3.5 Stars

You know what?? Mary Calmes has a formula. It is consistent, it is expected, and I don't think I fully appreciated it until now. But I get it. I embrace it.

So this is a perfect example of what many of my peeps call "Calmes crack".

Take one popular, beautiful and coveted gay man. Add in a supposed straight, tough alpha. Mix and shake and toss and you've got a sexy, over the top, ridiculous romance that just works. Every time.
( )

I bought this immediately after reading the free e-sample, because it made me laugh and I could see Stefan was hiding much of himself. First person allows a plot that otherwise wouldn't work. I wanted to see what he was hiding. I read it without stopping except to eat.

Then I thought about it for a little while, and then I read some of the other reviews. Some of the less-glowy ones made me laugh; you either like a first person character or you don't. That's why I read these samples. :)

Stefan is a "pretty gay guy" stereotype for a reason. His way with people as the charmer/fixer serves his needs. His initial and progressing reactions to Rand are hilarious. There's quite a lot of Rand-swooning in the reviews, but I'm more interested in their reactions to each other. We only "see" Stefan in how others react to and interact with him. What he thinks and how he's reacted to don't always match up. You could breeze through this story if you wanted to, (some reviewers apparently did), and ignore the deeper implications, but it's much more fun if you spend a moment taking in what is going on under his surface. The reasons are not laid out, they're mentioned. He doesn't dwell.

I'm not sure yet if I'll continue with the next book. Probably. The cover is a heck of an improvement over the this one's. Not that we should judge by that... ;) ( )

I don't have too much to say about this one because I was just bored and this just wasn't what I was expecting.

The summary of this book made it seem like this would be more of a romantic thriller when it really wasn't. The murder in the summary doesn't happen until chapter 9 in this 12 chapter book. I really didn't like the love interest. He does some genuinely bad things and I didn't think he made up to it. The relationship develops out of nothing and I didn't believe it. The author does the really annoying thing where every single character in this book loves Stefan. I hate this sort of characterization and it's always annoying to read. None of the high action moments felt very thrilling to me. I was just really bored the whole way through and found the relationship to be very unsatisfactory. ( )

I really enjoyed this book. The reviews made me a little nervous because I loved [b:A Matter of Time|7090484|A Matter of Time (#1)|Mary Calmes|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1257198839s/7090484.jpg|7346614] and Jory. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't think Stef was a lot like Jory. I loved Stefan. He was witty, funny, and sweet. Almost too perfect. I wish I had a best friend like him. I like him and Rand together. Glad they both woke up. ( )

I really loved this book, it's extremely well written and fun to read. Unfortunately, for me personally there was not enough conflict through the most of the book. Top it with big time drama-queen (as in "girl-cooties" drama-queen) and it's 3.5 stars from me. ( )