I liked this a lot. Wings Once Cursed and Bound is an intriguing start to a paranormal romance series. It is getting marketed as “for fans of Sarah J Maas and Jennifer Armentrout,” which I think is setting up assumptions about the book that won’t hold up. It is a fantasy romance, but it’s set in an alternate universe Seattle, not a fantasy world.
Peeraphan, called Punch by her friends, is at a dance rehearsal when she is offered a gorgeous pair of red shoes. She is entranced by them. Just as she puts them on, we meet Bennett, a vampire who has been tracking the shoes, hoping to get them before they wreak havoc. The shoes are the cursed red shoes from the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. Instead of dancing until she dies, Punch is able to start and stop at will. Peeraphan is a kinnaree, a Thai bird woman. She can resist the compulsion, but not indefinitely.
Bennett convinces Punch to leave with him when a vampire from a rival shadowy organization shoes up also hoping to collect the shoes from her corpse. They escape after a fight to Bennett’s house, which is also the headquarters for a supernatural organization tasked with tracking down cursed and magical items.
There are fight scenes and moments of life threatening danger, but overall, Wings Once Cursed and Bound is gentle. There is no jealousy, no love triangles (yet), no one planning to serve Punch up as bait. There are a lot of conversations and introspection, and refreshingly, no one gets defensive about Punch being at headquarters. Everyone’s focus is getting the shoes off safely and neutralizing them so they can’t harm more people. The characters come from a many different folklores and mythologies. The vampire and the werewolf growl at each other, but have worked together for centuries. Even Punch’s pet sugar gliders get respect.
It isn’t perfect. The talking could have been tightened up. It isn’t explained why Punch was given the shoes, and the explanation I pieced together doesn’t quite work. I might have missed an essential detail, so this might be a me problem.
Those quibbles aside, Drake lays the groundwork for a really interesting series. There’s an antagonist that I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of, two nine tail fox (kitsune) shifters (setting up a nice why not both situation for the witch), and a dragon I hope we get to spend more time with. Drake also introduces the possibility of a battle corgi and Yes, Please!
Tropes: found family, my boyfriend is a corpse, monster boyfriend, secret supernatural society, come with me if you want to live, witches, dragons, fae, the centuries old werewolf who follows his family, insta-love, medium spice, dancing in the stars, fire dancing.
CW: magical shoes attempting to cause the wearer’s death, grief, kidnapping, on page vampire on vampire violence.
I received this as an advance reader copy from Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.