#AMatterofTime_Series

[anew-books-blog]

A Matter of Time - Volume 2 ::: by Mary Calmes

My dear Anewers!

I think it is time for the sequel of A Matter of Time Series. Here we go again in a journey with Jory Harcourt and Samuel Thomas Kage. Let’s hope things get better between these two.

Let’s cut to what matters? Synposis and starting info:

“Books Three and Four Vol. 2

Three years ago, Jory Harcourt changed his name and shut the door on a past full of pain, only to emerge stronger on the other side. He has a new career, a great working partner, and a satisfying life—except for the hole in his chest left behind when police Detective Sam Kage walked out with his heart.

Now Sam's back and he knows what he wants... and what he wants is Jory. Jory, who doesn't know if he can survive another break up or losing Sam to his dangerous job, resists returning to the arms of the only man he has ever truly loved. But when a serial killer with a score to settle targets Jory, he will have to decide if love is worth the danger as he tries to solve the case and keep Sam safe.

Title:  A Matter of Time Volume 2 (Books 3 and 4)

Author: Mary Calmes

Year: 2011

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Language: English

Pages: 298

Reading time: 3 days

Format: e-book (Kindle)

Date of Purchase: 28/07/2013 at amazon.com

LINKS: Amazon (US) Dreamspinner Press

Again, this volume has two books in sequence.

I - Cover: (1)

The only thing i will say about the cover is: Who the hell is depicted at the cover? Jory? Nah... Sam? If it is, please don't... Erase this image from my brain please! Sam is like Chris Hemsworth easily for me... So please... Just don't.

II - PoV: (4.5)

BOOK 3: Now she nailed it! The third stallment of A Matter of Time was sublime! Fast paced when needed, slowed down right on time. Not much dwelve on repeat scenes that just happened. PERFECT! Jory’s mind each time more and more twisted and interesting.

BOOK 4: Well... I will not repeat myself. Amazing. (lol), but the narrative sometimes gets a bit fuzzy, confusing.

III - Protagonists: (4.875) - HEAVY SPOILER ALERT!

Jory Harcourt: (Book 3 e 4) He was resilient about being back where all things began. Sam was out of his life completely for 3 whole years or so, and of course, who in the name of God would be, in good shape, after loosing the one person that holds your heart in his hand and then (even well justified) trashed it? Not a soul, i bet. So the reaction that Jory had about being around with Sam again was totally justified, i would personally do things a bit differente, but hey! That's Jory, not Alex.

Sam Kage: (Book 3 e 4) That persistent sonofabitch. He's adorable and perfect about the way he crumbles little-by-little the resistance of Jory. Stubborn, but both are. And his family mauling him and Jory after the definitive reunion... awesome... but let's not talk about them, the focus here is SAM. Hot as ever, still the man of anyone's dreams. I just didn't enjoyed him at all at the last chapter of book 4, if i was Jory, i would've let him alone and went home.

IV - Antagonists: (4.5) 

(Book 3): There's no antagonists at this book, i could place Aaron Sutter like it, but it wouldn't be fair to the man.

(Book 4): Caleb Reid: I can't mention him in his full feature now, because the HUGE SPOILER is coming on twists section... all i can say is this. This character is full of surprises, awesome and awful surprises. It would be interesting to read more about him messing with Jory and Sam’s life in the future.

V - Side Characters: (5)

(Book 3): General speaking... All perfect as always. I am madly inlove with Dylan Greer and her husband. The Kage's are something unreal. I miss a lot of Dane and his wife Aja. Aaron Sutter is something! Like a refined Sam Kage, but way out of Jory's league. Having nothing else to add... PERFECT.

(Book 4): Dane is back, like ACID back... He just mauled Sam's ass to submission for being back at Jory's life again. It was really awesome!

VI - Hot Scenes: (4.75)

(Book 3): There's only two hot scenes about Jory and Sam. And... WOW! The first one, the getting back sex was ASTONISHING-BREATHTAKING-AROUSING-EXCITING-SUBLIME-HOT.AS.HELL-PERFECT! Being mauled against a door, it got me right at the spot!... I can't comment any longer without pausing to take a cold shower...

(Book 4): Not so many scenes like that, and the ones that happened were as great as always, but getting too fast, should be a little bit more detailed.

VII - Story: (4.5)

(Book 3): The story is shortened as the Sam pushing real hard to get Jory's back... Or as his father said: "Hey, dipshit, when do you get your boy back?" Plain and simple, with some sidetracks: the marriage of Dane at the beginning, the pregnancy and birth of the first child of Jory's partner and BFF Dylan, the reencounter of Jory and Aaron, and two or three bad dates of Jory. No crime, no pursuit, no shots fired, or house busted, or kidnapping, torture... so on... just the plans of Sam to get Jory back. Funny and sweet. Unmisseable.

(Book 4): Despite the perfectness of book 3, book 4 starts doing a full back to books 1 and 2... and back and forth memory lane, BUT this time it was right. At least Mary Calmes doesn't lost too many time (or lines) re-explaining things... Thing is, if you never read Books 1, 2 and 3... you will be filled Crash-Course-Style everything in 3 chapters, and i meant it: EVERYTHING.

On this book, we already have the all cops-investigating-thing back again. Turns out that, the Brian Minor's case wasn't the real deal after all... but a serial killer matter, and, as you might think, "Jory is at the center of it" (well, not really), or so they thought. No more spoilers here...

This time Jory left Sam (same situation of Book 2, but in reverse) to investigate himself what's going on. And... well... read and see. It was interesting, and well developed,... BUT there's a huge ass flaw: Why the hell the police or the FBI didn't traced Jory's cellphone position to find where the fuck he was? Only when you take off the battery tracing is impossible. Moving on...

Jory's Batman-Mode is interesting, but... tiresome. Mary Calmes build this up for far too long, that i caught myself skipping some lines and paragraphs, meaning that i had to went back several times to catch up. It transited easily and fastly from interesting to boring.

But in the end, was really good, as a Hitchcock's Psycho gay version.

VIII - Plot Twists: (4) 

(Book 3): No twists in here. The story was way too forthcoming as predicted. And its not bad, actually it is awesome, no room for continuity mistakes.

(Book 4): HUGE SPOILER NEEDED! BE WARNED: The twists here are almost every single one in Jory's mind, and especially at the end when he was doing the Batman-Investigating-thing. Confused twists, first the one to Caleb Reid as the responsible for the murders, after that shifts to his mother Susan with a very poor excuse. Then Jory assumed that Sam thinks about he's being a danger for himself and the society?! Really??? Then Jory, unexplicably, tells he's wrong, Susan Reid is innocent. WHAAAAAT??? How so? The Caleb Reid hid inside the closet, really?! And the police didn't find him there? Really??? Searching 1-0-1: look under beds, furniture, inside armoires, furniture and CLOSETS!!! And Surprise-surprise! Caleb Reid has MPD! Multiple Personality Disorder. REEEEALYYYY!!!!!????? How Psycho is this?! Originality was forgotten or forsaken or forbidden? Hahaha, jokes apart: i loved it! However... the dialog between Jory and Caleb in Susan's shoes was AWESOME! Short and direct. I felt the horror Jory felt. This alone saved the entire sequence of unrealistic, unlikely, illogical, unclear and highly implausible events.

IX - Ending: (4.5)

(Book 3): HAPPY ENDING! I JUST LOVE HAPPY ENDINGS!!! So cute! And it gave you the feeling that there's room for more (a lot more). I love it! Simple as that.

(Book 4): So... Considerations on this ending... Interesting thing is, i would rather read about the full Jory/Sam wedding at Canada, some party after and they coming back to US happily ever after. This would be the crown jewel for me. BUT - in the interest of surprising people - Mary Calmes didn't do it. Disappointing? Definately yes. Bad? No.

Sam's brother, Michael's wedding with a blasting-catholic chick was the touch, but then again, i would rather see Jory this time standing his ground and obliterating that bitch over pulling out Sam and kiss the life outta him, than sucking it up and got all jealous in silence. So not Jory, even in Michael's best interest. I wouldn't toletare such thing, but then again it is me, not Jory. To avoid this i would not be at the reception, i would just be at the wedding, at the most far away bench and accept that everyone or suffer the consequences.

I would not consider this a real perfect happy ending, it was a happy ending, but with a catch. I didn't enjoy it that much. Pity.

X - Pace: (4.5)

(Book 3): Since this book has no twists (not that i can recall) tempo was right. Could be a little bit longer, but i'm not complaining at all. Perfect timing as i said at the beginning of this review.

(Book 4): This book has ups and downs. Some scenes i simply skipped, too long or visiting extensively down memory lane. Even so, not tiresome. The book have a good pace. In comparison with book 3, this one could be shorter, like WAY shorter. Too many unnecessary twists.

XI - Re-reading Factor: (5)

(Books 3 and 4): Well, this was the 8th time that i read the entire series, so... You all know what i mean by that, right?

XII - Recommendation: (5)

(Books 3 and 4): Do i really need to answer to that?

XIII - EXTRA POINTS: (+2.5)

- Bonus points:

   . Gorgeous characters, and absolutely my type;

   . Should have a TV or Silver-screen adaptation;

   . Perfect HOT Scene (wow, just wow... did i mentioned that i want Samuel Thomas Kage in my bed right fucking now?!)

- Penalties:

   . None.

Average: 4.34 of 5 (from I to XII)

Final grade (applying bonus points): 6.84 of 10

Well, a little improvement from the previous volume. Although my review on book 4 was a bit harsh, the story is really interesting, just gets confusing and tiresome at a few points.

Anyway, Mary Calmes still delivers great stories about Jory and Sam. I would mention a few things here about this series, but let’s mention only after the review of the last book, ok?

x-o-x-o

AlexM

NEXT REVIEW: “Pale as a Ghost” by Stephen Osborne.

[anew-books-blog]

A Matter of Time - Volume 1 ::: by Mary Calmes

Hiya Anewers!

I am going to begin with the very first book that i’ve read about M/M romance, and that was a perfect startup! Well, let’s go with it, right? (I am too anxious to know what you will tell me about this review. Begining with the synopsis and some start info:

“Books One and Two - Vol. 1

Jory Keyes leads a normal life as an architect’s assistant until he is witness to a brutal murder. Though initially saved by police Detective Sam Kage, Jory refuses protective custody—he has a life he loves that he won’t give up no matter who is after him. But Jory’s life is in real jeopardy, especially after he agrees to testify about what he saw.

While dealing with attempts on his life, well-meaning friends who want to see him happy, an overly protective boss, and a slowly unfolding mystery that is much more sinister than he could ever imagine, the young gay man finds himself getting involved with Sam, the conflicted and closeted detective. And though Jory may survive the danger, he may not survive a broken heart.”

Title:  A Matter of Time Volume 1 (Books 1 and 2)

Author: Mary Calmes

Year: 2011

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Language: English

Pages: 280

Reading time: 6 days

Format: e-book (Kindle)

Date of Purchase: 27/07/2013 at amazon.com

LINKS: Amazon (US) Dreamspinner Press

Yes, this volume has two books in sequence. And that, my anewers, was great, since the books are too damn short, in my opinion.

I - Cover: (2)

The cover is nice, but honestly, i would do better. Jory Keyes is depicted here as a hustler (to say the least - ok, it’s not far from how the author describe him, but even so...), the city at the background give an aura of Law & Order: SVU. It's so cliché. This could be a lot more different and less obvious.

Why the hell not depict Sam Kage at the cover too?

II - Point of View (POV): (4.5)

I never read anything in first person perspective before this one, it simply doesn't catch me, this was my first book like this... And i loved it! Mary Calmes was really inside Jory's head, sometimes gave glimpses about other characters through expressions and Jory's observation. Amazing. Total bliss everytime i read this book. (This was my 5th time reading this book)

III - Protagonists: (4.5)

Jory Keyes (Book 1)/Harcourt (Book 2) - The main guy. And yes, the very same person. He is a mix of frail around his lover, but a force of nature at the same time. Reckless, clumsy, irresponsible, crazy... But totally relatable.

He was abbandoned by his mother after birth, was raised by his grandmother until his 10s, then went to foster care. Afterwards, went to Chicago to try his luck. End up working for a huge-ass-famous architectural office, with a boss who can work only with him.

Lucky in life, maybe... but in love... he is the typical stereotype of a gay one-night-stander. When he mets Sam Kage, something clicks inside him, but fear of letting go and being hurt made him run out of it every time... I will say no more for now.

Samuel Thomas Kage, or just, Sam Kage - I must say this once and for all: I WANT HIM IN MY BED, IN MY LIFE (Sorry, hubby... but i can't hide it anymore - LOL). This man is too damn perfect to be true.

Strong, simple, straight to the point... and closeted. This is Sam. He struggles about love a man and please everyone else. I relate to him a lot, since i was in the closet until i was 23. But this is not about me.

Sam is a vice detective, who loves his profession, have problems with his temper and when met Jory and his heart kicks for him, Jory has the unexplainable ability to ground him, to draw the very best of him...

IV - Antagonists: (3)

Brian Minor: (Book 1) He is a classic thug. The one who is conceited and connected with some middle rank people. He shots a guy and is witnessed by Jory at the very beginning, and since then all of it unfolds. He appears little in the story, thing is, the story is told under Jory's POV, so obviously we wouldn't know much about him, wich is understandable. He's not appealing and definately not important for the story about Jory and Kage, he is just a plain motive to keep they both tied together.

Dominic Kairov: (Book 2) One thing bothered me about this guy. He's so close to Sam - since he was his partner at CPD - and the way he turned against him was almost unfair, but we must place this story at the real life timeline. when it's written being gay was a huge deal, especially within typical "macho"-jobs. He flipped, but the fact is he saw in that an opportunity to be off the grid again. It was nice, how come a vice detective could afford a luxurious home? He was involved with the mob, plain and simple. Mary Calmes took more time to develop this one, and... even bothering me... he was really good.

An observation is needed: I think, in the end, the real antagonist of this is the one and only Jory. He sabotages himself a lot.. Read it and you will understand what i am talking about.

V - Side Characters: (5)

Dane Harcourt: Boss, Former boss and adoptive brother of Jory. Icy is his middle name, but when he let Jory in his life, things change drastically, he have a warm and tender heart, but this side he shows only to J.

Seriously, one of the very best secondary roles that i've ever read in a book, many will not agree with me, but i don't care. I love Dane, i love the way he relate to Jory and how deep their connection goes.

Two damaged persons, but with the feelling that they are soulmates in another level, the brotherhood level. It is sweet how the author constructed their evolution from boss-employee to family.

To Jory is a fairy tale in the making...

Dylan Greer: Loud, manic, frantic, clumsy, hot headed and big hearted. BFF, partner in crime of J. The kind of friend you want to have around always - if you can manage to reach out for her.

The perfect partner to Jory by far!

VI - Hot Scenes: (5)

The first night between Jory and Sam is outstanding. Jory imagining Sam somehow insecure about being with him, but what happened was complete the opposite. He was completely aware and sure about being with him. I believed that every single person in the world wants something like at some point in life. I was breathless at the end of if. Imagining how's it going to be to have a hot-rock-hard-immense-muscular-diry-blond-sweaty-piece-of-perfection-man with his thigh over mine and his arms around my waist. Mary Calmes, you are mean! (in a good and HOT way, of course)

VII - The Story: (4.2)

In the beginning i was worried about being a cliché story, but even these kind of stories have their values. A Matter of Time Book 1 brings you to the universe of a gay cliché one-night-stand-guy who falls for a typical straight-strong-mindless-rock-hard-gorgeous-cop. BUT how it is develop is something else entirely, since it's told by the main character: Jory Keyes and his twisted view of things. It is delightful.

Actually, both books are. Book 2 goes even further. Jory was struggling about quitting his party night days to be with someone for good... having only 23 yeas old. It's not common to see a young one wanting it... and because of it i relate to it A LOT. I was 24 when i met my husband, the difference is i was never a party-one-night-stand-guy. Like i said before, this is not about me...

Book 2 show us how they finally get together... and... well... i already gave you lot's of spoilers, i will not give you the biggest one, i will just say that i am fortunate to not have read this book on it's launching and had to wait for the book 3... I was royally pissed (in a good way).

Most of this review is written like books 1 and 2 was only one, because i felt it that way. One story, divided into 2 books.

VIII - Plot Twists: (4.5)

There's enough twists in both books. But always related to Jory's behaviour. Only 2 twists aren't his fault, the ones that draws Kage back to the cop-protective-mode activated.

Good twists, but not great. For me, the only thing that really mattered at the story was how the hell Jory and Sam would end up together, and that's why i was royally pissed at the end of book 2. Again, i will say no more.

IX - Ending: (4)

I didn't see the end of book 1 as an end. It was a plain hook to book 2, and so book 2 to 3. BUT...

The end of book 1 was interesting, believeable, and somehow not unexpected as it seemed.

But the end of book 2 gave me rage rampages against Mary Calmes! I hated it, but i really understand that it was a PERFECT hook for a third story. That's why, even hating the guts of Sam Kage for what he did to Jory, i can understand why he did it. (Even didn't understanding how police regiments and laws in US works).

X - Timing: (5)

BOOK 1 has perfect timing to tell the tale. Fast paced when needed, slow paced when needed. Perfect. Following Jory's mind is challenging and super-fun.

But Book 2... Well, Mary Calmes used the memory lane too often, and sometimes right after the very scene happened, like a mexican soup opera. It was not very appealing and i caught myself skipping those small paragraphs because i've just read it. It doesn't give you the will to stop reading it, but it is totally unnecessary. Re-telling what happened in book 1 or in the very beginning of book 2 is a good thing to do, but do it at the next scene is an exaggeration.

XI - Re-reading Factor: (5)

I will only say this: Haven't i mentioned that this was the 5th time i read this book?

Well, actually it was my 8th. What do you think then? (LOL)

XII - Recommendation: (5)

Since i was reading it for the 8th time, i guess it is a must read.

Note that you can be a different impression about this story, and this is my very personal opinion about this. So, read it and take your conclusions.

XIII - EXTRA POINTS: (+2.5)

- Bonus points:

   . Gorgeous characters, and absolutely my type;

   . Happy ending or perfect hook for the next book;

   . Perfect scenes, that took my attention;

   . Should have a TV or Silver-screen adaptation;

   . Story with a rook so Strong that makes me wants more and more...;

   . Perfect HOT Scene (wow, just wow... did i mentioned that i want Samuel Thomas Kage in my bed right fucking now?!)

- Penalties:

   . None.

Average: 4.30 of 5 (from I to XII)

Final grade (applying bonus points): 6.80 of 10

What do you think about this review? Give your impression on comments below and don’t forget to check back often, ok?

x-o-x-o

AlexM

NEXT REVIEW: “Just Drive” by L.A. Witt