“How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?” – J.R.R. Tolkien
Literary history is rampant with the names of legendary couples who will forever be linked, one with the other: Romeo and Juliet, Heathcliff and Catherine, Rhett and Scarlett, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. The list is endless. For those of us who love M/M romance, though, well, our lists look a little bit different than that of the classical mainstream. Our lists include names like Ty and Zane, Adrien and Jake, Victor and Jacob. And I know my list wouldn’t be complete without Sam Kage and Jory Harcourt.
It takes a huge amount of dedication, love, and commitment for an author to build the lives of their characters from little more than the first spark of an idea, then to construct an entire world around a first kiss and on to the hardships and trials that will eventually lead them to a happy beginning. It’s sometimes a slow and painful and arduous journey, one that at times might cause you to wonder if the author is trying to gut you where you sit because you see and know what the characters can’t—that it’s all going to be okay in the end.
But with as much dedication as it takes to create these lives, it takes just as much determination, if not more, to know when it’s time to say goodbye. And that’s what But For You felt like to me—a slow, sweet goodbye, but not in an entirely heartrending way because Mary Calmes made it all okay in the end. She made it so that Jory stopped running away when things got tough, made it so Sam stayed too, fighting for the love that was so difficult for him to claim in the beginning, made it so Sam and Jory stood together and fought for their family, fought to keep them safe from a man straight out of Sam’s past, a man who wasn’t who he pretended to be. It was the perfect beginning to their ending—or maybe the perfect ending to their beginning. Either way, knowing that Sam and Jory are forever lingering out there in the realms of ink and paper, carrying on, finding trouble where ever it’s to be found, and loving each other; well, that makes the farewell just a little bit easier.
Because Mary Calmes did what she always does best: made it all okay for us in the end.
Buy But For You Here: 