**Review ~ Bound by Lies ~ Hanna Peach**

Bound by Lies by Hanna Peach
Bound #1
Release Date: January 21, 2014
Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense
Source: I received a review copy from the author through Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5 Bookworms

Synopsis
Our love is on his terms. He contacts me only through notes - unpredictable and untraceable. When we meet, he can touch me, but I'm not allowed to touch him. When we make love, it's only after I have been bound and blindfolded. It's the only time I truly feel alive. Which is why I play along with it. For now.

Caden Thaine is the most sinfully beautiful man I have ever seen. But more than that, his touch sets me on fire. And dear God, do I ache for him. I don't know where he lives or even what he does. But this doesn't scare me. My only fear is that one day his messages will stop.

I know he's hiding something. But that's okay. I am hiding things too. Like my real name and...who I really am. But the deeper I fall for him, the stronger my curiosity becomes.

I could never have imagined just how much our lives are bound. And that pulling at this tangled web of secrets would cause my own dark past to come back to try and reclaim me. Will we survive? Will our love?

Holy wow!! This book...I was literally biting my lip, hunch-shouldered, with a tightness in my gut the entire way through! And it was OH.SO.GOOD!

It wasn't until I started to write this review that I realized I don't even know the real name of the MC. Caden (I'll get to him in a minute) refers to her as Kitten, so that's what I'm going with. Kitten is broken. She can't completely trust anyone. She can't open up and be totally honest with anyone. She lives her life on the fringes, knowing she can't get close to anyone because she'll eventually have to leave them. Meeting Caden changes things. Caden allows her intimacy without sharing her secrets. And he has his fair share of those as well. So we watch as these two broken people try to make each other whole - in the only way they can. Eventually though, it's not enough for Kitten and her curiosity gets the best of her.

The story is told from Kitten's POV and alternates between the past and present. In this way, we are privy not only to her thoughts and feelings in the present, but we see earlier meetings between she and Caden - how their relationship progressed - and we see her past - how she ended up so broken and on the run. The tension - and there is so much of it - is created through Kitten's anxiety over when she'll see Caden again as well as her actions once she decides she wants to know more about him.

Caden is an enigma. He has his rules that must be followed when he and Kitten are together. He won't share any details about his life with her - not basic ones anyway. He does drop hints but that only serves to make him more mysterious. What I know - he is protective of Kitten - he would lay down his life for her - and I guess that's enough for me.

When Kitten and Caden are together, they are combustible! Oh my! If bondage isn't your thing, don't worry. This is not a BDSM book. The binding and blindfolding are just a part of Caden's brokenness. But the way Caden make Kitten feel is conveyed so well. I understood Kitten feeling:

"This constant dull ache for him crescendos into a crushing fist deep in my belly. Like always, it gets worse when I know exactly when I'll see him next."

And I will never look at dark chocolate ice cream the same way again. *swoon*

When Kitten starts looking into Caden, her past becomes entangled with her present. The conclusions she begins to draw elicit the fear she's tried to bury. And yet she showed so much strength of will.

"You won't realize how strong you are until you are given no other choice."

The sequence of events that occur once she decides she wants more from Caden was shocking. As revelations are made, I became more and more anxious. I tried puzzling it out as it was unfolding and I never saw it coming! I find it ironic that Caden gave Kitten a name that embodied the curiosity which put her in the situation of having to flee 5 years ago, and in her current predicament.

Bound by Lies is dark, twisty, well-written, tense and thrilling. It was so much more than I was expecting. This is my first read from Ms. Peach and I've already one-clicked the first in her urban fantasy series. I'm glad I can read something else from her while I'm (im)patiently awaiting the next in the Bound series.