I’m going to admit right up front that it’s possible that my friendship with C.J. may color my review. I also received my copy free of charge as part of this book tour. However, as a reviewer for TitleTrakk, a Christian book reviews site, I get most of my to-be-reviewed books for free. So, keep that in mind, but I think I can be pretty honest here about my Bound by Guilt review.

Bound by Guilt focuses on two characters and how their lives are inter-twined by the actions of one of them. One character is Abby Dawson, a police woman who’s past makes her, well, lets just say a little over aggressive in her police work. Roxi Gold is just a scared teenager. The unwanted child of a druggie mother and a foster home drop out. Her one shot at a home came with strings attached- be a part of the family “business” or suffer the displeasure of Irene, her new foster mom and cousin to Roxi’s birth mother. That doesn’t seem so bad at first, but when the family “business” is stealing rare books, her conscience begins to interfere with her work.

Now, I took copious notes for my review as I was reading Bound by Guilt. Unfortunately, when I read them over, I realized that they were pretty much all spoilers, and one typo. So, I’m just going to wing it.

Bound by Guilt is really, really good. I’m not just saying that for the aforementioned reasons. Seriously- it’s good. There are elements of mystery and suspense, but the genre is pretty much general or maybe contemporary fiction. It’s definitely not a romance novel- although at times you really can’t help but hope that Roxi and her foster brother Diego would hit it off. They think of each other as though they really were brother and sister, and yet the chemistry is so strong and their relationship is so good, that the more romantically inclined among us just can’t help but picture this as their possible future. I swear, if I ever take up fan fiction, my first target will be CJ’s characters. Jim (from Thicker Than Blood) needs to make some woman happy, and Roxi and Diego so need to at least date.

In Thicker Than Blood, C.J. had a tendency to repeat events that we “saw” in her characters’ heads, and a few characters missed a chance to be fully fleshed out. Those are total non-issues in Bound by Guilt. Every character is thoroughly and well drawn, there are no awkward remembering scenes, and even characters that I disliked in Thicker Than Blood are much more likeable and interesting in Bound By Guilt. Oh- I should mention that several characters from Thicker Than Blood are in Bound By Guilt. None of them are major players except for Christy, but they are there.

Both books revolve around rare books from Dawson’s Book Barn, so it’s a totally natural thing that so many characters are involved in both books but without being a sequel in the usual sense. For example, while we get to see the progression of Christy’s life since the end of Thicker Than Blood, Bound By Guilt is focused on Abby Dawson and Roxi Gold- not Christy.

And the villains! Man, C.J. is so good at writing the bad guys. Which is a little worrying, as she only lives 20 minutes away from me and knows where I live… erm… So, anyway… Vince from Thicker Than Blood was a really well fleshed out psycho abuser. I mean, he was a psycho, not that he abused psychos. Irene, from Bound by Guilt is extremely manipulative and devious. And yet she’s extremely human. Maybe a little on the crazy side, but not so much so that it interferes with her life. Other people’s, maybe, but not her own.

The story progressed naturally, but not predictably. She did make me mad at one scene near the beginning, but it also answered all of her evasive “Well, that’s not going to happen… well, it will, but not for long…” answers when I tried to quiz her on certain book 2 happenings. Which actually made it strangely satisfying even though I was still mad. (And I’m still mad, C.J.! You know what I mean!) But page turner? Most definitely. You can’t help but want to know what’s going to happen to Roxi next, or what decisions she’ll make. A foster child run-away at the age of 16? So close to independance, and yet still dependant? Guilty for a crime that she did commit, and also guilty for a crime that she was merely present at… You can see what’s whirring through her head and feel yourself putting yourself in her place and wondering just what you’d do in the same predicament.

And Roxi is so real. I loved Thicker Than Blood, but Christy did come off as rather cold (the main character in book one) which made it harder to get really into the book. But Roxi is so warm, with real emotions, capable of thinking on her feet but not always making the right choices. Just as in reality, there aren’t always right choices to make.

I hate to say it, but there’s not much more that I can say without getting into spoilers, so I’ll finish with the book trailer for Bound by Guilt. And an endorsement. I rarely read anything that isn’t chick-lit or fantasy, but I loved Bound by Guilt. If you are a book geek, you’ll love it too, because not only is it a great story that’s well told, but there are lots of geeky tidbits on the antiquarian book trade, and about specific rare titles. Given that C.J.’s day job is in the rare book trade, those tidbits aren’t just guesswork or gleaned from interviews. It’s the real thing.

For more information, click the Amazon link above, or visit C.J. Darlington’s official website.

Disclaimer: I received this book for free as part of C.J. Darlington’s Bound by Guilt book tour in exchange for a review.

For those who didn’t win but would still like a copy, or who are unfamiliar with this books, click the link to read my review of CJ Darlington’s Thicker Than Blood. You can order a copy via my link on that review, or visit CJDarlington.com and enter her weekly(?) contest to try to win a copy there.

Thicker Than Blood by C.J. Darlington is a story about a pair of estranged sisters. Their parents died in a car accident when they were just teens. One went to live with an elderly relative, and then grew up to become a rancher, starting off as a field hand and working (and investing) her way into full partnership. The other ran away from her pain, ended up making some hard decisions, some bad decisions, and more or less mucking up her life.

The twist comes when Christy (the messed up sister) tries to rectify one of those old bad decisions and it puts her life in danger. She ends up escaping into the loving arms of her sister, though the reunion is anything but hugs and kisses.

Thicker Than Blood by CJ Darlington is a book about relationships. Relationships between sisters, between close family friends, between those of us who are totally messed up and God.

Now, it’s a common misperception that is founded in truth  that Christian books are nothing but sermons in thin polyester disguise. This is very true of many older Christian fiction books, and even currently of some particular genres and publishing companies. This is certainly not true of all of them, and most of the Christian fiction I read certainly doesn’t fit that category.  It’s also a hard line for truly talented Christian writers to walk. Many feel that it would be a betrayal of their faith to NOT put in a sermon or two, and others fear that allowing any shred of their personal beliefs to shine through might spoil the story or limit their market. For many others it’s simply a part of the story since it’s a part of them.  I bring this up, because there is a bit of overt Christianity in Thicker Than Blood. I can’t call it preaching, because it’s not. It’s something that’s kind of hard to explain, but in my opinion it was handled very well- not detracting from the story but adding to it. Your opinion may differ.

A common complaint that I heard about Thicker Than Blood by CJ Darlington is that there wasn’t enough romance. And this is true, in my opinion, but since I actually know CJ, I was personally surprised to find as much in it as I did!  Of course, I know who the main character ends up with in the next book, but honestly, I couldn’t help pulling for a certain different character. *sigh*

There are a few sensitive spots for a some people. If you’re vehemently Pro Choice, this book will probably irk you. There is also a physically abusive man in the book (the one that the main character-Christy- is running away from). This might be a little sensitive for some, although if you can handle it, CJ wrote that character really well. I mean really, really well. I’m not sure if it’s a compliment or not, but I actually think the abusive ex-boyfriend (Vince) was the best fleshed out character in the whole book. I’ve told her before that she should be a suspense writer (Thicker Than Blood is simply labeled as “Contemporary”), and his character just proves it. Although, maybe that would be more suited to a thriller. Not sure.  What I do know is that if you struggle with writing genuine, realistic baddies, you’ll want to pick up a copy of this book as a study guide. If you’re anti-Christian, just ignore the parts that irritate you and study his character.

I echo the sentiments of the many other reviews and comments that I’ve seen on my friend’s book- it’s really, really good. Maybe I’m biased, but with so many others saying the same thing, I think it probably doesn’t matter.  I noticed a missed opportunity to add a little more suspense to a section of the novel- a rare first edition Ernest Hemmingway plays a large part in the plot- if a part of the reveal had been left out till later, the suspense would have been raised for the next chapter or two. It’s not a big deal, but it could have made a big difference in the pacing of the book.

Also, I noticed, as did another reviewer, that most of the internal thought scenes were basically digesting the action that had happened in the previous scenes. No new information seemed to come out of those, and as a result, I felt as though the space was being wasted. I didn’t get to know the characters any better than I had through watching them act. I would have enjoyed a little more time spent learning about the secondary characters instead in the same space.

As far as I’m concerned, CJ’s debut novel is really strong, with a great story, no cardboard characters, and some really great insider info on the rare book trade (it’s her day job). Even though it’s not in the genres that I normally read (chick lit and fantasy), I did find it rather hard to put down at night. My mother said the same, and even told me that at one point she had to put it down over night before continuing because she found a Vince scene too intense to read before trying to sleep. She also told me that she’s planning to buy a copy for a friend of hers because she’s afraid that if she lends it, she won’t get it back.  She also found it amusing that Christy’s drug of choice was sherry.  Very amusing. I think she spent about 10 minutes giggling about Christy drinking sherry to me.  Yeah, mom’s cute.

I suspect that the fact that her book has just gone into its third printing (remember, it was only released at the end of December), and the fact that Amazon has actually raised its listed price by almost $1 means that other people quite like it too! Check out some more reviews of Thicker than Blood, then buy a copy, or come back here and leave a comment. If you’d like to win an autographed copy, put in your comment that you’d like to win a copy (Travis can’t enter because he already won a copy when I posted about TTB before- though it hasn’t been sent because I haven’t had a chance to get CJ to autograph it yet- but I should have that on Saturday- sorry it took so long Travis!). To win, you must leave a comment stating that you want it, have a blog or website where you will mention the book (you don’t have to review it, but you do have to at least say “Hey, I won this book over at Vixen’s blog!” though a review would be appreciated. You also have to live in the continental USA cuz I’m cheap, and leave a valid email address (the one you use to leave a comment is fine) so that I can contact you and get your mailing address if you win. Entries end some time around 11:59pm Thursday, March 11, 2010, give or take a few minutes either way. I’ll try to announce the winner that Friday, but I tend to be lazy and sometimes things happen to prevent me from actually doing anything that I should be doing. But, I’ll still notify the winner so I can get their mailing addy.

Aaaaaaand, I think that’s it! I really wish I could write a better review than that, but my writing brain just hasn’t been functioning lately.