All Kinds of Tied Down by Mary Calmes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I admit to being on the slow side getting around to jumping on this bandwagon but boy am I on it now. Wow. This was a phenomenal read!

So where do I begin this review? I know, I'll start with the comparison I made to the bff to get her to try the series - This book is like the original Lethal Weapon movie with all the crazy, none of the suicidal and some HAWT m/m loving. Deputy US Marshals Miro Jones and Ian Doyle have been partners for the last three years. When newly minted Marshal Jones joined the Chicago branch of the US Marshals office he was the envy of the branch - he'd been partnered with 'Captain America' himself, Ian Doyle, former (still in the reserves) Green Beret. Doyle was bad _ass_. Soon, however, people stopped being jealous and started wincing at the number of injuries that Miro was collecting as Doyle's partner - because Doyle did nothing by the book and was a little - well - crazy.

Not that Miro minded in the least, because he trusted Ian with his life. Trouble was, somewhere along the line Miro's partner had gone and wormed his way into M's heart - he was gonzo for his super straight, dating a really great woman until they busted her brother and she broke up with Ian, partner. So Miro consigned himself to being the awesome bestie that he was as well as the guy who always had Ian's back - except when Ian got the call to deploy.

It was during one such deployment that everything went fubar and everything changed. Oddly enough it wasn't Ian who'd been hurt - Miro ended up shot twice and in hospital due to blood loss while Ian came home without injury but not unscathed. Hearing that Miro had been seriously injured while he wasn't around to protect his partner shook something loose in Ian and Miro finally saw the other man's behavior for what it was. Want. Desire. And most of all, need, need to be reassured, to give up control, to know that Miro was there, always there, part of him.

Now they just had to deal with people constantly trying to kill them because -hello, marshals - and figure out how to balance their personal and work live and then everything would be perfect. Oh yeah, did I mention the seriously crazy creepy 'Prince Charming serial killer' sociopath who was obsessed with Miro? All in a day's work for the US Marshals. Unh hunh.

I loved this book from start to finish. Miro was a thoroughly likeable and _fun_ character. Ian was sexy and taciturn with a heart that belongs to Miro. Miro and Ian's coworkers are fully formed and you became invested in their friendships. If I had one complaint, it was Miro's coven - his 4 female besties - were super women and just a little too perfect, but hey, maybe I'm just jelly ;-) The writing is clean, it conveyed the story perfectly with no excess verbiage and unnecessary exposition. The story was fast paced and kept interest. The partnership and then relationship between Miro and Ian was thought out, logical in it's progression, and lovely to read.

I'm already 85% through book 2 and books 3 and 4 are purchased and waiting for me. Good job Mary Calmes. Good effing job.


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