Matter of Time: Vol. 1

Two stars for finishing this book. Very shallow and superficial. The characters were not very likable, very one dimensional and undeveloped. The first 30% of the story, Sam finds Jory in clubs, they go eat, he drives him home and repeat, and repeat. What was the purpose in that? Minimal dialogue, answering question with a question, one word answers. It became repetitive and tiring. Ugh, I'm disappointed. And no resolution at the end.... Grrr.

Perhaps soap opera is the best way to describe this- the world is populated only by people who know each other and they see each other almost daily, no matter where they live or what their occupation is, and everyone is at least good-looking, if not downright hot.

So the bad- It was killing me that Jory ran into people the way he did everywhere he went. I've never lived there, so I can't say from experience, but I thought Chicago was bigger than that. I don't see my neighbors out in their yards half as much as he saw the same exes over and over.

When I picked up the first book in the series, I too had difficulties with the uneven writing. I also was irritated that Jory drifted off in his thoughts in a way that made it obvious to everyone. You can think that much without having your other functions shut down. Also, the way the author would give a quick sysopsis of what had occurred in the previous "book" gave me the feeling this was written online first as a WIP and I was feeling a little ripped off. So now it sounds like I am complaining about the series, but I am definitely NOT.

Despite all those annoying things, I ended up loving the first book and having to quickly purchase the 2nd volume (and then the third when it came out- yay!). None of those people could ever be real, but that's what made it so great a read. Who hasn't had the fantasy (at least as a teenager- come on)of being desired in some way by everyone in the room (and of course they are all good looking and rich, dammmit!)Although at some point in the third book Jory's psychology of what good looking is is explained, so you have to understand you are totally in Jory's mind. Think of it as living in rose colored glasses.

Anyway, it's fun, with loony escapades, hot m/m interaction and the kind of dialogue and relationships no woman would stand reading about if it happened between a woman and a man, but I am a full on fan of this series and many of the author's other books.

No, it's not a perfect read, but it IS a really, really good one.

The series was recommended to me as one not weighed down by pointless relationship angst. They lied! I stuck with it through Book 2, where once again Sam vows he’s over his issues and once again bolts. I liked the banter, and from reading blurbs I guess Sam and Jory eventually figure it out, but I no longer care.

Jory Keyes is just trying to help his best friend Anna, when he stumbles into a dangerous and deadly situation. Jory is running for his life when he runs straight into detective Sam Kage. Sam is annoyed with Jory right from the start. Jory ruined his investigation, and he won't lay low, but Sam's attraction to Jory is what frustrates Sam the most. Sam has to keep Jory safe while keeping his hands off of him. That may be easier said than done, though.

First times are always special (and hot) and I do love a guy's first time with another guy, especially when a tough and macho, professed straight guy like Sam falls for an uber-sexy out-and-proud guy like Jory. Their relationship is hot and erotic, and meaningful and poignant, too. I love Sam and Jory together. They are such a great fit. Although they want it to be, it's never just sex between them. Sam's careful, well-hidden attraction to Jory is evident right off. There is no denying that what's between them is elemental and inevitable. As complicated and bound to be problematic a relationship between Sam and Jory will be, their coming together is also a beautiful thing. A Matter of Time 1 is erotic and fantastic. Its intense, emotional cliffhanger ending left me no choice but to start book two the second I finished this one!

Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I haven't noticed very many reviews mentioning how horrible women are portrayed in this book. They have no lives other than to instantly fall in love and lust after alpha males or fawn over the gay man at the center of the story. Vapid does not begin to describe the author's female characters. Just because you are writing an m/m gay romance shouldn't mean that the women in the story need to turn into brainless, sycophantic idiots that only have lust on their minds. To be fair, the author's penchant for this insult did span all ages of women. So even the (still attractive -- imagine that!) 60-year old woman falls like a 'silly teenage girl' for the allegedly straight boss of the all-male firm. I realize this was written a few years ago. But 2011 is not 1950 and woman can be more than secretaries or receptionists.

I've come to several mild epiphanies reading this book.
1. I don't seem to be on the same page with large portions of people buying romance novels. This one (along with it's sequels and several other Mary Calmes books) are rated really highly and even on some best of gay romance lists and honestly find that baffling. I have so many issues with the few books I read from her but especially this one. Which leads me to my second epiphany.

2. My tolerances for complete jerks is pretty low. At bare minimum it has to start with them being jerky and then have a redemption. The bigger the hole the bigger the redemption better be. And really for a redemption to get to me it usually has to be from that characters point of view. So I can understand why he's doing the things he's doing. And that the other characters call him on it or there are consequences for it. For instance, the one set of Andrew Grey novels I really like is the By Fire series. Dirk is a complete jerk (I apologize for the overuse apparently any other word doesn't meet the store standards) in the beginning. To Lee. To everyone. He's completely alienated his entire station. But Lee calls him on it over and over and eventually he becomes likable guy, not perfect by any means but you can see why Lee kept giving him a chance. Speaking of which.....

3. My tolerances for doormats is really low too apparently. Hey I'm all for a few bossy sex scenes. As long as both parties are into it. Woohoo. And I even like a bit of possessiveness (not PC I know but whatever) but someone saying "I can't stand the thought of someone else touching you. I want you to be mine-exclusively"and then both parties agreeing on that. Is much different than DEMANDING that someone will do this or won't do that because they're "MINE!". Many times Sam, or hell even Dane, were telling Jory what he would or wouldn't do. And while Jory didn't always listen and admittedly wasn't cowed by it (so perhaps doormat isn't the right word) it was still came off as borderline verbal abuse in the form of control. Jory would often give up control or go along with things that he didn't want to do as long as he was on good terms with Sam at the moment. And he KEPT trusting Sam to not hurt him and he KEPT getting hurt. I just kept wanting him to wake up and kick Sam to the curb. Or at least make him spend more than a few minutes proving he's changed before Jory took him back.

4. (This one is not so much an epiphany as a long coming rant). Being in love or trusting a person does not mean you can't get an STD! Heterosexual or homosexual. In several of Calmes' books she has done this. Condoms are great but they are not 100% effective. And let's face it, if you're willing not to use one with someone you JUST started seeing than chances are you've made at least one not-smart, drunken decision in the past. Even if both characters were mostly chaste their is still a risk but at least it's a lot lower. But her characters talk about all the random hookups they've had. AND RECENTLY. Just throw me a bone and say "I always wear condoms, but I was just tested and I get tested regularly and I'll get tested again in 6 months just to be sure." It's like one line of dialogue. Even true love does not protect you from syphilis.

5. I don't like the characters even indirectly condoning infidelity. (okay I've known this one for a while but still). SPOILER. Sam's sister is cheating with her husband's best friend. I don't need her to be completely vilified but I do need for more than Jory's saying how sorry he feels for them both and how hard it must be on them. And then later the author makes it more okay by having the husband be already cheating. So he's fine with it. Which seems completely unrealistic, especially since it's with his best friend. And they're all sitting up comforting her because the guy she was cheating with refuses to leave his wife. She's was too much the tragic victim for my taste. Again maybe if we'd "seen" some of this unfold she would have come off more sympathetically (though I doubt it) but honestly I'm just as glad Calmes didn't because ...

6. I really dislike more than half the book being about characters and relationships that have nothing to do with main story. At least in romances. If it's just a story about Jory and his different relationships or his life than fine. I probably wouldn't buy it because I'm not really into that type of story, even when they are much better written than romances typically are (sorry but it's true I have a much higher standard for non-romances). I rarely even read autobiographies unless it's someone like NPH who I adore. But a romance to me should be almost entirely about the 2 people getting together. Yes there can be other people to add realism and flavor or to show you something about one of the 2 characters. But FOR ME then should be realistic snippets of people who are there to support the main story. It's fantastic when side characters lives don't just seem to revolve around the main characters BUT as far as I'm concern pretty much everything not concerning the main characters should take place "off-screen" or be fairly short. But I know WAY too much about Nick, Sam's sister, Dane's client's family, Dane's birth family, Dane's relationship with women etc. There was A LOT about Dane. I mean A LOT... A LOT. I actually liked Dane and Jory together 10x better than I liked Jory and Sam. Yes, Dane could be a d-head but he never REALLY treated Jory badly, even if he was a little controlling-which still didn't seem nearly as bad since it was mostly work related and he was Jory's boss. But he also helped Jory to his own detriment, just because he cared about him. Their relationship was so cute at the beginning of the book that I actually had to go back and see if I'm misread the blurb. But since it WASN'T about them I was constantly confused as to why I was spending SO much time on their relationship and his feeling for Dane. If Jory had actually been in love with Dane and had to come to recognize his feelings for Dane as brotherly love rather than romantic in order to have a relationship with Dane than the amount of time spent on them would have made sense. But towards the end I was thinking SERIOUSLY we have yet another scene about them. Or Nick. Please no more about Nick-who came off as a doormat for Jory. I can not tell you how sick I was of Nick.

7. I really don't like perfect characters who EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, loves or at least lusts after. No matter how amazing and talented the person there is always someone who can't stand them (in this book that was only the villains). It started really well. Jory was funny and showing us some low levels faults. I thought we were getting a glimpse of vulnerabilities to come but -nope. He proceeds to win over everyone. He tells us he always wins over everyone in the office. Including the unwinnable Dane. And every gay guy he comes across wants him(and at least one thinks-he's-straight-until-he-meets-Jory one). And ones that have slept with him just want him more because SO good in bed. And all the women (at least the non-b ones) immediately adore him or he wins them over very quickly. And Dane is the same way, smart success women stalk him as the gay guys do Jory. It becomes ridiculous fairly quickly. And I guess as a matter of taste I have a tendencies to be drawn to someone who at least a little bit of an outsider. Jory didn't have real vulnerabilities that I could see. And it was off-putting after a while.

8. I don't like cliffhangers in romances. At least not like this one. It's so frustrating that despite all the extra storylines I have to read a whole other full-length book to find out what happens. I'm assuming that's why so many of these useless storylines, in addition to the main one, are not finished. So I have to spend the money just to find out what happens on a story I didn't like that well to begin with. I think not. If she hadn't spent so much time of all these side stories she could have easily fit into one novel. It's ridiculous.

Despite all this I didn't hate it. (Not like I did the another highly rate m/m "romance" Josh Lanyon's Fatal Shadows-Seriously I felt scarred by that one) The sex scenes were pretty hot. There were a few funny things. But this was definitely my last Mary Calmes book. I decided to give her one more chance since a lot of people seem to love her books but I'm afraid they are just not to my taste.

This book is literally a roller coaster ride. Jory and Sam's journey is full of ups and downs ...
The love and the fear to move forward and save Jory has Sam paralyze ... Wanting to do what he thinks is best but hurting each other at the same time.
Jory loves him purely ... He will need all his strength and the love of his own family to survive.

Looking forward to the next part of the story.

I feel in love with Jory instantly, his whole outlook on life and the people he's surrounded by draws you in. I couldn't stop reading this book, with each turn of the page I was excited to see what would happen next in Jory's life. Who he'd met or what trouble would find him. I can't wait to continue through the rest of the series.

Wow...this book had me hooked from the very beginning. Love the characters, all of them, as well as the storyline. Sadly I did not realize there was a second volume and, once I did, found that it is out of stock [tears]. So I'm "on hold" for the ending.

Loved all the Mary Calmes books EXCEPT for the Jory and Sam, a Matter of Time series. Would've loved a more loyal Sam- or that Jory eventually dumped Sam and met a really fantastic giant of a South African rugby player or Scottish laird or something! Nope, Sam and his bi- lent just did not work for me.

This book was horrible... seriously I'm still mad that I paid money for it. - I bought it through audible.com and so I'm sure the narration was part of why it was a train wreck but overall it is 12 bucks and 3 hours (that was all I could tolerate) that I will never get back...

This series was ok, not great. Not horrible. What's wrong is that each book is NOT complete in and of itself. It's all one long book. It shouldn't be represented as if it's four separate books, because it's not.