Review: Wow!  A very dark read!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 25, 2013
Great debut novel, Tabitha McGowan!!I had to sit and digest a bit before coming to a conclusion as to whether I liked this book or not. Then I had to tell myself, my rating isn't exclusively on if I LIKED the story, but how well it was written. Well, the writing was superb. It's written by a British author and in England so I was, once again, marveled at all the British-isms. In fact, a lot of the terms or slang spoken, I had zero clue what they meant. That's always an experience- learning that even though we share a language, the meaning and slang is totally different.The story- I really struggle to find an appropriate word for it. On the heels of a very dark read, I am very hesitant to call it simply a dark read. It wasn't necessarily dark as much as UGLY. The villains in this book were straight up monsters. This is what made me struggle to like the story. In fact, there was very little goodness at all. I'm a seasoned reader of those things BDSM, or darker books that bring forth the not so nice side of the human spirit.....this book made me cringe in parts. At the risk of bringing "other books" into a review, my idea of dark or strong BDSM scenes that borderline on a love/hate for me are Dark Duet and Original Sinners (The Prince, specifically). That being said, I still LOVED those books. I think because under all the s*** was a fair share of goodness....of love. But this book didn't put much out there for me to grasp as goodness. In fact, one scene about 75% in, I almost stopped the book completely. Let it be known that Tied Man is riddled with non-consensual sex, drug abuse, extreme violence, vulgarity, and everything horrifyingly evil.The bulk of the evil comes from Lady Blaine Albermarle. Blaine owns a private retreat on a secluded island in England. She caters to the extreme sexual fantasies of those who can afford such luxury. Unfortunately the scenes are aided by the "use" of Finn, a 24 year old Irish man who is essentially her captive. He's there as a slave and has no chance of escape due to her threats to kill his two sisters in Dublin. She's got direct links to his sisters- one call, they're dead. He won't make it to the mainland. He's tried once, and the failure cost him. The things they did to this man..... (bile enters my throat). I ached for this poor guy. He only survives this life of captivity by living in a prison cell in the cellar and being constantly doped up on drugs. Even though I felt horrible for him, the constant state of drug use and smoking made him a more empathetic character than sexually attractive.Enter Lilith, a famous artist in Spain who is forced to go to the island "retreat" as a payment for her dead-beat dad's lack of payment. She's to paint an erotic picture of the lady of the manor, Blaine. I liked Lilli. She had a spunk to her, an "in your face" nobody controls me attitude. It didn't take long for Blaine to take all that away. When Lilli gets an eyeful of what's done in the manor, and specifically done to Finn, she is devoted to finding a way to protect him. Even if its by entertaining his "clients" for a bit so he isn't brutalized quite so long. But she's got to find a way to get both of them out of there. But with no internet or phones, and being in an island away from all things legal, it makes it difficult. Blaine is a master at using information to blackmail and manipulate everything within her world.So, the reason I didn't rate the book higher is not because of the violence and sheer ugliness of the storyline.... I was just disappointed we didn't get more romantic pull of Finn and Lili together. I know there's feelings there but I think the author could've delved more into "them" as an entity. There was just so much going against them, it would've been nice to get a better baseline as to why they'd do anything to get out of there to be together. Obviously this is not a romance whatsoever. The word love isn't in the book once, I don't believe. They're committed to getting out and the author tells you they want each other, I just didn't FEEL it.So go forth...but consider yourself warned. I've never read a more violent, abusive, "ugly" book.......nothing against the actual book, however.... the subject matter was that.