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The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson (Loose-id)

Grade: A-

This is the first boy-on-boy romance that I’ve ever read and based on this book alone, I think I shall be looking for more. It’s well-written, sexy as hell, and shows wonderful character development. Basically, this book is about a heterosexual male cop who finds himself in love with his heterosexual male cop partner when he’s never been attracted to other men before. I really enjoyed the way Anderson portrayed the hero’s the protagonist’s struggle with his own sexuality and his gradual realization that he is in love with his best friend. What makes this book work is that it is obvious that Anderson, a female writer, respected the people that she was writing about. Though she sticks them in ridiculous situations where the two male leads are forced to physically express themselves to each other, I never got the impression that Anderson is exploiting them. For all I know, she could have giggled her way through every sex scene that she wrote, but it doesn’t come off that way at all. The dialogue and the emotional confrontations between the two male leads are sincere and evocative. I read it thinking I was gonna read about boy-on-boy buttsex between two cops, but you know, it’s a lot more than that. It’s really too bad that the protagonist could be as annoying and whiny as any romance heroine, but hey, it is still a romance novel, after all.

The setting is the 80’s and it totally works because rich boy Nicholas Valenti and his blue-collar Irish boy partner Sean O’Brian have this ambiguously gay buddy cop Miami Vice thing going on. The two of them are very good friends and are so comfortable around each other that they are often seen giving each other noogies or putting their arms around each other. Obviously, in a testosterone-fueled workforce, two males showing affection for each other would not be gracefully accepted, but the two friends are good sports about it. This is why when a sting operation comes across their captain’s desk that would involve two men posing as gay lovers undercover, the captain gives them the assignment. It will require them to stay at a gay-male sex ranch which is suspected as a front for cocaine-dealing and since the last undercover guy pretending to be gay was punished quite severely by the mob boss running the operation, the couple would have to be very, very convincing. Valenti protests, concerned that his very heterosexual and possibly homophobic partner wouldn’t be very comfortable with the assignment, but O’Brian surprises him by being all gung-ho about it. The other reason that Valenti doesn’t want to do it is he’s afraid that his burgeoning feelings for O’Brian would only become too obvious during the assignment and Valenti doesn’t want to lose the best friend he’s ever had. Will Valenti’s very unprofessional feelings for his partner jeopardize the assignment? Or does O’Brian totally want to do him too?

This book reminded me of an episode of Silk Stalkings (which was an awesomely cheesy show, by the way), if you replaced the Mitzi Kapture character with… let’s say, Antonio Sabato Jr or that gay guy from Melrose Place. I liked that show because there was always this sizzling hot tension between the man and the woman even if they pretended that they felt nothing for each other. The show was totally ruined as soon as the two of them started having sex (which was totally why the Rob Estes character was killed and replaced). The difference between that show and this book is emotional resonance. Silk Stalkings was a show about two attractive people who have to work together and even though they wait till the third or fourth season to get together, it was obvious that the writers were just looking at the clock, waiting for the right time to spring that particular storyline on their audience. With Valenti and O’Brian, on the other hand, it’s totally obvious that they care for and respect each other. They have a history together. They’re good friends. They are dynamic together. As I read about them, I wasn’t just waiting for the moment that they rip each other’s clothes off and start licking each other (but I totally was), I also enjoyed reading about the two of them realizing that they’re in love with each other and want to be together.

Valenti annoys me a little with his melodramatic “oh, but it’s wrong, it’s wrong!” whining, but O’Brian just saves the day being so damned fun. While Valenti sulks in his Armani suits, brooding in some dark corner, O’Brian prances around in front of him wearing tiny little pink shirt and short shorts, nuzzling Valenti’s neck or sitting on his lap. I had to wonder how Valenti–Ivy League college educated Valenti–couldn’t see how gay O’Brian was for him and continued to torture himself with little panic attacks over O’Brian being too straight and never loving him back. What a drama queen. What the hell kind of straight man would put another man’s penis in his mouth and suck lovingly, even if he were just pretending to be gay? Come on now! Dude, there’s blind and then there’s just plain “romance novel heroine” stupid. I did enjoy Valenti’s attitude adjustment from brooding whiner to “ah, to hell with it, let’s move to Vermont!”. That was nothing short of awesome.

As for the subplot involving the gay mobsters and the cocaine dealing, that’s really more of an afterthought. The villain merely exists to put our heroes in compromising situations which almost always end up with the two of them making out or having some buttsex. Fortunately, the story does not rely on the plot. Its strength lies on the interactions between the two male leads and the development of their relationship from friends to lovers. And it’s definitely a testament to Anderson’s talent that even though Valenti annoyed me, his little self-doubts and anxieties rang true for me. Anderson obviously put some serious thought into developing Valenti as a character and how he deals with having homosexual feelings for his supposedly heterosexual best friend. It is a delicate matter, yet Anderson manages it with finesse and sensitivity. I really dug it. If you’re feeling a little brave and wouldn’t mind reading a little boy-on-boy action, definitely check this out. It’s definitely better written than some of the contemporary heterosexual romances I’ve read lately.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 8th, 2006 at 1:00 am and is filed under Books, Grade: A, Romance: Contempo, Romance: LGBT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

17 Responses to “The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson (Loose-id)”

  1. Barbara B.
    Posted: Jul 7th, 2006 at 7:15 pm
    1

    I have this book. I found the premise of two heterosexual men falling in love with each other very interesting.

    Conventional wisdom says that this is impossible, that anyone in this situation had only been in denial up to that point. I’ve heard people say that they had no idea that they were gay until they fell in love with a person of the same sex. This is a subject that I find endlessly fascinating. I wonder if bisexuality would be the “norm” rather heterosexuality if there were no societal taboos against same-sex relationships.

    Great job by Ms. Anderson. This book convinced to finally read the other books by her in my TBR digital library.

    Has anyone read Across the Sea by Irene Maillol? It’s an incredible book. The protagonists in that story very naturally and with no angst at all have sex and love whoever and however they want. It’s published by eXtasy. It’s very long, over 400 pages, but well worth the time. Utterly fascinating and it blew me away. It’s my all-time favorite erotic romance or romance period.

    Sorry to go on and on but this book and the subject in general really resonates deeply for me. As a former psychology/sociology major, I’m constantly trying to understand human behavior. Particularly the virulence of homophobia. I’ve never once met anyone who could say exactly why it’s wrong beyond the usual cliches. Or why they feel so strongly about homosexuality as opposed to other “sins”.

  2. Anonymous
    Posted: Jul 8th, 2006 at 6:28 am
    2

    Bam, I went to Loose ID and bought this book based on your review. I sounds hot! Thanks.

    Sandy

  3. Anonymous
    Posted: Jul 8th, 2006 at 6:32 am
    3

    Good grief. IT sounds hot.

  4. Avid Reader
    Posted: Jul 8th, 2006 at 7:45 am
    4

    I’ve downloaded a few but haven’t read them, I’ll have to look for this one, Bam. I do read mxm manga, too, that is very good.

  5. sybil
    Posted: Jul 8th, 2006 at 8:34 am
    5

    Silk Stalkings! I loved that show and the openers was cheese at its best. I was over it by the time they screwed and randomly caught it on tv after he was dead and she was knocked up.

    I was pissed they killed him! Well as pissed as you can be when you turn the channel in disgust and vow to never again watch a show you were already not watching.

    the book, never read it or heard of it but isn’t this the same author that did Planet X? I read that, liked it until the last few chapters which were eh.

  6. jmc
    Posted: Jul 8th, 2006 at 9:21 am
    6

    This was my second M/M book, read after Hot Sauce. And I loved it and totally agreed with everything in your review, Bam! I even liked the cover :)

    I’ve got another ebook by EA to be read still, Dirty Girl, so I’m interested to see if the straight romance is as good as the M/M.

  7. KimD
    Posted: Jul 8th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
    7

    I loved this book and completely agree with the review. The sex is hot but what struck me was the emotional tug I felt for and between the 2 main characters.

    Silk Stalkings was great! Although I eventually got annoyed by Rita.

  8. Evangeline Anderson
    Posted: Jul 8th, 2006 at 2:44 pm
    8

    Aw Bam,
    You finally gave me a review! And here I thought you forgot all about me. : ) I’m so glad you liked The Assignment. But I have to tell you, I wasn’t giggling madly through the love scenes. I was typing with one eye over my shoulder since I was writing it at work. Writing m/f erotica is one thing but I knew if anybody happened to look over my shoulder and see this…Well, they didn’t which is why I still have my job no doubt. ; )
    I loved my characters in The Assignment–the brooding Valenti and the ‘aw, fuck ‘e,’ O’Brian so much. Someone described it as ‘a teacup romance’ which is, they really just need to sit down over a cup of tea and tell each other how they really feel. But since when do men talk about their feelings? Which was what made it so damn fun to write. Very high angst factor and I was sweating right along with them right up till the last so it was lots of fun to write.
    Thanks again for the great review, Bam. And BTW, the new Ellora’s Cave sci-fi book, For Her Pleasure, which I sent you is coming out July 17th. So you can feel free to review it any time as well. And I belive you still have my fake space ho book, Take Two as well. But I know others are waiting in line for their trial by fire so no rush. : P Evangeline

  9. Evangeline Anderson
    Posted: Jul 8th, 2006 at 2:45 pm
    9

    Err…I meant to say ‘the brooding Valenti and the ‘aw, fuck ‘em’ O’Brain above. Appologize for attack of poor typing skills. E

  10. Katie
    Posted: Jul 10th, 2006 at 12:17 am
    10

    Man, next pay day is going to see me buying my first e-book. Sounds delightful, though the only m/m stuff I’ve read has been old X-Files fanfic. Mmm…

  11. Sandie
    Posted: Jul 10th, 2006 at 8:37 am
    11

    Thanks for the review!

    I’ve been wanting to read this one for quite a while!

    Never having seen a single episode of Silk Stockings..I would say any show with Rob Estes being killed off wouldn’t be too bad…

    Sandie

  12. Shuzluva
    Posted: Jul 10th, 2006 at 10:54 am
    12

    I cannot wait to read Take Two now. Hee hee. Valenti as the whiny heroine…I saw that. But fantastic!

  13. Kate R
    Posted: Jul 10th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
    13

    Nice cover too.

  14. Evangeline Anderson
    Posted: Jul 11th, 2006 at 12:10 am
    14

    Poor Valenti! I never thought of him as whiny, just angsty. But okay, I guess I can see it. : )
    And Shuzluva, Bam has a copy of Take Two. ; ) Evangeline

  15. readingissomuchfun
    Posted: Jul 12th, 2006 at 10:05 am
    15

    This one sounds really good. I am going to have to add this to my “Must Buy” List.

    A man with an Icicle for a penis. Wow things must have gotten really cold *G*

    Linda.H.

  16. Stacy~
    Posted: Jul 16th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
    16

    Wow, that was some review Bam. I just had to go and download it and read it last nite - very hot, but also emotional. Great review, and thanx for the rec - thumbs up.

  17. pingback:
    Posted: Dec 17th, 2006 at 6:23 pm
    17
    The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson - Journal of An Avid Reader

    […] Man Love. Alas, 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: […]

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