Review: A fascinating start...with a few bumps
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 24, 2012
His Hearth, presumably the first in Mary Calmes' Warder series, is pretty great.  Well written and sexy, and romantic both in plot and in premise.  The very idea of someone needing another person as "his hearth" is rather moving - and of course taps into the romantic soul of the folks (like me) who read these books.The importance of non-gay friendships is a lovely bonus in this book - emotional attachments to people who create your broader world are something that the best romance writers do well - and Calmes among them.My only objection at all has been raised in other reviews.  I'd really like to have known more about why Julian is so rigid in his needs. Not that I disagree with him about not wanting casual sex, because he's looking for a relationship - but I'd like to know more about WHY he has come to feel this way, at 28. Was he always this way? Is he, like me, unable to detach sex from emotion? Just a bit more about his motivations and feelings would have been welcome. The same goes for Ryan - he says some tantalizing things about who he is, but we don't understand his motivations until the surprise hits.Of course, from the title I knew there was something supernatural going on - but I admit I was kept guessing as to which one of the men was the unearthly being until it was revealed - and THAT might be why Calmes is coy with background information, because it disguises the truth.Of course I will have to read at least the next book in the series - because this whole premise is something I enjoy.