Mary Calmes

'Woods Of The Raven' is the Fantasy equivalent of a cosy mystery with a gay, Happily Ever After paranormal romance thrown in. Xander, the main character is gentle and kind but has the steel to defend himself and the people around him when he needs to. The threat is dark but the tone is hopeful. The rainbow flag is flying high and proud but in a joyful, human way that just says, 'This is how it can be when it's good'.

I liked Xander. He's a man with superhuman power, provided he's on his show more own land but he isn't Superman, hiding his real self by pretending to be mild-mannered Clark Kent, rather he is Clark Kent, kind, gentle, conflict-averse and he doesn't lose those qualities and become an aggressive alpha male warrior when he has to use his power to defend the land and the people he's bonded with. He just does what needs to be done.

The magic system is well thought out, drawing heavily on European myths that most Fantasy fans will be familiar with, although Xander's persoanl powers manifest in original ways.

.The premise that drives the plot is straightforward and familiar, a witch having to honour his compact as guardian of the land when a Fey Lord tries to cross into it, but it felt fresh because it meshed so well into a contemporary setting and because Xander wasn't the kind of witch you find in most fantasy stories. The action scenes, using a mixture of conventional weapons, magic and supernatural predators, were vivid and convincing without being overly gory.

I'm not usually a fan of romance plots but this one worked for me, mostly because the dynamic between Xander, the quiet, gentle witch and Lorne the burly, charismatic, extroverted Sheriff was well-crafted. show less

I put off reading this for a long time because the blurb didn't sound good, I loved the first book and I didn't like that he had hurt Brann (although that gets resolved in this book) and other people were complaining about how bad this was.

But blurbs are terrible, and no matter how well it's written it will never actually convey the tone or premise of the book. And I have to stop listening to randos online.

This might be my favorite book of MC so far. It is not at all what I expected, and it show more was complex, thoughtful and more nuanced than MC usually is (not a complaint). Strong themes of child abuse, animal abuse, found families, spiraling anxieties and insecurities, mental health and addiction. show less

4.5 Stars--Mary Calmes slung her book crack shifter style with this one.

To which I say:



I know what I wanted when I came to this party.

I wanted possessive claiming.
I wanted "mine".
I wanted a little cray-cray that seemed to surround the main characters but somehow fucking worked for them.

And I got it.

Crackish Fiend is Happy.



I got a lot of "Yeah" and "What" dialogue too. :/ That could count toward the Con pile but the motherfucking Pros outweigh that cons in this one for me.

Yes, the show more Calmesian formula struck again and it was smelling like pie. Not any kind of pie mind you, oh no, this book extols the miracles of cherry pie.



Sweet Cheesus, save me from pies. I'm eating a slice of apple crumb as I write this review as a way to toast Quade and Roman and their jackal alpha fucking. ;P

Roman Howell is super rich, lives in a chateau aka castle-mansion in Maine. He has been burned significantly on his face and body during a bus accident while a teenager. Now at 27, his face is permanently scarred. Instead of letting his disfigurement control his life, Roman lives life with the help of his longtime bodyguard Quade. Quade is over six feet tall, Greek, older and a walking wet dream. Plus, he's a alpha jackal shifter. Roman and stubborn Quade have been circling around falling for each other for too many year, Roman finally makes his move and offers something the alpha can't resist: love.

Points to the author for choosing a unique shifter, a jackal and the sprinkling of Egyptian mythology. That was different. I like the jackal society she created.

While I would've loved some more action especially against the villain, I mean there was blatant build up for some primo ass kicking, Calmes doesn't have time for that because there are pies to eaten, coats to be worn, food to be cooked, touching to be done, kisses to be given and alpha fawning that needs constant attention.


(No time for the drinking game with this one, I'd need a new liver if I played with this book)

At first, I thought Roman was the Jory of the book. But it was a shared effort between Roman and Quade. EVERYBODY wanted Quade once he left Maine (the tops-only-but-would-bottom-for-Quade-only rent boy not included *purses lips*) Quade didn't really have to flex his shifter muscles around because he exuded so my alphaness people couldn't fucking handle themselves around him including Roman who kept rubbing on him and grinding. And I wondered WTF is with everyone and their fucking hands?

But you know what?



All of it. The crazy shifter duel that was over in two blinks because there was more important business to get to. The important business being Christmastime and if there is anything I know MC loves, it's Christmas. The Santa jizz was abundant.

And I found myself not giving a flying shit. As long as Quade kept biting Roman and filling his hole with alpha cock, claiming his mate over and over again, I didn't care. Somehow all of the talking about mundane shit, shifter shit, longing shit, returning back to your roots shit, friends to lovers shit, pie motherfucking baking shit...it fucking worked. Praise be Calmes!



Because I'm reading #2 with bells on. They might even possibly jingle.

No, they will not. Kris Kringle would melt before that happens but it's nice to dream. ;P " show less

Hart Jarrett was only supposed to be passing through Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He wasn’t supposed to get involved, no emotional entanglements to tie him down. There’s a dead man on Hart’s property, a man he knows, and the questions are piling up. As if that weren’t enough, his ex has reappeared out of the blue, with plans to reclaim what he willingly gave away.
I’m a big Mary Calmes fan. I've read and reread almost everything she has written, but somehow, I had missed this one. This is show more a book that readers seem to either really like or really dislike. I'm on the "really like" side. Like most of her books, I wouldn’t change one single thing about it. The story, the characters; I had no problem with any of it. I just never wanted it to end. But then, I never want a good story with good characters to ever end:)

Hart is a very successful ranch owner...a ranch that he came by in a rather odd way. Six years ago, his boyfriend beat him to a pulp...signed over the ranch and land to Hart and left. Hart made a success of the ranch by hosting weddings and other events that gave folks a little taste of what "cowboy and ranch life" was like. They even made and sold candles and donated part of the sales to charities in the town. Everything is going along nicely and then "trouble" comes back. Hart is determined to not let his ex's return or his demands for Hart to "give him back the ranch", interfere with his life or that of the people that live on the ranch and make up his "found family".

Hart hadn't heard a single word from his ex until the day he returned asking to be allowed to take back what he had so willingly gave away; what he never ever wanted to begin with.

Along comes the man that will take over and live in Hart's heart...Morgan. He's grumpy, he's damaged, and he's harboring feelings for Hart that he never ever imagined that he could act upon because of his past. Eventually he got to the point that he just didn’t care about any of that anymore, he just HAD to have Hart. It was perfect when they did finally get together. They were one another's "other and best half". Then a dead body is found on a disputed piece of the ranch property...things again become complicated.

As usual with one of this author's books, there is a lot going on. We have an unsolved murder, a land dispute, an angry ex-boyfriend, with an angrier father that wants his ranch and land back, but it all works out well in the end. show less