BOOK REVIEW ~ WESTERN TIES: COMPASS BROTHERS BY MARI CARR AND JAYNE RYLON

Title: Western Ties  (Compass Brothers, Book Four)

Author: Mari Carr & Jayne Rylon

Release Date: March 6, 2012

Autographed paperback received from author

How strong are the ties that bind?

Leah Hollister’s sex life needs a swift kick in the pants. Small-town Compton Pass, though, isn’t the place to explore her need for bondage. When she gets an invitation to a BDSM party out in LA, she wastes no time booking a flight. Her plan to play anonymously is shot to hell when she runs into high-school crush Sawyer Compton—and he lays immediate claim to her.

Sawyer Compton commands total control, in and out of the bedroom. He never thought Leah could handle his darker urges, but one look at the white bracelet that marks her as a sub ripe for the picking, and he knows exactly how this night is going to end. With Leah in his bed.

Leah didn’t expect to enjoy the comfort Sawyer’s familiarity brings, even as his touch takes her to unimaginable heights of pleasure. When bad news from home sends him reeling, she’s more than prepared to offer him anything he needs: her body, her friendship. Even her heart—if Sawyer can loosen the reins over his own to accept her love.

Warning: Invest in tissues. Lots and lots of tissues. Between spicy, set-the-sheets-on-fire bondage romps and the last Compass brother coming home, you'll need them.

Book Review

I am trying to recover from a sob fest after reading Western Ties. Besides being an extremely hot erotic read, Western Ties sucker punches you in your core.  

Sawyer and Leah are a passionate couple, no doubt. Sawyer has always known his sexual tastes have been on the bit on the extreme side. He needs that control, that dominance, over his lovers and knows how to bring a woman begging for release. When he finds his old friend, Leah, at a BDSM party in LA, his dominant side wins out--He will have her. There is simply no other choice. 

Leah has always felt something had been missing with her sex life. Despite dating a few losers in the past, the big "O" remained  elusive. Her mind has always been busy taking over during sex, leaving her unfulfilled. When she hears about a weekend play party from a friend, she takes a flight out to LA, hoping to find a man to give her what she's been missing. Instead, she finds Sawyer, her friend from her home town and the man she secretly crushed on as a teen. 

One night of explosive sex leaves Sawyer wanting more. He doesn't want their connection to end, but feels he has nothing else to offer Leah except sex. But when Sawyer learns that his father is dying, everything changes as they both return to Compton Pass. 

Now back to how Western Ties hits you where you feel it:

The entire Compton family is faced with the looming death of their father, J.D. A man who is admired by the entire town. A man who loved fiercely, lived with no regrets, and raised his sons to be great men. When J.D. succumbs to pancreatic cancer, the family reach out to each other to remember the good times, to support each other--and ultimately, to heal. 

There is a delicate balance of smoldering sexual connection between Leah and Sawyer and a true friendship. I believe in order to have an everlasting kind of love, you need to truly care and like the person  you are with. Rylon and Carr show this throughout the book, giving the reader more than just smoking hot sexy times. 

Both Sawyer and Leah grew up together and developed a friendship over time. They have always been close, but just took different paths in their lives. That chance meeting in L.A. has them reconnecting and discovering things about the other they never knew.

Sawyer comes to realize that the woman he has needed in his life has always been there hiding in the shadows. He sees the girl he always thought as different as someone he cannot live without. He just doesn't think he can be the man that Leah needs.

Leah embraces her sexual nature and freedom she never experienced with past lovers, but realizes that she needs more from Sawyer. A perfect balance of lust and love, sex and friendship, commitment and constancy. Can Sawyer be the man she needs? 

I love how these two individuals come together, inside and outside the bedroom. Rylon and Carr do a superb job of making Western Ties a complex, yet fulfilling story with all the bells and whistles: romance, family ties, loss and grief.

I highly advise a box or four of Kleenex handy as you read this emotionally charged read. You'll need it.