Review: Floodgates by Mary Calmes

Reviewed by Whuppsy
Floodgates by Mary Calmes
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 234pgs
3 Pants Off

Blurb:
Tracy Brandt considers himself a lucky man. He has a wonderful family, good friends, and a dependable job. His love life, however, features a cheating ex who, though out of the house, is not yet out of the picture—with a past that just might get Tracy killed.

Homicide inspector Cord Nolan wants nothing more than to show his best friend’s little brother that he’s a reliable man, but to do that he’ll have to get Tracy to look past the player he used to be. It'll be a tough sell; reputation is everything, and Cord's is tarnished by his past indiscretions.

Tracy and Cord have spent five years trying to suffocate their fiery attraction under a blanket of grudging antagonism. When Tracy finds himself with a target on his back, Cord finally has the chance to ride to the rescue and break through the dam of Tracy's reserve. But he’d better be careful: if Cord is breaking the floodgates to wash away the past, he's going to have to hold tight to Tracy to make sure they're still standing when the tumult recedes.

Review
Tracy Brandt is a young man who is just so cute. He’s got this wonderful job that he loves. A wonderful and loving family and really great friends. The bad in his life, his cheating ex. Now they are taking a break as Tracy caught his ex Breckin cheating on him in their home. Other than that, his life is pretty good. Trace is trying to figure out if he wants Breckin back or if their relationship is truly over.

Cord Nolan is Tracy’s older brother’s best friend and former partner in the SFPD. Cord has always wanted Trace, but he was a player and Trace wasn’t having that at all. So Cord made the changes in his life that he knew he needed to make in order to be the man that Trace wanted and needed. He didn’t realize that he’d get his chance with Trace’s life held in the balance. Cord is really a good guy. He wants the home and family and spending time with the people that he loves and loves him. To get all of that, he’s got to keep the man he wants alive.

The secondary characters were both in turns good and bad, sometimes just oblivious. But Trace’s family and friends…LOVED THEM!! I really liked his work partner too, Dimah. I love that this Russian guy who really cares about Trace and isn’t above ANYTHING to keep him safe. It was kinda sweet to me. I wasn’t too thrilled with Celia, the woman who had an affair with Breckin and is now pregnant with his child.

I didn’t understand Breckin’s family either. That they’ve not seen him in 18 years and they’ve only emailed and talked on the phone sporadically. I mean, Breckin pretty much left for college because his family couldn’t handle the fact that he was bi and gave him and ultimatum and he found his own way, yeh him. But that they would just welcome him home with open arms with some chick that’s knocked up, well that made no sense to me. The fact that Celia knew that he was in a relationship and still slept with him, well that tells me about her character as well. Sigh.

I enjoyed the book. I liked that there was a pretty good mystery. It was always about Breckin and they finally figured that out, it was just a bit sad that it took so many lives to figure it out. But I didn’t like that no justice was really had. But that is on me.

I enjoyed the book and I will say that it was a pretty good read for some lightheartedness and nothing really angsty. If you’ve got a couple of hours and want to read a cute book, this would be it.

3 Pants Off