This book read young adult to me in the guise of an adult book if that makes sense? I really enjoyed the Southeast Asian influences that were woven in. I think some of the plot holes kept me from loving it as much as I could have, though.

This book started out on a promising note — a woman who’s gifted a pair of sparkly red dancing shoes that fit like magic, and a mysterious man who wants to take possession of them. All of this turns Peeraphan’s life upside down in an instant. Suddenly thrust into a dangerous world of supernatural creatures and magic, she learns that the shoes will eventually make her dance to her death and it’s a race against time to get the stuck shoes off her feet.

What started out as an interesting and engaging story quickly devolved into a tale of instalove, supernatural baddies who certainly instilled no fear, and a villain who was more laughable than he was dangerous. I’m not sure the point of the story where it turned not so good for me, but it may have been where Peeraphan utters the phrase “too stupid to live” for the umpteenth time. I did like the idea of a supernatural agency who protects both supernaturals and good humans. I also loved that this was a Thai-based fantasy and incorporated a lot of Thai elements like mythology, cultural pastimes, and yummy food.

I listened to the audiobook and I didn’t like the narrator. She spoke in a breathy manner, and that was on top of hearing her actual breathing. The whole book sounded almost like she was whispering. The voices she made for certain males sounded exactly like the word sneering, if sneering had a sound, and they weren’t even sneering in the book. 2 stars.

The worldbuilding in this is just stunning and the romance is a delicious slow burn as these two figure each other out alongside their challenging case.

I know I am a little late giving my review but due to cancer treatments, It was delayed. I want to thank Piper J. Drake and Sourcebooks for the free copy I was given. All opinions of this book are my own. I will say I devoured this book in one sitting. I love anything dealing with mythology and this book did not disappoint.
This is on my to-re-read book list as I loved reading about the different mythological/paranormal creatures.

Why this book doesn't have more reviews and buys I have no idea because I loved it. The story is told from multiple points of view and it has so many different creatures like werewolves, vampires, dragons, fairies etc.
What I would have loved to see is a little more world-building and character development in my personal opinion I would have loved seeing more interaction with each other as well as more pages with them talking about how the world works if that makes sense. I am looking forward to the next book. I am excited to see where this author goes in her journey.

This book was chaotic but... also kind of endearing? I had high hopes for the premise and while there were parts of it I really enjoyed, I wish there was a tad more structure to the plot. This romantasy had so many POVs that it felt hard to truly connect to any of the characters in a meaningful way, but there were some elements of the plot that were lyrical and beautiful so I still enjoyed it!

Peeraphan Rahttana is thrown into the supernatural world and having to navigate it with the charming Bennet Andrews who seeks mythical objects. Unfortunately for Peeraphan, she finds herself stuck with a pair of red shoes that curses its wearer to dance to their death.
This story is so unique!
Oh, I really enjoyed this tale. It intertwined some European lore with Thailand lore. I do wish we got a bit more before the end of this book. I can't wait to uncover more in the next book. The romance was decent with a splash of spice.

I really enjoyed this, I love a good vampire story but this was so much more with more supernatural beings mixed in.

The romance building tension was well done for me and I really enjoyed picking this up everytime. I really bought that the blood reading aspect to Bennetts ability was pretty cool.

An unusual take on mythical creatures among us. This book introduces cultural mythos beyond the standard western werewolves and vampires in an intriguing organizational way. For those looking for romance, mystery, complicated characters and battles between good and evil. I’m looking forward to more stories linked to this one. Definitely recommend for its originality.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was fun! It had elements of fantasy and paranormal books I’m familiar with but a new twist of a Thai mythology element that I really enjoyed learning about.

I wish I knew if this was going to be a series or a stand-alone. It’s a solid fantasy romance with elements of Thai mythology.

Thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for my chance to review,

Wings Once Cursed and Bound is a beautiful retelling of The Red Shoes that combines the European fairy tale with Thai mythology beautifully. The characters are engaging and kept my interest throughout, and the relationships (romantic and platonic) are as human as many of the characters are not. If there is a sequel I will snap it up as soon as possible, but if not I definitely look forward to reading other books by this author.

A story with supernatural beings, magic, and romance. This book is definitely more YA than adult. The writing style just didn't really hit at times but overall pretty good book.

My thanks to NetGalley for making an eARC of this book available to me.

Interesting world-builiding. Very enjoyable main character. It will be fun to see where else this series of books takes us.

I loved the mythology of this book.

The book starts off good but does struggle in the middle and the end.

I really liked all the different paranormal creatures and I do plan to reread it.

The pacing could be slightly better, and the chemistry was a bit more towards insta-love but overall I did like it. Read this if you love both retelling of classic myths, and diversity in your myths.

The switching of then pov’s wasn’t my favorite and it felt like something was missing. I think I just wanted a little more depth. Overall a good story, though

Peeraphan knows she is different since she can manifest wings. But it was not until she put on a pair of red shoes at a dance rehearsal that will not come off, then meets Bennett, a vampire, who rescues her from another vampire that she finds out what all that may be lurking in the shadows. Bennett takes her to the headquarters of the Darke Consortium which seeks to acquire dangerous magical items such as the pair for red shoes Peeraphan cannot remove and keep them in a safe location. The Darke crew seeks to aid Peeraphan on her quest to remove her shoes. During that quest, will Peeraphan find a purpose for her life? And maybe a love interest? Read the first volume in this series and find out!

Such a great story!!!. Peeraphan was an amazing character and so well developed. I loved how she accepted all that was happening to her and was willing to whatever needed to be done to get the shoes off. I did love the romance as well. Perhaps a bit steamy for me, but overall, it was sweet. I did go out and buy the physical book because I had to have it for my shelf. Can't wait to read book 2.

As a new author to me I was excited to realize I had this after attending Apollycon. Which she was an attending author!
It gives a different feel to it because you can put an actual face and personality to the writing!

Anyways!
This was a fast paced story that got to the point as well as building the world and characters Introduced. Personally, I prefer that slow build, slow burn, detailed type of writing.

I did enjoy the multiple POV though! I always like being able to see in everyone's head what they're thinking and feeling.

For the story itself, I didn't find myself WANTING to read because I loved it but because I just needed to know where it was going. I'd never read that myth before so maybe I just need more background to it to appreciate this read.

This is the first book I've read by the author. I listened to the audiobook, My biggest issue with the story is, admittedly, a petty complaint-- the protagonist's name sounded so similar to "Peter Pan' that as the narration went on, each time the character was referenced by name, it was so distracting that it broke the immersion in the story that I'd been experiencing. It was at times, especially early on, frequent enough to be difficult to concentrate on the story itself. It was a sensation of being jerked in and out of the story rather than just being able to experience the story as it was being narrated. It was through no fault of the narrator themselves, rather it was just an unfortunate, potentially unforeseen consequence of the name choice for the character.

That being said, the story was enjoyable. I enjoyed the characters introduced. I would like to see more of the supporting character stories explored in future volumes.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I was looking to read something a little different than my usual. This takes a lot of supernatural creatures and creates a unique world. I did enjoy the story.

*3.5 stars*

Fantastical romance…

I’ve read and enjoyed this author before and was really intrigued by the story description. Thai folk tales is not something I have run across before and certainly not in a romance novel. Bennett and Punch (Peeraphan) were an intriguing couple as their relationship built around the magic that brought them together. Love grew between them yet (for me) that wasn’t the focus of the story. Instead, this first in the series, introduced a group of characters that each offered their own contribution and in unique (sometimes funny, sometimes surprising) fashion. Characters which I found equal, if not more, entertaining than the leads…

In a series first, it is easy to get bogged down in details as building blocks are set down for what is still to come. Instead I was totally engrossed in each minute revelation and anxious for the story to keep moving. There were so many elements to this story that I really enjoyed, I was disappointed on how the whole thing meshed (or didn’t). The romance felt separate from the real story and that disconnect meant the novel didn’t work quite the way I’d hoped…

Would I read more in this series? Absolutely. The paranormal elements, the folklore, and the character will have me coming back for more….