The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson

         Yay! First post back! This book showed up on a bunch of lists that I was looking at. I actually find myself getting lost in those lists, and can wander through them for hours, but This book just kept popping up and after deciding not to read it a couple of times I finally gave in.

         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?

Click to View on Amazon: The Assignment

         The first thing that hit me about this book was the strange timing of it. This might just be because I never experienced them, but when the book said that this was set in the 80s I couldn't hold back a shudder. I thought, Oh dear, this is going to be painful and neon colored. But it turns out I was wrong and I don't think the story really even needed to tell us that it was set in the 80s. The story could have been something that happened today. I mean, I am assuming it could have, I haven never experienced anything that these characters went through but as far as the feelings of time and place, it felt very modern to me.

         I actually really liked the characters. It sometimes bothers me when characters are afraid of their sexuality, sometimes it just seems to contrived. And sometimes I just want to smack them until they get that being attracted to another man is not a bad things, but the struggle in this case felt pretty natural. O'Brian was so flirty and naturally physical that it never seemed forced between the two characters, even when it was forced on them. It was a bit of a "gay for you" story, as both the characters were very much interested in women until Valenti's divorce, but I have always thought that makes the story sweeter. Like they are so drawn to each other and so perfect for each other that something as little as orientation doesn't matter. So lovely.

         I felt that the whole "sleep with each other as blackmail" thing was a little forced. I understood it but it was predictable and I felt myself going, really? REALLY? But at the same time it did tear my heart apart a little because Valenti was so torn up about it, and he loved O'Brian so dearly and that made me tear up a bit when he started hating himself over it. And the chemistry between those two was sweet. As straight men they were so comfortable with each other that they were always touching, and I don't know about you guys, but my boyfriend rarely casually touched other guys, and if he does it is never more than for a few seconds... but they were ok with it and, it was great. The best part was when they were in the hotel and O'Brian finally saw his opening to get closer to Valenti. Ah it was so sneaky and sexy haha, though thinking about a pretty boy twink type with a bunch of chest hair was a bit difficult.

I  liked this book, it was a fun read and I should have read it sooner. I give it 3 stars!

Broken Boundaries by Evangeline Anderson

         Yay! I'm back. It is kind of sad how long I have been gone. But first I was on vacation, then school started, then I got sick, and then time just seemed to slip away from me. So, today I was sitting in one of my boring lit classes and realized that I hadn't posted in a while and that it was time to fix that.

         I know that while I have reviewed some YA books on here, a lot of the books I review are romance and usually erotic (which is why it is kinda weird that my grandma insisted that I give her the url to my blog) and lately I have been exploring some strange categories of those genres. There will be many interesting reviews to come from gay love (which isn't that weird no matter what my boyfriend says) to sex with a spider. All to come soon. But I have rambled on enough about that, and now it is time to get to today's review! Yay! So, here is Broken Boundaries!

         Chaz is the youngest recruit the Academy has ever seen. Godlike reflexes and hawk eyes make him a natural gunner assigned to fly the futuristic ship with technology so advanced it’s still classified. But it takes a two-man crew and Chaz, the lone wolf, must have a partner.

         On his first day he meets Ferron, the most dangerous man at the Academy. The ice blue eyes and scarred face of the older cadet aren’t enough to scare Chaz. Nor are the rumors that Ferron killed his last partner. But when he finds out they are to be a team, his anxiety starts to mount.

         Tension climbs to a breaking point when Ferron informs him that in order to fly the Needle he and Chaz must have their bodies pressed together in a dance of sensual intimacy that makes the sexually straight Chaz angry and uncomfortable.

         Ferron must master Chaz completely and break down his physical and emotional boundaries. The only thing that will keep them alive is their partnership—any space between them means certain death.

Click to view the book on Amazon: Broken Boundaries
 

         I liked the concept of this story a lot, in a weird way I can see how it would make sense to be extremely physically and emotionally close to your flight partner in a situation like battle, but I can also understand how it could freak new recruits out, especially male recruits. I just feel like men, young men, who consider themselves straight are very freaked out by anything even remotely homoerotic.

         I really liked Ferron, he was quite believable to me, but I was beyond annoyed by Chaz. First off what kind of name is Chaz? It sounds like cheese, and it doesn't really lend much confidence in his intelligence. And he is apparently a really smart guy... but he such a jerk. He was the one who wanted to become a needle gunner more than anything, enough to leave his family behind and give up a full ride to a good school. I feel like if you want it that badly, you just suck it up and deal with what your mentor tells you to do. Maybe that is just me. I guess if I was in his situation I would be a little uncomfortable being all hot and heavy with another girl, but I wouldn't fight against it as much as he had, especially if I had spent most of my life dreaming about being a needle gunner. But, guys must be more skittish about stuff like that because it threatens their manhood, or something.

         Another thing that bothered me was the slutty, super effeminate gay competition. I guess in hetero books there are usually slutty female characters, but this guy was ridiculous, talking about taking it up the ass all the time and how everyone wanted him... I don't know, it drove me crazy, maybe because I have never met someone, male or female, who acted like that. Are there even real people in the world who are like that?

         But those things aside, I actually thought that it was a very realistic love story, in the sense that I think these characters actually got to know each other on a level that allowed for them to be comfortable with each other and their sexuality. On a side note: wtf was up with those lobster monsters? And how did they blow up the ship in a maneuver that had killed the previous pilot who tried it. Where the lobsters that stupid that they would fall for it again? And after being gone for decades, why did they decide to come back right then. I understand the lobsters were a tool to further the plot but it seemed pretty obvious that she was just using the aliens to get Chaz and Ferron to have sex.

         I liked it, and I hope to find other good m/m stories in the future to write about. I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. Again, I am so sorry it has been so long since I have posted, I am going to try my best to catch up, I have midterms and then spring break so hopefully I can catch up then.