Parting Shot (Matter of Time #7) by Mary Calmes
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 264pgs
4.5 Pants Off
Blurb:
A Matter of Time Story
Life has never been easy for Duncan Stiel. His childhood was the stuff of nightmares, and his day job as an undercover police officer forces him to hide his true self and occasionally lands him in the hospital. So when he finally meets the perfect man, it comes as no surprise that everything falls apart around him. What Duncan doesn’t expect is that the hardest hurdle to get over before he can make a life with Aaron Sutter is the one inside himself.
Everyone thinks Aaron has it all—looks, money, fame, and success beyond measure. Everyone, that is, except Aaron. At the end of the day, the cameras stop flashing, friends go back to their own lives, company business is handled, and Aaron is always alone. The moment he meets Duncan Stiel, Aaron knows he’ll do anything to hold onto the larger-than-life detective. But when he realizes money won’t buy him the ultimate happiness, Aaron needs to find the strength to give Duncan something much more important—his heart.
Review
Sadly no Sam and Jory in this one, but it is Aaron's book after all and after all his misadventures it's nice to see him getting his own happy ending. Aaron and Duncan met through Jory and Sam and while it was not love at first sight, there certainly was a lot of attraction. Real life separated them pretty quick, however. Duncan had to work undercover, to take down a drug cartel and Aaron had to take care of his companies.
When Duncan is hurt during his undercover job he wanted to see Aaron and have him come to visit, especially after all the things Aaron said to him. Instead he met Max, Aaron's younger brother, who asked him not to meet in public with his brother or start any kind of relationship, since their father was currently trying to remove Aaron as CEO, because of his homosexual tendencies. Heartbroken, but hiding it, Duncan agrees to leave Aaron alone, it's not like he doesn't understand, he hasn't wanted to risk his job and stayed therefore in the closed himself. When the death of Max's friend brings Duncan into Aaron's world of the rich and famous, they both had time to consider if the other is worth risking something important for.
I liked reading about Aaron actually finding love and not another boytoy. While Jory wasn't exactly a boytoy, he was still not the match Aaron needed and Duncan gave him that. On the other hand meeting Aaron was good for Duncan as well, it gave him the courage to live his life like he wanted and stop hiding. In typical A Matter of Time fashion, there is a lot of drama in this last book of the series as well. Hurt/comfort play a big part in the story development and two alpha males who found their equal is another important part of the mix. Engaging dialog and a bit of a mystery is rounding this series up in a way it deserved.
Should You Read It? If you read and liked the other parts then you don't want to miss this one. I wouldn't recommend reading it as a standalone, Jory and Sam are mentioned and then there is Jaden, whom we meet again, it might be a bit confusing reading about all this characters without the background information.
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| 4.5 Pants Off |
I LOVE Mary Calmes. And the A Matter of Time series is one of my all-time favorites regardless of genre. I can't enough of Sam and Jory, and have re-read. I did not, however, care for this book. I just couldn't get myself to care about Aaron. Duncan, on the other hand, was interesting. This felt like a book written because readers wanted more. It just didn't work for me.
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