Ties That Bind

by Elizabeth Blair

Decades of straddling the line between working undercover for the government and remaining loyal to the families of his birth have destroyed Mitch’s allegiance to either side. Adrift after the brutal assassination of his boss, Mitch retreats to his east coast heritage of la familia to devise an exit strategy from both organizations.

When Ashli, the dazzling and provocative sister of crime lord James Vinetti, invades his life Mitch becomes entrenched in their world of high stakes legal and illegal dealings. But what started as a temporary diversion quickly becomes a deadly game to out maneuver Ashli’s own hidden agenda.

Family. Friends. Passion. Love. Loyalty. Justice. Betrayal.
Of all the ties that bind you, which is worth dying for?

Genres: Crime

338 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 15, 2016

Reviews

[Snow · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm way overdue with this book...gah...

Unfortunately, I didn't connect to either the story or its characters. it was a classic premise and a well known storyline, but I found the pacing a bit odd, and in the lack way of explaining myself, since I can't say it any differently, tehrefore, I can only say that it dragged and the mixed up POVs and its interchanging ways of implementing into the story felt awkward and confusing and it actually diverted me from enjoying myself or being immersed in the story more...


COPY provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

[AnIrishGuy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came across this book while looking for something to read through my amazon prime account on my Kindle. After reading it over two days, I have to say I would happily have paid for it. In fact I may buy the paperback version just to give something back to the author! The story revolves around Mitch Kerlin, his battles with his government employers, his ties to his “family” and his struggles to come to terms with the events that suddenly engulf him. Things become complicated further when he is bailed from jail by a mystery benefactor that turns out to be the sister of a Mafia Kingpin, James Vinetti. The course of his life is derailed by Vinetti's sister Ashli who unknown to him is not all she initially seems. While Mitch and Ashli play strong parts in this book, watch out for Toni, another strong female character, who has known Mitch since a child and suddenly appears on the scene to stir things up a little.

I have to commend Elizabeth Blair on her strong characterisation and her ability to make me lose myself in her world. Not only are her characters believable, their interactions are extremely well written and I found myself bookmarking several pages just to go back later and re read some wonderful dialogue.

I really enjoyed this book.The story itself is well paced, well written and had me continually flicking pages on my kindle wanting to know what was coming next. I can't recommend it enough.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had so much hope for this book, but the farther a got along the more and more it seemed to get confusing when I think the author was trying to bring it together. Mitch the man who is working both sides is somewhat understandable but you still don’t know why he would work for the government when his ties to both here and Sicily are strong and his reason are not explained, unless I missed it somewhere. Just when I felt the story was going to give you some direction it felt like it went somewhere else that for me did not make sense. Along with a few of the characters to me did not seem to fit as well. I am sorry to be such a downer but I like mafia book and this one had so much potential, especially with the Mitch character. I got this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 3 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com

[Bookholic Ralou · Rating 3 out of 5]

LINK: https://collectorofbookboyfriends.com...

I consider Rate the hardest part of a review a reader has to go through. Most of the time, you can instantly know how much stars you gonna rate the book you just finished, but there are also some times that you just can’t put a number on it. And this is one of those times for me. Maybe at the end of the review, I will be able to decide on the number.

Ties that Bind is a dark book telling a very dark, confusing, intriguing, mind-fucking story including lots of mafia guys and feds with a touch of twisted romance. This books has so many layers that I don’t know where to begin with.

First of all, what had me by-the-hair the whole time I was reading it, it was the impressive labyrinth way Blair set up the story. It was going back and forth, up and down in a blink of an eye keeping me constantly on my toes and extracting me from the process of predicting what might happen next. Every new, unexpected thing that was happening felt like I was being hit by a tsunami wave. There were so many things that I never saw coming. The loads of information and the links connecting them were filling me up nice and warm. And I can never dislike/hate a book when it does that to me.

By the time the story was getting closer and closer to its finale, I was being tied more and more in knots about what was happening and what the future beheld for Mitch and Ashli. I was close to damn tears by the moment it reached how her part in the story reached its end. I could easily describe myself being in denial of after that; but I reasoned with myself that everything happens for a reason and to service a higher purpose. The chemistry these two had and the cat-and-mouse game they were constantly playing had me totally engrossed in them and impatient to see how they would end up. And even though I didn’t get what I desperately hoped for them, in the end, the story got the finale that was most suitable and closer to the line of darkness it followed from the beginning.

They had been playing with fire for months, and now, he had been stupid enough to light the fuse.

What made me really like the book but not love it was, first, the confusing timeline and second, the messy sequence of the multiple POVs. The timeline was honestly one hell of a mind game since it took me quite some time to understand when each scene was happening. The one chapter could be unfolding during a whole month and the next would be a few months or even a year after the previous one. That surely gave my brain a painful work out and by the half mark, I was really exhausted trying to figure it out so I could place and understand the story better. Not that I don’t like a bit of a mental workout in my books, but this one went off undoubtedly off my limit point. As for the multiple POVs, I love reading thoughts of the other characters besides the lead ones. But, this time, I think the suspense and the magic the multiple POVs are intended to give to a story, got lost somewhere and doomed the book a bit. Although, it’s really interesting for a reader to see how with these two big disadvantages, the mystery and intensity of the story and the characters rose above them and kept having your attention.

Blair is a first time author for me so I can’t express a spherical opinion about her writing. Though, she has that something that makes her stories quite promising and even amazing, if she watched out for some small things.

[Pelusa Rivera · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received an ARC for honest review for netgalley. I hated hated hated this book. I can not state that enough, and that is so sad, I did not think there would be a book out there, that I could feel that way towards, but this was it. The supposed hero had no redeeming qualities in my eyes and no loyalty to anyone that I could really tell. I honestly did not want to continue reading the book, I had to make myself finish reading it and then got angry at myself that I wasted that time that I could have devoted to another book, which makes me so sad, because I truly truly love reading, and there are some truly crappy books out there, yet I did not feel the level of hatred I felt for them that I felt for this one. Poor Ashli, yes she was a seriously screwed up individual, but she did her brother, and her brother loved her, they just went about it the wrong way, and unfortunately she put her faith on a jack ass who only cared about himself. Even the ending sucked. Yeah, this was a supposed romance, I got nothing else to say.. Sorry folks for the bitterness, this is truly not me, but this book brought it out of me.

[Jeanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It took me some time to get into the flow of the story. Things seemed to jump around from chapter to chapter and was a little confusing. I kept going back and seeing if I had missed a paragraph or two. This happened throughout the book, so not sure if it was intentional or the authors writing style. Also, story ended abruptly, so it's unclear if this was a cliffhanger with additional stories to follow.

[Kristina Scroggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simply amazing. It is like game of thrones, but set in a mobster type setting. This book has you biting your nails and simply screaming on the inside. You will laugh, cry, and even want your mother after reading this novel. I absolutely love this book.

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read for me. There is plenty of suspense and drama, the story just didn’t flow well for me.