Review: Ties of Bargains

Ties of Bargains by Tara Grayce was one of three books I had left to read in the Tethered Hearts multi-author series. Though it wasn't my favorite of the series, it fits well with the theme of falling in love after a forced binding ritual. I enjoy that even though this series follows such a specific premise, every book I've read so far has the two protagonists bound together for vastly different reasons. In this one, the female lead is a fae mercenary tasked with delivering the male lead to his captor to fulfill a bargain. The book follows a traditional "road trip" formula and gets a bit repetitive before the satisfying reveal at the end. It takes place in the same world as her Court of Midsummer Mayhem series.

Harm, the son of a powerful duke, would do anything to protect his family. When his older brother, the heir to the duchy, is poisoned by fae magic, his father trades him to the fae to save his older son. Harm goes willingly and meets Val, a mercenary who binds him to her with a magic cord. They are joined by her pet dog, Daisy, who sometimes has three heads, and provides much-needed comic relief. Along their journey, they learn that each fae who bargained for Harm lost him to some trade or bet, and they are sent on a wild goose chase to find the final buyer. During that time, Val develops feelings for Harm and ultimately decides to protect him rather than deliver him to his doom.

The first half of this book was a little slow for me. There was plenty of action, but it felt like every time the two main characters arrived somewhere, they learned that they had to go somewhere else, usually a place with even more danger than the previous one. After a while, this became formulaic, and it wasn't until the second half of the book that the truth about the bargain for Harm's life was finally revealed. By that point, Val was too attached to give him up, and the painfully slow-burn romance finally came to fruition.

Even though marriage happens faster in the fae realm than the human one, it took a while before I wanted to root for Harm and Val as a couple, especially after the way she treated him at the beginning of the book. For most of the story, I felt like Harm could do better than a rogue fae who only thinks of him as an object, but the point was that he was such a selfless character that he could still find the good in her despite that. I enjoyed the ties to the other books in the Court of Midsummer Mayhem series near the end, since I really enjoyed Stolen Midsummer Bride.

Overall, Ties of Bargain is a thrilling adventure that adds some fae mythology to the Tethered Hearts series. It's a slow-burn romance that's filled with danger and excitement. Although the romance isn't as sweet as I typically prefer, the couple brings out the best in each other and grows throughout the course of their adventure. I'd like to read every book in this series and have two more to go. Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments!