I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Wings Once Cursed & Bound by Piper J. DrakePublished by Sourcebooks, Inc. on April 11, 2023
Genres: Fairy Tales, Folk Tales, Legends & Mythology, fantasy, Fiction, General, Paranormal, Romance, Urban
Pages: 304
Format: ARC, Paperback
Source: Publisher
For fans of Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City comes a bold and captivating Thai contemporary fantasy by bestselling author Piper J. Drake.
My wings unbound, I am the Thai bird princess, the kinnaree, and no matter the cost, I will be free.
Peeraphan Rahttana lives her life in Seattle, unaware of the complicated magical world spinning just beyond the shadows and mist...until a violent clash outside her dance rehearsal has her literally whisked off her feet. Her darkly brooding rescuer, vampire Bennett Andrews, claims to represent a secret organization dedicated to locating objects of myth and magic, tucking them safely away where they can do no harm—but he's too late to save Peeraphan from a deadly curse.
Yet Peeraphan isn't what she seems. Wings unbound, she's a Thai bird princess of legend...and while the curse won't kill her outright, it's only a matter of time. Determined, Bennett sweeps Peeraphan deeper into a supernatural world far beyond anything she ever imagined in a desperate bid to find a solution...and an explanation for the powers even she doesn't know how to define.
Her world may have changed overnight, but Peeraphan knows one thing for certain: she can't go back to living as a human anymore. Not when she's felt what it's like to fly with Bennett by her side. She's determined to keep her wings and her freedom...and defy anyone who would try to take them from her again.
What would you save if the world you knew disappeared and you could open your eyes to what exists just beyond?
This book wasn’t at all what I expected, based on the title and the cover. I expected it to be high fantasy steeped in Thai mythology. Instead, this book is set in Seattle — I know, I know, it’s on the back cover, but I received an ARC and the back cover copy wasn’t available yet! So we have a contemporary fantasy with a Thai heroine dancing across the stage and then, suddenly, we have the addition of a cursed pair of shoes and a pair of battling vampires. Pretty sure I got whiplash from readjusting my expectations.
Despite that I didn’t get what I was expecting, this tale was compelling and the mythological details were just enough to hold my interest through a pretty typical romance story line. By that I mean, our heroine is rescued by a darkly handsome hunk of a vampire and feels instant attraction, etcetera etcetera, he has saved her from certain death and now she’s facing only possible death and he has vowed to help her through the new world she’s been introduced to… The story beats are pretty typical, but it’s the details that make the whole thing grip you and drag you through to the ending.
I won’t ruin it for you, but it’s the mythology of this new world that Peeraphan –nicknamed Punch, delightfully — has been introduced to that elevate this story from what might have been a solid but otherwise unremarkable tale. From Punch’s pair of sugar glider pets, to cursed ruby slippers, to the cavern of truth, to what is surely to be a delightful found family, this story is layer upon layer of comfort food. It is sweet, it is endearing, and even though there is danger, you don’t worry over much that you’ll be lacking a happy ending. Sometimes it’s nice to read something easy to digest. I’ll be reading any sequels. I hope they come soon.
