It matters not the time nor year - the story, the characters, the dialogue & the detailed descriptions are everything you could ever desire in a beautiful book that would be worthy of Dickens. I genuinely did not want it to end. It’s refreshingly different and I heartily recommend it.

I bought this and her other book simply because the covers were so attractive to me. When I started reading, I was completely captured by the story. It is maybe a year since I read it and I genuinely have not read another book that has affected me in the same way. I loved it and the world needs more Bridget Collins.

I love everything about this book. So rich in detail you can feel and see everything that the characters feel and see. So unique it is unlike anything I have ever read before and so moving it will leave you breathless. A dazzling, magical feast of a story that will leave you utterly spellbound.

The story is primarily focused on two characters, Emmett a young poor farmer, and Lucian a rich privileged lordling. The tale that follows is simultaneously gut-wrenching and beautiful. It takes place in a world where a magic known as "binding" or "word-cunning" exists, through binging a person's memories may be ripped away and stored in a book to be hidden away or sold at a high price. An air of superstition and prejudice is closely tied to this practice, many believing it to be a heinous and sinful act. People who have this rare ability are known as a "binder", and much to Emmett's dismay, he is one of them. Raw and powerful is the only way to describe Emmett and Lucian's relationship, I never wanted to stop reading. I will try to steer away from spoilers and keep this short and simply say that enemies to lovers has never been written better. Collins has managed to write an authentic queer love story, an uncommon feat in today's age.

I didn't want this book to end - I would have happily kept turning over the next page and the next. It is truly unique and definitely one of my top reads for 2018. When my father reads Dickens he always says it takes him hours to read a few chapters as he likes to go back and savour the language. I have never particularly related to that, as I like to devour my books, but with 'The Binding' I finally understood what he means. Bridget Collins' descriptive prose is just sumptuous. Again and again I found myself re-reading sentences just to re-enjoy them. I am just sorry I can't find a better turn of phrase myself to describe how delightful I found the writing. 'The Binding' tells the story of Emmett Farmer who becomes an apprentice 'binder' - freeing people from memories which are too painful for them to bear, and locking them into books. However, while this might give people a new start, a blank page on which to start re-writing their life, it also leaves an emptiness where the memories previously lodged. Are any memories so painful, that this price is worth paying? And what will happen when Emmett discovers his own name on a book? The book is divided into three parts. I don't want to describe what each section reveals as it is really a story which needs to unfold itself. I liked the way the author shifted to the present tense for the final section, as it really brought a sense of urgency to the text. I suspect that, at this point, I stopped re-reading sentences and went back to devouring the story! It seems a real shame to have read this book in a Kindle version, when the physical binding is so beautiful and the craft of bookbinding is so vividly described in the book itself. I think when it is published, I may well purchase a hardback copy. Most sincere thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for a review copy of this wonderful book.