Review: Great Author, Good Characters, Nice Story, Iffy Execution
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 26, 2013
This book is one of the main reasons I decided that I wanted to do an Author Backlist Project.  Mary Calmes was my first choice from when I first thought of the idea directly to it's debut last Fall, and this was one of the handful of books that I've had forever and intended to read for years now.  Somehow, it never seemed to happen, and even in the case of a book like this, which I always had such high hopes for but ultimately didn't live up to my (possibly) too-high expectations, it is still really nice to read more of Mary's backlist and assuage my curiosity about this book.Jude Shea is job-less and boyfriend-less, which all stems from one terrible betrayal.  Now, all alone in his new (and sad) studio apartment, Jude is woken in the middle of the night with an inexplicable desire to take a walk in the park.  While there, he comes across a pack of dogs killing another dog.  The dog is absolutely huge and almost dead, but Jude has a sudden bout of confidence and runs off the pack of dogs.  He soon starts to call the dog "Joe" after their trip to fix him up at the animal clinic, where the vet, vet techs and workers of the clinic are at once awed and afraid of Joe.  To everyone else, he's a wicked beast, but when he's around Jude he turns into a big teddy bear.  In a small amount of time they become best friends -- Jude has never had a dog before and finds the companionship strangely comfortable, and Joe The Dog seems very attached and protective of Jude for such a short relationship.  Jude is inconsolable when faced with the thought that Joe's real owner might come looking for him.When a man shows up at Jude's apartment claiming the dog has his own and calling him Eoin, Jude is wary.  The man seems strange, not only in his speech and mannerisms, but in his completely lack of emotion when talking about Joe/Eoin.  Soon, both man and dog find themselves being chased through Chicago at night, only to disappear into a very strange fog bank.Eoin isn't just a dog, he's a guardian for a baroness in the land across the veil.  Guardian's are the fiercest of protectors, with no love for anything but the safety of their charge.  Across the veil, in his homeland, Eoin is a man like any other, but in Jude's homeland he reverts to his shifted form, a dog.  In rare instances, a guardian might find his cairn, his heart, in a mating bond that immediately severs ties to their old allegiances, purely because their mate will now forever be foremost in their mind.  Now, with the gryphons once again on his tail, he knows that he must get Jude across the veil and back to his home in order to protect him from their pursuers and give their bond a chance to solidify, something that Eoin will not allow to go undone.  He has found his mate, and he won't give him up.But life across the veil is very difficult for Jude, not only because he doesn't understand anything about the lives they lead, but because of the political turmoil that followed them across the veil in the first place.  Navigating their allies and enemies will test their relationship and Jude's own self-worth, as he puts his life back together and looks forward to a possibly incredible future with Eoin back in his own world.I didn't really know what this book was about, honestly.  I really liked the story -- it's almost a time travel story, but without explicit description about the veil and the technical aspects of the fantasy world and how it is connected to our world.  I liked the characters also.  Jude is a pretty typical Calmes' character, almost perfect in every way, while it is impossible to hate a character like Eoin with a heart of gold, completely noble and loyal and moral and self-sacrificing, who speaks in a thick brogue and is the epitome of rough highlander warrior.  The book is heavy on the sex (which I didn't mind because it was so hot), but in the end, I had a lot of problems with it.Perhaps my feelings are indicative of the upward trajectory of Mary Calmes' writing.  Reading this, one of her earlier novels, I could definitely see where her recent work has been of higher quality.  The change in POV over the story bothered me somewhat.  At times it is very frequent between especially Jude and Eoin.  I actually liked getting the POV of secondary characters in this instance, though the transitions between all of them are what bothered me, usually because it got confusing.  I also felt rather jarred when Jude and Eoin when through the veil into Eoin's homeland.  The first part of the story, in our world, was really enjoyable and easy to read, but once in the other land things sometimes became dreamlike and at other times simply confusing.  With only small pieces of information about the political issues, I felt a bit like I had one foot in the world and one foot out.  I wanted to know what was going on, but nothing was ever really described past a superficial level, which made my investment in the story less than usual.So even while I enjoyed parts and liked the characters, it wasn't even near my favorite Calmes' books.  I am certainly glad I have read it though, and if you haven't either it is something to consider.  It might be more your cup of tea than mine, or you might at least not feel the same way as I did about these specific issues.  Now, I'm forward into the backlist and looking forward to next week's book by Mary Calmes!