An ancient myth. A love that defies time. A deadly obsession.

These are the core themes at the forefront of my upcoming contemporary romantasy novel. They capture the essence of my narrative. The story is one of fated mates and magical realism wrapped in sacred lore.

Threads of Red is deeply rooted in the Red String of Fate myth—the supernatural belief that the gods bind certain souls together by an unbreakable, invisible thread. The red thread pulls the characters together across lifetimes.

Nothing will prevent two souls from finding each other—not time, distance, age, or circumstance. When the stars align and fate decrees that two invisibly bonded souls must cross paths, the universe will remove obstacles and set in motion a string of events unstoppable by any mortal

Though they have lived many lives together, in this story, Ellie Tanner and Ezekiel Larson are initially unaware of their magical and powerful bond or past lives. They are from different worlds. She leads an ordinary life with a small social circle, while he is a famous A-list celebrity living under the constant scrutiny of clicking cameras, movie premieres, and women throwing themselves at him.

How will they ever meet? Women like Ellie don’t just stumble into relationships with Hollywood superstars who are guarded by security and an entourage. Add in an age gap — she’s older; a massive distance — he lives in California, she lives in New York; and terrible timing — she’s married, and he’s in a relationship with a pop singer — and their meeting in this life seems impossible.

When writing a book with characters who are fated mates, the author must write engaging scenes that lead the couple to their inevitable intersection. It must be plausible so readers will get on board and believe it, but it must also be a strong enough connection that readers will want to invest in the journey from page one until the very end.

I chose a first encounter that was universally aligned. It portrays a casual yet intimate rendezvous planned by destiny and Ellie’s psychic friend. Though Ezekiel and Ellie are an unlikely pairing based on the information given above, I felt their union and the story I chronicled would be epic if I built on my core themes correctly and added layers of past hidden trauma, the allure of fame, the predatory Hollywood underbelly, and the magic of the red thread.

But what happens when that fated relationship of two halves that make the whole is tested by obsession? Enter the fanatical and consumed stalker who hangs onto the couple’s red thread by hijacking a frayed string that doesn’t belong to her. The force with which she exacts her will and the playbook she chose years before add tension and strain to both the relationship and the story.

These are the exact questions I set out to answer in my debut novel. If this premise and scorching spicy romance sounds intriguing to you, stand by for the 2026 release date.