3.5 starsThere's something about Mary Calmes' writing that makes me adore her stories no matter if they are completely crazy or completely sweet. In this story, it is somewhere in the middle of crazy and sweet.
For one, the relationship between Landry and Trevan is not exactly traditional. Landry is dangerously close to a psychopath and is, in fact, believed to be bipolar because of his attitude and the actions he does. Trevan on the other hand, is probably more messed up than Landry but he tends to keep that fact quite. As long as they rely on each other, though, their lives are perfect because that is all they ever need... the love and security of one another. But it is very sweet, in a way. What is actually the best part of this book is the way these two grow throughout the story. They start out as needing constant attention from one another but then grow to the point where knowing the other is safe makes them content.
The conflicts within the story are a bit chaotic in that there are so many situations they get themselves into and have to find solutions to. From Trevan's job as a runner, murder and then kidnapping, not to mention Landry's family, it is a bit hard to follow the conflicts without getting confused a time or two. It is very entertaining but possibly the worst thing with so many conflicts is the fact that it doesn't exactly add up and a ton of questions are wondered and not all of them are answered. More than that, my biggest problem (and the reason I couldn't love this story) was I felt like the flashbacks were very jolty. With Calmes, I normally don't mind her flashbacks but in this story, they grated on my nerves. Maybe because there were a lot of flashbacks of just sex between Trevan and Landry that got on my nerves (which I felt like added nothing to the story) or the fact that the flashbacks didn't really relate to whatever was happening in the present. Either way, I didn't appreciate them and they made the story drag for me.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. I had my problems but I can't deny that Calmes has a unique 'voice' in her writing that always draws me into the story and into the characters. I adore her characters especially Landry and Trevan because they were so dysfunctional. I wished there had been more elaboration on certain parts (like Landry's family and Trevan's job) but it is still a very entertaining read. Now if we could only get Conrad's story next...
