The Binding Stone is the first book in The Djinn paranormal romance series. Leela is a Djinn. She and a few other Djinn traveled from their realm to earth a thousand years ago to experience living as humans. The Djinn were bound to magical stones and forced into servitude. Her new master, Jered, is young and idealistic and offers her a glimmer of hope freedom from her years of servitude and torture. Unfortunately old enemies appear and her hopes of freedom, and a future with Jered, are in danger.

The book alternates between the present day and flashbacks to Leela’s past when she first travelled to earth. The author had an interesting take on the origins of the Djinn and how they become bound to magical stones. The book moved quickly with lots of action and suspense. I would have liked the hero to be a bit older and less naive. Jered is a college student without much life experience. Although he is an honourable character, it is hard to understand why a thousand year old Djinn would fall for him. This is a promising start to a series. The secondary characters are interesting and I look forward to reading about their adventures in future books. ( )

The Binding Stone by Lizzy Gayle was a fun read. The story kept me interested, and I read it in two nights. The narrative went back and forth between the beginning and the present day. Which helped to define the central character. The present-day male interest could have been a bit more fleshed out. I enjoyed it and would recommend it. ( )