Tied to Life

by Vee Debras

He has the keys to save her…and me.

When I get the news that my cat Melody is dying, I know there’s nothing I can do but watch her suffer…
Until one night I wake up to a hand reaching for me from inside a tomb.
Oliver St. James should not be alive, but he is here and begging me to get him out of the mausoleum that’s been his prison for the past twenty years.
I will—with one condition: he has to tell me how he came back to life.
The problem is that he doesn’t remember what happened to him, and his family has put their millions behind keeping it a secret.
Press-backed lies, bought silence, NDAs.
All to pretend their heir never existed.
The more time I spend with nerdy, charming Oliver, the less I understand what he could’ve done for his family to hate him like they did.
And the more pieces of the puzzle I find, the more scared I get of the price I will have to pay to save Melody.

Tied to Life is an MM monster romance with a trans main character, a couple of nerds falling in love, lots of angst, and bad science. Though best enjoyed as the third book in the Monsters of Brimrey Island series, it can be read as a standalone and has a HEA. Check out the rest of the series for more queer characters finding love in this small town on a haunted island.

Unknown Binding

Expected publication March 27, 2026

About the author

Vee Debras (they/them) grew up in an isolated, creaky-floored house in the mountains. They spent their childhood staring at a dark corner of their tiny room, terrified that the demon lurking there would try to possess them.
In an unexpected turn of events, they became a queer monster romance writer.
Vee is obsessed with love and community, so of course hurt/comfort is their favorite flavor of story—life will hurt you, but the people who love you have your back.
When not going tap tap tap on their keyboard, you can find Vee enjoying a horror movie or the latest seasonal anime. Or maybe gazing out to sea while listening to Hozier (and crying about it, probably).
Join their newsletter at veedebras.com to be kept up to date with news, discounts, the writing process, and more. You'll also receive a free novelette featuring a nonbinary main character and a biblically accurate angel.

Reviews

[Albafika]

ARC review

First of all: No, I'm not going to tell you if the cat makes it. As far as I see it, if you know whether Melody survives or not beforehand, you will miss out on the point of the novel. And trust me, this is a novel of which you don't want to miss anything. This is also the reason why I'm going to try my best to write a spoiler-free review, since even the smallest thing I could say about the book could be a spoiler that might ruin your experience, and Tied to Life is definitely better enjoyed when the only thing you know about it is that one guy is trans and the other one is headless. Not that different from any other queer love story if you ask me.

Okay, so let's begin. Do you believe that sometimes books fall into your hands exactly when you need them to? Like, you didn't even know it but you needed to hear what a specific book had to say and it heals something inside you that you might not have been aware of? Well, this is what happened to me with Tied to Life.

What is Tied to Life about? It's about grief, loss, the acceptance of death. But, first and foremost, it's about life and its changeability, its fleetingness, its unfairness, its ugliness, its beauty. This is essentially a book about getting a second chance and learning to appreciate all the aspects of life you didn't always like, but also that not everyone might make it and you must accept it and live with it or it will kill you from the inside.

I have a complicated relationship with grief. I've seen my mother be destroyed by grief before, the way it paralyzed her life for years. And that may be the reason why I'm reluctant to accept grief into my life –the person I used to be, the future me I fought to be but never was, the people who left whose ghosts still haunt me. I refuse to grieve anyone or anything, because I don't want the pain to destroy like it destroyed my mom.

And then, while I was reading this book, my grandma got sick. Very sick. I thought I was ready to lose her, after all, I'd lost the rest of my grandparents and felt nothing more than a brief sting of sadness during the funerals. I was never close to anyone in my family but I reconnected with my grandma a few years ago and she's been a constant presence in my life ever since. Then she got sick and I wasn't there because I was too tired and frustrated with my job to go visit her, and I know she's not going to make it but I can't accept it.

I felt like Cherry seeing Melody get worse every day and not doing anything about it because he's too tired, too frustrated, too scared. Melody's life is slipping out of Cherry's hands and there's nothing he can do because every life must have a beginning and an end, but if he accepts it, he has nothing left, so he has to fight, he must defy death. Joining Cherry as he comes to terms with death, loss, grief and life itself has been one of the most cathartic experiences I've ever had. It made me feel less lonely in my own journey, like I didn't have to shoulder everything on my own because Cherry was there with me. It was comforting, like a warm hug, and it made me finish the book with a big smile on my face and a heart full of hope.

Oh, yeah, and the romance. This is a love story even if I forget it most of the time. I mean, I was so immersed in the mystery of what happened to Oliver that the first kiss actually took me by surprise. I had genuinely forgotten this was a romance.

Cherry and Oliver's dynamic is just perfect. Cherry is a terrified and violent chihuahua that yearns for the love and acceptance he's never had (and he's not even aware that he longs for them), while Oliver is a charming nerd with internalized homophobia and a firm yet gentle hand. And touchstarved, they're both touchstarved. It's a killing combination, and their love story develops in such a natural way. They're made for each other, so it's not really surprising, but it's funny considering how unnatural Oliver's severed head is. It was impossible for them not to fall in love, as it was for me not to fall in love with both of them.

Okay, let's lighten the mood with some of my reactions out of context! (You can see I suck at finishing reviews.)

"Juniper should put Dusk and Rae in a leash."

"Oh, so they're ragebaiter x ragebaiter."

"This has the same energy as Anthony Bridgerton saying he is a gentleman. We have a new Anthony Bridgerton, romanticism is so back."

"I feel motherly love for a headless zombie."

"Everyone, meet Oliver, the people's princess."

[Jake Vanguard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two guys who compete which one gave the people around a harder time by *checks notes* existing - all while caring for a terminally ill cat. Tied to Life in a nutshell.

You were born. [...] You dared to exist.

If you've read Vee Debras' previous books (if you haven't yet, go, do it!), you'll know that mental health and trauma are always big topics. Tied to Life isn't any different. Both Oliver and Cherry have trauma related to family and their queerness. They're two sides of the same coin, and it's beautifully written how they hold up a mirror for the other. How they're starting to actually live, together.

There's lots of transmedical bigotry ingrained in Cherry, aside from many more problems, and it was beautiful to see Oliver slowly unwrap him (literally even). Even when I wanted to shake Cherry by the shoulders many many times. Healing takes time, and that's extremely clear in Tied to Life. We also get a good look at what happens when fidgeting is constantly punished and turns into the worst version of itself - hurting yourself as not to annoy others.

Of course there's also the possibilities of having a decapitated head, which made for some interesting spicy scenes. Giving a whole new meaning to "giving head" hehe.
Oliver's excitement about insects, and their little secrets and games are incredibly sweet. There's a lot of moments that are just full of love between Oliver and Cherry, and I'll cherish those moments.

I desperately hope for another book, especially considering the ending. I'll devour any book in the Monsters of Brimrey Island series - and love meeting previous characters again from a different POV, like Dusk, Rae and June.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the way these characters love each other!

I am blown away. I have gotten every book in his series ever since I first read the prequel novella and fell in love with Vee's writing. Every. Single. Book. has been even better than the last.

I adore these characters. I wept at their pain and rejoiced in their triumphs. I love how they love each other and support each other through rough times (including some harsh truths that need to be said, sometimes you have to rebreak the bone to set it right). They love each other fully, all the messy, triggered, trauma-scarred pieces included, and that is absolutely beautiful to me.

I also really appreciate that Vee has included an (easily-skipped) spoiler about whether the cat is alright. I did skip the spoiler, and I recommend skipping it if you can, but it was reassuring to know that the author is aware of how triggering animal-related trauma can be for readers.

It has been a long time since a book has moved me this much. I laughed, I cried buckets, I wanted to crawl into the book and fight everyone who had ever given these guys a rough time. I also cursed everything that took me away from it during the day and stayed up into the wee hours to finish it.

I truly do not have the words to recommend this book enough. It will break your heart and heal it better than it was before. Do yourself a favor: grab a hankie, hold your fur baby tight, and dive in.

(I was given a free ARC copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are mine.)

[ds321 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is SUCH a good book.

I’ve tried hard to avoid spoilers or even anything spoiler-adjacent. Because discovering everything I discovered while reading was… well, it contributed to my devouring the book as quickly as life’s unavoidable obligations permitted.

Nate Cherry… a tangle of self-loathing and anxiety (and other stuff that I’ll let you discover on your own. If you read this. Which you should).

Oliver… complicated in ways I really did not expect. And headless. (Not a spoiler - see the book cover.)

Getting to know these characters was very different for each - no idea how the author managed it, but it was incredibly well done.

Many large and small parts of this story hurt my heart, but it was not a sad read. A lot of visceral reactions and rooting for people.

In the category of “f***ed up, but in a good way,” that first sex scene was probably the most f*ed up sex scene I’ve ever read. Vee Debras is hella talented (pun intended). (That pun assumes you’ve read Tied to Hell. Which you should, if you haven’t.)

The approach throughout their interactions to Oliver’s unique physical functions and limitations, how they both adapt (or somehow don’t need to adapt) is amazing.

The only thing that makes me unhappy about Tied to Life is that I have to wait for the next book. Gimme gimme gimme! (If you’ve read R. Cooper’s “Treasure for Treasure,” imagine Zarrin’s grabby hands gesture.) 🩵🩷🤍🩷🩵