TEST
Undercover Engagement has some okay character chemistry and some awful plot and character choices (particularly its old school sexist hero, who tries to control what the heroine wears while they’re on an undercover mission together). The end result is dull, oh so dull, but if you’re in the mood for a lot of spice you might see it with more favorable eyes.
Eden Brixton is an uptight and straitlaced recruit who’s mega-confident about her detecting capabilities. When her first assignment plants her undercover in Bluelick Kentucky with a fellow trainee she’s never seen eye to eye with in order to suss out some pot dealers, she dedicates herself to playing her cover hard.
Marcus Swain is her exact opposite, in that he’s arrogant and a loose cannon. Reckless to the seeming point of carelessness, Marc thinks Eden’s hot but also finds working with her to be a pain in the ass. They clash nonstop and seem to hate one another.
But hey, since they have to pretend to be married, why not indulge in a little bit of hot and heavy flirtation? It doesn’t help that living together helps them see fresh sides of each other. Will they find the head of the drug ring and make the bust of their lives, or will Marc just get to feel up Eden’s bust?
Undercover Engagement strives for the erotic, but often comes off as cheesy. Marcus calls Eden choux, for heaven’s sake – I kept imagining puff pastry as they went at it.
And Marcus is a pretty resistible hero – old skool, arrogant, pushy, and controlling. He wants to be Remmy Le Beau from X-Men so badly, but comes off as a pissy Pepe Le Pew more often than not.
Eden, meanwhile, appears somewhat wishy-washy. In trying to walk the fine line between tough and independent and very into Marcus, she often comes off as foolhardy.
The romance between them, however, generally works and definitely holds a tiny (very tiny) modicum of tension and steam. Sometimes the banter comes off well, sometimes it’s quite immature. It’s a see-saw balance that never entirely settles itself into something that’s easy to define.
The characters surrounding Eden and Marcus in Bluelick are total caricatures, barely formed backwater rednecks who mainly exist to move the drug plot forward. Please don’t think too hard about why an entire sting operation has been built around two petty pot dealers.
Undercover Engagement is good for an afternoon’s laugh, but it’s very retrograde and might even belong back in the back old days of the ‘90s.
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Grade: D
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 14/11/21
Publication Date: 07/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier
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Oh, that’s a bummer. She’s generally a reliable performer. Is this your first Beck?
It is indeed! This one just didn’t sing for me; I’ll try her again though.