The Procrastinators Book Club discussion

Welcome to The Binding Buddy Read Discussion thread! This thread officially opens on February 1st and anyone can join at any time. Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up!

Each week we will be reading by chapters. The suggested Buddy Read discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 2/1
February 1: Part 1 Chapters 1-5

Week of 2/2
February 2: Chapters 6-10
February 3: Chapter 11 + Part 2 Chapters 12-13
February 4: Chapters 14-16
February 5: Chapters 17-19 Part 3 Chapter 20
February 6: Chapters 21-22
February 7: Chapters 23-24
February 8: Chapters 25-28


PARTICIPANTS
~ Laura
~ Raquel
~ Deb

Just finished up to Chapter 5 - so far I’m intrigued!

Im going to have to drop out of this buddy read, i just cant keep up! I've got too many books on the go at once, as per usual!

Aww oh no 😔

Got through chapter five! I'm enjoying it so far and am excited to see what happens next.

(view spoiler)[Not sure if this really counts as a spoiler, but I'm hoping we see more of this world than Seredith's cottage. I don't have a very clear picture yet of what time period this book is based off of because of how little we know of the world. (hide spoiler)]

Yes I completely agree Rawuel - still finding my bearings

Up to Chapter 10

(view spoiler)[The difference between rural/city attitudes and opinions of De Havilland and Seredith’s to binding is quite interesting!

I was not expecting Seredith to actually die so early on in the book!

I’m quite interested to know more about the binding process!

(hide spoiler)]

Got through chapter 10. It's been hard putting this book down!

(view spoiler)[I agree that the different ways of binding are intriguing, though at this point I still believe Seredith's ways of doing things are better.

I wasn't expecting Seredith to die at all! I'm so disappointed about that, I feel that there is much we didn't learn about her character. And to replace her with de Havilland, ugggghhh! I hate him so much. With how apathetic he is I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that he killed her.

I am glad that we're now seeing more of the world though.

Some questions I'm looking forward to seeing answered. I want to know more about the history of the binders, like what exactly were the Crusades?

Also, do you think Seredith was lying when she said binders only have the power to take away memories? Because with the way Emmett was describing his confrontation with the mob that came to torch their house, it definitely seemed like he was summoning some sort of power. (hide spoiler)]

Yes same here, I'm also struggling to put this down!

At Chapter 15 now

(view spoiler)[I also feel like I wish we had seen more of Seredith - and her way definitely seems like it has more integrity!

I was also thinking that maybe their powers extend beyond binding memories..

I'm really taking a very strong dislike to de Havilland!

I'll be interested to find out more about people who regain their memories after books are destroyed...

And I wonder how things went from the past we've seen now to the point that Emmett had to be bound! I feel like something happens between him and Lucien, but I look forward to seeing how it unfolds

(hide spoiler)]

Made it through chapter 17

(view spoiler)[I was hoping Lucian would turn out to be his lover! Emmett's fascination with him didn't make sense to me otherwise. I feel bad for his sister, though I hope Lucian and Emmett get a happy ending.

As much as I'm enjoying the backstory, I wish we would get back to the present. I want to know what happens to Emmett once his memories are back.

I also just want to know more about binding, and the backstory isn't giving us any new information about it (hide spoiler)]

Up to chapter 20

(view spoiler)[ me too! I had a feeling they’d be lovers 😂

Ooh we’re back in the present! And now In Lucian’s POV!
(hide spoiler)]

Yay I made it! It's so hard for me to find time to read during the week so I'm glad I finished it in time!

(view spoiler)[I really enjoyed this book! The concept of binding was cool, and I loved Lucian and Emmett. I'm glad that everything turned out alright in the end. I was getting worried that Lucian would never get his memories back.

Does this book feel like the start of a series to you? I feel like the ending was really abrupt and that there's much more the author can do with the world.

There's obviously a lot of corruption in the Binding world that could lead to a sequel given how much both characters are against that corruption. I for one would love to see Lucian's dad pay for all the terrible deeds he gets away with by hiding them away in books.

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ Yes I see what you mean - I enjoyed the book but I feel like the pacing was all over the place!

I definitely feel like there could be a sequel, and while I enjoyed it too I feel like the end at least seemed rushed!

I would love to see more about the corruption and dealing with it!

(hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[I agree with what you say about the pacing!

The first part felt like it was moving at a natural pace. It also made me think this book was going to heavily focus on Emmett becoming a binder, but that didn't really happen.

Then the second part moved super slow for me! I don't think the backstory needed to be that long...

The third part was a little more fast paced, and felt really different from the rest of the book because of Lucian's POV instead of Emmett's.

How did you feel about Lucian's POV?

(hide spoiler)]

Hey! Not sure if this thread is still active, but I thought I'd drop my review here if anyone wanted to check out my final thoughts!

Raquel's Review

My reviews can be kind of long so here's a short summary:

I ended up enjoying The Binding because of the universe, romance, and characters, but upon reflection it feels like it should have been polished a bit more before publication. The pacing never felt solid and some characters, along with the concept of binding, were never explored to their full potential. I hope this is simply because the author has plans to make the book into a series. The ending itself leaves me hope that this is the case and I’ll see Emmett again in another book.