Tied up in Knots

Marshals, Book 3

By: Mary Calmes

Narrated by: Tristan James

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

Miro Jones is living the life; he's got his exciting, fulfilling job as a US deputy marshal, his gorgeous Greystone in suburban Chicago, his beloved adopted family, and most importantly, the man who captured his heart, Ian Doyle. Problem is, Ian isn't just his partner at work - Ian's a soldier through and through. That commitment takes him away from Miro, unexpectedly and often, and it's casting a shadow over what could be everything Miro could ever dream of.

Work isn't the same without Ian. Home isn't the same, either, and Miro's having to face his fears alone...how to keep it together at the office, how to survive looming threats from the past, and worst of all, how to keep living without Ian's rock-solid presence at his side. His life is tied up in knots, but what if unknotting them requires something more permanent? What would that mean for him and Ian? Miro's stuck between two bad choices, and sometimes the only way to get out of the knot is to hold tight to your lifeline and pull.

©2016 Mary Calmes (P)2016 Dreamspinner Press

Love this series!

This series is one of my favorites! I liked how she included characters from Rhys Ford's 'Sinners' series.

5+ Stars!!

Any additional comments?

You know how sometimes when you want something really, really badly and you have to wait a really long time for it, and you keep getting assured it’s “coming soon”, but you really want it now and then you get it and you’re disappointed with the final product?

Yeah, you don’t have to worry – the wait was worth it because Tristan James once again rocks this out!

The narration for Tied up in Knots was incredible and so entertaining that I immediately re-listened…to all almost ten hours of awesomeness.

THIS. This is what perfection is. God! The cameos, the action, the sex, the romance, the suspense…it was all on point. So many things that happen in this story are awesome and Mary Calmes just delivered on every promise of greatness made. This series just keeps getting better!

So what do you need to know? The story is once again told entirely from Miro’s POV. There are cameos aplenty…some of which will probably shock you (in the best way), a ton of suspense, some humor, and even some *gasp* worthy moments.

This story grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Tied Up In Knots is an absolute gem in this series, polished to a brilliant, glittering shine and contains just enough setup to know the continuation of the series will be just as badass and kickass as the first three books.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

This series just keeps getting better!

What made the experience of listening to Tied up in Knots the most enjoyable?

Every damn thing! Seriously. Mary Calmes is an amazing author with the ability to literally bring emotions to life with words. Tristan James is a fantastic narrator with the ability to breath life into those words and emotions.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Miro, always Miro. I do love Ian, but there is this little quirk with Miro's personality that makes him so endearing and almost... naive in a way, when it comes to Ian, only with Ian. It's hard to explain, you'll just have to listen.

What does Tristan James bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He adds dimension to the story. I read this book and loved it, couldn't put it down. Same thing with the audio book, I didn't want to stop listening the story, plot and characters are just so engrossing. James really brings out the emotions of the characters with subtle nuances and tone inflections.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It was and I tried, but I had to sleep at some point.

Any additional comments?

Love this Author and this narrator, perfect marriage of words and sound. If you are a fan of the Author, Narrator or series, it's a no brainer. Lot's of action, suspense, comedy, tragedy and Ian and Miro tug of war in the bedroom.

My e-book review....

Miro Jones wants his happy ever after with his partner both at work and at home, Ian Doyle. Problem is, Ian is a soldier through and through, and Miro is starting to wonder when just loving him will be enough for Ian. Left alone more than he cares to be, Miro is adrift without Ian there to ground him. Ian doesn't hide Miro, their relationship or the way he feels about his partner. So why isn't it enough for Ian to stay put and be the constant Miro needs him to be?

I think this series gets better with each new book. I really enjoy the way Ian and Miro are written as these alpha male personas, and yet, when they are together and alone it is always about them and only them. Miro is forever getting his ass handed to him by criminals, suspects and a certain psychotic serial killer that is convinced Miro is his soul mate. Ian is forever loosing his shit because the love of his life is battered and bruised... again. But lord, when they come together it is this raw, animalistic, electric connection that radiates off the pages like lightening.

The secondary characters in this series are just as vital and elaborately written as Ian and Miro. From Miro's gaggle of gal pals that think he hung the moon, much to their husbands and boyfriends dismay, to Chickie, Ian's beloved dog that is one third dog, one third wolf and one third horse! I didn't think Calmes could ever bring another fictional couple to life and make me love them as much as Sam and Jory (Matter of Time series) but she's done just that with Ian and Miro.

I seriously hope this isn't the last we see of Ian, Miro, Chickie and the wide variety of other characters that make this series so amazing.

Marshals book 3

Narration: Tristan James…another hit for me! I Love his voice. The cadence was perfect, and he kept the tempo and emphasis where it was called for. I hadn’t read this series before listening, but that made no difference to understanding what was going on, even though I was at my day job. I’m beginning to think he’s always going to be a hit for me.

Story: This is the third book by Mary Calmes in this series. So by now, we know the series is focused on Miro and Ian as life partners and US Marshal partners. But Ian is sent away yet again. And just when Miro really needs him. Instead, we met a couple of new Marshals that have their own drama going on. But we also meet the new cutie that needs protection.

It amazes me just how much Mary Calmes can shove into a novel and still have it all make sense and follow along in a larger plot going on as well as the romance. But when Ian finally gets home and Miro makes his way back to Chicago, the heat is HOT.

As for the other parts of the book, I don’t want to ruin it or spoil anything if you haven’t read or listened to this, so I’m just going to leave this here…
Two alpha males going at it is so freakin HOT
Dad…and his family, you all suck! Go away and don’t come back!
Creepy as hell dude…shivers
Didn’t need that rib anyway…hmmmph
CHICKIE BABY!!!
I laughed, I cried, and I was hot under…well, you get the point. After book 3, I still want more.


I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Miro and Ian's 3rd book

So were Miro and Ian together at all here? We began with Ian being deployed, coming back for a day or 2 and then being deployed yet again. After he came back the 2nd time Miro and Ian didn't manage much before all hell broke loose and still Ian wasn't there.... But they did manage to move forward in their relationship and after Miro almost lost his life for a 3rd time Ian got over his hangups.

Tristan James's narration is really good as always.

Each book gets more ridiclous

Miro, who's now officially Ty Grady in that he's gotten crazy obnoxious, and dominates the story with Ian deployed most of the time. He has completely inappropriate conversations about the sex lives of co-workers he's known for all of a day, doling out life coaching that no one asked for, and uses the word "okay" about four times per sentence. There's absolutely no depth to him. He's vanilla shot in black and white.

He heads to Las Vegas to pick up another teenage witness, and ends up adopting him, yet again, as a stray. He's already got the two boys in Chicago. But Miro's god complex got the better of him, I guess. There are just too many characters with too little going on. The story isn't deep enough to justify this endless list of characters.

A quarter into the story, Ian finally comes back after months to find that Miro has made a new best buddy - a neighbor who he's been taking to dinner, over to friends' houses, etc. He whines and complains that he can't wait for Ian to get home, and then immediately invites the neighbor to dinner the night Ian finally does. Who the frig does that? I did love that he later put him in his place, though, regarding of his snide remarks about Ian.

By the 50% mark, I just kept rolling my eyes. And I know more about Miro's designer label wardrobe than I know about my own. Hartley shows up once again, and the have the same conversation they've been having since book 1. It's Hannibal but with less angst.

Marshals 2 was a fairly interesting story, making this one a huge letdown. And even though I won't be moving on because this series simply isn't working for me, Kage has been mine since Marshals 1, so hands off.

Love this Series

I’m so happy I started this series it’s so good. I just love the MC’s and the story. The narrator is awesome he really brings these two characters to life!

SO draggy and with...

TOO MANY UNNECESSARY CHARACTERS.

I read the first book at the begining of the year and didnt bother to follow the series because it bored me. But since I'm a Tristan James fan, I decided to listen to the next books. I did check and there were many 5 stars reviews. So I said why not, lets give this series another try. Yea well, i'm quitting it here. I dont see a point in the 4tth book since I've read enough summaries to know how it ends.

I'm probably among the few who didn't like this series. People commented about how good the 2 MCs's progression was but honestly, after 3 books i didn't see much. Especially in book 3 when Ian was only in 50% percent of the book. This series book 1 -3 was 60% Miro and his inner feelings, 25% glimps of Ian, 13% of everyone else, and 2% case solving with the most important case of the psycho Hartley never getting solved. And from comments i read the Hartley thing doesn't get solved in the last book either. This series was not about case or action. And the romance/relationship felt like a side plot. Because if one actually looks closer, this whole series was about jut Miro.

My main problem:

How dragging all the unnecessary scenes and some charecters were. An example is when Miro calls all of his girl-friends and the group is all three-way/speaker call and they go on talking about one of the girl's pregnancy. My thought, "Why, just why, how are scenes like this relevant to this story's progression?" Are we supposed to relate to these women even when they have so substance in the plot? Or relate to Miro that he's an orphan who built his family with these women? There were many 'Do Nothing For Plot' scenes like this through out the books. The thing is, an author can still create these outside charecters and give them life, only rather than keep throwing them in to be plothole fillers, make them background noise and fade them out. There are editors who do these things for writers. And this series could have used a really decent plot editor to take out the trash while adding on gems that would have made this series more fluid. Oh and of course there are steamy sex scenes but sex only sells so far before a story becomes flat. This series was a really dull version of other better formulated series like:
-cut&run
-death&destruction
-fish out of water series

Overall: it was not the worst. And the premise/base of this plot was interesting. I don't dislike Miro and Ian either. But it's not enough and this series up to here is a mere 2 stars for me.

Narrator: Tristan James *****

miro jones by Tristan James is hot

the story had me laughing out loud at the idiosyncrasies of the character Miro Jones. Tristan James sounded especially sexy as the voice of Miro. Liked the storyline.

It's pretty good

I'm a big M. Calmes fan and really love the marshal books.
Tristan was an ok narrator. i had to speed up the recording because he talked slower then i liked. and some of the choices made for how voives sound were odd. but he wasn't bad. could definitely check out more of his books

Oh dear Tristan.....

3.5 stars. This is definitely one of my favourite series, and I have read/listened to all the other Miro/Ian stories, but this one suffered from a problem I've encountered on quite a few of Tristan James latest narrations....pronunciation niggles, and I don't know if it's the script he's given to work with by authors/publishers [his narration of Jordan L Hawk's Hexbreaker also had several very noticeable mistakes, hence no more audio for me for that series], but this one had an absolutely unforgiveable error in it as far as I'm concerned....the province in Afghanistan where Ian was left stranded by the army colleagues who didn't have his back is called Helmand, NOT Helmet!! I couldn't believe my ears and listened to that particular section three times, but I got the same answer each time and it's just not good enough!! Lots of men and women have died serving their country in that province in Afghanistan...couldn't Dreamspinner Press/the production team/Audible have checked before releasing the audio?? So, so disrespectful and disappointing......

Great series

Very enjoyable story with likeable characters. This is a spin off from the matter of time series.