Rating: 4.25 stars
Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Things are gong well for Deputy US Marshal Miro Jones and his parter at home and at work, Ian Doyle. They have recently gotten married and now that Ian has left the military, they get to spend a lot more time together at home. They have close friends and their work colleagues have become almost like family to the men.
Unfortunately, changes at work shake things up for the guys. Miro and Ian love being partners and assumed that now that Ian is home for good, they would be together permanently. But changes in the organization have the men being separated in jobs that maximize their strengths. While Miro is excited for the new challenges, Ian is worried about Miro’s well being in his new job. And both men are concerned that no longer being partners may affect things between them. On top of that, someone from Miro’s past once again returns to his life, throwing things off kilter again. But Miro and Ian have built a strong relationship and a great support group. If they are able to stick together and believe in their connection, they can weather any challenges.
Twisted and Tied is the final book in Mary Calmes’ Marshals series and it ties things up nicely for Miro and Ian. I have been enjoying following along with these guys as they went from friends and work partners to lovers. There is an intensity to their relationship, a sense of passion and love that really comes through the stories. Once again we can really see here how much these men care for and depend on one another. Yes, they argue at times, and Ian can be a little heavy handed. But we never have any doubt how much these men love each other and it is true here as well. I think the challenges Calmes puts before the men in this book work well. Sometimes in an ongoing series with the same couple, things seem to get shaken up just to create a plot conflict. But here, the issues that the guys deal with at work seem to flow very naturally out of the series as a whole and what we know about both men. So I think it works well and I liked seeing how the men have grown over the books to fit into these new positions.
There isn’t really a main suspense plot here, though as noted a certain someone from Miro’s past makes another appearance. I think that thread ties up nicely and not in a way I was expecting, actually. We also spend some time with Miro’s four girlfriends, and while I felt this distracted a bit at the end of the book and I would have rather had it earlier, I did think it was nice to see the bonds Miro and Ian have formed here.
Overall, I think this is a nice wrap up for the series and Calmes pulls things together well for the last book. I am excited it looks like there might be a spin off or two, so I am looking forward to that as well. If you are a Mary Calmes fan, or just like some nice friends to lovers with a law enforcement bent, this series is definitely worth checking out.
Buy Links: Instafreebie
Together Tied is a freebie Valentine’s Day short that fits as book 3.5 in the Marshals series, just before Twisted and Tied. It actually ties together with not just this series, but also features Jory, Sam, and Duncan from the Matter of Time series, as well as appearances by Nate and Dreo from Acrobat. The story is focused on two areas. First, the guys are on a job doing protection detail at a benefit and Miro learns more about the missing gun that is the source of the fight with his old partner in Tied Up in Knots and connects with Acrobat. I’ll admit that while I read Acrobat, I totally missed the connection to that story when reading Tied Up in Knots. Like totally. But if you have read both books and you are more on top of things than me, this short gives a little more insight here. And if not, we still get to see a little more about how Miro feels about his boss, Sam.
The second part of the book takes place in an awkward Valentine’s Day dinner between Sam, Jory, Miro, and Ian. I love that Sam has crossed over into this series because we get to see the side of him as Sam the boss, which is so different from the Sam we know from his relationship with Jory in Matter of Time. So it was fun here to see Sam in both roles, as well as Miro and Ian’s mortification at eating dinner with their boss, who they respect but also kind of fear. And there is an event here that happens that is mentioned in Twisted and Tied, but we don’t see on page there, so again this gives some illumination that you don’t get in the main series.
So this is a bit of fun that pulls together a lot of books in Calmes’ shared world, as well as a chance to see the love these couples share.
