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Bound by Love

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Two cowboys fall in love. It's as simple and as complicated as that.

Tyler Newsome is heading home to the Lazy N, tired of the rodeo and tired of always being his charismatic twin's shadow. It's time he gets a life of his own and maybe the man he's always dreamed of, too. Ren Alston's always been attracted to Tyler, but never made a move because of his own mental and emotional baggage. But after years spent taming his demons and gaining control in every aspect of his life, Ren sees the younger man's return as a sign of good things to come. But first, they have to deal with Tyler's twin, past indiscretions and Ren's brothers. Will these cowboys manage to build a strong foundation of trust and love? Or will their problems be too much for them?"

117 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 2, 2008

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About the author

T.A. Chase

160 books892 followers
There is beauty in every kind of love, so why not live a life without boundaries? Experiencing everything the world offers fascinates me and writing about the things that make each of us unique is how I share those insights. I live in the Midwest with a wonderful partner of thirteen years. When not writing, I’m watching movies, reading and living life to the fullest.

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5 stars
259 (22%)
4 stars
449 (38%)
3 stars
354 (30%)
2 stars
85 (7%)
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15 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
Profile Image for Erotic Horizon.
1,738 reviews
June 11, 2009
Tired and frustrated tagging along after his twin on the rodeo circuit, Tyler packs up kit and caboodle and returns home to not only his aging father and the ranch he loves – but also to see how much of a chance he has with the man he’s always love – Ren. While he always loved Ren he’s also been too shy to approach him, now he’s returning unsure of the welcome he’ll get from Ren, but also with the knowledge that Ren has slept with JT –his brother.

Ren the eldest of three brothers has always loved Tyler. Wanting to give Tyler time to see and experience the world, he waits patiently for him to return to his father’s ranch. With his own emotional issues and two brothers who are in the same situation as himself– waiting on Tyler has never been a problem, as he wants Tyler to have his feel of the outside world. Now than he was back he wonders if Tyler is prepared to accept him, faults and all.

T.A. Chase has always been a favourite of mine and Bound By Blood is another great outing by this author. JT and Tyler are twins, where JT is the take change, adventurous and also reckless brother. Tyler is the shy, humble one and also the one with duty of care for his brother. Fulfilling his dying mother’s wish to take care of JT, he’s dutifully followed along on the Rodeo circuit for eight years. Now he’s tired of it all and just wants to go home and try and win the man he’s always loved.

Ren on the other hand is a man of the land, he love his ranch and sees himself making a life there. The only thing he needs to complete the scenario is a partner, and although he has made some bad choices in the past, he has always known that Tyler is one man that completes him.

Together these two are perfect for each other, Tyler with is shy unassuming ways is more than enough for Ren’s jittery nerves. Bound By Blood is a book full of regrets, harsh lessons and forgiveness and acceptance. There is also enough little snippets of thing to come to keep the readers anticipating future books to complement Bound By Blood.
Profile Image for Julia.
272 reviews10 followers
May 5, 2010
Generally, I'm a fan of the gay cowboy theme, but this one didn't click for me. I felt like there could've been more depth to the characters and just more storyline altogether. Not bad, but not a favorite.
Profile Image for Elisa Rolle.
Author 107 books239 followers
Read
May 15, 2009
It's a bit a Fantasy Cowboy Land the one described in this book by T.A. Chase, but well, sometime it's good to forget that there are places in this world where you can't really be who you are without worrying of the consequences, and it's important to tell the story as you would like it to be, since maybe, time over time, you will change a mind at time.

And so in this story we have Tyler and J.T., twin rodeo cowboys. Both handsome and gay (well actually, J.T. is bisexual...), J.T. is the shiny twin, while Tyler is the shy one. Tyler is also the responsible one, first his mother on her death bed and then his father asked him to take care of his twin, and Tyler always acted as guardian angel. He also left his beloved ranch, and his beloved neighbor Ren, to follow his twin on the rodeo circuit. But eight years after, Tyler is wondering if it's not time to come back at home, J.T. or not J.T. on tow.

At home there is not only is aging father, but also Ren, the older and handsome neighbor who was Tyler's unrequited first love. Tyler has never had the courage to confess to Ren his feelings, instead he talked to J.T. who, soon after, seduced Ren. Now Tyler doesn't know if being happy to have a proof that Ren is gay, or be unhappy to be forced once again to compete with his twin.

On the other hand, Ren is only waiting for Tyler to be old enough, and tired enough of the outside world, to be ready to settle down in their ranches. Ren is the older brother of three, but his two brothers have no intention to stay at the ranch. So Ren is ready and willing to build a family, and Tyler was always is first choice when arriving to a life partner. His relationship with J.T. was only a fling, and something that tired him soon after the first encounter.

Ren has some personality issues, a legacy from his military service during war time, and he needs to be in control in every moment. On the other hand, Tyler needs to let the control sometime, since he is always the reliable twin, the one who everyone expected to take the right decision. In this way, Ren and Tyler are perfect together, being Ren always the top in their relationship, and Tyler the willing bottom.

So no problem in their relationship and no problem also outside their relationship: Tyler's father behaves like a old fashioned father, means that he only asks Ren's intentions toward his son, and he is more than happy when he is assured that they are honest; Ren's brothers are only waiting for their brother to find a partner in order to be able to move out of the ranch without worrying to leave their brother alone... Sure, there is no the time, or the chance, to see the behavior of who is not a strict relative, other than one of Tyler's friend, but the atmosphere of all the book is of a total acceptance of Ren and Tyler's love.

Setting and details are very accurate, with few right positioned words, T.A. Chase gives the reader all the necessary details to be deeply immerse in the rodeo and breeding horse culture.

http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/44...
Profile Image for UnusualChild{beppy}.
2,608 reviews60 followers
July 14, 2017
synopsis:
tyler quits rodeoing because he's tired of it and heads home to his father's ranch because he loves it so much. he's hoping that he can start something with the guy next door (figuratively), ren, someone he's always had a crush on. ren, of course, has always had a crush on tyler, too. oh, and tyler has an identical twin brother, who slept with ren.

what i liked: i liked that tyler stood up to his brother and did what he wanted for once. i also liked that ren appreciated tyler for what he had to offer.

what i didn't like: really? ren had to have an affair with tyler's brother because he wanted him as a substitute for tyler? kinda gross. there wasn't a lot to the story, and the guys hooked up really quickly with forgiveness all around for the brother incident.
Profile Image for JustJen "Miss Conduct".
2,418 reviews156 followers
November 21, 2012
This story was ok. I think it really needed to be longer and more involved. I didn't really feel like I got to know the characters very deeply, though I thought Ren and Tyler fit well together. The sex was hot. There is a scene with the crossties in the barn that was scorching. But, the relationship seemed to skip ahead from one sex session to the next, with only a little bit of story in between.

There were a few little things that annoyed me, though they didn't take away from the story. One was that every time a horse was mentioned, so was its color. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but I felt it was totally unnecessary. The other thing that niggled me was after one sex encounter, Ty fell asleep before Ren had even made his retreat. I just found this really odd.

One major thing that really bothered me were all the loose ends. I want to know what happened with Ren's brothers and all their PTSD issues. Throughout the story, there is such tension between Ty and his twin TJ, then, all of a sudden, after one talk with a mysterious friend, TJ is sorry for the way he treated Ty all these years, and that's the last we hear about it.

Overall, I did enjoy the story itself and wouldn't mind reading a sequel that fills in the blanks I found in this book.
Profile Image for Heller.
973 reviews118 followers
May 31, 2012
This had some likeable characters with good chemistry. I enjoy this kind of story with a younger guy crushing on an older friend of the family and while this worked several elements fell flat for me.



Profile Image for Monica.
34 reviews
February 3, 2011
3.5 stars

I love stories about cowboys falling in love. So I just knew a story from this author would be awesome. It wasn't awesome, but it was good. What bothered me besides the length, too short for all that was going on, and the characters could have been developed more, and some issues were left hanging, was the issue of going bareback! WTF! Tyler just allowed it and didn't even discuss the issue with Ren. Tyler brought up issues that were less of a concern than that should have been.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Snowtulip.
1,077 reviews
December 7, 2010
Not good, not bad, mmmhheee

Love: Tyler and TJ's self discovery of brother relationship and standing up for yourself
Sex between Tyler and Ren fit them

Dislike: Didn't really feel a connection with Tyler and Ren's relationship
Everything moved very fast (relationship, PTSD thrown in, etc)

Not sure the length of the book fit the story very well, too rushed.
Profile Image for Calila.
1,178 reviews104 followers
November 10, 2014
Nice fluffy read. No angst (which is both a good and bad thing. I think I'm suffering from "The grass is always greener" syndrome). Very kinky but it was great. Ren and Tyler were both likable, but I wish I knew more about both. I hope there are more books to come. I want to know what happens to the side characters.
Profile Image for KellyJo.
38 reviews36 followers
June 21, 2010
The only reason this got three stars was I wanted more from it.. The story seemed really shot and not much going on. The couple was good together but like I said not much going on between them(well out of the bed)..
Profile Image for Shannon.
2,163 reviews46 followers
November 21, 2012
Nice story about two cowboys falling love. Nothing sensational or overly dramatic. Older cowboy that younger cowboy has loved for a while finally find eachother. Sex was lovely though!
Profile Image for Kazza.
1,587 reviews174 followers
April 7, 2012
2.5 stars rated up to three as, to be fair, it wasn't bad, just not very good.

I was looking forward to Bound By Love, lots of things I like coming together. However, this book was just OK, very similar to many others in the M/M, cowboy genre. There was nothing new bought to the plate.

Tyler was nice enough but too nice to be honest. He was quite insecure but it was understandable I guess.

JT, Tyler's twin bother, was painted as the biggest arsehole out and his character was. He was so maligned, I swear global warming and the global financial woes were his doing as well.

Ren Alston, once again, was a nice enough guy but he slept with both twins. His explanation about whether he preferred JT over Tyler wasn't very satisfying for me, how Tyler felt reassured I don't know (given his insecurities about his brother).

The sex was so so, not hot and heavy just a walk through rather than passion or showing me, with minimum dirty talk.

Ren's brothers were interesting and a longer book could have produced a better story with them more front and centre.

If you like fast, easy to read M/M cowboy then it's not a bad book.
Profile Image for Paisley.
467 reviews2 followers
September 7, 2014
I usually love cowboys stories - unfortunately I just couldn't love this book. It wasn't that it was a bad book - it just wasn't very good. I will say that if you are really uncomfortable with any BDSM this may be a good one to test yourself with because it has a mild sense of dabbling in it.

The story had so much potential (twin brothers with issues, accepting father, longstanding unrequited love) and I think that was what bothered me the most. It felt forced and not very interesting to read. Thankfully it was short so I didn't invest too much time into it.

Also, I just can't get over the fact that this book is listed as 12th on the "Best Gay Cowboys" and 42nd "Best Gay BDSM." It isn't even a BDSM story really. They discuss a bit about submitting and the need to be dominate, etc. There is one scene where there is some but it almost seems superfluous to the whole plot of the book.

I am usually really generous with my ratings because I am so easily entertained. For me to give a 2 means that I was disappointed - and bored.
Profile Image for Teri.
1,801 reviews
August 7, 2014
Gah! I wish this had been longer, because it could have been so much more! I did like it, I liked the characters and what was going on with each of them, but everything just moved too fast, I just...I didn't get out of it what I really wanted.
The BDSM in this book is pretty light, only one scene that was fairly intense, which worked for me because I'm not a big fan of it.
I'm going to get spoilery now
It wasn't an insta-love situation, which was nice. There were some time gaps. I'm reading and suddenly they're saying its been a few months and I was like, really? But that was okay.
I really wanted to get to know Ren's brother's better. There is so much to them, and to Ren too that we just didn't get.
Ren's father was great. Honestly, loved him. His brother--a prick.
Overall, I liked it but with the potential it had I just felt it fell a little short. I have read from T.A. Chase before and will continue to do so.
Profile Image for Janna.
580 reviews33 followers
August 27, 2009
T.A. Chase writes a lovely story about two kind but hot cowboys. I think that cowboys are perfect characters for a steamy romance, even or especially when it's a gay romance. Tyler and Ren are deep characters with a well worked out history, they bring therefore some issues into the relation which makes it a good read. But, not unimportant, their attraction and encounters are also pretty steamy. They appear to be a perfect match in bed - although they don't necessarily need it to get satisfied, Ren likes to be in control and Tyler wants to give up control in bed. So there's a little spanking and binding. I rate Bound by Love with 4 stars. And I added two other novels of T.A. Chase to my wishlist: Out of Bounds and High Line. These are book 1 and 2 in the Love of Sports Series, about the gay twinbrothers Kasey and Garrett Johnson.
Profile Image for Ryan.
51 reviews10 followers
December 26, 2012
This story is the written version of a porno that has a plot (like showtime in the 1990’s). Sure there is a storyline but, it is interrupted by a character getting an erection so hard the zipper “may” leave a mark. Once the sex starts it does not stop. There is potential in this story that sadly does not occur. When I first started Goodreads, I would have given this book 4 stars. Today, I am being very generous with the third star. Not the worst book I have read but, unless you are looking for mild BDSM M/M cowboy erotica, I would recommend something else.
Profile Image for Melissa.
863 reviews6 followers
July 3, 2012
I've been in the mood for some bdsm books recently and I picked this one up because it looked good and who doesn't like cowboys? The story itself was pretty good and I really enjoyed watching Tyler learn how to love himself and be who he was without JT around.

When Tyler and Ren were together, it was hot and the chemistry was undeniable, but the bdsm in the book was beginners stuff and something they just played around with, where I was looking for some real D/s bdsm going on.

I really did enjoy the story though :)
Profile Image for Daphne .
715 reviews1 follower
December 8, 2015
The blurb says it all about this book. "Two cowboys fall in love." That about sums it up, but them falling in love happened before the book started because the book detailed their relationship's linear course rather than its development. Very low external angst. Storylines with their respective brothers did not really affect the relationship at all, they just happened (as it were, not much happened with the brothers either) parallel to the main characters. Hot smexy times with BDSM developing.
Profile Image for Leah.
335 reviews
October 8, 2010
3.5 stars!
Before the hateration from discerning readers commences let me explain my rating. Yeah it was too short, was both rushed and had too much going on at times BUT the central story delivered: "Two cowboys fall in love. It’s as simple and as complicated as that." Do I wish the author would've taken a breath and slowed the pace of Tyler and Ren's relationship and play time? Hell YEs! However when I read about these moments they were panty-melting and sweet. So :P
Profile Image for Beck.
894 reviews49 followers
August 26, 2012
This is a sweet little story with very light BDSM tossed into the mix. The characters are easy to like & the angst is minimal. There was potential to expand this story with some of the auxiliary characters but for what-ever reason, Chase kept the story fairly shallow. I've read it twice now but I doubt I will read it again. I would have enjoyed a longer, more in-depth story. It's a pleasant read with a fluffy HEA.
Profile Image for Karen.
2,741 reviews3 followers
August 12, 2016
Bound by Love is a sweet, fairly uncomplicated love story. Although I really liked it, it was almost too smooth, too easy, too quick for two men who haven't seen each other in years, have never been intimately involved, and have never even voiced their interest in one another.

Still, I liked the MCs, and the story, though simple, was nice. I would certainly be up for reading more about these guys, their family and friends.
Profile Image for Suze.
3,940 reviews
February 12, 2017
2.5*
Felt a bit bitty to me - seemed quite a few leaps of logic taking place (Tyler comes home, sees his old crush who he is not sure is gay or not, next thing they are going at it).
It was written in 2008 and I dare say if done now would be a different book. The plot - returning home, leaving twin, remeeting childhood crush - was fine. i just would have liked the holes filling in and the story not trying to get every gay story theme shoehorned in.
Profile Image for Stefanie139.
84 reviews1 follower
September 11, 2016
As others have written before, the story was too rushed. As I haven't read anything else from the author, I was at a loss at the start. I would have needed a lot more set-up.
But that isn't even my main gripe. The best way to phrase it - the book lacked poetry. A lot of the MM books do, but with everyone I find that DO manages, I get harder to please.
25 reviews2 followers
December 16, 2012
Compared to earlier works from the author, this was a slow read. Interesting, fun, I'd hoped for better development with characters but at the same time that's the charm of the writing is that lovers don't ask for that development. Hoping to read JT's story eventually? I feel that kind of story would be a much better work, though it'll see this book up as a set-up.
Profile Image for Nic.
Author 45 books371 followers
Read
July 16, 2020
Cute cowboy ✔
Another gorgeous cowboy ✔
Some hot sex ✔
Best dad in the world ✔
Identical twin brother ✔
Identical twin brother who is a total dickhead and you just want to throttle ✔

This was short and overall sweet. I guess I just wanted Ren and Tyler to struggle more for their happiness but I still enjoyed it.
Profile Image for  ♥Lynn ♥ .
210 reviews51 followers
September 6, 2010
I really wish this book would have slowed down so we could get to know the characters better. I felt this book rushed everything. Tyler and his twin got on my nerves. This was my first T.A. Chase book, I will read more, but this one was just ok for me.
Profile Image for Jay.
289 reviews2 followers
January 22, 2011
Two cowboys fall in love. The end.

I would have liked this much more is there was a before & after, not just 117 pages of the middle.

And the sub in the bed was all great but getting halfway to Dom/Top was just not enough.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews