I was really looking forward to this book since I heard so many good reviews. Unfortunately while i liked the book it wouldn't be something I would highly suggest. At times there would a lack of story building which made it harder to fall into the storyline.
Thank You NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.

Sadly this book was a DNF for me. I don’t read LGBTQ books. Thank you for allowing me to have an arc copy. Wishing you all the best on your book!

ARC Review: Publish Date 1/24/2024
Thank you Net Galley for letting me read more books!

This is a highly anticipated upcoming release that has some serious buzz so I was very excited to receive the ARC.

3.5 stars

What I liked:
The animal companions, the Sapphic spicy romance, the queer representation!, the magic system, the premise, the Afro-Indian inspired world and lore, the rivals to lovers romance, the war and political drama.

What I didn't like:
The magic system was never fully explained and left me with questions on how everything worked. The magic of divination / prophesy is one of the main magical components, but all the prophesies were fairly straightforward and easy to "solve", but our mains didn't figure out any of them until they happened so it was frustrating to read, knowing what was coming, and waiting for them to to catch up. I felt like I was screaming at the characters to get it! I didn't feel super connected to the characters unfortunately, especially Lettle, there just wasn't a lot of depth to them. Lettle's romance felt forced and weird, with insta-love, but not a lot of chemistry and hardly any real interaction. There wasn't a ton of depth to the characters and the story felt romance first, plot second. Also the pacing was very slow for most of the story and the writing sometimes was repetitive. And the war / political drama that I thought I was going to be heavily involved in based on the first several chapters, very quickly drops away and takes a back burner.

Overall, this was a pretty good romantasy. I think maybe my expectations were very high, and that made me feel more let down than I typically would. The setup and ending of book one, makes me want to continue into book two because it ends on a "what's going to happen next", and I like the world and characters enough to stay with them. I would recommend this to romantasy readers, especially for the representation and rich world. Definitely has the potential to grow into an amazing series.

All I can say is wow!! Faebound did not disappoint and definitely will rival others for best fantasy of 2024! Yeeran banished from her tribe, travels to the east, along with her sister Lettle, to find a way to end her exile. However, they instead discover something or someone’s thought to no longer exist. This is a the story of two sisters and their journey to navigate the fates and a world thought to be that of folklore.

To say I enjoyed this book would be an understatement because I loved this book so much! I could not stop gasping every time I finished a chapter. There were twists and turns throughout this book and I throughly enjoyed the ride! The prologue was pure perfection and I fell into the story immediately, learning about the different gods and their parts in the creation of the humans, the fae, and the elves. Our cast of characters were so dynamic and diverse! I loved the queer normative representation. The enemies to lovers was everything I love about the trope without being redundant or exhausting.

The writing made it easy to digest the story without losing the power to enchant and capture its reader. The world building was intricate and done so beautifully, you could really picture every scene written by our author. I also really enjoyed the magic system, it wasn’t overcomplicated and completely different from anything that I’ve read before! All in all this was a 4/5⭐️ and I highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the early arc!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi stands out among fantasy romance genre. It combines so many classic elements of fantasy, like prophecy and secret societies, in new and interesting ways. This book has a diverse cast, including queer relationships as well as gender identities and expressions. If you like complex relationships with a large side of betrayal, then this is your book!
I thought I was so slick figuring out one of the prophecies then proceeded to have my mind blown the rest of the book. My main critiques are that pacing felt off at times and for some of the relationships it felt like I was being told rather than shown how they were coming together. However, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to what’s coming next in this series.

My goodness! This was fantastic. A battle between the worlds of far and elves bound by the fates. Yeeran and Lettle are absolutely fabulous characters. I don’t wanna give away anything but I hope many of you read this tale of love, fate, war and those who are held prisoner to the weight of it! Saara El- Arifi is now an automatic buy author for me.

I give it a solid 3 stars, which to me means I had fun, but it’s not a book that I’ll be raving about for the foreseeable future. I absolutely LOVED the world building and the unique magic system, as well as the complicated relationships between Yeeran and Lettle. Where the story fell flat for me was how rushed some of the storylines were, particularly the romance plots. They seemed to come out of nowhere and had no basis, and I wish I was walked through those feelings a little bit more.

I got about halfway through this novel and came to the conclusion it probably wasn’t for me. I’m trying to set books aside if they aren’t catching my interest at the half way point! The further I read, the more I lost interest.

While this amazing book had great representation and the world of fae and elves was so creative, the dialogue and romance was lack luster for me. I had no emotional response to the charters or plot at all! Which normally is not the case. I can attach any emotion to any inanimate object, ask my husband.

I did feel like instead of the writing connecting me to the characters that represented minorities or those with disabilities, it felt more like a checklist the author was going through. I didn’t feel any passion or connection to said characters & their reps. The writing was a little choppy and the dialogue didn’t do anything for me. Such a shame, I was so so excited for this!

I will not be sharing my thoughts on social media, but will post this review to goodreads about two weeks after its Pub date as to give other readers a chance to form their own opinions! Thank you so much for the advanced copy!!

I was completely hooked and enamored with Faebound by Saara El-Arifi pretty much from the very beginning. I found both the world-building and the magic system to be so creative that I could not put it down.

Normally when I'm reading a new fantasy, I struggle with the first hundred or so pages as I learn the new world and characters. I didn't have that problem with Faebound at all. In fact, I read that first hundred pages in one sitting!

This is a really well-paced, exciting, and wonderfully diverse fantasy. The characters are complicated and likeable and every relationship had me hooked. The loyalty of the two sisters is beautiful and I love both of their romantic relationships too.

Faebound a fantastic setup for a new series and I can not wait for book two! This is an early contender for my Best of 2024 list!

Faebound is a set up for an epic series, though I'm not 100% sure if this will have a sequel. I sure hope it does! This book was fantastic and a bit of spice included.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC!

I was really excited to read this book as I had heard some really great reviews. With that being said, I think it fell a little flat. I was intrigued by the world and the premise of the book but I needed more. I felt like some of the twists were very predictable. I enjoyed the characters and their journeys and hope they develop even more in the next book. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what book 2 has in store!

Thank you Net Galley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for a review!

I really enjoyed reading this story. I’d say the writing leaned more a bit more towards YA than I expected but the world and the characters kept me captivated and dialed in from the beginning to the very end. The story includes a perfect mix of rich and unique world-building, politics, romance, and sisterhood which really made the read for me. The story is a bit predictable at times but I still loved the magical fantasy element and thought it was a very fun read!

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5905365504

Thank you to NetGalley for a digital arc in exchange for honest feedback!

I saw this book everywhere on upcoming 2024 new release lists and I was really excited to get an advanced copy of the novel. It definitely deserves all of the hype that it has been getting. The characters are great, the world-building and the magic systems are intriguing and overall it felt like a very fast read. I could not put it down at times, especially with all of the plot twists throughout the story.

The story follows two elven sisters, Yeeran and Lette, after Yeeran gets exiled from the Elven lands and they stumble into the realm of the Fae. Loyalties are tested, romances blossom and the characters have to adapt to their new circumstances and roles that are different from what they imagined for themselves. The whole cast of characters felt unique and fleshed out. Even though there is a dual POV from both of the sisters perspectives there was never any confusion about who was telling the story.

Because Yeeran is banished from the Elven lands there isn't as much wold building as I would have liked but I'm hopeful that we will see more of it in the second book. I loved all of the descriptions for the world of the Fae. It felt very clear as I was reading it. The magic system was a bit confusing at first at the beginning of the novel but it became clearer as the story went on. I hope that it will also get expanded on in the rest of the trilogy.

My only complaint of the novel would be that towards the end some of the plot points felt a bit rushed. I would have loved to see them drawn out a bit more and fully fleshed out. That could also be because I didn't want the story to end.

Overall cannot wait to read the rest of the trilogy!


Reviews have already been posted on Storygraph and Goodreads. A short publication day review will be uploaded the day before it's publication day on Instagram as well as a longer review on February 1st with the rest of my January wrap-up.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This book really grew on me. It started a bit slow, but became a really enjoyable slow burn. Though some of it was predictable, I loved the magic system, the twists, and the animal companions. I also loved the non-binary representation. It was a unique fantasy story and I am already looking forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for providing me with an eARC of this title in exchange for an honest review!

We’re not even a full month into 2024 and I think I may have one of my top books of the year right here. Wow wow wow, I cannot say enough about how incredible this novel was. Everything, from the wholly unique world building to the comprehensive and realistic characterization to the writing itself— there was not one part of this novel that was a miss. It was fantasy in its truest form— fantasy as fantasy should be written. My only complaint was that I now have to wait for the next books to come out to know the continuation and conclusion of these characters’ stories.

Run, don’t walk, to your local book store to pick up “Faebound” the *second* it comes out. Or, even better, preorder it right this second. You will not be disappointed.

This book grew on me as it went- the beginning was a little rough, and some of the dialogue felt robotic and forced, but as the book and characters settled into the pacing, it got more enjoyable. The characters have a lot of life, depth and personality, and once that came out, I was engaged in their stories, I just wish it had happened earlier. I don’t think I was really invested until the last 100 pages or so.

Also, the romance didn’t quite click for me, and I think this goes back to the dialogue- it just didn’t quite feel like the characters knew each other that well or were coming together out of anything except “mutual hotness”. Very Insta-lovey, which isn’t my cup of tea.

Overall, think the best part was the way the author built the world through the use of small details and side characters that made the world feel full of life and not one-dimensional. Also love the diverse representation.

I didn’t dislike this book by any means, but it never really captured me or gave me that “I can’t put this down” feeling. Underwhelming, but not bad. Will I read the next one? Probably. Would I recommend it? Eh, maybe.

Great storyline. Characters you fall in love with. Interesting plot. Writing prose has me hooked. Can’t wait to read the full completed book now that it is available.

Thanks to Del Rey for the copy of this book!

FAEBOUND is everything you hope for in the first book of a series: it engages and invests you in the world and the characters, and has you immediately wanting the rest of the series. I loved the lush worldbuilding, magic system, and social commentary. There are also two romance storylines, and while they were a focus, they didn't take away from other major plot points, which happens a little too frequently in fantasy, I think. I loved the inclusivity of this book, and of course, the lovable animal companions. This is honestly just an expertly-written fantasy that hits in all the right places. Don't hesitate to pick it up!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC,

To everyone that has this book as one of their anticipated reads you won’t be disappointed. This is a world with elves, fae, and humans. It’s extremely diverse, set in a queer normative world, there’s politics, romance, disability representation, cool animals and tons of magic.

We follow two sisters who are elves, one is exiled and of course the other follows her. They’re are captured by fae and are freaking out because the fae and humans haven’t been seen in a long time. The two sisters are now in fae territory thrown into fae court and politics. Everything they thought they knew they’re are realizing they really didn’t know the whole truth and maybe they myths they were taught are actually very true and hold keys meanings.

This romantasy was super fun to read, it was a bit predictable at times but overall I really enjoyed the story and will definitely read the next book in the series.

I received this as an Advanced Readers Copy from Del Rey in exchange for my honest review. Yeeran is a warrior in the Elven army. There were originally 3 races; Human, Elf, and Fae, but through constant warring, the only known race is the elves. This story starts with some world building and relationship building before Yeeran is ostracized and forced out of the elven community, with her sister following. As they learn about the Fae and a part of the world they didn't know existed, we learn more about them, and their relationship with each other.

I loved the non-European Fae and the culture they have. I love that both the Fae and Elves have an advanced society which welcomes all gender relationships and expressions. I feel like the world and society are so beautiful and creative. It is a bit of a slow story, and slow relationships. There's a lot of time where we, as readers, are stuck in the characters heads and feelings. I didn't love the complicated and violent relationships Yeeran seemed to have with her lovers. Perhaps they'll put a trigger warning in the final book, but I'm not a huge fan of violence toward a partner. I think this book was entertaining, and interesting, but I think now that the world is built, and now that we know so many characters, the next book will be able to really go hard into the next story. Even though the middle of the book was very slow, the last few chapters of the book were absolutely fantastic. 3.5 stars.