Many thanks to Bloom and NetGalley for the preview. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

It's cr @ ck she puts in these books. It has to be. That's the only explanation for how I can DEVOUR them without a breath and love every second. I've been waiting for this story for a while and it was everything i wanted it to be. Memnon is my favorite red flag, and that hasn't changed. But he and Roxi are just so sweet and tender together, in addition to being completely SCORCHING HOT.

This is a bloodthirsty and brutal story. And we KNOW how it ends, which makes it all the more poignant and tense. Especially knowing already the names of who betrays them and watching them in the background throughout the book. Even still, I loved Memnon, Roxilana, and Ferox so so much. I was screaming about his choices, knowing where it would lead. I am even more feral now to get to the conclusion of their story in present day.

For anyone asking, yeah you could read this first. But you get infinitely more out of it, especially on the angst and foreboding scale. Highly recommend this series!

Perfect backstory and painfully emotionally. Honestly I wished I had this to read before the first 2 books as it would have hit more harder but otherwise I can’t wait to read the next book.

I love this series!! I love this author!!

I will literally read anything and everything she writes.

5⭐️ always… and I can’t wait for the next book that jumps back into present day of the bewitched series, ugh these books are life..

If you like seriously intense characters and a very interesting magic system and love interests then feast your eyes on these pages

Thank you for the gifted copy!!!

Publish date July 1st

Also the cover.. like sis please 🔥🔥🔥🔥

This book is a must read of any fans of the Bewitched series. As a prequel it is alway hard to tell a story that we the readers already know the ending to. Going into this book I already had so many thoughts and feelings about Memnon and Roxilana relationship. I was so pleased with how much death and understanding to their tragic love story. I could not put this book down.

Thank you to Netgalley, Laura Thalassa and sourcebook for this ARC.

The long awaited prequel to Roxi and Memnons story was everything I had hoped it would be. After being completed ‘Bewitched’ by book 1 and 2 of this series I was beyond thrilled to find out we get this couples origin story. The beginning of their century long love story. It was enchantingly romantic, it was bloodthirsty in plot, and accept bittersweet. To fall so deeply in love with these two knowing the fate that awaited them at the end.

I don’t think I’ve ever been fully engrossed in a story and knowing exactly how it ends before I start. But this just adds more depth and layer to an already favorite romantasy of mine. Roxi and Memnons love overcame vast space between them, years of distances, battles and betrayals. I am so excited for book 3 now that I’ve fallen deeper in love with them and just hoping after everything they’ve endured they finally get their happily ever after.


I love the imagery in this writing. I felt as if I had transported time back in the days of Roxi and Memnon, imagining an ancient roman civilization and smelling the affects of battle along with them.

Love the bewtiched series. This is the prequel to the series... Roxilana can hear a voice in her head. Memnon claims that he's her soulmate and they both have magic... He takes her to his homeland but things are complicated there...

Love the sexy scenes and angst. It's tragic but so romantic... Terrific characters and terrific romance... So nice to read more about Roxilana and Menon even if we already how the story will end...

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

1.5/5 rounded up because this had so much potential but then it got groom-y.

I mean, I love a good background, a good expansion on a world, but this was not for me.

I had started getting the ick when I read Bespelled (book two in this series) but I was really hoping that this would help make that ick go away. Silly me, everyone knows once you get the ick, you're stuck with it.

Memnon and the bond thing was getting really weird and uncomfortable in a crossing boundaries sort of way for me, and this book made me realize that I'm not looking too into things. That was really there and was a valid thing to get creeped out by.

And the reasoning? The thing that happened in this book that made me really grossed out? Grooming. Yeah, I get that they happened to meet when she was a LITERAL child, but still...she was a LITERAL child...that he then had sexual feeling for. It's a big ole no from me dawg.

And the bummer about that is that this could've been such a good background that could've filled out so much for this whole large-scale story, but no. It went creepy. Sorry, but I really cannot deal with that. That is my line, any sort of consent boundary crossing is an immediate no in any capacity for me.

I hate that I'm giving this a bad review because I have loved so many other books from Laura Thalassa. I guess this series just isn't for me (except book one, loved book one).

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Absolute perfection. It kills me to have to wait so long for the third book. It’s been a long time since a story and its characters gripped me so tightly.

"The Curse That Binds (Deluxe Edition)" by Laura Thalassa is an absolutely captivating read, filled with rich world-building and emotionally complex characters that kept me hooked from start to finish. Having enjoyed Thalassa's previous works, I was thrilled to find her signature blend of dark romance and gripping storytelling elevated even further in this edition. A definite 5-star triumph that showcases her talent brilliantly!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.. I have many words but they may not be enough. Another wonderful time I could spend with Laura Thalassa's stories. After the Four Horsemen, I jumped to Bewitched and Bespelled, and now this installment was amazing. Her writing has improved and was amazing at the beginning. The story was full of energy and electric. No info dumps, no dragging.
Not a word more, not a word less...

The Curse that Binds by Laura Thalassa, published by Sourcebooks, Bloom Books, is book three in the Bewitched Series.
A prequel that I greatly enjoyed reading.
2000 years before Selene there was Roxilana. She hears Menin's voice in her head and soon her power awakens.
A complex, complicated third book with timeline set before the first story, an unputdownable read that gives all the feels, derserves all the stars.

If only I could give it more stars! Rarely do I find books that make me drop everything to devour it. This book is perfection. I loved Bewitched and Bespelled and it was a visceral treat to read Memnon and Roxilana’s origin story and how their fate came to be. Knowing how it all ends, their friendship, their intimacy, the world building, the side characters - it all had me gripped with a sense of foreboding. I love it when stories are this immersive. This is fast becoming one of my all time favorites series!

I’m glad the author decided to make this a full-length novel. I would have gladly read a 1000 more pages set in this world. I’m so grateful to Bloom and Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read this early. And I’m now a bit sad - I can’t wait for the next in the series!

I absolutely adore Laura Thalassa and everything she writes. I was so privileged to receive the ARC for the Bewitched series! The book is absolute master pieces that is amazingly action but will still punch you right in the feels!

I see Laura Thalassa’s name and I read! No questions asked, so yeah sign me up!

I received a free copy of The Curse that Binds by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

NO SPOILERS!

I read and loved Bewitched and I was in the middle of the second book Bespelled when I got this ARC. It’s a prequel to this story so I dropped everything to read it.

No you don’t need to read Bewitched and Bespelled to understand this book.

Roxilana is hearing voices and thinks she’s going mad but the voice is real and it’s a young boy named Memnon. He tells her they are soul mates with magic abilities. He arrives on her doorstep claiming she’s his wife and takes her to his homeland.

This book definitely has War by Laura Thalassa vibes. There’s tribes, camps, warriors and battles. I loved War so this book was right up my alley. The ending was the perfect bookend to Bewitched and made me want to read that book all over again. I enjoyed seeing Roxi and Memnon’s past life and how everything unfolded in more detail.

The story was a bit too long in places and some scenes could have been cut, but I’m okay with it.

Laura Thalassa weaves beauty and magic in all her books. Her characters are fleshed out and her world building is insane. I can’t praise this book enough.

It was enlightening to learn more about why everyone is as damaged as they are, especially Memnon's brutality, but after a while it felt a bit repetitive. I really wanted to love this but wound up skimming from about 40% to the end. I think I would have enjoyed it more as a novella. Still a recommended read for fans of the series, and I will happily pre-order the next when it's available.

What an absolutely beautiful, tragic love story. While it’s true that if you’ve read Bewitched and Bespelled, you know how this chapter in their story ends, you don’t REALLY know until you get through The Curse That Binds. (And I see you there, Laura, at the very end 👀)
Getting to experience Roxi and Memnon from young friends to eventually lovers helped add so much depth to their characters and story and created a visceral understanding of why Memnon is the way he is.
Whether you read this first or third, it more than deserves its place in the series and the level of detail and research Laura put into this book really shines through and will delight any fellow history lovers.

If I could give this book 10 stars, I would. The Curse that Binds was absolute perfection. It's tragic and bittersweet and so so beautiful. I seriously can't recommend it enough, whether you've read the Bewitched series or not. This prequel story is viscerally moving and heartbreaking and the most beautiful and tragic love story I've read in a long time. I'm so very glad it isn't the end of Memnon & Roxilana, more like their beginning, still my heart hurts and I'm going to go reread Bewitched and Bespelled now. And when I tell you the research that went into this book is insane, it really is. You can tell Laura poured her entire self into it. Anyway, please go read it when it releases. Even if you're new to the series. I promise, it's worth it.

What a joy it was to read Memnon & Roxilana’s story! We know about Selene in Bewitched & Bespelled, but we truly got to know the real her in this book. There is a certain villian in Bespelled that we caught a glimpse of, and it was interesting to learn this villains motives in The Curse That Binds.

I feel Laura really put in the effort of detailing the brutal ways of the Roman Empire. You learn more of the Samaritan culture as well.

Everything was detailed perfectly. And I really enjoyed the intimacy between Memnon & Roxilana.