Review: Under the Skin by Nicki Bennett and Ariel Tachna

I’ll admit the first thing that drew me to this book was the cover (*guilty blush* don’t pretend it didn’t attract your attention too!), and after reading the summary I was further intrigued and thought it sounded like an interesting story. I’m still new to m/m romance, but have really enjoyed those I’ve read so far, and come on—good-guy police detective falls for bad-boy Russian mobster? Who doesn’t want to know how that turns out?!

Unfortunately, the book fell a little short in its execution. I liked it at the beginning, but as I read on I became less and less engaged. The chemistry was sizzling—Bennett and Tachna do know how to write some hot scenes, I’ll give them that—but the connection between Patrick and Alexei seemed forced in all other aspects. I was unable to believe the jump from basically-fuck-buddies to lovers / friends. The emotional intimacy that they develop was hard for me to buy, especially given the constraints of their relationship and the situation they’re in.

When I started the book, I thought it would be a romantic suspense / action book, but it most definitely was not. That wasn’t a must for me, but what bothered me was the inconsistency, because it also wasn’t a straight-up contemporary romance. Instead, it felt like every now and then the authors would remember that there was a police-mob-suspense-subplot they were supposed to be focusing on as well, so we’d get some scenes or developments on that, and then go back to the “connection” between Patrick and Alexei. There weren’t smooth transitions and it made for a choppy read.

Eventually, even the sex began to pale (I know: *gasp*) given its ridiculous frequency; one of them would once more reach frantically for the other’s belt or kiss with desperate passion and all I could think was, Really? Again?! There’s a point where Patrick says to Alexei that they can’t keep turning to sex in attempt to ignore the difficulties between them; he says this in a defeated tone, feeling hopeless about their can-only-end-badly relationship. For me, this was probably the most authentic moment of the entire book.

While my interest was piqued by the cover and then the summary, the book itself didn’t deliver the compelling story and characters I was expecting. I had to force myself to finish it and not skim. I have read much better m/m romance where the main characters started off as strangers, but developed a considerable amount of heat and a believable emotional connection within a short amount of time (see recommendation #2 below).

Recommendations:
If you want to read an erotic m/m romance, I would suggest:
Apples and Regret and Wasted Time by Cornelia Grey (4.5 stars | Grade: A)
Grey’s Awakening by Cameron Dane (4 stars)

Rating: D
Under the Skin by Nicki Bennett and Ariel Tachna
September 4th 2011 by Dreamspinner Press
Contemporary Erotic Romance – GLBT
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