Review: B rating....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 17, 2012
My Review:B hotBefore this book, I've only read one other Aleksandr Voinov book, Country Mouse, so I am not really familiar with this author although I did really enjoy that book. I was about 2/3 of the way through this book when it occurred to me that this is the book that Smexy had talked about in her Top 10 a couple of weeks ago. This is a follow-up to another HUGE book that intrigued me, Special Forces...that story is Vadim's story, who is Nikolai's father...and he plays a pretty big role in this book too.This book is truly an international book as it goes through the corporate intrigue of a new company wanting to mine for gold. The book starts off in Canada where Nikolai is pitching to another company to invest in their gold exploration, then moves to New Zealand where Nikolai is visiting his father, Vadim, then finishes in London.Henri is the nephew to the CEO of the company that Nikolai is pitching to...that meeting does not go well, but things are natural between the two men. They immediately hit it off and spend the weekend together. To this point, Nikolai has never been with another man before although he's always been aware of the gay lifestyle with his father.I liked Nikolai a lot. He's dealing with a lot of stress. Things aren't good with his family and getting crazier by the minute. He screwed up the meeting in Canada which has put the company in jeopardy. Plus he's dealing with all these new feelings with Henri. I liked how up-front he is about everything with everyone though. He doesn't try to play games or use subterfuge to get his footing. He just tells it like it is...to everyone. I enjoyed his time with Vadim and it definitely made me curious about Vadim's whole story.My only real complaint is that I had a hard time accepting the depth of feeling between the two guys. They had some incredibly sweet moments that literally just melted my heart. But none of the story is told from Henri's point of view and I think that creates a disconnect...at least it did for me. I just needed a tiny bit more to believe this whirlwind, around-the-world romance.But that being said, I did enjoy the book and before I even finished with it, I downloaded Special Forces and started to read it. I think I'll be able to appreciate this one more after I've read all the back-history in that one (although it absolutely isn't needed to enjoy this book...this is definitely a stand-alone novel.) Overall, this was definitely an enjoyable read and I think I understand a tiny bit more about mining for gold and corporate sabotage.I received a complementary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.