Book Reviews

You Never Know by Mary Calmes

Genre Gay / Contemporary / Romance
Reviewed by Christy Duke on 14-January-2025

Book Blurb

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.

 

 

First edition published at Dreamspinner Press, July 2017.

 

Book Review

I've always found it very soothing to read this author's work. Her stories are always romantic, regardless of genre, interesting, have fabulous dialogue, wonderful secondary characters, strong - even when they're vulnerable -  main characters, and a plot I can easily allow to consume me. It's no wonder she's been a favorite since I read her for the very first time. Needless to say, I settled in for a great read when I picked up ‘You Never Know’.

The first thing that struck me was the easy, seamless banter between the residents of this not-so-small town on the Oregon coast. Granted, Hagen went to school with these people so being able to rib one another was second nature. I liked Hagen. A lot. Immediately. He was just so… there, in the moment, and the way he talked to himself, in his own mind, kept me highly amused. The fact that he went through something unimaginable while serving in the military, and yet, he was, for all intents and purposes, still able to be the good man he always had been, I found rather remarkable.

“But it was like when you heard a song or caught a scent and you were instantly transported back in time, and for me, it was worse because if there was anyone in the world who could maybe restore normalcy to my life—it was him. My trust in Mitch, in who he was, how he knew me in ways only a lover did, had not changed. If only I could be sure my heart would be as safe with him as the rest of me.”

It's the last line from the above quote that has Hagen really doing a lot of introspection after he sees Mitch again. There's no question the physical heat is still there, but Mitch doesn't seem to know what Hagen went through in the military, and how it changed parts of him. Both men have a lot of relearning to do about one another. Seventeen years is a long time to not have spoken and each man has changed from the young, first love they shared. (It was remarkable, though, how some things never change.) Hagen has no idea how determined Mitch is and Mitch has no clue the wall that Hagen has around his heart because of Mitch. Of course, it doesn't help Hagen that Mitch has two of the cutest kids I've seen in a while.

A very lovely book that definitely lived up to its promise. I would have definitely preferred far less time spent with Ash and more between Hagen and Mitch, but all in all an easy romance about coming home.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been purchased by the reviewer.

Additional Information

Format ebook and print
Length Novel, 244 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date 08-August-2024
Price $4.99 ebook, $12.99 paperback
Buy Link https://www.amazon.com/You-Never-Know-Mary-Calmes-ebook/dp/B0DCPYCY2F