The Ties That Bind Marta Tandori

The Ties That Bind by Marta Tandori
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the Prequel to:
                                                          
                                                   Too Little Too Late
*This story gives some background on Brooke Connelly and Dr. Eric Devane which will be important to the next book.

The first part of the story starts in 1998 Colorado City, AZ :  There is a hidden commune (The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or FLDS) with a Prophet as the leader, who enforces strict rules, with his God Squad and has lots of sister-wives.  Here we meet Chaz Longo and family.  Apparently, the commune has produced too many men and not enough women to go around. So the Prophet has been kicking out boys for any tiny infraction of the rules.. as what happens when Chaz and Casey go to St. George to get plastic baggies and canning jars..a simple task turning into a nightmare...

"Tommy Metcalf got kicked out for wearing a short-sleeved shirt,"Chaz reminded him (Casey, who was taking off his constricting undergarment).  "His family barely got to say goodbye before the God Squad dropped him off outside of Hurricane." "Just like an unwanted mutt," Casey remarked bitterly."

Chase gets caught and exiled, while Chaz in front of the prophet gets.. punished by the Prophet separating his family, and denouncing his father as worthless.

"Defy me and you will risk eternal damnation. Is that what you want for your family?" Chaz could only shake his head in shame. In his heart, he knew he had no choice -- none of them did once the Prophet made his decision.  Within days of his audience with the Prophet, Chaz's remaining eleven brothers and sisters, his mother and two sister-wives were reassigned to Oliver Hewitt, a 56-year-old man, well-respected with the FDLS.

Unfortunately Chaz found out that Oliver was impotent and wanted Chaz to impregnate his wives.. which could possibly be his mother at one time.  Chaz decides to leave before this happens and makes it to Salt Lake City.  He finds a home with Tony and Mellie Sinclair. On a errand he meets Pete Echlin who tells Chaz all about Vegas and his dreams of being a famous chef there. *Just as a side note I'm giving you some names of the characters because it's really important to the story which gets really really TWISTED*

We haven't even met the evil Darren Sonsini yet, in Las Vegas, where Chaz and Pete went.  Brooke Connelly used to be a showgirl in Vegas, and worked with Darren, so did Chaz, Pete and another guy Matt.

"Chaz immediately understood why Matt and the other boys worshiped the ground she walked on.  She was both guardian angel and sexy siren."

The boys started working for Darren's dirty side of business instead of the restaurant Renata.  Pete started running special errands and in 2003 Chaz ended up the manager of Darren's strip club the Desert Dune.  Carmen who worked at the club, became good friends with Chaz.  Pete stole money from the club so Chaz got fired and beat up even though he returned the money. The key to the locker with the money was taped to the awning on top of the trailer that Pete and Chaz once shared, the key said 2YY.
Chaz later partnered up with Rina to open a Porn Studio, and used Carmen in their Gonzosmax videos.  Gonzosmax with Carmen was a smash hit, but Darren wasn't happy..or Rina

"Carmen told me you and some other guy pissed off some mobster years ago and he had you run out of town." Her eyes bore into his. "Is that true?"

 Rina when pregnant was scheming and wasn't who she used to be which was best friends with Carolyn, Eric Devane's daughter.

2011 Los Angeles, California.. Brooke Connelly... Another escapee from Colorado City.  She had a soft spot for the boys who were getting kicked out.  Brooke created a safe haven for the boys, as well as working to set them up with jobs when she was with Darren. Now at 32 she was manager of Elegance, a high class restaurant and bar.   Brooke had a troubled history as well and Clint Stabler had saved her when she needed it the most.  He was also her boss and lover. Brooke also had a boyfriend named Dr. Eric Devane, who was a reproduction specialist. Eric's first wife Claire Ziegler died and left a daughter Carolyn.  Mary Anne Hollister was one of his clients, she wanted a baby at any cost and would dangle a golden carrot of money over Eric....  kind of how Clint dangled carrots over Brooke as well. (Told ya it gets twisted...)  Mary Anne gets Cancer and then wants the baby terminated.. which is not an easy thing to do.
There is murder, brutality, stealing, bribing, and all kinds of wicked games going on!
Brooke is the most tangled up in the whole mess, from Colorado City to Las Vegas to California, with all the characters from Darren to Chaz to Eric and Clint.
It's strange how Brooke seems to be in the center of the mess and moves on to the next book with only Eric, Carolyn, and the mysterious baby from Mary Anne Hollister.  This book is awesome, and filled with so many twists and turns.. deviousness, lies and secrets.  No one in this book is innocent.  I absolutely could not stop reading it.   I can see now how little details in this story reach out into the rest of the books, it's really cool how intricate these books are woven.  I could not stop reading once I picked this up.  I suggest not reading "Forbidden and just reading in this order:

                 The Ties That Bind, Too Little Too Late, No Hard Feelings
                                                 on Amazon




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