The View Through the Looking Glass

The rating is for the series as a whole. I liked the book but there was definite room for improvement. The plot could have been tightened up a bit and I really, really was not a fan of how much time apart there was with Sam and Jory. I also wish we'd gotten to see more of Jory's relationship with Dane.

This series is one of my favorites. There is something about these books that have just drawn me in and even though they are filled with things that normally would drive me INSANE (i.e. the first person pov - few things make me want to claw my face off like first person, a MC that's thisclose to a Mary Sue, and out of the blue retconning of previously established history) but somehow, in this series, it doesn't take away from my enjoyment.

I think I could probably be a character myself b/c of how much I love Jory. Jory is like Raymond; everybody loves him. He's a total wish fulfillment character (he's smart, he's stylish, he's so gorgeous it's like he was carved by the gods, he's luckier than ten four leaf clovers, he's witty, he's a great dancer...the list goes on and on and on) but there's something about him that makes me love him-flaws and all. And yes, Jory is flawed. He's impulsive, a lot of the time he's immature, he is the KING of dumb*ss decisions, he doesn't think things through, he's a bit of a commitment phobe, he shallow, at various points in the series I wanted to jump into the book and throttle him myself. But he's got a good heart and *most* of the time it's in the right place. He loves with everything he has and he's got an off beat sense of humor and kind of a unique way of looking at the world.

I love Sam and Jory together. They probably shouldn't work and that's probably why they do. I think at the end of the day Jory gives Sam a safe place to let it all go and Sam grounds Jory. As improbable as it is, as practical and controlled as Sam is and as impulsive and wild as Jory is, these two characters work together. I bought into their love story - flaws and all- and seeing them end up where they ended up gave me all the proud mama creys.

I know there's another book in the series, Parting Shot, but that's about another couple, not Sam and Jory so I don't know if I'm going to read that one. What made this series work for me was that I fell for the characters. I don't know if I'd be as willing to overlook some of the weaker points of Mary Calmes's writing if I'm reading about characters I'm not as invested in.