Review: Gold Digger by Aleksandr Voinov
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 4, 2012
Originally posted on Joyfully Jay at joyfullyjay.comRating: 4.5 starsNikolai Krasnorada was sent to Toronto to secure a partnership between Cybele Exploration, the gold explorations company he owns stock in, and LeBeau Mining, the mining company needed to actually mine the gold. After his presentation, Nikolai and his partner remain in Toronto over the weekend awaiting the LeBeau Mining CEO's decision. But what should have been a simple business deal turns complicated on both a professional and personal level.Henri LeBeau is the heir-apparent to LeBeau Mining. He is a charmer and a shameless flirt. After a fun night out on the town, Henri propositions Nikolai. Nikolai is certain that he is not gay, but he takes Henri up on his offer under the guise of being horny and only wanting to get off - if it happens to be with a man, so be it. One night with Henri leads to another. While he is not looking for a relationship, only a temporary bed partner, Nikolai worries that he is giving Henri the wrong idea. Nikolai is not the type to put down roots. He travels daily with his job and personal commitment of any type is not an option in his world.Struggling to come to terms with his bisexuality becomes the least of Nikolai's worries. Problems occur within his family that his mother tries to manipulate him into fixing. Then, family secrets revealed by his vengeful sister turn Nikolai's world upside down. And finally, LeBeau Mining begins a hostile takeover of Cybele Explorations when Nikolai won't agree to their terms. But Henri's probable betrayal may hurt Nikolai worst of all.When Henri is the one to come up with an option to help save Nikolai's company, Nikolai realizes that maybe Henri cares more about him than he does about business. And sometimes it takes your world crashing around you to find what really matters.Gold Digger by Aleksandr Voinov is a sweet and sexy tale of a man discovering himself while he also finds the things that are really important in his life.First off, I would like to say that this is the first Voinov novel that I've read and it definitely will not be the last. The wonderful cast, of both main characters and secondary, comes alive on the page. The story was written in the third person POV of Nikolai so readers get to know him best throughout this story. His personal life is a mess as he struggles to keep his professional life from crumbling. The confusion he feels, the conflict with his sexuality, the worry about his parentage are all aspects I felt along with Nikolai as I was reading his story. His character is loyal, loving, and forgiving. Nikolai is a great character that I really enjoyed watching grow throughout this story. I didn't have the chance to learn as much about Henri as I would have liked, other than through his dialogue and from what Nikolai thought about him. I am only a little disappointed that I didn't get to read his POV. I think Henri would be a great and complex character to read.There was a lot going on the story - corporate takeover, family fights, and the makings of a new relationship - but the author did a wonderful job developing each conflict and resolving them by the end of the book. There were a couple times I wondered how a happy ending could be possible, but Voinov worked it out in a way that, as the reader, I was very happy with.Nikolai and Henri have a chemistry that seems almost palpable at times. Every sex scene was extremely hot. But my only complaint with this book is that the relationship that Nikolai and Henri developed seemed to only revolve around sex and and fixing business problems. Most of the time they spend together is spent having sex or they're focused on eventually having sex. They didn't really spend any time getting to know each other or developing feelings for one another beyond sex. I would have liked a little more development in their relationship before they got their happily ever after.All in all, I really enjoyed this book. From what I've learned, a few of the secondary characters/characters mentioned are from Voinov's Special Forces series. So anyone who has read that series in the past should definitely enjoy this book as well. Even if like me you haven't had a chance to read Special Forces, Gold Digger is still a fabulous read full of struggles, self-discovery, and new love with very little angst.Original review link [...]