Sometimes the best day of your life is the one you never saw coming. Joe Cohen has devoted the past two years of his life to one thing: the care and feeding of Kade Bosa. His partner in their PI business, roommate, and best friend, Kade is everything to Joe, even if their relationship falls short of what Joe desires most. But he won’t push. Kade has suffered a rough road, and Joe’s pretty sure … pretty sure he’s the only thing holding Kade together.
Estranged from his own family, Joe knows the value of desperately holding on to someone dear, but he never expected his present and past to collide just as Kade’s is doing the same. Now they’ve stumbled across evidence that could change their lives: the impact of Kade’s tragic past, their job partnership, and any future Joe might allow himself to wish for….
more
Original review: https://myshelfbooks.wordpress.com/2018/05/05/kairos-mary-calmes/
This is a short book about a couple of private investigators that are aslo roommates, but good friends above all. Joe is openly gay and Kade is bisexual, so this is not the classic story about coming out of the closest and accepting what you like or not. This is even the more classic story about two close friends that have deeper feelings, but they are too scared to speak up and face the truth. Buuuut this book totally made a fool of myself.
The first couple of chapters are totally a Romantics Suspense book. One that I was digging quite a lot. Kade’s discovering that his former mentor and hero was a mobster with several crimes in his ledger looked very promising. The fact that Vaughn (the mentor) had hired some muscle to get rid of the breathing proof of his crimes created some tension that kept the reader motivated. But it was all a smoke screen. That part ends so abruptly and in such a weak way that makes me wonder why the author put it there in the first place. It’s totally unnecessary. Some could tell me it was the way to introduce Declan in the plot… And I would answer: has Declan any shred of importance? Not at all. The book is exactly the same with or without him.
Instead of a mystery and action book, we get a book about a family that couldn’t accept that one of his member was gay and now that family is broken. I’m talking about Joe’s family. The same family that runs a very profitable winery that the PI abandoned when he came out of the closet and got the cold shoulder treatment. Usually, I would be Team Joe and defend him…. but the detective being a late awakening and only giving his family a week to assimilate the news… Man, give them a break!! They felt cheated!! Use your empathy, Joe!!
I thought his parents and brother would be a bunch of homophobic jackasses and that the author was going to present us with some soul wrenchng emotions until we get a hard won happy ending where everybody hugs everybody (and rainbows, unicorns and all that). But, nope. In just one chapter, one by one of Joe’s family members assures him rather quickly that they are cool with his sexual orientation. So, we do not have a mystery book and we also don’t have an interesting contemporary book about feelings.
Obviously, that’s not all. Being a Romance book we also have the love story for the main couple: Joe and Kade. According to Joe, Kade is unreachable. Above his wildest dreams. But, from the very beginning, Kade shows a lot of jelousy when Joe’s former boyfriend calls. So, the far-fetched love story that Joe describes doesn’t have the same feeling for the reader. When they finally kiss, there is not fireworks or anything similar. It even doesn’t feel special… as if they have been kissing the whole book.
Three attempts of story and three fails. Even though that is harsh, I must say I enjoyed the banter a lot. Joe’s and Kade’s exchanges are the best part of the book. Joe is such a good guy!! I’m not sure if Kade knows how lucky he is for being chosen by such a great human being. Do they love each other by the end of the book? We are sold that, but Kade looks more grateful than in love if you ask me.
Even though it’s a weak book, it’s easy to read and enjoyable. The aftertaste is sour, though. As if the book were totally hollow.
*** DUAL MEDIA REVIEW ***
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Audiobook Review
Angela –
This was an odd one. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy Kairos, because I did. A lot. I just didn’t expect the story to move from a romantic suspense storyline to a traditional romance complete with a family reunification, an unofficial adoption, and a marriage proposal (of sorts). It’s almost as if Mary Calmes intended to write two short novellas featuring Joe and Kade and, in the end, opted to write a short novel to give a more complete story for the pair. For me, it works because I enjoy Calmes’ writing, but for some readers, the change in tone might prove jarring.
Readers (or in my case, listeners) are dropped into Joe’s life right before shots are fired that will turn both his and his best friend Kade’s life upside down. Joe harbors an unrequited love for Kade, but it’s the kind of love that means Joe keeps Kade in his life, being the best friend he can be while tamping down on his romantic feelings so those feelings don’t negatively impact their personal or business relationship. This is why Joe finds himself protecting their target from Kade’s fury when Declan reveals who wants him dead. Luckily for all three men, Kade’s temper doesn’t prevent him from thinking clearly about the danger they’re in and they get the heck out of the Dodge before everything explodes around them. After a rather intense scene in which Joe proves he’s not Kade’s doormat – something that wasn’t entirely clear before – the three men hopscotch their way out of town, leaving incriminating evidence in the hands of someone who had the power to bring down the bad guys, thereby protecting young Declan. It’s when they land in California that part two of the story begins and Kade forces Joe to face his demons. And now that I’ve typed that, the two different tones of Kairos make more sense. Both Kade and Joe had demons they had to deal with before their life together could begin, but Kade’s demons were far darker and more dangerous than Joe’s were, hence the move from romantic suspense to a more traditional feel-good romance. While I don’t want to give too much away regarding Joe’s reconciliation with his family, I will say that they’re a hoot, particularly his mother. As usual, I would have loved for the story to continue on, so I could see where their new beginning would take them. I can only hope that Joe and Kade eventually make an appearance in another of Calmes’ books.
Kairos marks the second audiobook narrated by Michael Fell I’ve had the pleasure of listening to. I enjoyed the contrast in voices he performed for Joe and Kade. While the gruffness of Kade’s voice was perfect for the character Calmes has created, I did wonder more than once if it hurt Fell to perform because of its harshness. Kade’s gruffness was balanced out by the calm and steadiness of Joe’s voice, making it easy to see why Joe was Kade’s shelter from the storm. Declan’s voice was also perfect, conveying the young man’s vulnerability and fear so clearly that it was even easier to hear when he began to feel safe as he spent more time in Joe and Kade’s presence. Fell did a great job of creating voices for the entire cast of characters, but I really, really liked what he did with the main three characters’ voices. I suspect that I enjoyed Kairos more as an audiobook than I would have as an ebook and that’s because of how well Fell’s performance signaled the change in the story’s tone. This is definitely one for my ever expanding re-listen shelf. It’s also got me wondering which characters other than Sutter may have popped up in Calmes’ other books – my to-be-listened-to list is getting longer and longer each time I cue up one of the author’s audiobooks.
Ebook Review
Sarah –
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this book but it feels like a puzzling mash up of two very different stories. At the start, we are plunged into a tense story of a pair of private investigators inadvertently exposing police and government corruption. And then the book abruptly segues into the story of a family who owns a vineyard and the homecoming of their gay son who ran away after coming out. I liked both halves of the book but I’m not sure they fit in the same story. The first story never feels complete and the second moves too quickly to allow the characters to feel real.
I like Joe and Kade together as partners but the miscommunication between them isn’t completely convincing and their relationship issues are a little bit tiring. It took me a while to warm to Kade and there were times when I just wanted Joe to grow a backbone.
When I stop picking it apart, this is an easy read and Kade and Joe are good fun. The first part of the book is exciting. The second part is a wonderful fantasy. It is a relaxing read with a little bit of heat.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free ebook or audiobook copy of Kairos by Mary Calmes, narrated by Michael Fell to read or listen to and review.
Mary Calmes Kairos is the perfect beach read– hilarious, with lovable characters and hilarious banter and situation–this entertaining romance has enough meat to matter to your heart but is just long enough that you won’t get sunburned while reading it by the surf! I totally recommend.
loved it, at first I was wondering where this story was leading, but it all tied together and I loved the way it came all about.