Man Love. My first. Maybe my last. I just know that I couldn’t have a surfeit of these types of books on a daily basis. Or any erotica that’s m/m,m/f, f/f or whatever. If it entertains, I’ll read it but erotica these days, compose very little of my reading diet. Moving on. I bought this book because the buzz surrounding it has been pretty positive. Here is the description for your perusal:
Detective Nicolas Valenti has never had feelings for a man that go beyond friendship. But now he’s in love with his partner Sean O’Brien. There’s just one problem–Sean is straight. Isn’t he?
The Assignment was just average for this reader. I had some serious issues with Valenti’s partner, Sean O’Brien, claiming his heterosexuality while he was undercover with Nicholas. The problem? I just didn’t believe it. See, the Assignment requires the two men to work undercover together and pretend to be lovers in order for them to take down a dangerous criminal who happens to frequent gay clubs, bars or whatever. The problem arises when Nicholas Valenti starts having some real, serious feelings for his partner, Sean. I really liked Nicholas and I could understand his feelings for Sean since they’d been friends for years and were close. Thus, I had no problem with his character or the way he was written. I felt sorry for him and I wanted him to have his happy ending.
The biggest problem of this story for me was the way Sean O’Brian’s character was written. The author wants the reader to believe Sean’s sexual exploration was nothing for him to think about twice. He did all the kissing, groping, feely stuff with another guy that would make one think twice that he was straight. However, we see Nicholas really grappling with his sexuality and his feelings while we see Sean all out flaming. Rather than be perceived as a full blooded heterosexual male as the author would like the reader to do, Sean comes across as a man who lived his life in the closet and was finally let loose. I would never believe that he was straight. Never. Sorry. Just couldn’t. As the envelope was pushed further and further, Sean’s response was always: it’s ok, it’s for the job. Yeah, right. Tell that to someone else. I just accepted that Nicholas fell in love with Sean but never thought himself as gay. Sean just acted gay from the start.
All in all, this book was about average for me, C. Take heart. Others did enjoy it. I just didn’t think it was all that great. It wasn’t all bad. I liked the writing. The story was somewhat entertaining. Characterizations were decent. The author’s voice has a nice flow to it. Would I read anything else by her? Probably not.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I couldn’t stand this book.
It contained every single slash fanfic cliché in existence ca. 1998. Every one of them, including ye olde (and I mean olde) fuck or die scenario. I wanted to transport the author back eight years and point out that reinventing the wheel was hardly necessary.
And come on: the protagonist is worrying about whether his partner is really interested in him while said partner has the protagonist’s dick in his mouth! Please. And a club named the RamJack? What’s next — the CockOff?
Don’t feel too bad, I am gay and a man and kept wondering why Nicholas let Sean do all those things in bed with him. I mean they were not even friggin drunk, COME ON!
I just totally lost my ability to any of it.
[quote comment=“5055”]My interpretation (heavy emphasis on *interpretation* here), is that before they developed feelings for each other, they both had been heterosexual. And then, what happened during this book was that both had mostly accepted their feelings for the other to themselves, but were not completely sure the other was feeling the same. So, while Sean wasn’t quite ready to come out and say to Valenti that he was gay and hot for him (just in case he was reading Valenti completely wrong), he was otherwise doing all he could to show him.[/quote]
Hmmmm. I just thought the author would have did better to have readers know Sean’s thoughts. Sean really wasn’t as fleshed out as Nicholas (to me). I don’t think we got much of Sean’s POV, now that I think about it. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this book., Rosario.
Jorrie, I’ll keep those titles in mind when I’m in the mood for something different
Thanks, ladies.
My interpretation (heavy emphasis on *interpretation* here), is that before they developed feelings for each other, they both had been heterosexual. And then, what happened during this book was that both had mostly accepted their feelings for the other to themselves, but were not completely sure the other was feeling the same. So, while Sean wasn’t quite ready to come out and say to Valenti that he was gay and hot for him (just in case he was reading Valenti completely wrong), he was otherwise doing all he could to show him.
Hi Rosario, there just wasn’t any acknowlegement from Sean or maybe I read that character completely wrong. So, as I’m to understand it, Sean was already gay it was just Nicholas who was confused?
Cool, Rosario. I actually bought Vaughan’s books because of your reviews
So I’ll be curious to hear what you think.
I dont mind Man love, but I usually prefer there to be at least one female interest. I’ve not been able to read a purely M/M romance yet, and probably wont.
I read an F/F about eighteen months ago, and was so scarred by the experience, that I wont be dipping my nose in that pool again.
Wow, Keishon, we really saw this one from different perspectives! I do totally agree that it would be completely unbelievable for Sean to be straight, but where we differ is that I didn’t think Anderson wanted to make us think he was. The way I saw it, Sean was doing all he could to show Nicholas that he was gay, gay, gay. Well, different strokes, I guess!
And for Jorrie: I loved the Vaughan book you mention, so I’ll be definitely checking out the other two you mention.
Not that I want to push a subgenre on anyone, but my fave m/m romances (off the top of my head) are JL Langley’s Without Reservations, Ally Blue’s Willow Bend and Stephanie’s Vaughan’s Crossing the Line. I just really enjoyed the characters in these books, and the romance.
I haven’t read Evangeline Anderson.