Ties That Bind

by Alex Whitehall

For Chel, Tomlin, and Mathias, life is simple but good. They share a home and a love, and despite a few conflicts of personality, are happy. Mathias runs a magic shop, where he makes magic items and potions for his customers, and Tom is his familiar, helping supply his magic. Chel, who's not magical, works at a bookshop and makes sure dinner is on the table for his lovers.

When Mathias suddenly comes down with a mysterious illness, Chel and Tomlin seek out answers. As Mathias's familiar, Tomlin can sense that nothing is wrong with the magical parts of him, but when a trip to the doctor's indicates nothing is wrong with him physically either, they start to worry.

Then Mathias collapses, and the search to find the truth becomes urgent.

57 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2019

About the author

If there are two types of people in the world, Alex Whitehall probably isn't one of them, despite being a person. Their favorite pastimes include reading, horseback riding, reading, watching geek-tastic television, reading, and running. While Alex prefers writing over doing anything else (except maybe reading), sometimes they emerge from the cave to be social and to hunt for food at the local market. They can be found blogging, scrolling Tumblr, and tending after their aloe plants.

Reviews

[peach · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was a very sweet story that managed to get me invested in the main characters surprisingly quickly. For such a short story it did a good job of showing the relationship dynamic within the triad and the characters all felt distinct. A nice hurt/comfort read that basically felt like reading sickfic in book form, and made me want to read more about this triad.

[Mari Cardenas · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

I don't usually pick up stories with established couples, mainly because one of my favorite things about reading romances is seeing the MCs meet and fall in love and I feel like I'm missing out when the couples are already together once the book starts. However, I love fantasy books and my interest was piqued by the blurb, so I decided to give Ties That Bind a go and I was very happy I did.

This book features a triad formed by Chel, who is human, Tom, who is a familiar and can turn into a fox, and Mathias, who is a magic user. Mathias has been tired and seems to be getting worse, which makes Chel and Tom worry. When both human doctors and healers can't seem to find what's wrong with Mathias and he starts getting even worse, both Chel and Tom will need to find out what is really ailing him and if they can help him.

Okay, so triads can be tricky, sometimes it feels like someone might feel left out, but in this case, Chel, Tom and Mathias worked well together, they felt balanced. Chel was the worrier, Tom was the cuddler and Mathias was their pillar of strength. When Mathias needed the other two, though, they both stepped up and did what they needed to to make things right for their lover and it was just amazing to see.

All in all, I adored this book. It was not only well-written, but despite being very short, and again, featuring an established triad, I didn't feel as if I was missing on their backstory or felt confused by their arrangement. I was so invested in what was happening that I found myself tearing up, so yeah, that should tell you how much I loved it and how much I recommend it.

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute, quick hurt/comfort read. Recommended.

[光彩 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty nice story :)