Pre-release Review: Parting Shot by Mary Calmes

Reviewed by Susan Lee

TITLE: Parting Shot (Book #7)
SERIES: A Matter of Time
AUTHOR: Mary Calmes
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 264 pages
BLURB: Life has never been easy for Duncan Stiel. His childhood was the stuff of nightmares, and his day job as an undercover police officer forces him to hide his true self and occasionally lands him in the hospital. So when he finally meets the perfect man, it comes as no surprise that everything falls apart around him. What Duncan doesn’t expect is that the hardest hurdle to get over before he can make a life with Aaron Sutter is the one inside himself.

Everyone thinks Aaron has it all—looks, money, fame, and success beyond measure. Everyone, that is, except Aaron. At the end of the day, the cameras stop flashing, friends go back to their own lives, company business is handled, and Aaron is always alone. The moment he meets Duncan Stiel, Aaron knows he’ll do anything to hold onto the larger-than-life detective. But when he realizes money won’t buy him the ultimate happiness, Aaron needs to find the strength to give Duncan something much more important—his heart.

REVIEW:

I don’t know that anyone would describe Mary Calmes books as plot-driven. I mean, in all honesty, you read MC for the formula. And when the formula is there, her fans enjoy her book. And when she strays, well, the results can be disastrous.

Parting Shot is book 7 of the Matter of Time series…the formula-maker series…the original Jory & Sam. But, this story is actually a spin-off and the couple consists of Aaron Sutter, Jory’s former billionaire suiter, and Duncan Stiles, who, quite frankly, I don’t really remember from previous books…but, another closeted cop. I, in all honesty, did NOT like Aaron in the past. I thought he was a jerk and basically wanted him to get out of the way of our power couple. So, I was hesitant to read this.

And though being part of the MoT series, this book does NOT stick to the exact formula. *gasp*! This can NOT possibly go well.

…but…

I LOVED IT!

Ok, ok…I didn’t love the PLOT…it was ALL over the place and the story was a stretch, even by MC standards. What I DID love was this COUPLE! And brace yourselves: this is NOT Jory&Sam v2.0. Aaron and Duncan are 2 alphas (well, kinda…in their own ways), 2 tops (usually…first time for everything…switch!), 2 strong-willed, stubborn men (both closeted at the beginning of their relationship as well)…who turn to putty and mush in the other’s company. It’s kind of the SWEETEST thing ever!!!!

They are needy and insecure and co-dependent and whiney with each other…and I ate that sh*t up! It’s insta-obsession/love, it’s totally over-the-top, and it’s HOT and ADORBS and I want more of them!!!!!

There is a Sam Kage sighting early on in the book (happpppyyyy!) and many references to Jory throughout (duh…Jory is the topic of everyone’s conversations and the center of everyone’s universes, donthaknow!) And it was just good to get some more of our power couple. (There is also a heart-settling scene for me where Sam explains his past “relationship” with Doctor Kevin Dwyer to Duncan. I needed this.)

There are “mine”-declarations and eyebrow waggles (though I don’t recall a peacoat ) so you KNOW it’s MC. And there is definitely bend-you-in-half sex throughout…good stuff.

This book could possibly work as a stand-alone…but quite frankly, it will be the fans of MC and more specifically, the fans of the MoT series that will enjoy this the most. I don’t know I can recommend it to anyone because I’m not sure why I liked it so much myself! I just know…well, I did. And I’m always happy to get a little Calmes’ fix every now and again…Queen-o-Fluff very rarely lets me down.

Susan’s Rating:

PRE-ORDER LINK: Dreamspinner Store

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Susan Lee is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.

To read all her reviews, click the link: SUSAN’S REVIEWS
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Book Review: Heart of the Race by Mary Calmes

Reviewed by Danielle

TITLE: Heart of the Race
AUTHOR: Mary Calmes
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
BLURB: Varro Dacien spends his life riding toward the next adventure. Brian Christie, his best friend and touchstone, the one person who’s always truly seen him, plays sidekick on these madcap adventures and subsequent trips to the hospital until he can’t take it anymore. While Brian can see Varro, Varro has never caught on that he’s breaking his best friend’s heart.

Without Varro, Brian builds himself a life that’s all about just getting by, doing his best to ignore the hole in his heart and his life. Without Brian to balance him, Varro pushes harder and takes more risks to reach that ultimate high. His job racing high-octane bikes on suicide-level courses makes it easy to get that rush… until it’s no longer enough and Varro realizes it’s not the race, but who’s waiting at the finish line that truly matters. Now he just has to convince Brian to be there.

REVIEW:

Where you are a bit confused in the beginning, where you wonder what is going on, you understand where it comes from when you get involved in this fabulous story.

You walk the story with Brian – a young man whose life started out as a foster kid getting to live with a real family because of certain circumstances that I don’t want to expose.

You discover the feeling of love that Brian has for his family especially the love he has for his “brother” Varro a motorcycle racer in heart, body and soul. I lived his story about loving from a distance, seeing the love of your life acting playboy, finding the border of dangers and still felt the special bond between them. I am not going to tell you more about how their story goes or how it evolves because it is so worth reading.

If I should enter a personal note, I would mention Miss Mary Calmes is for me the Queen in this genre. But I think that even when you like a writer you need to be objective. For me this story has it all. It has drama, character, hurt and love & bonding.

The only objection I find here is that I would have wished it was a novel instead of a short story for the “Make a Play” anthology for which it was written for. So, in the end you are left with wanting more and expanding on what went on.

Coming to that conclusion I’d give it 4.5 stars and a recommendation to read.

Danielle’s Rating:

BUY LINK: Dreamspinner Press  ::  Book Store 

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Danielle is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.

To read all her reviews, click the link: DANIELLE’S REVIEWS
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Pre-Release Review: Still by Mary Calmes

Review by Elizabetta

TITLE: Still

AUTHOR: Mary Calmes

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

BLURB: What happens when two men who have been together for seventeen years fall out of love? Sivan Cruz, a set director in San Francisco, and Walter Wainwright, a big shot Bay Area lawyer, find out the hard way. Walter loves Sivan with all his heart but rarely talks about it, and Sivan needs to hear the words. The language of the love they have shared for so long, that has enabled them to build a life together and raise two children, stops working. They become—still.

When Sivan asks for a divorce, Walter doesn’t know how to say no. They separate, but while Sivan sees the relationship as over, Walter sees only a temporary setback. He has never lost his passion for Sivan and decides he has to say something before he ends up loving his husband in silence for the rest of his life.

REVIEW:

Still opens with Walter and Sivan at a crucial point in their seventeen year relationship. As told from Sivan’s POV, their marriage has fallen apart, it’s just not working for him anymore. He and Walter have raised two kids, pursued two busy careers, and have somewhere along the way, lost that kindling spark. The luster has worn off; they’ve come to a ‘stillness’. For Sivan, they are just going-through-the-moves and he’s tired of being taken for granted, shunted to the side. It’s an easily relatable conundrum — how to thwart time and routine, how to keep that initial spark alive in a committed long-term relationship.

          “Life is less about time and more about patterns … familiar interactions with people … you stop, realizing you’re doing things because of comfort and convenience, not because you’re in love. In that moment, you look across the room at the person in it up to their eyeballs with you, throw up your hands, and call it what it is … the end.”

It’s not just about that though. So much of it is about Walter and his aggressive, alpha persona. He’s a brilliant, ambitious San Francisco attorney and he is relentless in pursuing a high-powered career that allows him to provide well for his family. These same qualities eventually alienate Sivan… he wants to be ‘seen’ again, but it’s too late, there’ve been too many fights and too little meeting of the minds. He’s weary of being the ‘fixer’ in this relationship.

After the initial chapter, the story moves back in time for a bit as we get a glimpse of Sivan and Walter’s early relationship. This is where Calmes’ story-telling really shines. She is a master of that early seduction. So splendiferously romantic and sensual, she spins out the cat and mouse pursuit and falling together of two people who simply Must. Have. Each. Other. These two guys who, in the beginning, aren’t even terribly fond of each other (in fact, they have two years of butting heads, exchanging barbs, circling round and round) until suddenly, in a moment of kismet, they ‘see’ the other.

          “… I had to think, and it was hard with him running his thumb over my lips, pressing his knee between my thighs, parting them… I knew his smile, the soft exhale of nervous breath, and the hungry clutch of his hands … I felt drugged, ravished, and there was only him with his heart beating in time with mine, his hands all over me and the heat rolling off him. Everything else went quiet, like it did whenever I was in Walter’s arms.”

The first few chapters of the story are by themselves, well worth the price of the book. Sivan and Walter can’t get enough of each other; parched, they’ve have found the oasis in the desert. Their passion is thick and palpable and the lust fairly wafts off the page. Hold on, we are in danger of serious Kindle meltdown here. Now, back to the present…

Walter: big, ripped, confident, alpha-male, knows what he wants and he wants Sivan. Finally, facing divorce, he still and always will want Sivan. We feel for him, he is lost without his love. Sivan, charismatic and brilliant artist, does not make it easy; he’s captivating, he’s a bit of a brat, sharp witted and acerbic. What unfolds is Walter’s patient scheming to get him back, seemingly against all odds… oh, but there is something very sexy about a tough, take-charge man, used to winning, who must now pull together all his wits to win back his lover. Can he win this one too?

What we don’t get much of in Still is the middle part of the relationship — the building of a life together. We are left with the two ends: the passionate joining, and the split. The author is clearly more interested in the dynamic of the break-up and the tension it builds, and there is nothing overly dark or heavy here. Readers familiar with Mary Calmes’ previous work may see a similarity in these characters to those in Change of Heart. That story of alpha-shifter Logan, and his reluctant mate, Jin, remains one of my favorite PNR romances. There, again, we have a fated love and unremitting wooing and pursuit. The connection between Walter and Sivan recalls something of that earlier book. Once more, this formula works well for Calmes — you can’t help but fall in love with her characters, they have an undeniable chemistry.

While I found the writing in Still much tighter and more focused, I would have liked more story around the beginning of the relationship, and the story ending felt a bit rushed. Yet, I must give kudos to this author for representing sexy-over-40 so very well — we don’t often get M/M romances about the ‘after’ of ‘happily ever after’. Ms. Calmes has succeeded again in winning me over with her wicked talent for seduction and romance as I add another of her books to my favorites shelf.

Elizabetta’s Rating:

BUY LINK: Dreamspinner Press

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Elizabetta is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love
=====================================================

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