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Title: Tethered

Series: The Binding Chronicles #1

Author: Elayna R. Gallea

Genre: Fantasy, Adult, Romance, Dark, Supernatural, Fiction, High Fantasy, Vampires, Witches, Slow Burn, Shapeshifters

Date Started: February 23rd, 2023

Date Finished: February 24th, 2023

Status: Finished

Rating: 4.8/5

Sypnosis: What could be worse than an arranged marriage to a vampire prince?

When Luna is sold into marriage to the Prince of Darkness, she thinks she knows what to expect. Arranged marriages happen all the time, right? Wrong. No one could have prepared her for the reality of being married to the vampire prince.

Ever since the day he was Made, Sebastian has been living according to Queen Marguerite’s rules. After all, he’s only alive because of her. When she orders him to marry and Bind himself to Luna, a human hailing a neighboring kingdom, he has no choice. He agrees to the marriage but never expects to feel anything for Luna.

When their Binding Ceremony goes awry, and they are magically Tethered, everything is thrown into upheaval. Unable to leave each other’s presence, they must learn to live with each other. Or die.

Tethered is a slow-burn arranged marriage epic romantic fantasy and is filled with forced proximity, magical bindings, vampires, and world-building.

Tethered takes place in the same world as Of Earth and Flame. It can be enjoyed on its own or alongside The Ithenmyr Chronicles.

Review: An arranged marriage.

A binding that tethers both to each other.

I was very impressed with this book. I was able to devour it within a few hours.

The world-building was fascinating. You had four different kingdoms with each possibly different group of rulers that own it. The kingdom of the North is ruled by a vampire queen who has ruled her world with an iron fist. She has decided that the son of her blood, Sebastian, needs to marry, and what better way to unite two kingdoms. The vampire kingdom is truly interesting. The queen and her people were beautifully cold creatures and the humans underneath them were suffering from the need for food. The queen saw this as the perfect opportunity to use her son as a sacrifice in marriage.

The characters' growth throughout the book is amazing. I love how Luna and Sebastian grow throughout this first book. The tethered bond keeps the two of them in close proximity and this causes all sorts of delicious friction between the two. You can see the bond drawing them toward each other and their feelings for each other changing. I am really looking forward to seeing how they grow even more into the second book.

The only thing I have against this book is the repetition of the Prince of Darkness. This thing is continuously drilled into our heads. I get it; he's the Prince of Darkness. I don't need a constant reminder of it. I nearly put this book down about fifteen percent, but I wanted so much to read this book.

This book was recommended by Book Tok. There have been some hits and some misses. This book ranks up there high on the hits. I loved this book and I love that I was able to invest in the characters and their world. I am really excited for the next book in the series.