Shoestring Theory

The kingdom of Farsala has come to rot and ruin at the start of Costa’s fun debut romantasy novel. Depressed mage Cyril Laverre, having fled the ailing king Eufrates’s court and abandoned his responsibility to the dying kingdom, has been living in a cottage by the sea for years. He catches fish for himself and his cat familiar, Shoestring, and ekes out a meager existence. When Shoestring dies, Cyril knows his own time will soon be up, spurring him to one last desperate attempt to make good. Hoping to change the present by influencing the past, he casts a spell that sends him back in time to before Eufrates took the throne—when Euphrates’s sister, Tigris, reigned and Eufrates was still just Cyril’s paramour. The men are at the very beginning of their courtship, but the magical rings that eventually will bind them in marriage have followed Cyril through time, connecting the lovers through magic. As Cyril navigates his life as it was and attempts to fix what went wrong, tragedy looms on the horizon—along with an enemy he didn’t expect. After a somewhat rocky start, Costa strikes a delicate balance of romance and fantasy. Fans of Travis Baldree or TJ Klune will find much to enjoy. Agent: Christabel McKinley, David Higham Assoc. (Oct.)