Title: The Long Con
Series: Dangerous Affairs, #1
Author: Lori Toland
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Action / Light Kink
Length: Novel
Publisher: Loose Id (April 17th, 2013)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥3 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: British Agent Nathaniel Bradley is tasked with bringing home a stolen heirloom. After tracking the Faberge egg all the way to a group of criminals in New York, Bradley infiltrates a ring of con artists and gets sucked into the role of a high priced prostitute.
While hoping for a chance to take back what is rightfully his, Bradley’s sole mission becomes to seduce Tony Terranova, Jr., the heir to a notorious mafia dynasty. Though Tony is strikingly handsome, the usually dominant Bradley is hesitant to submit to the sexual whims of a dangerous Mafioso.
What Bradley doesn’t expect is for Tony to fall to his knees so eagerly for him, leaving him blindsided by how intensely their dark tastes complement each other. Now Bradley is caught up in a deadly game of lies and desire, where what he truly wants may not be what duty requires.
Product Link: http://www.loose-id.com/the-long-con.html
Review: My impression on this book varies from loved it to oh my God kill me now.
The action plot here was quite interesting, the pace set was my favorite, the intensity the story managed to grip me with was breathtaking, and I managed to devour the book in only some short hours. The erotic factor was mouthwatering and the erotic scenes (which were plenty, and I mean plenty) were pretty brilliant. The author has a knack of making you jump into that eroticism along with the characters no matter what’s going on in the plot and all around you in real life. It’s safe to say that I completely left my outside world for the duration.
As gripping as it was though, the plot had some serious holes there that every fan of action/mystery/suspense would say a big NO to. On many occasions the undercover work was plain ludicrous, the characters gave themselves away and the incredulity of the events that followed was big enough to slow you down and think about what a shame it was. The way that egg (the stolen heirloom) moved in the end was just too easy. The way how an agent reacted when faced with a bully-criminal like Silvio was so not realistic and at some point some events were dragged a bit too much.
Speaking of too much here comes my favorite part. The insta-love thing. How fast can you fall utterly in love with a person you don’t know? Is a day enough? Add to that, you’re an agent and he is a Mafia kid and you have a completely non-realistic romance shaping right there. As much as I loved the entire sexual ordeal between Tony and Bradley, as much as it blew my mind with the hot and freaking awesome scenes, there was always the “love” in between them that put me off faster than an ice-cold shower. Add to that the desperation card that got overused there and the drama nearly suffocated me.
So in the end there were many, many things that would make me give this book not a favorable rating, but as I said in the beginning it still managed to drag me with it and not let me go till I reach THE END. Odd isn’t it? So when you consider that, that is the purpose of a book I can’t help but recommend it despite the cons.