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Bound By Love

Review 17
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Title: Bound by Love
Author: T.A. Chase
Publisher: http://www.samhainpublishing.com
Genre: Contemporary, BDSM, GLBT (M/M)
Length: novella
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

THE BLURB

Tyler Newsome is heading home to the Lazy N, tired of the rodeo and tired of always being his charismatic twin’s shadow. It’s time he gets a life of his own—and maybe the man he’s always dreamed of, too. Ren Alston’s always been attracted to Tyler, but never made a move because of his own mental and emotional baggage. But after years spent taming his demons and gaining control in every aspect of his life, Ren sees the younger man’s return as a sign of good things to come.

But first, they have to deal with Tyler’s twin, past indiscretions and Ren’s brothers. Will these cowboys manage to build a strong foundation of trust and love? Or will their problems be too much for them?

THE REVIEW

Tyler had always been there for his twin JT but this time he decided that being with the rodeo, which JT loved, was not the life for him so he said goodbye and left for the family ranch to help his Dad, much to JT’s disgust. One reason he was anxious to go home was to see Ren Alston who raised quarter horses and with whom he had been in love for a long time. He had never revealed his feelings to Ren since he had no idea whether they would be welcomed, although he knew Ren was gay because JT had had a fling with him after Tyler confessed his love for the older man. He had always felt inferior to his brother and thought that there was no way Ren would see him other than as a substitute for his more flamboyant twin.

When Tyler arrived later that night, to his surprise Ren, who had been helping his Dad with the horses, had waited up for him having found out that he was coming back home for good. Just when their reunion seemed to be going swimmingly Ren had to leave to help his brother Keith who was finding it difficult to cope with post traumatic stress after being in Iraq. Ren and his other brother Isiah also had problems dealing with PTSD after returning from Bosnia and Afghanistan respectively and it seemed that Ren’s family priorities might trump his being with Tyler.

But several days later Ren and Tyler made a date for the Newsome BBQ and everything was falling into place as they re-discovered each other and love was very much in the air. The relationship accelerated to the point where Ren wanted something more permanent, and Tyler realized he was loved and refused to give in to JT’s request to return to the rodeo to his chagrin, because he always felt that he had first call on his twin.

Bound by Love is really well done. The plot moved along quickly and the protags were well defined – both men had personal issues that affected their relationship – Tyler’s feeling of inadequacy and Ren’s concern that he was too old for Tyler as well as his PTSD. The author did an excellent job on the various brothers’ characters and most of the conflict in the story was external since Ren and Tyler got on like a house on fire. There were some BDSM elements but T.A.Chase ensured that they did not overwhelm the storyline, and I learned something about different horse breeds which was imparted in an easy going style. The sex was incredibly hot which is a trademark of this author, but it was never gratuitous and always moved the story along.

This is another excellent story from the imagination of T.A.Chase and I was engaged from the time I started reading and it held my interest throughout. I highly recommend Bound by Love as a terrific love story with enough complexity to keep the reader interested enough not to want to put it down until the end.

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17 comments

  • I’ll definitely be adding this one to my e-library. I love the books I’ve read by T.A.

    Thanks for another great review.

  • Hi Lily
    T.A. packed a lot of story into a novella. I love his work an I’m pleased that he’s writing another sports oriented story. Here Be Dragons is one of my favourites as well as his “Home” series.

  • I like this author and I like cowboys (bet you didn’t know that! lol).

    I do have a couple of reservations though. Think you can clear ’em up?

    I’m always wary of books that center on ex-military men with PTSD. Is this book really angsty? Is the war stuff overblown and melodramatic, or is it pretty realistic?

  • I’m with Lily. I love the work of this author and will be buying this one as soon as it comes out.

    For me it’s the way that TA develops his characters – finding just the ‘right’ balance between their vulnerabilities and their strengths, which engages me as a reader each and every time.

    Terrific review, Wave.

  • Lol. And here I thought JenB would be all over ths book if she hadn’t read it yet :). (The two of you read so many more books than I do!!) I’ve never read an M/m book that dealt with PTSD or military men so far, so I have nothing against it, but I have another T.A. Chase book on my wish list (no going home, I think), so I’ll probably read that one before trying something else by this author.

  • Jen
    To answer your question about the amount of angst – I certainly didn’t find it overblown. The PSTD mostly affected the youngest brother Keith – I can’t say more without giving away too much of the plot but I thought that the way Ren handled his stress was unique. The middle brother was a relatively minor character in the book. However the PTSD was definitely a part of the plot together with the BDSM.

    I thought it was a fun book especially with all the horses and Tyler’s and JT’s Dad was kinda cool!

  • Kris
    You’re correct about this author – TA is a terrific writer and his characters are always vulnerable. He uses the right touch to bring out their humanity and his plots keep me engaged. I really love his books b/c of the complexity of the characters.

  • Mary
    You’ll like this author’s books – I read No Going Home when it was released in 2006 and I liked it a lot. Since then I’ve read at least 50% of his books and haven’t been disappointed. I really love his “Love of Sports” series and can’t wait for the newest book to be released early next year – the cover is on the top of the sidebar.

  • I just bought and read Out of Bounds by this author on the weekend. I really enjoyed it. (Is the twins theme pretty common with the author because Out of Bounds had gay twins as well?) I’ll definitely check this one out as I enjoyed the writing style.

  • Hi Tam
    I read Out of Bounds a year ago and I believe that this is only the second book of his that I’ve read starring twins. However, in February T.A. will be releasing High Line, the second book in the “Love of Sports” series starring Garrett the other twin from Out of Bounds. His Here Be Dragons and his “Home” series – are all among my favourites!

  • Thanks so much for the wonderful review. I’m thrilled you enjoyed Bound by Love. 🙂

    And for all of you who have commented…thank you as well. It makes it all worth it to hear that you’ve enjoyed my stories so far.

    JenB,

    I hope..if you read BbL..you don’t think the PTSD is too angsty. Ren has dealt with his for the most part. It’s the youngest brother, Keith, who is having the biggest amount of trouble.

    Thank you again. 🙂

  • I just went to buy it and realized it’s not out ’til tomorrow! Waaaaahhhh!!!

    TA – I don’t mind angst in some stories, but the military PTSD thing is hard ’cause it feels too much like real life. I have a good friend overseas on a scary mission and the whole thing kinda freaks me out at the moment. So it’s not a “bad writing” thing…just a personal sensitivity. Does that make sense? 🙂

    I’m still going to read this. I can’t resist cowboys.

  • JenB,

    I totally understand about being too realistic when you have someone facing the same situation. One of my readers-who read it before I sent it to my editor-has someone overseas as well and it didn’t freak her out. I hope it doesn’t do that to you. 🙂

  • Hi T.A.
    I really enjoyed BbL and my review reflected my opinion of the story. As I mentioned to Lily, you packed a lot of story into a novella – normally I only expect to see so many converging issues in a novel.

  • Hmmm, nice cover for the next book. Racing, huh? I like racing. I’ll check out that Love of sports series. 🙂

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