Tyed by L.J. Shen (California Love #1)
New Adult
Released: June 1, 2015
Self Published
Reviewed by Helyce
Favorite Quote: “I’m so out of my depth here. The sport, the blood, the men…the Ty. I’m not even sure how he drilled himself into my head, but I’ll probably outgrow our encounter within the next couple of days. It looks like Brain and Hormones are in for a fight. Just as long as Heart stays out of the ring.”
Blaire is a college student, about two months away from graduation. She attended college because it was expected of her, but she has absolutely no clue what she will do once she graduates. A bit of a disappointment to her parents when compared to her very successful supermodel twin sister, Blair finds herself questioning everything as graduation nears. A final assignment for her journalism class, with a subject that she knows nothing about will challenge her and in the end, may just give her some answers.
Tyler “Ty” Wilder is an up and coming MMA fighter for the Xtreme Warrior League. If his success continues, he’ll likely be the next Welterweight Champion. But his rise to the top has come at a huge price, and he’s not proud of some of his choices. Ty is very popular with women and takes advantage at every opportunity, until he meets Blaire and wants to do everything he can to make her his.
I admit the MMA connection in the blurb had a lot to do with my taking a chance on this book. I’m not a huge fan of this sport, but my son has been doing jiu jitsu for about two years now and we’ve watched a lot of fights with him. Of course, nearly naked men in tight shorts, with awesome often tattooed bodies are not a hardship to look at. Mix with that, a kind of nerdy girl who seemed to be in the shadow of a more popular, more attractive twin sister along with Blaire’s BFF Shane and we’ve got all kinds of possibilities.
I really enjoyed Blaire. Her smart mouth and take no shit attitude worked really well with her character. I loved that she worked hard to try to pay her own way as much as she could so as not to continually disappoint her parents. And like a lot of college aged kids she has no clue about what she wants to do with her life and having to come up with some kind of decision about it is a monumental challenge she is just not up to. Her BFF Shane, is her sounding board. They’ve been friends for a very long time. Shane was a bit of a wildcard for me at one point. While his motives seemed pure and he appeared to only have Blaire’s safety in mind, some of his actions seemed to come from jealousy. In the end this issue is dealt with and explained.
Ty was interesting and unique. It was clear that he came up from a horrible childhood and you could see his struggle with staying in the now, and not letting old habits come back to haunt him. But Ty does have a pretty big secret. It is initially revealed in such a way that it could easily have been a rumor, made up to cause trouble for Ty. But when it’s revealed as truth, it crumbles the fragile new relationship that Ty and Blaire had. While the issue is huge and could have hurt Ty in multiple ways, it’s all dealt with a bit too easily and there are no real negative consequences for Ty in relation to his fighting career. This put me off a little bit, but with the continued focus on the romance of Ty and Blaire I found it easy to ignore.
I liked Ty and Blair, but the story fell a bit short with the too often used “he said, she said” meme and the failure of our protagonists to communicate directly. Our H/H are 23 and 26 years old. I’m not sure what age group is considered new adult but this story had a definite young and sometimes immature feel to it in spite of Ty being 26. A bit predictable where the conflict and resolution were concerned with a bit of a time jump of several months near the end where the reader has to assume the H/H are on a time out of sorts before an HEA is revealed.
I believe this is Shen’s debut book and I’m glad that I took a chance on it. I liked Ty and Blaire and the opposites attract vibe that is loosely used. I read romance because I want that HEA and I liked the role Blaire plays in helping Ty to redeem himself and want to be a better person. If Shen writes Shane and Izzy’s book, I’d read it!
Rating: C
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