REVIEW: 'You Never Know' by Mary Calmes
Title: You Never Know
Author: Mary Calmes
Published: July 21, 2017
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Cover Artist: Reese Dante
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 200 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Comfort/Hurt; Second Chance; HEA; CW: PTSD
About You Never Know
Hagen Wylie has it all figured out. He’s going to live in his hometown, be everybody’s friend, explore new relationships, and rebuild his life after the horrors of war. No muss, no fuss is the plan. He’s well on his way—until he finds out his first love has come home too. Hagen says it’s no big deal, but a chance encounter with Mitch Thayer’s two cute sons puts him directly in the path of the only guy he’s never gotten out of his head.
Mitch returned for three reasons: to raise his sons where he grew up, to move his furniture business and encourage it to thrive, and to win Hagen back. Years away made it perfectly clear the young man he loved in high school is the only one for him. The problem? He left town and they have not talked since.
If Hagen’s going to trust him again, Mitch needs to show him how he’s grown up and isn’t going to let go. They could have a new chance at love… but Hagen is insistent he’s not reviving a relationship with Mitch. Then again, you never know.
4 HEART READ
REVIEW:
You Never Know is an awesome dose of the good old-fashioned Mary Calmes I love and didn’t realize how much I needed til I started reading this book!
Trying to make a life for himself back in his home town, Hagen Wylie has a lot to overcome. Scarred both physically and mentally from his service in Afghanistan, the last thing he wants is the return of his first love, Mitchell Thayer.
After seventeen years of no contact, Mitch is back in town and he wants Hagen back. Hagen resists but, as we Mary Calmes fans know, restoring their relationship is exactly what both these characters need.
Calmes spends a good deal of time at the start of this book establishing Hagen’s character. Told in the first person, we really get to understand the man he is now, as well as the man he is trying to be. Hagen knows he needs psychiatric help to deal with his PTSD and that he has serious trust issues after being abandoned by Mitch, he’s just not ready to deal with either yet.
Hagen has resisted long-term relationships until he hooks up with Ashford Lennox early in the story. These two try to make it work, but Hagen’s abandonment and trust issues keep cropping up and complicating things with his belief everyone will eventually leave him.
And then Mitch Thayer comes back to town...
I love Hagen’s internal dialogue. He is a strong character, and it is beautiful to watch him work his way through the story.
Calmes does an excellent job weaving the reminiscences in with the present and showing how much time has changed each of these guys.
The magic happens when they relax into the playful banter that Mary Calmes writes so well and it’s plain to see the attraction which drew these two together; and the love and affection that kept them together through high school.
You Never Know was a pleasure to read and had me rooting for all three of these guys. I totally fell in love with Ash; and since he and Hagen remain friends, I’m hoping he’ll get his happily ever after in a future novel.
A copy of You Never Know was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Dreamspinner Press, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Meet the Author
...nothing but happily ever afters.
Mary Calmes lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband and two children and loves all the seasons except summer. She graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, with a bachelor's degree in English literature. Due to the fact that it is English lit and not English grammar, do not ask her to point out a clause for you, as it will so not happen. She loves writing, becoming immersed in the process, and falling into the work. She can even tell you what her characters smell like. She loves buying books and going to conventions to meet her fans.
For more from Mary be sure and visit her website.
