Bound and Barbed is an adult fantasy romance with:

* vampires
* slowburn with spice
* fated mates
* he falls first
*dual POV

The story follows Evaline, a human living in a kingdom ruled by her aunt and uncle because her father was killed a few years ago and they were the only family she had left. While her home was more egalitarian, the kingdom she's in now is very misogynistic and she has been saving up covertly for years to leave, but when she meets Maddox (a vampire) things start to change. At first she is wary of him but he comes into her life right when her uncle and aunt arrange a marriage for her to a horrendous man she has a vendetta against and is determined to used the marriage as an opportunity for revenge. Since her previous combat skills are out of practice (women aren't allowed to train to fight in this kingdom) she starts re-training in secret until Maddox finds out and offers to help.

Maddox and Evaline have amazing chemistry and I loved the flirty banter between them. I particularly enjoyed how Maddox was all in as soon as he saw her because he recognized her as his mate even though she didn't. He's always there when she needs him and supports her as best he can.

This world has two types of vampires - Kova (the "good" vampires who don't kill and their kingdom treats women as equals) and Vasi (the "bad" vampires who kill when they feed even if they don't need to feed, delight in cruelty, and treat women horribly). Most humans don't know they exist but the ruling family in each human kingdom does, and they've all historically allied with one of the vampire kingdoms and you can see the influence in their policies about women. The kingdoms that allied with the Vasi are oppressively misogynistic while the ones that allied with the Kova are more egalitarian. I think the classification of vampires and differentiation of human kingdoms based almost solely on their treatment of women is a little oversimplified. A little more complexity and nuance would have made it feel more fleshed out and compelling.

I really enjoyed the world this story created but the first 20% was a little rough with the worldbuilding. It felt like a series of infodumps and they felt over-explained in a way that could have been more concise but once I got passed it, the story really found its rhythm and I was so invested in the stories and characters. Can't wait for book 2!

Thank You NetGalley and Publishers for allowing me to listen to an advanced copy of this book.
I went in blind to this book and thought overall it was a decent story. I liked how it was written and it seemed to flow pretty easy. It gave me some Robin Hood vibes in the beginning and I felt the main character had a good heart who got into some tricky situations throughout the story. There were moments where I thought the character rambled on and on but it was not too awful. overall this was an easy listen and let me explore a new world along the way.

The audio book was really good. Both the narrators did an awesome job! I also really enjoyed the book!

The narrators did a fantastic job bringing this story to life. I enjoyed their style and cadence and felt like they complimented each other very well. I would absolutely listen to another audiobook they narrated together or separately .

Because there isn't an option to rate the audio book separately from the physical book I chose to give "Bound and Barbed" a 3 ⭐ star rating.

The writing style definitely wasn't for me, I really struggled to form a connection to the characters or plot. I do think the premise was very intriguing and it may work for another reader.

Thank you Samantha Goode, Net Galley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with an Advanced Audio Copy of this book.

A respectable debut but I feel like whole chapters of inner monologues were not necessary, not enough happened in the first book for a sequel to be worth it