Happy book birthday to @ceciliatan.com for "Bound by the Blood"! 5/5 stars from me (prolific reader, first-time reviewer) TLDR: Action! Romance! Bi woman as BDSM magical prodigy! 🧵 1/6

Bound by the Blood is an outstanding, intensely erotic urban romantasy that follows the story of Mira, a bisexual woman who's become disconnected from her local BDSM community, and Clive, the handsome man she doms for exactly one scorching scene before he ghosts her. 2/6

Tan's kinky, sex-based magic system is ingenious: they consider not only how the actions that are part of a scene (knife play, cutting, impact play, orgasm denial, etc.) might generate mystical power, but also how that power is affected by Dom/sub roles & by crossing individuals' boundaries. 4/6

Tan skillfully weaves the importance of consent throughout the action-packed story. The spicy scenes are so well-written and reveal so much about the characters and their relationships that those scenes are hot to me even though most of these character's kinks aren't mine! 5/6