Tied is book 2 in Carian Cole’s All Torn Up series. The first book in this series, Torn, is one of my all-time favs. So I was so happy that this book really worked for me too!

This is a very emotional, trauma-filled read. Both the hero and heroine have had awful things happen in their pasts and have a lot to overcome. Their journey together was really well done and so beautiful. It’s slow and tender and just really sweet. This book has an age gap, the hero Tyler is 12 years older than Holly. I enjoyed Holly’s relationship with her brother and his girlfriend and Holly & Tyler’s love for dogs.

Holly was kidnapped when she was 5-years-old and was held captive (being tortured and abused) for 11 years. She escapes and while running/hiding in the woods is when Tyler finds her. He becomes her rescuer but they don’t actually meet again until 2 years later. I really liked the time apart because Holly obviously had a lot to work through and get used to, she spends time at a care home and goes to therapy. Tyler also had something horrible happen in his past, he was pushed into a bonfire as a teenager and badly burned. From the burns and skin grafts he is badly scarred and has become a recluse living on his own in the woods outside of town. After the burning incident, Tyler also heavily abused drugs and alcohol and ended up crashing his motorcycle, which lead to him damaging his vocal chords and having a hard time talking. So these 2 characters have been through SO much when they do meet up and start forming their friendship.

This is a very, very slow romance and it definitely felt right down this way for what these 2 characters were going through. They definitely feel meant to be though and I loved the sweet happiness they find together.