Balanced and Tied

Marshals #5

by Mary Calmes

Deputy US Marshal Eli Kohn is doing fine. As the Director of Public Affairs for the Northern District, he represents the USMS in Chicago and that suits him. Yes, it’s wearing to always be on, to smile and wave even in the face of adversity, but he’s good at his job, and no one ever sees him sweat. His personal life, though, has been stagnant, and that doesn’t seem likely to change. But that’s fine too. Eli would much rather spend his free time with his best friend Cel. And lately, when they’re not together, he’s been missing him more and more…

Celso Harrington, principal dancer with the Chicago Ballet Company, has been feeling adrift, yearning for someone to be there for him, to ground him. Strange to find that anchor in a man who caught bad guys for a living. Celso is all about art and beauty; Eli is all about safety and public service. They could not be more different, yet from the moment they met, it felt like they’d known each other forever.

They are exactly what the other needs, and Celso would love them to be more than friends, but he can’t jeopardize what they have, and Eli’s too stuck inside his own head. When events threaten to unravel their carefully built haven, they each must take a chance on the other or risk losing everything.

Genres: M M Romance, Friends To Lovers, Romance, Contemporary, Mystery, Crime, Audiobook

275 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 30, 2022

About the author

Mary Calmes believes in romance, happily ever afters, and the faith it takes for her characters to get there. She bleeds coffee, thinks chocolate should be its own food group, and currently lives in Kentucky with a six-pound furry ninja that protects her from baby birds, spiders and the neighbor’s dogs. To stay up to date on her ponderings and pandemonium (as well as the adventures of the ninja) follow her on Twitter @MaryCalmes, connect with her on Facebook, and subscribe to her Mary’s Mob newsletter.

Reviews

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Iffy Stars

Look. This is not Ian and Miro by any means. It’s basically a poor man’s Ian and Miro. However because Ian and Miro are in this I had to give it 4 stars because I take what I can get right?? One can see that I think Ian and Miro are the bees knees. Can I say Ian and Miro any more than I already have? Ian and Miro. Ian and Miro. Ian and Miro.

So it’s obvious what I wish this 5th installment was all about. If it weren't for the aforementioned lovebirds, I’d typically give this my standard 3.5 score. Rest assured that the classic Calmes components are present. There’s a Jory-esque character who is irresistible to all, takes no sass, and who’s in love with his best friend. Said straight best friend is clueless but is possessive of Jory (ahem, I mean Cel) like nobody’s business and then an epiphany comes, and it’s literally balls to the walls.

This is basically Ian and Miro 2.0 without the major swoon. Maybe it’s because I never really got a sense of who Eli was in the previous books except that he was a metrosexual ladies man - that minus the Marshals association, this was nothing overly special. However, revisiting my favorite guys and all the other badass marshals (and don’t forget king of the grumps, no nonsense Sam Kage) made me remember that I absolutely love this group of wily hooligans. Toss in the requisite mob presence because of course they’re involved, and this was still a solid entry to Calmes’s convoluted cuckoo Chicago universe.


Marshals
1. All Kinds of Tied Down - 5 Stars
2. Fit to be Tied - 5 Stars
3. Tied Up in Knots - 5 Stars
3.5. Together Tied - 4 Stars
4. Twisted and Tied - 5 Stars
5. Balanced and Tied - 3.5 Stars (in reality)
6. Tied Over - 4.5 Stars
7. Newly Tied - 4 Stars

[Gerbera_Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the first 2 chapters, a couple of humorous moments and cameo appearances of Miro, Ian and Sam. The rest was meh. Celso is Jory 2.0 and Eli is dull as ditch water. There is no plot just going through the motions every day. Celso is so annoying. I didn't like him at all. The romance is not believable and the chemistry is so tepid. In short, this book was unimaginative and boring. I think I might put this author on my no read list. *sigh*

[Vanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 21%... I think I have outgrown Mary Calmes.. Or I was just not in the mood for rambling conversations.. Maybe I'll come back to this some other time..

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Right, that’s it from me. This didn’t work on many levels but I don’t want to give it any more energy by ranting about it all. The only reason I didn’t dnf was that I was hoping it would contain the final resolution to the serial killer plot line from the first four books - what is in the top secret vault that Dr Hartley leaves for Miro?? But nope, no mention of it in the whole book. Gah! Won’t be trying book 6.

A disappointing last read for 2023 :(

[BWT · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a sucker for Mary Calmes.

I absolutely love the Marshals series, it's one of my favorite to revisit both in print and audio, so I was a little worried that shifting away from Ian and Miro would mean a loss of the je ne sais quoi that made the first books so great, but I had nothing to worry about...I loved Eli and Cel. Loved getting their story, and the way it slots beautifully into the rest of the series.

The biggest thing that sets this book apart other than it being two new MCs is it's a dual POV. I loved being able to get both MCs POV.

'Balanced and Tied' sucked me in from the beginning and kept me sucked in until the end. Now you could read this as a standalone, but I'd really recommend you start at the beginning of the series.

Recommended.

[Jennifer☠Pher☠ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love this and am so sad about it I don't even know what to say.

I wish this had just been a spin-off type of standalone and not part of the series. It didn't fit, at all.

I don't even know who this Eli was! I mean, I liked him but he did not read at all like the Eli from the first four books. And yeah, I get it. It's his book this time and of course there would be more to him than what we were seeing from Miro and Ian's POV but still.

Shoot me now but even the scene with Sam I didn't like. It just kept going and going and going and I DID NOT CARE about a freaking gala with the Mayor's wife and why Eli was in charge. It was pages long and I was embarrassed for Sam even having that conversation.

Overall it was nice. Just nice. I was a little bored and felt like as the story progressed we got more and more reasons why these two should be together. Almost like they were being added as we went along instead of seeing or feeling them actually happen.

I do love that they were "dating" for years and found that aspect really cute but I just didn't feel the rest.

It's ok though. Mary is still my Queen and I don't have to love everything for that to remain true.

[Achim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's nice to be back in Chicago and the Kage universe but #5 is not exactly on a par with the rest of the Marshals books. The first half of the book I wondered if it was such a good decision to focus on Eli this time. He was always portrayed as the womanizer and now he's some kind of demisexual? Of course he's clueless and it takes a lot of time to make the image change somehow understandable - in a very Mary Calmes kind of way. And Cel ... sorry, I can't remember him from the previous books but so I struggled a bit that Ms. Calmes wants me to believe that he was always there and inseparable from Eli. Maybe I have to read the other books again but all that back and forth, as nice as it was, took to much space which the mystery would have needed to really take off and can it be that Mary Calmes enjoyed some Lily Morton recently? Don't know why but her take on the ballet company could also easily be a collaboration ...

As a fan I can appreciate #5 but the other 4 are better.

[Aimee Nicole Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book felt like a cozy blanket and a fireplace. I have missed this group of wonderful men so much. I re-listen to the first four books frequently, so I was impressed by how seamlessly Balanced and Tied picked up where the original books left off. I loved the cameo appearances of the guys we’ve loved so much, and I laughed out loud when we finally learned what Jer was short for. The tone and feel of the book was familiar and safe but learning more about Eli and Celso was exciting and new. I found their relationship endearing and sweet. I bought the book without reading the blurb so I had no clue what the mystery was going to be, and again, I loved the combination of familiar feel and new content. I’d be happy to read about all these guys for many years.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really excited to find another book...finally...in a series that I had devoured when the first 4 came out. I thought when Miro and Ian married and everything seemed to have come together for the other couples, that sadly that was the end, and it was destined for many, many rereads. Then...I saw Balanced and Tied and ask "Mr. Amazon" to get it coming. I have to say that the first few chapters were a bit of a disappointment. Way. way too much idle chit chat that added nothing to the story except to let us know that all the past characters were still there alive and kicking. I really didn't care about the guy they were moving around from job to job in the office, or the fellow that obviously didn't understand what Witness Protection" was...and then I met Celso Harrington, (Cel... with a "hard K"). He was an absolutely perfect character for the story in every way...and Eli was so obviously the "ONE" for him even if Eli couldn't yet put words to his feelings. In spite of how rude, bossy and contrary he was, the character of Senan, the other principal dancer i the Chicago Ballet Company, was also a huge part of making the story different as well as interesting. I have found that I have a fairly long list of M/M Romance writers that I will buy almost sight unseen and Mary Calmes is diffidently one of them. I hope there is going to be a book #6 in Ms. Calmes' writing brain waiting to be "born"...maybe the guy they were moving around in the office could use a little love in his life. I know the one that didn't understand the meaning of Witness Protection could.

[❁Ila ☽20 pages to the wind☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was not going to be the kind of relationship that began with a boom of fireworks and passion and him hurling me down on a bed. It wasn’t going to be a summer blockbuster; it was going to be a slow-burn English arthouse film with verdant meadows and great scenery.

Mary has such a way with words. Too much, some would say😭

I have adored this series and the characters within since forever. I'm so thrilled Eli got his own book. In the previous books, all we really knew was the he was a handsome metrosexual and a wonderful friend. So it's been great getting to know more about him and now Celso. Of course, Ian and Miro making frequent appearances and being so involved had me smiling the entire time!! I loved seeing the friendship between all the guys💗...And the appearance of the infamous pea coat😏

However, this book was too damn long for no reason whatsoever. Mary's info dumps and the long drawn out explanations can be so tedious😪 I love her, and the way she does possessive, jealous and oblivious is fire but good damn does it take forever for the MCs to pull their heads out of their asses🙄

I would have loved for more Eli and Cel time as a romantic couple, but it sort of worked here since they were both dating and just didn't realize it yet😂😂😂 But that's classic Mary. Also, for such a long book, I NEEDED more spice😭

It was really good to hear that Mary is going to continue the series, so I can't wait to see who's next!!!

[Valerie ❈M/M Romance Junkie❈]

I am not enjoying this at all, and I can’t decide if it’s the book, the narration, or both. I enjoyed Scott R Smith’s narration of Breakaway, but his voice hasn’t worked for me in any other narration (I’m looking at you No Quick Fix 😒). Couple that with the fact that he’s reinventing voices for characters that have been voiced by Tristan James for years. I understand the reasoning behind a different narrator, but it’s not working for me at the moment.

I’m hoping I can come back to this and enjoy it (reading instead of listening).

It’s a sad day for this Mary fangirl..

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Celso and Eli’s story is fantastic! Great addition to this US Marshal series, and I adore the parts Ian et al made appearances, but especially Ian! I always wanted more of Ian in his and Miro’s stories, and the small snippets we got of him in here were excellent.
Celso - I didn’t know what to think of him - a ballet dancer? But he’s a wonderful, down to earth character who’s talented, self sufficient, vulnerable, and relatable. And he fits perfectly with stud Eli. Heart eyes all over the place for the friends-to-lovers, slow simmer these two went through. They’re beautiful together.
And of course with all these Marshals there’s some bad guys and action to liven things up ;)

[Georgie-who-is-Sarah-Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I once read a Mary Calmes I quite enjoyed. So I thought I'd read another to see if I enjoyed it as much. I didn't.

"The definition of a fool is someone who does the same thing over and over again expecting different results."

Cover art by Reese Dante.

[AliciaJ · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate to do it, but I just can’t pretend that this was a good book. There was no plot that I could see, waayyy too many “trips down memory lane”, and just no freaking chemistry between the characters. It was just boring. I could barely remember the characters names, they were just so blah. Huge disappointment.

[Jazer (catching up on TBRs) · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It’s something, knowing you have lions between you and the world. It’s all about balance, isn’t it? If you have a lion to protect you, you have to deal with the roaring now and then.”

[ML · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately this book was not good. It was better than taking an ambien. Snooze 😴 fest. Ugh.

Eli deserved a better book. His meet cute with Celso was just a stream of consciousness by the author. It was bizarre. Why was Eli so into the ballet??? Why did he follow Celso’s career so closely?? They were like pod people. Just materialized out of nowhere and were given very shallow backstories.
After Ian and Miro having such emotions for each other you’d think this author would take more thought into Eli and plot better. But nope.

It was dual POV and I’m like why did you do that for these two and not for Ian and Miro. What a wasted opportunity. Ugh. 😑😑😑

They did not even kiss until 78% in 🙄🙄🙄 their chemistry was off. It was just not great. The whole mob plot was also super stupid. I hope the next book in the series is better. 😫😫😫

[Atka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Może to nie Ian i Miro, którzy zawsze będą jedną z moich ulubionych par, ale fajnie było wrócić do tej serii i mam nadzieję, że jeszcze będą kolejne powroty... Takie bardzo mocne 4,5 :D

[Starr (AKA Starrfish) Rivers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really boring.

[Cadiva · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a departure

3.5*

I didn't realise this series was going to deviate from Ian & Miro and so, while I like Eli Kohn as a secondary character, I'm not sure there was enough in this book to rate it higher.

It drops a totally new character into place as Eli's "best friend" who we've never heard of prior to this story, which meant there's no chance for any build up

Celso is fine, he's inoffensive as a person, he's a ballet dancer, which seemed like an odd choice of profession to throw in the mix, but it mostly works.

There's very little plot in this one, it just meanders along with an obnoxious fellow dancer causing grief, while Cel pretends he's not in love with his best friend and Eli wonders why he's so possessive over him.

The rest of the planet can clearly see they've been "dating" since they met and it's also obvious that Eli's somewhere on the demisexual or aromantic one.

Cel's his person but it takes a while for him to wake up that loving his best friend might also be being in love with him too.

I found the main 'threat' element in this to be the weakness in the narrative. While it was possible, it just never really gets going enough to be interesting.

A shame really, I thought Eli's bisexual awakening would have been filled with more fireworks, that's on me though as I guess he's always been a fairly steady guy.

[Asia · Rating 5 out of 5]

a ja mam gdzieś, że to jest niby słabsze. nawet jeśli tak jest to i tak jak dodam gwiazdke za Iana i Mireczka i za wqrwionego, jak zawsze, Kage'a, to wyjdzie na to samo:D ja ich po prostu wszystkich uwielbiam. nic nie poradzisz jak coś uwielbiasz.

[Shonee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, this should not be part of the Marshals series. It (and the subsequent books) should have been its own spin-off series. This book is decent, but it needs to be said that the Marshals series ends at book 4.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

so silly old me didn't read the synopsis of book 5 so I was so confused at first and then disappointed becuase I wasn't done with my babies Ian & Miro and then salty becuase now we get dual POV !! What Grrr... Anyways this wasn't bad but I was kind of bored and the best part's involved Ian 😂

[Mica ♡Hopeless Deviant♤]

You guysssss look😮😮😮

[Ay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gave up 60%.

Lifeless.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book. Mary Calmes is an automatic buy for a reason, her formula just works for me.

[Gabrielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is heartbreaking for me to say but this book was very disappointing. It just rambles aimlessly and the characters have no chemistry.

[Shelba · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a time when Mary Calmes would release a book and I would drop everything to read it that same day. And yet here it is, 15 months after its release and I’m only just reading this book. And I don’t actually know that I ever would have if it weren’t for the 6th book coming out in a few days.

I believe it was 2018 when Calmes first mentioned doing Eli’s book. And was excited for it. She mentioned trying 3rd person, and Eli doing witness protection detail at the mayor’s request. Clearly neither of those things happened.

When I realized this was going to be dual POV, a) I was disappointed because I don’t care for dual POVs and I don’t think Calmes is particularly good at it, but b), this is book 5 in the series, she couldn’t have just kept with the same POV set up within the same series?!

And immediately, I was thinking this would have been sooooo much better if it was just from Celso’s POV.

In regard to Eli, I don’t know this Eli. He doesn’t seem to match up with who I saw throughout the rest of the series. Right from the very beginning when he is complaining about running in his suit because he shouldn’t have had to run… I’m sorry, was Eli not 1000x worse than Miro for prioritizing style over practicality?

As for the actual relationship, so much of that was off page. Because these two idiots are already dating and just don’t realize it. And we are told about how coupley they are together and how much time they spend on each other’s pocket, but I didn’t get to see that.

But I’m also just baffled on how they met. Why was Eli at a ballet party? Why was he following Celso’s career? And he isn’t just a fan of Celso’s stuff, because he was familiar with Lincoln’s work… so apparently he is a ballet fanboy? Even just a line explaining why he was at that party or why he was into ballet would have made this make so much sense. Having him be a guest of another dancer he was fucking would have made sense. But then I guess that would have ruined the “everyone thought you were dating back then” angle… even though it was a shit angle.

I think I could have gotten behind this more as a standalone, but it just didn’t work for me as a Marshals book. I can’t help but think this story wasn’t coming, but had been promised so long that maybe Eli was forced into a story he didn’t fit it.

So, I’m disappointed, and have my fingers crossed that our Vegas transplants don’t suffer a similar fate.

[Booker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to start by saying that Marshals is my absolute favorite Mary Calmes series. Miro and Ian are one of my all time favorite couples. I loved the audio version and I've listened to all of them many times. Tristan James was the perfect narrator for that series. Definitely a comfort read. But...

The Eli Kohn we know from the previous books in the series is quite unlike the Eli we meet in this book. Yes, he's a well-off, self-described metrosexual who looks like a GQ model and whose sartorial taste runs second only to Miro's. But in the previous books he is described as a guy who is quickly running through all the single women in Chicago with his one night stands. In this book, his voice was described as husky and low which was not at all how he was previously portrayed. We are never (that I recall) introduced to his male best friend and constant companion, Celso, the ballet dancer, in the previous books even though Cel says all of Eli's friends were also his friends, 'including Ian Doyle."

The story mirrors that of Miro and Ian's. Cel (pronounced like Kel) is madly in love with his best friend, Eli. Eli gradually develops more-than-best-friend-feelings for Cel even though Eli has never been attracted to a man in his life. It's a sweet, familiar, no angst, slow burn. One of the most enjoyable parts of the story were Ian Doyle's cameos. I can't remember if Miro made an on-page appearance. The mystery was okay, not great. (Is it bad that I missed our super villain, Craig Hartley??)

I'm giving this 3 stars and if Mary Calmes adds books to the Marshals series I'll definitely read them and hope they are as good as the first four.

[Tessi4M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nowhere near the level of angst of the previous books in this series. I still loved it. Eli and Celso were friends for quite a while before they realized they could be more. I liked how they made the transition very smoothly and just kind of went with the flow. On top of that they were both surrounded by some great friends and of course there were bad guys to keep things from going too sugary ;)

[Kerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to force myself to finish this. If books #1-4 hadn't been some of my favorites, I would have DNF'd, but I kept hoping this would get better. It didn't.

This book features a brand new couple, not my beloved Miro and Ian. Eli Kohn has shown up in the previous four books, but Celso Harrington, a ballet dancer, is new. Cel and Eli start as friends and remain just friends until about the 80% mark. Prior to that, the book is full of Cel and Eli's boring day to day life. I had no interest in Cel's drama at the Chicago Ballet Company. I also felt no chemistry between the men. I was really looking forward to this book, so I'm very disappointed.