When the Dust Settles

*sighs* I loved it.

Glenn Holloway is finally living his life the way he wants to. He has his restaurant, which is not only successful but home and family to a mish-mash group of people working there. The only thing missing is someone special in his life. The truth is, he desperately wants what Rand Holloway has with his husband, Stefan.

When Stef calls in a favor and asks for Glenn to help Rand on a cattle drive, Glenn's brought face to face with the sexy foreman of the Red Diamond, Maclain Gentry. Little does he realize that Mac's had his eye on him for a while.

Told entirely from Glenn's POV, I absolutely love how Mary Calmes writes an alpha, possessive male, without it being overly creepy or hitting my "call the police!" panic vibe. Instead she makes it hot and oh-so-necessary.

My only complaint is I wish it were longer.

Recommended!

--AUDIOBOOK--
I especially love how Sean Crisden is able to voice the characters in this audio so well. I just LOVED his character voices for Glenn and Mac! Hearing their passion come to a head and explode was awesome!

Sure, the relationship is fast, with the two coming together and making promises quickly, but it works. It just all works for me. The audio is just so good...and just what I needed today.

Sean Crisden is sublime, I loved the story...I am one happy Calmesniac.

I love Mary Calmes, love her books, love her characters, read them enthusiastically, including the two earlier works with Rand and Stefan! I loved the first two-thirds of this book, I adored and greatly sympathized with Glenn, her main character, and Rand's cousin/half-brother. I even agree that the book should have a "positive" ending. But I was disappointed with how it got there. It needed to be a full-length novel, because it is missing a key scene mid-novel, followed by some growing and learning and courting. Glenn's family: his father and his brothers Rand and Zach, as well as Mac, Rand's foreman, were overwhelmingly responsible for his alienation from his family. The ignored him, his father reneged on a critical loan, his brother Rand was a superman Glenn felt he couldn't live up to, his brother Zach not only rejected him but belittled and degraded Glenn such that none of the people/hands on the ranch respected or paid attention to Glenn. Mac, the ranch foreman, even told him to get off the ranch, he wasn't needed or welcome. Not ONE of those jerks greeted him with a "hey, bro, how are you! Too long no see! Heard your cafe doing well, we were there last week, but didn't see you." Zach half-heartedly came to speak to him, then assumed (wrongly) that Glenn was not paying attention, then dropped a glass of water in Glenn's lap, insulted him, and the led the rest of the hands in laughing at him for stumbling and having a wet crotch. In Glenn's shoes, who the Hell would put up with that crap!?! But Glenn made Stefan a promise and he kept his promise. So far, so good, but then came a "deus ex machina" stunt, and Glenn had an epiphany that he was partly to blame for the estrangement. Crap, although his crabby attitude around them discouraged any effort by them to reach out. The guys caused and exacerbated the estrangement and should have the responsibility first to recognize their faults and then to make serious efforts to reconcile. Instead of reaching out to his brothers and Mac, Glenn deserved a "great scene" (a Bette Davis scene) in which he furiously shreds his brothers and Mac for making him feel like a worm whenever he's around them, explain they way they disrespect and degrade and often ignore him is why he's never around, and then go home. By himself. The guys THEN should realize what they'd done and take steps to make up. Glenn was betrayed by his family. As a gay man whose own family just voted overwhelmingly for Trump, I know exactly how badly he feels betrayed by them. He should not have had to make the reconciliation. If they couldn't reach out to him, he would be right to reject them utterly. Love the author, love her books, wished this one had been longer with a subtle twist to the plot.

Mary Calmes books are my go-to reads after a long exhausting or difficult day because she writes finding love so effortlessly. I can't help but feel better when I pick up any of her books and I usually have no trouble finding my favourite scenes and conversations.
I wished for Glenn's story from the time he was first introduced in After The Sunset.
I read this book twice already. It is as great as the other but I really hoped to see more of Glenn's soul. More inner turmoil, more of his thought process and much more interaction between him and Mac and another scene at the Red following the hospital finale would have been great too.
All the right elements are there to give this book at least a 4 star review, but I wish I could read Glenn's story without it feeling so 'packaged' or 'summed up'.
BUT, it goes on my list of favourite reads and I will definitely read this again.

I havent read any of the other books in this series so I had no backstory but I dont think you need it to read this story. Glenn is a self man guy, he left his family ranch to make it on his own. He opened a restaurant and took in young people who need some help. These kids became his family since he felt his own family abandoned him. Glenn had a chip on his shoulder when it came to his brothers but while the story moved on we find out why and I felt when he eased up on the smart ass, Glenn was a great guy. Mac is someone Glenn thought hated him but come to find out he has wanted Glenn forever. When Glenn's brother in law calls in a favor , he finds himself on a cattle drive. Things come to a head with his brothers and Glenn finds out all they want from his is to be there. Mac and Glenn get together, even though Glenn thought Mac was straight. I felt this story moved way too fast for me. It went from Glenn hating his family to all being hunky dory between them. Mac's feeling for Glenn moved from lust to possession in a blink of a eye. I would have liked to see a more slow build between these 2 and more to the ending. I felt is just stopped. Received an ARC from publisher for a honest review. Reviewed by Jodi for Alpha Book Club.

I have enjoyed nearly all of Mary Calmes books and this was no exception. My only complaint is that I wanted more of Glenn and Mac's story. I was actually surprised when I reached the end because I thought I thought I was in the middle judging by the flow of the story. Hopefully this is two parts like Timing/After the Sunset which are two of my very favorite reads.