Wednesday 2 September 2015

Blog Tour & Review ~ Tied Together by ZB Heller



Book Description:

Ryan Keller had it all when he came out in high school; accepting parents, friends and his own credit line for J. Crew. His cocky attitude and good looks got him what he wanted, including samples off the man meat buffet. Then he found his favorite dessert, Brandon. But Brandon wasn’t sending out a rainbow vibe so Ryan was sent to the land that crushes dread, the friend zone.

Brandon Ford was buried so deep down in the closet that clothes from the seventies had a better chance of coming out. His anxieties of acting on his desires could keep a therapist entertained for hours. Even though he did his best to build his emotions out of bricks, it was no use against Ryan’s charms.

Follow Ryan and Brandon’s relationship from high school, to college and beyond to find out if they will be Tied Together.

Warning: No Anaconda Turtles have been harmed in the making of this book.
Buy Links:


Our Review:

Reviewed by Donna ~ 3.5 stars
***ARC Received for an honest review***


“How was it for you? Thanks for the spooge facial; my skin feels so renewed.”

This was a real fun yet emotional and angsty M/M read. I am a sucker for M/M, for some reason I can get really emotionally invested in these stories and this one was no different. While the humour made light of some of the issues it was needed to break the tension and the humour literally was Ryan’s form of emotional defence, he was hilarious as were his angel and devil that sat firmly on his shoulders.


“Sugar, spice and all things nice. If you have a schlong, you belong. If you have a cooch, you can scoot along.”


Ryan was the epitome of the guy that every girl wanted to date, he was hot, he was well off and he was incredibly popular, he was cocky, self assured and just a general Mr Nice Guy, shame that he didn’t bat for their team. He was always confident in his sexuality and while his coming out didn’t quite go to plan he had the most accepting parents; he was lucky, extremely lucky. He had a great emotional support system and a fantastic family.

Brandon was the total opposite, he was the boy from the other side of the track, he was dirt poor, lived in a trailer and had parents that just saw him as a mistake. His mum did work but didn’t care for Brandon at all and his dad was an out of work drunk that took all his frustrations out on him both emotionally and physically. He really did have a crap life; he was bullied at home and at school. He kept his nose stuck in his books, he was adamant that he was going to make something of himself and get the hell out of there, and he couldn’t wait.


“Stress is oozing off you like jizz running down a guy’s leg. Go get your pickle tickled, burp your worm, and crank the shank…”


Ryan and Brandon meet when Brandon is being bullied and Ryan literally becomes his knight in shining armour and from there a friendship was born. Ryan felt the gay vibes from Brandon, but Brandon was firmly in the closet, not even really admitting to himself his true feelings, he was scared too, his dad had been calling him all the “gay” names under the sun and he didn’t want to draw anymore attention to himself, he needed to stay alive to get out.

I felt everything between these two. The friendship, the conflict of emotions and the constant push and pull of affections. Brandon really was confused and conflicted, he knew what his heart wanted but his head was not on the same page, until it was, then it wasn’t.

“This is not a mistake, Ryan. I’ve wanted this for a long time. I just didn’t know how or when. I don’t want to be scared anymore. You make me want to be brave.”


This does have its fair share of angst and yes I did have a few tears while reading, my heart broke multiple times for these two as you could really tell that these two were meant to be together. There are elements of our trusty favourite “mis-communication” but understandable none the less and really brings this story together.

Sometimes you just meet someone at the wrong time and your time will come and that is definitely the case for these two, being older and wiser and more mature definitely makes a difference and I loved the new “Brandon,” the banter between these two was fantastic and the change in Brandon makes for some smoking hot scenes.

I loved ZB Heller’s writing style, her wit flowed throughout and I felt that she really nailed the male POV. My only niggle was this needed a proofread. There were a lot of errors and while this was an ARC, I have since looked at the final copy and there are still quite a few in there. While a few I can let slide when it is a fair amount I have to bring it up. This would have been a solid 4 star had it not been for that element.

“So that’s it, then. We’re tied together.”

This is my first read by ZB Heller and it won’t be my last.


No comments:

Post a Comment