Bound Books in Order

The Bound series is Shandi Boyes's adult, BDSM-leaning romance about Cleo Garcia and Marcus, also known through the series' dominance-and-secrecy setup. It begins with Chains, where Cleo is a struggling journalist assigned to investigate a powerful businessman. Her professional curiosity pulls her into a world she does not fully understand yet.

The central tension is simple but loaded: Cleo wants the truth, and Marcus is used to control. That clash drives Chains, Links, Bound, and Restrain. Each book pushes their relationship deeper while also raising questions about trust, consent, secrets, and what happens when desire is mixed with a story someone was never supposed to get close to.

It is a mature series.

Unlike Boyes's mafia books, the danger here is less about crime families and more about power, vulnerability, and hidden lives. The box set description frames the world as dominance, secrecy, and intrigue, and that is a fair guide. Readers should expect explicit adult content, BDSM elements, and emotional complications around control.

Cleo is important because she is not just a passive newcomer. She has a job to do, questions to ask, and her own sense of loyalty. Marcus may be dominant, wealthy, and guarded, but the series works because Cleo keeps pushing against easy answers. The romance is built through friction, not instant comfort.

The Bound books also connect to Boyes's wider catalog. Characters and later stories, including The Misfits and Nanny Dispute, sit near this world in the author's reading order. If you like romance where trust has to be earned slowly and where the couple's private dynamic is tied to public risk, this is the series to read in order.