I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Bound by Sin
by
Jenna Maclaine
It is part of the Cin Craven #3 series and is a historical fiction, urban fantasy in a paperback edition that was published by St. Martin Paperbacks on December 29, 2009 and has 352 pages.
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Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include The Wages of Sin, Grave Sins, Huntress
Third in the Cin Craven historical (1862) urban fantasy romance series set in the 19th century focused on Dulcinea Macgregor Craven, a.k.a., Cin, now married to Michael. Part of The Righteous, Cin and Michael are partnered with Devlin and Justine to carry out vampire law for the High King.
My Take
It’s absolute fluff and a great read in spite of Maclaine’s haphazard approach to cultural mores and intercourse. The trick with handling a story this way is to not make it obvious. To not distract the reader with the irrelevancies, and Maclaine does do a good job of this.
Rather a lot of tidying up going on in Bound by Sin. Raina is worried that her youngest daughter, Claire, will never marry and after her disastrous first marriage, she is even more concerned. Yet Claire bounces back in a way no one could ever expect…except the Morrigan. Evangeline receives her revenge and the slaves at Kenneway get an extremely hopeful future. Hmmm, you’d almost suspect that Cin had Foresight…
Cin in particular manages to gain a sight of Hope when Pandora helps her to face her black dog. To understand why Cin has struggled so hard with the black magic with which she’s been infected and why it affects her as it does. As Maclaine writes of Hamlet, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”
The Story
Called back to Ravenworth Hall by a powerful magic, Cin discovers almost all bad news. News which requires that she travel across the ocean to a blockaded Savannah, Georgia to rescue her cousin from her kidnapper, Adrien Boucher, the owner of the Devil’s Island plantation.
It’s not difficult to find. It’s not even difficult to meet with Claire. Getting her to safety even turns out to be child’s play. If you have the money. It should be a simple matter of waiting for Justine and Devlin to return to Georgia. It should be if you don’t take Adrien’s overweening conceit into account. From here on, it’s black magic, a snarky ghost, a passionate Claire, the usefulness of war, and ambushes.
All to fulfill a long-held plot.
The Characters
Cin Craven, the Red Witch of the Righteous, a.k.a., the Devil’s Witch, was turned in 1815 and is now married to Michael, the Devil’s Archangel.
Devlin, Dark Lord and leader of the Righteous, was once one of Edward III’s champions. He is partnered with Justine, the Devil’s Justice, a former courtesan and opera singer.
Aunt Maggie‘s been dead 10 years now and her granddaughter and Cin’s second cousin, Raina Macgregor Mahone (married Tristan from Cin Craven, 2), is now the Macgregor Witch. Claire Mahone is Raina’s youngest daughter with an ability to see ghosts, fairies, and other supernatural sights with a newly interesting condition. And Cin has just discovered that her beloved friend, Fiona, died last year in 1861 at age 68 before Cin got back to Ravenworth. Janet is Fiona’s only daughter.
Adrien Boucher is a lazy scumbag with delusions of grandeur and no qualms as to how he achieves the heights of which he dreams. After marrying Evangeline Peyton, he had control of her family plantation, Kenneway,.
Pandora is a slave at Kenneway. A slave comfortable with black magic hiding a deep secret from everyone. Ulysses is her husband and both came to Kenneway when Boucher married Evangeline.
Elizabeth McCready and her children are happy enough to see the back of Mr McCready, the overseer for Kenneway.
The Cover and Title
Oh brother, someone has taken quite a bit of license with this cover — a 19th century ninja! Or is that ninja-ess?? Cin is clad in her beloved breeches wearing a black corset, its seams outlined in red with red cording tying the front together. Posed in a lunge inside a cemetery, her long red hair unbound and clustering around her neck, Cin is glaring out to the side, a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. And yes, there was a cemetery in the story. But it was a slave cemetery. I very much doubt they had much in the way of marble statues and fancy tombstones. Even Cin’s stance is more of a summary of her usual actions.
At least the title fits in with the cover…more license. The only correlation I can find between title and story is Claire’s extracurricular activities.
