All Kinds of Tied Down

https://optimumm.blog/2019/12/21/review-of-all-kinds-of-tied-down-by-mary-calmes-audiobook/

Narration: Tristan James…yummy voice! I loved his voice in this so much that I picked up a couple more books read by him. I even added a few FM to my wish list on audible. The cadence was perfect and he kept the tempo and emphasis where it was called for. I hadn’t read this series before listening, but that made no difference to understanding what was going on, even though I was at my day job. Tristan is definitely added to my short-list of must-listen-to.

Story: This is the first book by Mary Calmes in this series. Its an older series, but I’ve just found this author recently, and I’m working through her library. I WILL be going back for the Matter of Time series now that I’ve gotten a little look-see at Sam Kage.

The story starts with the two MCs partnered for three years. Miro was brought up in foster care as an orphan who found his chosen family in college. It’s a collage of women who have moved all over the US but will drop anything for any of them in the group.

Miro is the calm one of their partnership in the Marshals, and Ian is the opposite of that. He’s rash and crazy. He also owns a werewolf that his estranged dad dog-sits for. He’s also…straight?! Ian is sort-of an ex-special forces guy, but he still gets called for service way more than he should.

This book is the slow-burn that I love to read. It’s the build of the romance that we’ll see in the future books, because yeah, I had to listen to them all! Even though the reader gets the idea that Ian isn’t all that straight, Mary takes her time getting there and having us fall in love with the characters as we go. So by the time we get there, we’re cheering and yelling at the ceiling!

The secondary characters are wonderful, even the ones we don’t like.

The story is in Miro’s POV throughout the book. And it’s not just focused on the romance, which was awesome. There’s a plot and there are twists here. Ian is actually called away for a while, so we get more personal growth from Miro. We meet Cabot and Drake, the cuties who need help and become part of their family.

I looooooooooved this book. Ian and Miro are awesome.
It's book 1 of the series, and it put all that we need to know. The characters, the background and the beginning of their journey.
Miro and Ian are US Marshall, they are partners and best friend. If Miro is gay, Ian is straight. Miro is in love with Ian for years but too scared to act on it, too scared to lose him, until Miro realized that maybe Ian can feel the same for him.
I adooooooored this book, it was a super good book, very well written.
The psyche of the characters is well developed and I totally fell in love with both of them. It's a must read that I Highly recommend. I'd almost finished Chapter 2 that I was buying the other books of the series.

This is one of my favorite Mary Calmes books (oh, who am I kidding, almost all of her books are my "favorites"!) and I just love the relationship between Miro and Ian. It's a bit of a slow burn - but the payoff for that is huge.

Don't let the title fool you - there is no BDSM in this. There is some dominance and submission, without it actually being D/s, and it is H.O.T. (If you enjoy MC's alpha male characters and the sexy times that come with - that's what's happening here.)

There's lots of action, which is really fun to read (or listen to).

-- AUDIOBOOK --
Narrator Tristan James is AWESOME. I would buy almost anything read by Tristan James. I love this man's voice. This is one of those stories that gets better every time I read or listen to it!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

I think I bought this series in early 2016 after I finished reading A Matter of Time. I was hesitant to start them right away because I wanted to savor Sam and Jory for a while and then I never quite found the time to go back and read them. But I am kicking myself so hard right now. I should never have waited to read this book. I am thoroughly convinced that Mary Calmes could write the alphabet over and over again and I'd read it. I adore her and her characters.

I knew I was done by the end of the first page. I was already sucked deep into this story and read the most of it this afternoon, finishing it right after dinner. Miro and Ian were amazing. I had so much fun reading about them. I wanted to jump inside and live right alongside them (minus the shooting of course). They were so entertaining. Miro's infatuation with Ian plus Ian's need to be close to Miro - there were so many times I just shook my head and thought "Ian has it so bad for him."

This book was such a fun ride. You can bet that I'll be reading the rest of this series pretty damn quick!

Thrilling, fast paced series. This is the book that starts it all!

Highly recommend!!