plot didn’t hold my interest. However, I think there are lots of people who will enjoy this book and writing style.

Thank you NetGalley for an early eARC of Memories, Lies, and Other Binds.

If you’re interested in an easy read supernatural story with a lighter sprinkling of conflict set in urban modern day, this might be the read for you.

For myself, it was not the read for me. Ultimately there was nothing wrong with the story by any means. I just didn’t jive with the writing style and modern day trendiness that appeared through the story. While the description of this book was listed as a cross between The Vampire Diaries and The Da Vinci Code vibes, I didn’t find comparable drama or character depth or intrigue of either of those stories in this read.

Overall, a good debut novel. I just hope for a better suited description to allow this read to better find its right audience.

Thanks to NetGalley for this advanced reader copy to review.

The story follows Zoey, a bookworms and Demonologist, as she goes on the hunt for a homicidal vampire with the help of her ex and a young witch.
I requested this book when I came across the cover 😍 and that the description stated it was a mix of The Vampire Diaries meets The Da Vinci Code.
I love the characters. The Author obviously took their time in creating and writing them. They are relatable and fun which keeps the reader invested in them. The writing style feels real, makes you forget for a moment you are reading a fantasy book. The Plot is intriguing, and I was completely invested in. I would recommend this book to anyone who needed a new book to dive into.
Thank you NetGalley for the eARC to review.

Memories, Lies, and Other Binds is the debut of Katy Foraker and it’s a paranormal novel.
 
We follow our protagonist Zoey who is immortal, and she just stopped aging in her twenties. She works for the Research Institute of Demonic Entities and Rarities (RIDER) and is also a historian and I found her job super fascinating. Zoey is a curious, intelligent, and tough person and that made her an amazing heroine.
 
The story is set in our world, but there are paranormal beings and those are kept on track by a special ministry that Zoey works for. When a serial witch killer emerges, the world is in shock and Zoey and her fellow researchers need to find out who did this, so they can stop the one being responsible. The plot was really intriguing and interesting and I was totally invested in it. There were also some nice twists and turns, and I especially didn’t see coming what happened towards the end. In addition, the book felt like you are watching your favorite paranormal tv show and a bit like a mixture of The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf and Supernatural and I really enjoyed that.
 
Overall, this paranormal story is really great and if you like those types of stories, I highly recommend checking this one out. 4 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

Where to begin....I very rarely give out 5 start reviews but this is one of my top 5 books of 2022. From the first chapter I was hooked and I finished this book in 24 hours. Zoey is relatable and fun. The world building is lovely. I really enjoy the new spin on some old troupes. I love the nod to well known vampire stories sprinkled in. (A rare type of vampires in the Pacific Northwest who didn't burn but sparkled in the sun. Our heroine has a strong suspicion they are blood thirsty fae with an identity crisis.... 😂) There were a couple of twists that I saw coming but one I absolutely didn't anticipate. I think and hope this book/author becomes the hot new thing because man, I need more books ASAP! This isn't a great work of American literature but it's an entertaining, fun book. 10/10 would recommend

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book. This is my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed this paranormal urban mystery. It was well written and witty. The MC was smart without being pretentious and naive but not boring.

I am hoping that this is the start of a series.

I DNFed this book at 37% - just past 100 pages.

It is a shame - this sounds like a great premise. But it was handled poorly - and worse, it was boring to read. It is the boredom above all else that made me put it down.

There wasn't a lot of worldbuilding, which jars with how much descriptive prose there is. There is nothing building up who RIDER are, or the characters or the setting; the author takes us from A to B, telling us how they walked down a corridor, when all that happens is that in that corridor, they walked. I don't need to know that. I don't need to know that the character is wearing fairly standard modern clothing, when there is nothing whatsoever unusual about that character wearing that outfit. I really don't need to know that the character translated Latin in her head - the book is in first person, we're already in her head. Just translate it! And don't get me wrong, I do enjoy descriptive prose. But nothing that is described is worth describing, and anything worth describing is ignored, or, somehow, made to sound tedious. 100 pages in, and for all I've read about this world, I know nothing about it.

The characters are tedious as well. To me, it felt like they were trying to be snarky, and it came in lieu of their personalities. Characters high-fiving, or the narrator snarking about someone's love of Bitcoin, it all feels shallow, and it also feels like it will date the book incredibly quickly. They all blur together, too, otherwise I might have more to say here.

Maybe these things change later on in the book. Maybe there is character growth - 100 pages in, and although we've changed locations and thrown the first curveball, there hasn't been an opportunity for growth. But the stakes felt rock-bottom, because I didn't care about these characters enough to see them grow, or to suffer their fates. And nothing about the book intrigued me enough to want to find out.

I did not enjoy this book. There were too many characters and details about the urban fantasy world, which made it hard to follow the story. Less info dumping would have been better.

The author has many creative ideas that need to be streamlined so that the plot doesn't get lost in needless details. Too many ideas, people, places, and things. With that being said, I do believe many readers will enjoy this book as the general idea has potential.

Memories, Lies, and Other Binds is not a dark academia take on urban fantasy.

Zoey Prescott has been 22 years old since 1781, when a magic trick went wrong. Since then, she has been working as a researcher at RIDER (Research Institute of Demonic Entities and Rarities). As side projects, she tries to figure out why she stopped aging and she haunts down her vampire brother, Theo.

Memories, Lies, and Other Binds is a mystery take on urban fantasy. We know that Zoey is a researcher, but, in fact, little research is done. This is a consequence of a rushed beginning: chapter 1 – Zoey is at RIDER, working on her no-aging status; chapter 3 – Zoey is getting ready to go after her brother; chapter 6 – Zoey is already out RIDER’s buildings.

There’s no build up and, especially, no worldbuilding.

We know that RIDER is a non-governmental organization, but we know nothing about its mechanisms, which doesn’t make much sense considering that RIDER has a big role throughout the novel. As for the fantasy creatures, I appreciate the absence of any info dumping, even though there’s also no originality: for example, vampires can come inside a house only after invitation, can be killed with wooden stakes, etc. A fantasy reader already knows all of that.

Anyway, Zoey is out and about looking for her brother with a bunch of other RIDER agents. From here on out, a succession of plot twists happen. But, again, no build up: things happen without any tension.

And then stop. After a big plot twist, the pacing slows down.

The story starts to drag, while the author focuses on a character study of Zoey. Foraker did a great job with Zoey’s characterization: she’s an emotional and contradictory character that feels real. I also enjoyed the relationship with her brother thanks to the right amount of angst.

After the pause in the middle of the book, the pacing picks up again.

As for Foraker’s prose, it is pretty simple and easy to get through. It tends to be too descriptive and mechanical though.

I loved this! A fast paced supernatural dark academia read! I loved zoey and getting to learn about the different creatures. i just hope there’s a sequel

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES meets THE DA VINCI CODE in a thrilling dark academia take on urban fantasy.


Zoey Prescott doesn’t age, which gives the bookish demonologist plenty of time to focus on her work at the Research Institute of Demonic Entities and Rarities (RIDER). She’s also there to figure out why she stopped aging at twenty-two, even though the mind-bending hypnotherapy sessions to help her remember seem to cause more harm than good.


When a serial killer targeting powerful witches emerges, Zoey ignores her colleagues’s advice not to hunt for the murderous vampire responsible…who unfortunately happens to be her brother. RIDER won’t let Zoey slide a stake into her vile sibling’s heart alone. She joins her ex, who dumped her for a mortal (and no, she’s still not over it), and a fledgling witch who could be the killer’s next victim.

I requested it as soon as I saw the super pretty cover and read Vampire Diaries x Davinci Code in the description. I read it almost in one go and... Vampire Diaries, yes. Davinci Code, not really. But I still enjoyed this book.

It started strongly. I really love the 18th century flashbacks! Also learn about different creatures and magics. The characters are great. My favorite character is probably Theo! I really love his brother-sister relationship progress with Zoey. I also love the twists in this book, as I could guess some of them and still found little surprises along the way.

Spoiler below, skip if don't want to read
<spoiler> Almost all the time throughout the book, I held my breath.... because I really hate cheating theme and Augustine and Zoey's relationship... They were exes and Augustine is married, but still saying/thinking things about each other. I know it's normal, but as those two are thrown onto the field together, I was worried I have to DNF if they were having romantic relationship. GLAD THEY ARE NOT so yayyyy! </spoiler>

Love the epilogue! Looking forward book 2!

This was pitched as ‘’thrilling dark academia take on urban fantasy’’. while it did’t really feel like dark academia to me, I still really enjoyed this debut novel! Usually my problem with books that include lots of different paranormal creatures, is that there tends to be a lot of info dumping in the beginning, but that wasn’t the case with this one!

The pacing did feel a little off in the middle of the book though, things were going a little too fast in comparison with the first part of the novel (felt like there was too much happening at the same time). I would’ve loved to see more flashback scenes as well! Would’ve made the whole thing about Zoey being immortal and such even more interesting

I absolutely loved the ending! I’m glad how the author ended the story on this note and didn’t go for certain cliches ( i could go into detail, but that would he considered spoilery).Definitely looking forward to reading more books in the RIDER universe :)