A Matter of Time Vol. 2 by Mary Calmes

3 STARS

A Matter of Time - Books 3 & 4

*sigh* I so wanted to like this/these books better than I did. I wanted it/them to be better than the first volume that I read and reviewed. But I didn't. And they weren't. And I am sad. 

Again, so many of my favorites have loved the story of Jory and Sam, I wanted to be among them. The thing is, I don't get the point. It's the same story as in Volumes 1 & 2. There is no pacing; the story was all over the place. The mystery seemed cobbled together at times and really? The whole police department is THAT slow on the uptake? And I thought it would never end. 

I actually loved Jory, even though as a character he's quite over the top - he saved the book(s) for me. Super Jory! He and many of the secondary characters. I wanted to love Sam too, but I felt that I didn't really get to know him. Either that or he really was quite one dimensional. I don't know, all in all, I think the ideas were good, the actual writing was very good, the characters were, for the most part, fairly good, but the whole 4 volume series just felt... scattered and jumbled to me. It's like everything is supplied to make a terrific read, but it's been put together wrong. So yeah, I was disappointed. 

I also would have put everything together in one hefty-sized book; I think it would have helped the continuity a whole lot. That being said, I will read more Mary Calmes and hopefully the plotting/story-telling shortfalls I found in this tale won't be evident in other works of hers. I do like her way with words and how she crafts with them. Oh, and yes, STOP PUTTING EVERYBODY'S HANDS ON THE BACK OF JORY'S NECK!! IT'S REPETITIVE BEYOND BELIEF! (Okay, I feel better having got that off my chest. *LOL*)

A Matter of Time Vol. 1 - by Mary Calmes

3 STARS

A Matter of Time - Books 1 & 2

Oh man, I was SO primed to love this book (these books?). It got some great reviews from authors and readers whose opinions I totally respect and I had read great word of mouth in the m/m romance group, but, in the end, I was disappointed. (And I find myself wondering if we're just so glad to have readable m/m romance books readily available these days that we tend to go easy on them?)

So, why did it disappoint me? 

Well, first off, Volume 2 seemed to me to be an emotional rehash of Volume 1. Jory is going along happily in his life, there is some upheaval but he keeps his positive outlook, he meets up with Sam, there is hot sex, good things happen in Jory's life aside from Sam, they seem to affirm their relationship, there is a crisis, they split up. And there are horrible cliffhangers that leave you with absolutely NO closure at all if you've come to love Jory, the MC. 

And Jory is lovable! Totally! Maybe a little too much so at times? I found his chemistry much better with the secondary characters of both books - the friends, family and co-workers - than with either Sam (the romantic interest) or Dane (the um... other big interest?). I did quite enjoy his quirkiness, however... I found myself thinking, about halfway through Volume 2, that Jory must be a bit of an idiot for the things he does - and especially when he meets up with Dom at the apartment - but then I remembered WAY BACK to the beginning of Volume 1 where Jory describes his 'tuning out' of conversations. I think that should have been made more clear throughout both books. 

After two books of this series, I still don't know WHY Jory loves Sam so much. Or why Sam loves Jory so much. They can't keep their hands off each other, that's obvious, but, there has to be more than that for a romance to work for the reader, I think. Where does Sam's possessiveness come from? Why is he SO different when he's with Jory from when he's without - so much so that his family is all so very cool with discovering that he's gay after all these years? To be honest, I wasn't very fond of him with Jory either. Hopefully he'll become more simpatico for me in the next volume - of two books.

And then there's Dane Harcourt. What the hell is the deal with this dude? I don't understand his obsession with Jory. And it does come across as very much of an obsession to me. For the longest time, I thought it was going to be revealed that Dane was actually in love with Jory and was waiting for the boy to grow up, to experience life and then they could meet on a level playing field, I guess. This relationship, which is very important in the books, puzzles the hell out of me. I don't get it.

And dear Lord, if someone puts their hand on the back of Jory's neck again, I might just scream! Every scene, it seemed, with some sort of intimacy between Jory and a male character had the male character putting his hand on the back of Jory's neck. It got very old after a while. (Oh, and Sam's mom? Totally Richard Castle's mom and I LOVED HER!)

It sounds like I didn't like the book, but I honestly did! It was a good read and the sex scenes were very, very hot. And there was a plot and subplots - they just were mostly a little iffy in my opinion. So now I've got to go and buy A Matter of Time Vol 2 (Books 3 and 4) so I can find out how else this relationship is going to screw itself, maybe figure out what the hell is up with Dane and if Jory's going to make it to 25. And sadly, it's more that I have to get it because I'm annoyed at the way this book left me and hope there's some redemption to come than because I want more of the story and characters because I loved them.