1 – Strings Attached
Seventeen year-old Jeremy Tyler is about to enter a world he never dreamed of. When his alcoholic mother is forced into rehab, Jeremy moves from poverty in the slums to a cliff-top estate with his wealthy relatives. Believing he’s just landed in paradise, Jeremy tries to fit in with the upper-crust community of Ballena Beach. His gifted good looks and swimmer’s physique, combined with Aunt Katharine’s money, grant him tentative admission into the elite inner circle.
Soon, Jeremy is deep in privilege – but at what cost? His demanding relatives begin to dictate his every move, and his desire to “fit in” conflicts with his growing need for authenticity. He dates an exotic socialite – the girl he hopes will obliterate his growing attraction to men – until two boys, one a calculating swim champ and the other a rebellious ranching scion, execute their plans for the besieged Jeremy. Then a phone call identifies his late father’s murderer, while suggesting Jeremy will be next, and the web gets even more tangled at the posh beachside locale. Pulled in every direction, Jeremy makes a wish to become a ‘real man’, then seeks guidance from the one person he trusts – his family’s butler, who is an extraordinary man with a stunning secret identity.
Strings Attached is backed by a rich cast of characters – menacing villains, social-climbing teens, and ‘friends’ with ulterior motives. With a thread of the supernatural, and a murder-mystery woven within, this coming-of-age story reads like a cross between Brokeback Mountain and the hit TV show “Laguna Beach“. A page-turner that traverses boundaries of age, gender and sexual preference, Nolan suggests what truly binds people, and teasingly reveals how every major theme in the story – beauty, wealth, love, betrayal, lust, greed and temptation – has consequences, or ’strings’, attached.
2 – Double Bound
An exclusive resort is rising on a pristine Brazilian island: lavish suites, world class casinos, imaginative theme architecture. But most important is its elaborate security—it’s going to be the safest locale this side of the Pentagon.
Because of Katharine Tyler’s investment there, her nephew Jeremy journeys with his lover Carlo Martinez and former US Marine Arthur Blauefee to assess the resort’s progress. But for the young man and his companions, their visit proves to be anything but leisurely or safe—because when all seems well, the trio is swept into the clutches of a charming trickster, sensual temptation, kidnapping, murder, a mandate from the US State Department, and an unexpected double-cross, with Aunt Katharine playing puppet master before getting tangled in her own strings.
Although DOUBLE BOUND features the central characters from the award winning novel STRINGS ATTACHED, this is now Arthur’s story: his abuse-filled youth, his precarious years as a gay US Marine, then his treacherous journey to Brazil—where he is challenged to heroism, while agonizing between love and duty and his crippling personal demons.
DOUBLE BOUND—when turning away from the truth only winds tighter the restraints of greed, of unspoken longing, and of lives unfulfilled.
MANtastic Fiction 