A Day Makes (The Vault, #1) [Ceaton & Brin] by Mary Calmes

Sadly this was quite disappointing.. It started out great, I really like the MC (our sole POV) Ceaton Mercer. We get to know him, how he was discharged from the service and how he built a kind of a family after a mob boss made him his enforcer. Ceaton is the killer with the heart of gold. It's hard to dislike him even if he kills almost "on command". His friends see him for what he is an honorable man and loyal to a fault and they come to care for him. They form a special friendship, him and the three other enforcers even if Ceaton have a deeper connection with their boss Grigor. 



Ceaton has no problem with his sexuality, it was never a secret but it was always "scratching an itch" for him, even before becoming an enforcer no one caught his eye for more than a one-night-stand and now in his current occupation a relationship could only end tragically. Though in his heart of hearts he wishes for a guy to spend his days with. 

More than half of the book is a sort of "background" on Ceaton and his life as an enforcer. As we read along, there are a few options of men who somehow catch Ceaton's interest and yet the plot continues with nothing happening with neither. I gotta say, up until we meet Ceaton's love interest I was very invested in the story. I enjoyed the setting and Ceaton's character but everything was destroyed for me once Ceaton gets a very specific job for his boss, one that makes no sense, or rather, Grigor's behavior makes no sense. From there we get A LOT of action and the "romantic part", there is only one way to describe it - Instalove. But GLORIOUSLY so. For his love interest (not saying who he is not to spoiler) it seems very likely because of their mutual past, but from Ceaton's side it made no sense how he fell for him and literally in a day, less than a day and he was enamoured to the bone.  

Though I liked how things were resolved for Ceaton, his lover and his best friends, it felt so very unlikely. I don't know, it was too easy and very very strange. Also it happened SO FAST. I think this book needed at least 100 pages more to solidify the relationship and build something more clear concerning Ceaton and his friends' occupational solution. 

Not what I was expecting. If you're more into action filled novels, it might be for you. It's very low on the romantic and sexual side (one sex scene in the very end). But as romance go it was truly unrealistic and even silly - I didn't NOT like it. For me, overall this was an okay read because I enjoyed getting to know Ceaton. In a way I wish it was just a suspense novel without the romantic side, it would make more sense. 

This book turned into a series, in the next one "Late in the Day" Mary revisits most of everyone in this one (and other books by Mary), was kinda cool! (though a bit confusing).
I liked it better than this one and I actually look forward to more in the series if only Mary would add to them a bit more page space for a better romantic experience for us readers.

Rating: ★★★

E-Book Edition

200 pages

Read on: 12-May-2017