Bound by the Blood
January 15, 2026
How do sex, magic, romance, kink, and power dynamics come together in an enthralling story you can't put down? You just need the right writer.
In addition to being an "award-winning author of passionate fiction", Cecilia Tan is an accomplished amateur (only in the sense that she doesn't do it for a living) chef. As such, she's an expert at combining ingredients to create dishes that tantalize all the senses.
Writing fiction requires a similar ability to stir together elements that stimulate all a reader's sensory faculties (in fact I know a number of authors, myself included, who enjoy cooking and/ or baking as a hobby).
In Bound by the Blood, Cecilia melds:
and whips (literally) them all together to create a delicious tale of magical conspiracy, romance, power dynamics, and kink.
Did I mention sex? Originally written for Tor, the book includes lots of euphemistic rather than graphic sex, but it's just as hot.
Many readers, including me, have waited a decade for this book and it's almost disappointing to read the last words mere hours after starting it. But it's difficult to set aside once you begin reading. The characters are compelling and each contributes charm, mystery, and magic to the recipe Cecilia uses to whisk the ingredients together into a spellbinding story.
Disclosure: Cecilia is a friend and colleague. I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for writing a review. That aside, I loved Bound by the Blood and can't wait for Book Two in The Vanished Chronicles series.