Reviewed: June 26th, 2025
Released: April 4th, 2025
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
A cursed king. A stolen bride. A desperate quest.
Emana hasn’t seen her best friend Daenn since she left their gryphon rider clan for an arranged marriage eight years ago. She doesn’t believe the rumors that he’s become a ruthless tyrant since ascending the throne… not until the warm, kind boy she once knew hunts her down, kills her husband, and steals her back to the clan.
This new Daenn is cold, driven, and harder than the steel he wields with bloody efficiency, yet he claims to need her. Or at least, he needs her magic to temper his own chaotic, deadly power—through the shackles of marriage. But when Emana tampers with the new bond between them, their magic begins lashing out on its own, striking down innocents in alarming numbers.
Now, to save her clan and free herself from Daenn, Emana must journey deep into the heart of the jungle with him in search of a way to destroy his magic for good. But the more they are together, the more she sees echoes of warmth beneath his icy exterior that hint that maybe he hasn’t changed as much as she thought. Except the search to sever their bond is filled with horrors, and destroying Daenn’s magic might require a heavy cost—his very life.
Helen’s Thoughts: 4/5
A nicely written fantasy romance with a touch of the paranormal with gryphens and unruly magic. Constance Lopez writes a lovely romance, a touch of beauty and the beast, friends to (brief enemies) to lovers. Emana has little control over her life, married off for some treaty to a controlling despot, only to be widowed, kidnapped by her oldest friend, and summarily married because he needs her magic. Not the best way to start a life together.
An excellent story with plenty of emotion, no spice, and an underlying mystery to be solved. Daenn is suitably dark and brooding, Emana the one with the strength to wade though the mire and contradictions to find the light at the end of the tunnel. A nice twist on the magic, and peeling back all the layers of emotions keeps you reading.
Purchase Ties of Death
Link to book on Amazon UK: eBook | Paperback
Link to book on Amazon US: eBook | Paperback
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If you enjoy fantasy books then you will love my epic fantasy Sentinal series or the Romantic Fantasy SoulMist series and now Harmony, a dystopian science fantasy.
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