TEST
Okay, let’s all be honest with each other. If Megan Erickson’s name is on a book it will be good. She is excellent at bringing together sexy and silly, and Tied to Trouble is no different. Chad and Owen’s romance is fiery, nerdy, steamy, and sweet all at once.
In this third installment of the Gamers series, we are reunited with Chad Lake, the wise-cracking brother of Marley from Changing His Game. Chad was introduced simply as Marley’s gay brother and readers demanded he get his own story. This book is, as I understand it, Entangled Brazen’s first male/male romance. Erickson is an excellent choice to bring m/m to the Brazen imprint, as she is a popular and well-established author of m/m romance.
Free-spirited Chad meets uptight Owen at his sister’s work party. Chad shows up for the free food but he can’t help ruffling Owen a little when there’s an instant attraction between the seemingly opposite men. Owen may be interested in Chad, but he doesn’t enjoy having anyone shake him up, and the two do not get off to a good start. They’re thrown together again when Marley’s boyfriend asks them to help plan a big surprise proposal. Sparks fly, there’s sex in public places, and suddenly Chad and Owen cannot get enough of each other.
Since this is from Brazen, the high sexuality level is to be expected. However, I felt like Chad and Owen did more pouncing on each other than I’m used to from Erickson’s other characters. There was chemistry between them, but I wanted to see it teased out a bit more before they actually took it all the way. I could see Chad’s character as being more reckless about sex, but I felt like Owen would have been somewhat more reluctant and made him wait. As a result, I wasn’t able to get as emotionally invested in the characters as I normally like. There needs to be some drawing out of the sexual tension before the big release (pun intended) where I yearn for the characters to finally do the deed. That just didn’t happen with these two.
Perhaps it was just the short length of the book, but I felt as though I barely got to know the couple before they were getting down to business. That said, Tied to Trouble is a fun and wholly readable story. Chad and Owen were interesting enough that I wanted to read about them, even if I wasn’t quite emotionally invested in their happily ever after. Maybe I’m just used to Erickson breaking my heart like in her In Focus series – but I would still recommend this book to anyone who wants something light and quick to read that has plenty of heat.
Grade: B-
Book Type: Queer Romance
Sensuality: Burning
Review Date: 28/04/16
Publication Date: 2016/01
Haley K is a librarian-of-all-trades, book reviewer, writer, perpetual student, as well as a pretty crafty chick. She lives in Texas with too many pets and too little sleep.
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.