Ebuzz: The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson

Detective Nicholas Valenti, tall, dark and stoic, has been best friends with his partner, Sean O'Brian for six years. The two men have seen each other through divorce, disaster and danger and saved each other's asses more times than Valenti can count. Exactly when he started seeing his blond, intense partner in another light, Valenti isn't really sure. He only knows that he wants O'Brian in a way that had nothing to do with friendship and everything to do with possession. It is a desire he will have to hide forever because O'Brian is undeniably straight. Just as Valenti is coming to grips with his new, unacceptable feelings for his partner their police Captain puts them on a new case that could blow Valenti's cover once and for all. He and O'Brian are going undercover at the country's largest and most infamous gay resort to bust a notorious drug lord and stop the shipments of poison cocaine that are flooding the gay bars all over the city. Now Valenti will have to make a choice between friendship and desire. He and O'Brian will play the roles of gay men that will push the limits of their relationship to the breaking point. Will their time at the RamJack forge a new bond between them or destroy their partnership forever? Would you Like to Know More Genre: LGBT, Romantic Suspense Grade: D Sensuality: Burning Jane Meter: 50/50 The Good: Interesting set up with the two 'straight' cops falling in love. Could have made for a great story. I really liked the way the Anderson ended the story. Very nicely done. And really you can't help but adore Sean. Bam liked this way more than I did. The Bad: It is possible I have been in too many gay bars or in the hospitality industry too long but there is no way in the world I could buy Sean O'Brian as a straight man. And that is all well and good but the plot is two straight men falling in lurve. Like I said, very cool idea. I like the idea of a person falling in love with a person not a sex. But Sean was just so gay. He spends the whole book calling Nicholas 'babe'. I can't think of any straight man I have ever heard call another man babe (or any other such term). Is that just me? There are some people that are touchy feely types but Sean seems to go over that line. Which makes all of Nicholas oh-woe-is-me-angst seem over the top. Who in their right mind would think a person, same sex or not, would perform oral sex on them to make them feel better? I love my friends but I think licking them might go above and beyond the call of friendship, maybe I am just a bad friend. Since there was no witness to the act of suckage I can't figure out how the reader was suppose to buy that for anything other than it was. And to be honest I have read too much fanfic with the "omg we must fuck in front of teh bad guys in order to live" plot. So the whole thing was too difficult to take seriously. The Verdict: I would rec Planet X over The Assignment if you want to try Evangeline Anderson. Next I would like to try The Last Man on Earth but I don't have it so Dangerous Cravings will prolly be next. You can find an excerpt and buy The Assignment here. And you can find Evangeline Anderson's website here