Old Loyalty, New Love

By: Mary Calmes

Narrated by: Tristan James

Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

When jackal shifter Quade Danas was banished from his pack for being gay, he spent years in the military escaping his father's prejudice before returning to civilian life as a bodyguard for Roman Howell, the teenage son of a very rich man. After Roman is in an accident that leaves him physically scarred and emotionally distant, Quade is the only one who can get through to him. As Roman becomes a man, he realizes what he wants - his bodyguard by his side and in his bed. Unfortunately, Quade can't seem to see past the kid Roman once was to the man he has become, certain Roman's feelings are merely misplaced gratitude. But Roman knows a lot more than Quade realizes, and he's used to persevering, no matter how many impediments life throws his way. He wants the chance to prove to Quade that he's strong enough for a jackal alpha to call mate.

Despite the decades Quade has been away, and the heartache of his father's rejection, his inborn loyalty to the pack remains, and his abrupt departure left the jackal shifters without an alpha heir. As a psychopath shifter staking claim as alpha draws Quade back home, he may be forced to make a choice he never anticipated. But doing so means he must leave Roman behind… unless somehow they find a way to make loyalty and love work together.

©2014 Mary Calmes (P)2014 Dreamspinner Press

Fantastic start to a new Shifter series!

What did you love best about Old Loyalty, New Love?

The banter back and forth between Roman and Quade.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Roman. He has been through so much but he is still such a gentle soul, and so devoted to Quade.

Which character – as performed by Tristan James – was your favorite?

Quade Danas. the big, brooding, bad ass Alpha Seer Shifter was eye candy for my ears!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Beware of large, furry animals with fangs.

Any additional comments?

Quade Danas is a jackal shifter, the heir apparent of his pack, a special breed of his own as he is a Seer as well. His father disowned him and exiled him from his home, from his pack when he was barely an adult for being gay. He has spent more than a decade in the employ of the Howell family as the bodyguard for the son and only heir to the Howell family fortune, Roman Howell.

Almost killed in an accident when he was a teenager, Roman survived but carries the scars as a reminder. The only people that don’t pity him or look at him with disdain because of those scars are the people closest to him, especially Quade. As Roman grew up and became a lethal businessman he also became hopelessly attracted the man that protects him, he fell in love with his bodyguard.

When Quade’s sister shows up at L’Ange, the vast Howell estate Quade now calls home, begging for him to return and take his rightful place as Alpha of their pack, Quade is torn between loyalty to his family and pack, and his love for Roman. It’s only through fierce determination that Roman ever even gets Quade to act on his feelings for him, and it takes all but an act of congress to get Quade to claim him as his mate. He is not about to lose him now. But the pull to the pack is strong for Quade. As a Seer and the true Alpha there is an innate need engrained in him to protect his people and defeat the crazed drug dealer that is trying to rule the pack.

The story started out slow, but it was always intriguing. From the beginning there was this banter between Roman and Quade that portrayed them almost as an old married couple. It took a little while for the romance that was budding from page one to actually bloom, and from that minute on it was a no holds barred roller coaster of passion and sex. All the while that Roman is baiting his hook and then reeling Quade in, there are the problems going on with the pack and Quade struggling with how to help the people that turned their back on him. A decision has to be made… loyalty to pack, or his love for Roman, unless he can find a way to encompass both worlds in one life.

Calmes deftly balanced romance, mystery and paranormal intrigue with this new Shifter series. Narrated by Tristan James who gave each character their own voice that changed as the story progressed, and each character grew. You can literally hear the passion in his voice during the love scenes, and the strain when Quade is struggling with pack issues, and the determination as Roman sets his sights on making his bodyguard his man.

Fans of Calmes books are surely going to love this new series, but Shifter and paranormal readers will be engrossed as well. Not only was this book music to my ears, I think it will have to stay on my ipod so that I can listen to it over, and over again.

Classic Mary Calmes

This is classic Mary Calmes. A shifter book with a sweet, engaging couple. Roman is a young, very rich man who was disfigured in a fire. Quade is a jackal shifter (think big Egyptian jackal, not small jackal) that was rejected by his family when he came out and has been Roman’s bodyguard for 10 years. When there is trouble in his old pack, he is called home to deal with it. The romance is great and there is a little angst and action, but pretty predictable HEA. That said, I hope there is a sequel as there were hints at future couples. The narrator is the great Tristan James, who could read the telephone book and I would listen to him. Worth a credit.

A little too much!

What did you like best about Old Loyalty, New Love? What did you like least?

The actual story was great but instead of exploring and developing it, the author puts a lot of love making. Now I am not against all of that, but I was more interested in the story line. Just when it started getting interesting everyone would stop of make love. I mean it was really a joke after a while.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Take a lot of the love making out of it and put in character development and development of the plot.

What three words best describe Tristan James’s performance?

Good

What would have made this romance irresistible?

There was a lot going on in this book. The author had decided to make it much more than your basic romance. I was surprised by how it all played out, but I feel the author, or the editor decided that this was a love making book instead of a adventure/romance. The book could've been much longer and spent a great deal more time developing characters and scenes, things I would of really gotten into and enjoyed. I am afraid that instead it was treated by everyone that it had to be a typical "gay" romance, with a lot of love making scenes and not that much development of the story. From that point of view this story was a complete disappointment.

LOVE THIS!

You know what... I love everything Mary Calmes write...well just about.. Her paranormal stories are just as good as her non-paranormal books... I loved how this book started.. I was like... how is this paranormal...then bam! The wolves come out! This was simply great. The relationship between the two main characters was extremely well written, and it only help add to the drama when everything started happening... Loved it!

Mary Calmes is one of the top m/m romance writers so, yeah.. so worth a credit, buy or sale.

Narration was awesome!

Perfect Narration

What did you love best about Old Loyalty, New Love?

The narrator and the story! I loved this book on paper and love it more with audio

Who was your favorite character and why?

I love Roman and Quade! I just fell in love with their characters and their chemistry.

Which character – as performed by Tristan James – was your favorite?

Quade or Roman

If you could take any character from Old Loyalty, New Love out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Quade and Roman. Just love their banter, their chemistry, love the story

Difficult to follow

What disappointed you about Old Loyalty, New Love?

I like stories about different species, only this book was very difficult to follow. I started and stopped three or four times and just could not find the story line

Has Old Loyalty, New Love turned you off from other books in this genre?

No other authors have done a fine job with this genre which is why I thought I'd like this book

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Somehow I don't feel we can fault the narrator on this one, Thristan did as good a job as most

What character would you cut from Old Loyalty, New Love?

All of them, even the main character seemed lack luster and confused.

Any additional comments?

I don't normally write reviews, I just rate the books after I hear them. But this in my opinion was so bad, I thought it appropriate to advise readers. This one missed the mark

very very very very wordy

great story concept, however, the author comes across as a novice 17 year old girl, trying to show off her ability to describe settings with far too many words. the author off-tracks often, to describe insignificant details throughout the story. unfortunately, I could not continue to listen after the hour of story telling upon the two main characters finally "mating" it was an atrociously written "scene" and waaaaayyyyy too drawn out! this is where I stopped listening. just could not take any more.

meh

started so good. about 1/3 of the way in, the "oh my he's such a super alpha" starts getting walked all over by everyone and just lets it happen. bad author. stick to your own rules. no alpha would just let people just do whatever.

Great Narrator, Boring Story

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A better written book. I'm returning because I lost interest in the writing.

Would you ever listen to anything by Mary Calmes again?

Probably. She's a guilty pleasure re: books, but even more hit or miss with audiobooks.

What does Tristan James bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His voice is lovely.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Not so much, no...

Disappointing

Any additional comments?

I barely made it through this book but I felt obligated to finish because I bought it after all. Mary Calmes is usually a hit or miss with me and this book was definitely a miss. The narration wasn't bad, it was the story that was the problem; I found it extremely boring. I normally enjoy shifter stories but this one fell flat, which was disappointing to say the least. Both the mc's seemed like they were really interesting in the blurb, but when thrown together they were just blah. I'm still searching for a Mary Calmes book I enjoy as much as I love "Frog."

a new favourite for me, good shifter m/m romance

It took me quite some time to decide to purchase this audio. Hesitating because I am not too fond of a certain characteristic of Mary Calmes’ books: the way one of her main characters tends to be universally loved and fawned over by everybody. However, this doesn’t pop up in this one until the second half, and then it is different (and acceptable to me) because it concerns him in his role as the Alpha of a shifter pack that needs him.

Turns out I love this book. I really like both main characters, the way they interact and the intensity of their feelings for each other, as they finally come clear about those feelings.
I love the setting of the story, the shifter universe and the secondary characters. I felt the ex-lover thing was a bit over the top, but okay.

There are a few things in here that would warrant a sequel. I haven't found out if there is one yet. (There is no open ending though.)

Tristan James is an excellent narrator and he does not disappoint. He was one of the reasons I decided to take a chance on this book.

I think I will be relistening to this one regularly, it’s just one of those books for me.

Loved this book

Would you consider the audio edition of Old Loyalty, New Love to be better than the print version?

Yes, bought it, I enjoyed the story even more listening to the narrator.

What did you like best about this story?

The relationship between Roman and Quade

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The description of the town. It sounds beautiful and festive.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes and I did

Any additional comments?

The narrator was excellent, really made the book, one of my favourites thus far

It could have been such a great story

I'm giving the story 3 stars because I remember how much I loved it when I first read it but now, listening to it... I just couldn't wait for the book to finish.

This is the point where Mary's writing has taken a turn to detail us to the death with things that have nothing to do with the story. Yes she wants to paint a picture but why not go the road of "happy little trees" but instead to describing to the death with things none can notice or imagine in their heads a very, Very, VERY costly piece of furniture in the midst of your sister describing that the Alpha of her pack is circling around her daughter to pimp her out? How is not this throwing us out of the story and to a WTF moment?

After that point the story soured for me and I lost much of my interest towards the characters.

Tristan is doing a good job but it is not his best work.

Just fine

I read this twice to make sure it really is a 3 star read, but maybe it should be 2 stars.
In this novel we have not <i>one</i> Mary Calmes' Patented Protagonist, but two. Both the MC and his love interest are kind, successful, and loudly adored by everyone. The interchangeability is made worse by the narrator using the same voice for both. The novel starts at the day both lovers start dating, which feels like instalove of the highest order.
Second shortcoming of the narration is ignoring every nuance in expression the author made by writing shouting, whispering, cursing, and so on. He just glossed over it.

Great story

Interesting story, well written with likeable characters. Unfortunately the narrator wasn't on his usual form with differentiating the voices.

Tristan James....my audio dream

Loved this book when I read it, adored it just as much listening to it. And with Tristan, yiu can't go wrong. First heard him with the Marshals series by Mary Calmes and am so happy hearing him back here. Can't wait to listen to the next in the series!