YMMV / Nightbound

• Abandon Shipping: Some players have stopped pursuing Nik after Chapter 15, where he tells Alex that he only saw them as another job.
• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Kristin is not very well-liked by fans for being annoying and inconsiderate of Alex if s/he did not pick the option of going to New Orleans to party, but most people feel sorry for her when she is attacked by the Bloodwraith.
• Base-Breaking Character: Nik Ryder. One group states his importance to the plot given that he is Alex's bodyguard who is supposed to protect them and he has a right to be upset at them for disobeying him on numerous occasions. On the other hand, another group sees him as overprotective and annoying for refusing to let Alex make their own decisions. He became even more polarizing when it is revealed that he knew that Lord Elric was Alex's father and kept it from them, with many people being upset at his dishonesty. A few detractors have stated that the story is better off without him now that Alex knows about their origins and powers and believe he has nothing to contribute to the plot. On June 27th 2019, the cover of Nightbound was changed with the subtext "His...to protect" with many starting to view him as a forced love interest. He becomes more polarizing in Chapter 15, when he tells Alex that he views them as just another job, which players interpret as him not caring about their friendship or possible romance or staying dedicated to his work.
• Creator's Pet: Alex learns the most about Nik without premium options and he often acts as the leader of the group. His characterization usually sidelines Vera, Cal, and Katherine despite their importance to the plot.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Garrus, Ivy, and Krom instantly gained popularity for their character designs, unique personalities, and being genuinely helpful and friendly to Alex and Nik.
• Heartwarming Moments: After Lord Elric learns that he is Alex's biological father, he is more than happy to accept them with open arms and help them adapt to being half Fae.
• Ho Yay: Several people ship Krom and Garrus.
  • A premium option allows Alex to help Ivy set them up, and Krom will mention wanting to go on another date in Chapter 14 if Alex chooses that option.
• Hype Backlash: Even though the story isn't widely hated, it has disappointed a large number of players hoping for it to be as great as Bloodbound, the story it spun off from. They cite improper marketing (the story falls under the "Steamy Stories" section, yet lacks sex scenes until Chapter 14, putting off romance inclined players) and the sheer amount of worldbuilding-related content crammed into the story at the expense of character development and the plot as the primary reasons for its financial failure.
• I Knew It!: Several people had guessed that Tialo would end up becoming a villain due to his hostile nature towards Alex.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships: Apart from the four love interests (Vera, Nik, Cal, and Katherine), Alex has been shipped with Garrus, Krom, Ivy, Cassiopeia, and a few people ship them with Lady Smoke.
• Memetic Mutation: Alex's failure to deduce the identity of "the jealous boy" despite it being painfully obvious has led to this.
• Moral Event Horizon: Tialo crosses it by deliberately letting the Bloodwraith in, hoping it would kill Alex (and putting everyone they care about in danger as a result), out of petty jealousy.
• The Scrappy: Tialo is hated for mistreating Alex due to petty jealously and resorting to taking down the wards protecting Lamrian from the Bloodwraith, putting everyone at risk.
• Take That, Scrappy!: After Tialo tries to kill Alex, Lord Elric disowns him as both his son and heir and banishes him from Lamrian, stating that he will be executed if he ever returns. It gets better. Collecting all the Tears shows he gets eaten alive by the spirit alligator or slashed to death by the shadow creature that killed Thomas.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Cassiopeia's monster tear vision shows her being treated as a monster by her parents when they saw her innocently reviving a dead bird without telling her much about her powers, and then banished by her coven after her desperate revival of a fellow witch.
  • Lord Elric's death at the hands of the Bloodwraith. Especially since he had been nothing but loving and supportive to Alex, wishing to teach them more about Fae culture and immediately accepting them as family.
  • It's hard not to feel bad for Thomas after collecting his monster tear. He was an ordinary man who loved his wife and daughter before they were brutally killed in front of him by a shadowy demon that seeped its way into their car while they were on vacation.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many noticed that the cover changed to the loading art and the addition of the tagline "HIS... TO PROTECT", which enraged many readers for being a tacked-on line and an unsubtle attempt to sell the book as a supernatural romance rather than a paranormal thriller. During a Q&A, the staff explained that this was a marketing attempt to attract more romance inclined readers, since the numbers weren't what they expected; however, they insisted that the story itself was still the same. The original cover was restored after the story's end, when the story didn't receive a second book.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Vera Reimonenq, Cal Lowell, and Katherine are consistently sidelined in favor of Nik Ryder, whom players know more than enough of at the expense of the other three love interests. Players know almost nothing about Katherine while Cal and Vera have moments of significance (the former being a werewolf and the latter having a supernatural power) only to be tossed aside despite having stronger connections with the supernatural than Nik does.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Players felt that the story's pacing feels too fast because of the sheer amount of worldbuilding-related content in the story that they find it lacking in substance.