Tied Together

De: Z.B. Heller

Narrado por: Derrick McClain

Ryan Keller has it all: a great supportive family, friends, and no limit to his self-confidence. Coming out of the closet was not as traumatic as he would have thought. Navigating through life isn't easy for any man, let alone a gay one. Rest assured that Ryan has it handled.

Brandon Ford comes from the wrong side of the tracks. With a dark past, he doesn't have much going for him, no money, no friends, definitely no charisma, and his family makes people on Jerry Springer look like total winners. Life can't be worse - until it becomes unbearable.

When Ryan helps Brandon out of a bad situation, chemistry sparks between them. Only Brandon has one problem: he's hiding in the closet with no way of finding his way out.

After years apart, Ryan runs into Brandon. This spells emotional turmoil for both Ryan and Brandon. Will years of resentment and bad feelings pull them apart or force them to work on their relationship so they can end up Tied Together?

©2015 Z.B. Heller (P)2017 Z.B. Heller

Fantastic Narrator

Which character – as performed by Derrick McClain – was your favorite?

I enjoyed all Derrick's characters. He did a fantastic job with changing the MCs voices especially. I had no problem whatsoever knowing who was saying what. And whose POV we were currently listening to.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this book. Being in Ryan's head was a lot of fun even though he had a lot of growing up to do. What he did to Brandon was horrible and my heart broke along with Brandon's. I don't blame Brandon for leaving and never looking back. I just wish there wasn't such a time lapse from that scene to their reunion 12 years later. I'll definitely be reading the sequel.

**This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast**

started off good...

I really enjoyed the first part of the story, there was even humor in it, and I found myself laughing at some parts.
From there, it kind of lost luster. like the story was forced.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Friends first!

Where does Tied Together rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Probably somewhere in the middle.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Tied Together?

When Ryan finds Brandon after being apart.

What about Derrick McClain’s performance did you like?

I like how he brought each character to life. Especially Moxie.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed at times, but i did not cry. It was a fairly light book that dealt with serious issues. The issues were handled well and I believe the author did a great job describing how different lives can be.

Any additional comments?

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Epic Love Rollercoaster

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher. That said, I'm not obliged to endorse the book, though I do, nor am I forbidden from panning it, which I don't. Overall, it's fairly strong and it was worth my time, though it has flaws.

"Tied Together" is the epic of love between two young men, Ryan Keller and Brandon Ford. It starts as first love but steadies as each young man discovers the other is the love of his life. It's not a smooth story. If it were, the book wouldn't be span 15 years and be divided into parts with years between.

The troubles are inevitable. The two characters are from families as opposite as imaginable. Ryan's home is accepting and supportive when he comes out as gay; Brandon's is so violent and full of homophobia that he can't come to terms with his sexuality, much less come out.

We're introduced to the families in the first few chapters where Heller sketches Ryan's family situation and poses it against a typical evening in Brandon's family.

The book is told in the first person, alternating between first-person Ryan and first-person Brandon, divided by chapters. This way, we get a feel for the two worlds and the two young men.

The first chapter, told as Ryan, begins with his father walking in on his son's first sexual encounter, followed by a very anticlimactic coming out scene. Brandon's chapter ends with him being beaten for an imagined slight by his drunk, good-for-nothing father. The contrasts are so stark that it felt I was seeing caricatures rather than characters. (Later on, other characters feel like caricatures, too. But they do their jobs, and the scenes progress as they need to. )

When Ryan and Brandon meet and fall for each other, when they misunderstand and separate and reunite again and again, the problems originate in the clash of their two different worlds. It's quite the roller coaster with slow, steady hauls up and sudden, steep plunges down.

Both the internal and external dialogue is snappy, funny and well-written, and the narrator does a good job with it. Ryan, the happy gay one, gets more of the fun dialogue. His conversations with the good and bad angels in his head, Brad Pitt and Steve Buscemi, are a fun touch; they can provide color commentary even if they only sometimes provide Ryan with useful insights into his own behavior. Brandon's inner dialogue is darker and more fearful, as we might well guess.

I'll declare the story well-told because I was rooting for both the young men, feeling their gains and their losses, and I was annoyed at their defects and errors, and proud of their growth. I liked them and wanted to see them happy and together.

I'll acknowledge occasional continuity problems, but they don't detract much from the story. And I'll say I thought that the snappy, funny dialog sounded pretty much the same from too many of the characters; the lines spoken hadn't been well fit to the speaker. And, as I said earlier, some characters are simply too stereotypical to be more than props illustrating points.

I'll finish by noting that in later chapters there are a lot of (somewhat long) male-to-male sex scenes. This may serve as a warning to some potential readers and a recommendation to others.

Good story, awful reading

I really enjoyed the story. Definitely a good juxtaposition of one guy having an easy time of it coming out while the other is in literal danger and terrified of anyone knowing his secret. My only issue is with the narration. I absolutely cannot stand this reader. every character comes out sounding super campy like an 80's movie stereotype of a gay man, and he ends EVERY FRICKIN WORD with a "uh" or what I call an 'up breath' like a bad TV preacher. This is my third book with him as narrator and I'll have to pay closer attention in the future and not choose books that feature him. His reading is like a cheese grater on my eardrums and makes me want to stab myself in the ear canal until deaf.