Bond With Me

Bond With Me
By Anne Marsh

I really, really wanted this book to be good. It had such a great idea for the plot! But I just couldn't get over some significant parts such as the fact it contains major voyeurism, the heroine is incredibly weak and it was all about angels but no mention of God.

The premise is that when the (male) angels fell from heaven, they were actually set-up as the "fall guys" by another angel. Their punishment was living among humans but without their powers and their wings. The one out they were given was to find the woman soul mate to bond with and regain their wings. For thousands of years they have simply existed by consuming women's souls, virtually ignoring the fact that they could actually be granted their wings if they took the time to find their soul mate.

Mischka Baran is looking for her cousin at the elite club called G2. What she finds instead is a couple of dead bodies. Her questions and her discovery come to the attention of the owner, Brends Duranov who decides he really wants her. Although the book claims that Mischka is a courageous woman, she pretty much caves in the face of Brends' maleness and "raw sexual power." She becomes the focus on a killer angel and Brends decides to bond with her as well as use her as bait.

There are so many problems with this plot and these characters I am not sure where to begin. At first Brends is portrayed as an emotionless animal but at some romantic point (not far into the book) he claims he loves her. Mischka somehow becomes attached to him but the whole premise of love between the two is hard to grasp. Then there is the actually bonding that has to occur with a witness. I will let you fill in the blanks with the hint that the witness is another one (or more) of these fallen male angels but the women don't seem to mind. I never did understand why Mischka is really looking for her cousin or what made her think she had the guts to pull it off. And where did she get her money? What exactly did happen to her parents? These were among the kinds of questions were never answered.

Speaking of her cousin, she and her fallen angel mate would have been a much more interesting main character. Pel and Dathan actually have a history -- they've been friends for four years -- and their relationship seems based on something besides the physical. But they are relegated to the back burner most of the story and Pel comes close to being killed off at the end.

Let's go on to talk about faith in Bond with Me. There is none. Yes, this book is all about angels (fallen and heavenly) but they aren't considered either heavenly or hellish creatures as much as another paranormal creature. Where was God in all this? God was conspicuously absent. What struck me is that even Christians can turn to worship the religion or the things of God rather than God. In this book, the focus is on the angels. In our faith, we might focus on our church or denomination. Perhaps we worship the bible rather than God (I have seen this in person). And I have certainly observed so-called Christians who worship their pastor. The absence of God was just one more thing I disliked about the book.

I guess when I read a book like Bond with Me, I think that maybe even I could get an agent and be published! And to top it off, she even has two more books in this series - ugh! Now go and read anything but this book.

Happy reading!

Amelia