Contract bound was a relly fast paced romance. The set up was really intresting and showed a lot of potental but it just wasn't that good.

*Special thanks to Net Galley, Victory Editing, and the author for this e-ARC. All opinions are my own.*

2.75 out of 5 stars

Sylvia hates Vampires, but as a hunter from The Order, she is contracted to protect the sarcastic, womanizing Vampire princess, Keir, as she awaits the transfer of Power.

Please read the trigger warnings for the book available online as this does get extremely dark and graphic. This was so addicting. Keir and Sylvia give us enemies-to-lovers GOLD. The spice was very hot and it was a fast-paced storyline. I read this in less than 12 hours.
I wholeheartedly appreciate that Keir was a masc presenting WLW because a lot of the time, WLW stories are only seen in the public when they involve two more femme presenting bodies. Gillard was adorable and I loved his Alfred Pennyworth vibes. The plot twist towards the end was not one that I expected.

This felt very True Blood meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I am so glad I read it despite some of its hiccups.


***SPOILERS AND ADDED CRITIQUE BELOW***
Although, I did really enjoy this story, there are some things that pulled away from the potential of this book overall.
Sylvia's backstory is briefly explained, yet the trauma from that past fuels her rage against the vampires. I would've liked to know more about that and how The Order was tied to it. There wasn't a lot of details on the beginnings of each place, it felt like I was jumping into episode 3 without watching the pilot and trying to get up to speed. Cain and Jade (her witch companions) had potential as side characters but we didn't get a lot of time to figure out why they meant so much to Sylvia. Their magic was previously discussed as draining but not further explored. There also wasn't a lot of explanation as to why Sylvia was so valued to The Order and maybe that means there will be a sequel to this? The plot did come together in the end and left enough description for it be a stand alone.

the sexual assault that happened in this book left me on the fence. On the one hand, I appreciated the conversations that were had after it happened and allowing her to take up space. On the other hand, a few chapters later, it was like nothing ever happened and we didn't hear about it again. It felt like it was used as a rage inducing plot filler that wasn't necessary.

Well this was a great read. i really enjoyed it. I love the characters and how the romance blossomed. I like the idea of the world and how all the factions interact with each other. I think a bit more on how the factions came about and how they worked together in the beginning would have made the story better. it did get dark nearer the end but it fit the story well. I would have liked to have had a little more of them at the end too.

Full RTC by end of week.

I definitely enjoyed reading this even if it does need to come with a whole host of trigger warnings and also needed a final edit. I found the tension between our two main characters very compelling though, Elle Mae certain has potential in the Fantasy/Paranormal Romance genre, especially if she keeps writing queer stories which are incredibly underrated and underpublished within the genre.

Book Review for Contract Bound
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

Wow, I am actually very surprised I liked this as much as I did!

I'm not going to lie and say my expectations weren't low going into this book. I've read my fair share of not-so-great vampire books, but this! Sapphic vampires! Ugh, I loved it.

This book is dual perceptive, alternating from Keir (a vampire princess) and Silvia (a vampire hunter). They are thrown together as Keir is preparing for her coronation and in need of a bodyguard.

The plot was a little lackluster, but honestly, I didn't care because I just loved Keir and Silvia's dynamic so much. Their enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers relationship kept me on the edge of my seat.

If your a fan of FROM BLOOD AND ASH by Jennifer L. Armentrout, this is definitely up your alley. (Not to mention it has its fair share of steamy scenes too!)

As much as I liked this, the ending threw me off. I think this book would've benefited from an extra 50 pages or so to wrap everything up. The ending was rather abrupt.

Overall, this was a really fun read and I am so excited to see what Elle Mae has in store next :)

2.75 Stars. This was just not the book for me. If I would have seen some of the trigger warnings, which were in the book, before I requested the ARC I probably would have passed on reading this. I just saw lesbian paranormal romance and just assumed this book would be for me. Instead, I found this to be more dark fantasy/paranormal with an erotic romance. I don’t always do well with dark fantasy especially if it’s erotic too. The mix just doesn’t work for me which was the case here.

The writing stars out a bit rough. There are a lot of editing issues that need work. I’m hopefully that the new release copy will be cleaned up unlike my early copy. I did think the writing got better as the book went on, and the errors also seemed less. I do think Mae has potential as a writer. While I did not like her story choices, she found her flow and this was decent for a debut.

The story really needed more background and just plain world building. I think Mae just wanted to jump right into the action and she did take the time to nail the little details for us to understand a new organization and the vampire politics. I also thought there were some repetitive things that could have been cut and also scenes that I didn’t really get the point of. Mostly, these are things that I think Mae well improve upon the more writing experience she has.

Unfortunately, I’ve read enough explicit rape scenes in WLW fiction to last me a lifetime. Unless I’m reading a crime book or if the assault is so important that it drives the plot of the book, like in Jae’s Conflict of Interest, I don’t want to read any more explicit rape scenes. I don’t know why it was put in this book, except possible shock value, because it leads to nowhere and had no real effect on the characters. And what bothers me even more than that is what happened next… the whole “I’ll just f@ck away my nightmares, suffering, and pain, with someone else so I’ll be cured of my rape trauma only two chapters later.” I wish I was joking but I’m not and I think we all know that the whole “let’s f@ck away the trauma” happens too often in books.

This was not what I would call a romance. The closest I could come to was calling this an erotic romance since the sex was the only real reason for the character to be together. There was no actual romance, just a lot of very power imbalanced sex scenes. And all of the sex scenes started with one character yelling, “Stop!” “Don’t touch me!” and “I hate you!” So they were really warm and fuzzy together as you can imagine. I don’t know if you would call this dub-con, but it was at least right on the edge.

I had a few other issues, like I didn’t even understand how the big action sequence all went down, which was a bummer since I pretty much kept reading just for that part. But, I don’t like ripping on debuts so I’m going to wrap this up. The author mentioned this saying, which is one I use often, and I think it summed up my problem; this book was just not my cup of tea. This could have been perfectly written and it still would have not been the book for me. I do see potential in Mae. There were parts that were very easy to read as the book went on, but it’s just not my kind of story. However, there is a market for stories like this out there so if you like dark fantasy/paranormal/erotic romances; this may be just the book you are looking for. As long as the triggers of rape, torture, and abuse are okay for your reading journey, you might like this book much more than I did.

I love the topic and I thought that the plot wasn't bad at all, but the book needs serious editing. A lot of the content is just redundant, too many unnecessary dialogues... 2.5 stars

Okay so I went into this book super open minded but i just feel like maybe this book isn't for me. I feel like it kind of started in the middle of a story where i had no idea what was going on. i couldnt even finish this book unfortunately.

I went into this book with an open mind since it’s the authors first book and I was not disappointed, this is a really good debut especially with such a hard to please genre.

In this book we’re introduced to vampire hating and hunter Silvia, and heir to the throne Keir. On a mission Silvia is sent to protect and guard Keir and take us onto an enemies to love journey.

The first few chapters of the book has a really choppy and a bit awkward of a grammatical structure. At times it felt as though there were words missing from sentences but I suspect that this was author/editor nerves because this problem eventually disappears as the story goes on. So I suggest if you’re reading this story and get upset because of the grammar wait a few pages before deciding whether to go on.

Story wise I felt as though there was room for potential except your basic enemies to lover. I also recommend you take the trigger warnings at the beginning seriously.

Coming towards the end I felt that Silvia forgave Keir too fast after she woke up from her coma. But other than that this book is definitely a good read. With these types of books reviews are always mixed like as I said it’s a very hard to please genre so I suggest if you had high hopes of reading this book and got let down by the ratings still give this book a chance. It’s funny, has an amazing romance, good sex scenes if you’re into that and a happy ending.

I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Elle Mae!


Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest review.

The book "Contract Bound" by Elle Mae is again a sapphic book that plays in one of my favorite corners. When vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts or witches play a role, my anticipation is great, as is the hope not to be disappointed by the story. The book delivers what it promises and provides the reader with a beautiful and compelling vampire story.

In the world of the story, vampires live in co-existence with humans and an organization ensures compliance with the established rules of conduct. In the case of black sheep, the Hunters, as Silvia is one, come into action. Silvia's next assignment is to protect - or rather babysit - Keir, the heir to the throne of her father the vampire Raphael, until the transfer of power.

The story has a good length and the characters therefore have enough time to develop in a believable way. Both main characters were sympathetic and relatable in their own ways and as a reader I sympathized with them. Their affection for each other also developed, in my opinion, at a plausible pace.
All in all, a very well written book. The only drawback were noticeable typos that sometimes interrupted the reading flow a bit.

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

Supernatural lesbian enemies to lovers. Honesty that was the only reason I needed to pick up this book up and I’m really glad I did! It follows Silvia, a vampire hunter, and Keir, the heir to the vampire throne.
I want to start off by saying I absolutely adore the character of Keir, they ooze confidence, sass and sex appeal. Now getting into the actual book... I was hooked from the very first page of this book and could not put it down, it's fairly long and I managed to read it in 24 hours. I will admit the start of the book is kind of rocky - there are a fair few grammatical errors (which is to be expected with an arc, however, it does still impact on the reading experience), but once you're past the first 100 pages - god does it pick up! I'd say the plot is predominantly romance based and it includes a lot of erotic scenes (quite early on as well might I add), so if that isn't your jam then this book might not be for you.
Unfortunately, this is definitely a 3 star read, for me there wasn't an awful lot of world building, so at times it felt like you were in an underdeveloped world, as you never actually got to properly understand the history of the vampirism, or anything remotely outside of the direct plot. Another let down for me was the "plot twist", I saw some other reviews raving about the plot twist (not going to state what it was, for obvious reasons), but I was really disappointed by it. I found it to be too predictable and very underwhelming - I felt like 'oh, that's it?'.
Nevertheless, this was a super fun & quick read! I would definitely recommend to any fantasy romance/paranormal romance fans (especially fans of books such as twilight but just wished there was more smut!!)

Also please bear in mind the trigger warnings (also detailed on the first page of the book) - this book is classified as adult and has dark themes! TW: Graphic depictions of sexual assault, gore, familial death

I love vampire books and was excited to start this book but the writing is choppy, sciences change abruptly, the writing doesn’t flow, there are major formatting issues, and words used incorrectly. This book needs an editor before its ready.

Alright how do I start? I guess I should point out first that I adore lesbian paranormal romance and vampires especially make my little lesbian heart jump for joy. I say that to say I had high hopes for this book. And boy oh boy did it not disappoint!
It had everything a vampire novel needs: love, lust, action, danger, humor. It was perfect! It was like if Twilight and Buffy had a lesbian child. It had some of those classic vampire novel tropes but with a great twist as well as Mae added a lot of her own style to this novel.
I honestly can not tell you how much I enjoyed this book. Please do yourself a favor and check this out. You will have a fantastic time with this book and my just find a new favorite bookish crush.

Contract Bound is fantastic! I can’t even begin to share the story of Silvia & Keira’s journey. The hunter and vampire are well written. I don’t want to spoil the plot, so trust me the characters of Gil, Cain and others just are remarkably crafted in an intense story of power and freedom.

The Order and the plot twist at the end was something of brilliance. I never saw that plot twist coming the entire book. I highly recommend this book.