Evangeline Anderson's "The Assignment", #17

[katikat]

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?

I'll Be Hot for Christmas, a Loose Id Stocking Stuffer featuring Valenti and O'Brian, heroes from The Assignment

It's a year after their assignment at the RamJack where they first confessed their feelings for each other. Valenti and O'Brian have been sharing an exclusive and white-hot relationship when Valenti suddenly pulls away. Understandably upset, O'Brian is determined to find out why his partner/lover is giving him the cold shoulder on Christmas, even if it means handcuffing Valenti to the bed to get the truth out of him!

Review: I usually don't like books that are mostly about sex - I prefer more plot, less sex. Fortunately, Evangeline Anderson came up with really likable characters, though I admit that I could've done without the kinky stuff - kink is kinda not my thing. But the friendship between O'Brian and Valenti was quite touching.

The story is set in the early 80s and thanks to that it reminded me very much of Starsky&Hutch and similar buddy cop shows from the good old times when it was okay to portray men as close friends who actually touched and talked.

Comments

[oddmonster.livejournal.com]

I have this one on my shelf and have been wondering about it for a while. I quite liked Anderson's "Slave Boy" even though BDSM's not really my thing. I'll have to bump this one up the reading list. Thanks for reviewing it!

[katikat.livejournal.com]

I think that this book would have been better with little less sex and kink more action/plot but I really liked the characters, the way they were always in each other's personal space!