Review: Mind Bonded
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 3, 2013
Mind Bond by Julie Haydon is an ARC I received from NetGalley and Feather In Cap Publishing Pty Ltd.  This is a story about an adaptation in the future that allows some people to 'mind bond' with a wild animal (IST's Interspecies Telepaths).  But don't be fooled there is so much more to this book than one girl bonding with a wolf, but the whole world of things between the pages.We follow Christa who lost her brother when she was little, he disappeared, and after such her family moved from the country to the city.  She left behind all that made her so happy and connected to mother nature, and slowly stopped visiting as much as she grew and life happened.  Until one day she is browsing and sees something that makes her yearn to go back and spend some time camping.  So with her pure city boyfriend, and much more open minded friends, Christa heads back to the protected park where something awakens within her.  As Christa embarks on her journey to spend more time being where she feels most comfortable her connections shift.  Her life evolves yet again as she tries to rediscover what it is that makes her happy.In the park she finds herself happiest.  Then of course she has her little wolf pup, Magnus.  This story is not solely around the mind bond that Christa has with Magnus, however, cute that is.  I won't like I've never been a huge outdoor type of girl but I do love the look of wolfs and their intelligence, so the idea of being connected to one is amazing.  With the mind bond you see the journey that Christa goes on in adapting her life, juggling musts with wants, and the other drama that pops up along the way like a mysterious stranger that shows up in her life or the poacher on the reserve.As I said this isn't a book with only Christa and Magnus, I was also pleased to see how well flushed out the other characters were.  Other IST's, her family, friends, everyone seemed to be given something to make them memorable and unique.  Not as if they were there solely to move the plot along but to build the world and show a different side to our main character.Mind Bond leaves the book with an end, but also so much prospect for more though I have yet to find any information if there is going to be a follow up or series (but if you know something I don't please share).  Also as the characters are all in their early 20's I don’t know if I would classify this as a YA book per say.  I would include this in the new category I recently heard people discussing as 'New Adult', which is a cross between everything we love about YA and slightly older characters and slightly older themes.  No matter the classification, I gave Mind Bond 4 Stars.[...]