The Buried and the Bound

The Bound and the Buried Trilogy, Book 1

By: Rochelle Hassan

Narrated by: Nikki Massoud, Daniel Henning, Dan Bittner

A contemporary fantasy YA debut from Rochelle Hassan about monsters, magic, and wicked fae, perfect for fans of The Darkest Part of the Forest and The Hazel Wood.

As the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts―an uncommonly magical place―Aziza El-Amin has bargained with wood nymphs, rescued palm-sized fairies from house cats, banished flesh-eating shadows from the local park. But when a dark entity awakens in the forest outside of town, eroding the invisible boundary between the human world and fairyland, run-of-the-mill fae mischief turns into outright aggression, and the danger―to herself and others―becomes too great for her to handle alone.

Leo Merritt is no stranger to magical catastrophes. On his sixteenth birthday, a dormant curse kicked in and ripped away all his memories of his true love. A miserable year has passed since then. He’s road-tripped up and down the East Coast looking for a way to get his memories back and hit one dead end after another. He doesn’t even know his true love’s name, but he feels the absence in his life, and it’s haunting.

Desperate for answers, he makes a pact with Aziza: he’ll provide much-needed backup on her nightly patrols, and in exchange, she’ll help him break the curse.

When the creature in the woods sets its sights on them, their survival depends on the aid of a mysterious young necromancer they’re not certain they can trust. But they’ll have to work together to eradicate the new threat and take back their hometown … even if it forces them to uncover deeply buried secrets and make devastating sacrifices.

©2023 Rochelle Hassan (P)2023 Blackstone Publishing

Liked the story

I really liked the storyline and the characters. My struggle was the narrator for Tristan. He was over dramatic and made the story hard to listen to. I am looking forward to the next book in the series but will likely buy it on my kindle to read.

love love love it!

i was absolutely enthralled. i know others are complaining about tristan's narrator, but i completely disagree. i love how passionate and emotional they are. i feel like all the narrators fit their characters' voices beautifully, and it not only kept my attention but i didnt want to stop listening either. I can't wait for the next one! i hope the same folks narrate it too.

Lopsided audio casting / great book

Magical start to a new fae-teen series is weakened by one of audio performing trio for me, sadly the actor cast for Tristan just grated on my nerves and I sped up/eye read these sections. The other two actors are solid neutral matches for a surprisingly brutally bloody story, enhanced by strong characters and lyrical writing. Looking forward to the next installment… on paper.

could use better narrators

the narrator for Tristan got on my nerves. sounded very juvenile. took me out of the story. Leo's was ok I guess. skipped around just to get to the end. couldn't wait for it be over. I guess I'm just spoiled with some good narnarrators . I guess if I'm really interested i will read the book since I have it. not sure if I will read book 2.