Sunday, August 16, 2009

Review - Undercover




Title: Undercover
Author: Lauren Dane
Publishing Date: December 2008
Genre: Futuristic (Erotic)
Rating: C+
Sensuality: Burning

Sera Ayers walks into her commanding officer's office only to be confronted with a man she vowed to forget, Ash Walker. Their love affair ended abruptly after she found out he was engaged to be married and he wanted to set her up as his mistress. See in this Universe, Ash is from one of the founding families and as one of the first sons he is expected to marry for political ties. Keeping a mistress or two on the side is perfectly acceptable by society's standards. Only Sera has more pride than that and was unable to accept the arrangement. Now ten years later she finds that Ash wants to use her in an undercover operation. She with Ash and his partner Brandt are to infiltrate the Imperialists in an attempt to find a traitor, by posing as two wastrel playboys and their concubine. What first begins as a ploy to fool others turns out to be the real thing between Ash, Brandt and Sera.

As I was reading the first chapter of Undercover, I got a little worried about the heroine of the story. When she makes her first appearance it's a violent and explosive one and these are not characteristics which I find appealing. She is bitter and accusatory towards Ash and with good reason, yet I was praying she wouldn't continue to act this way through the whole story. Fortunately, Sera is one of those characters that once she has expressed her opinion she is able to move on and make the best of a bad situation and so my opinion of her went up several notches.

Usually, a certain amount of disbelief is required when reading a romance between two men and one woman. I felt that Ms. Dane did a good job at explaining why and how the emotional pull between Ash, Brandt and Sera worked. Brandt was needed to sort of smooth out the conflict between Ash and Sera and was the glue that helped hold it all together. However, I do feel that much of the emotional development especially between Brandt and Sera was rushed or happened much to quickly.

While I enjoyed the story and the characters, I felt that the reader was only exposed to it at a superficial level. I wasn't as emotionally connected to the characters as I could have been. The world building itself had lots of potential, but for the most part only scratched the surface. More depth from both the characters and the world building would have made an enjoyable book an outstanding book. I would recommend this book for those readers who enjoy a book more focused on the characters instead of the world building.

Here is what others had to say:

Book Binge

This book can be purchased in print and kindle format from Amazon.

7 comments:

Kristie (J) said...

I was reading this one before I went to DC and now I can't find where I put it!!
I know I was blushing while reading though - blushing A LOT *g*

Carolyn Crane said...

Oh, I agree, it is always nice when a character doesn't stay stuck in an emotion like anger through a whole book! And yes, I suppose it's hard to make mmf believable. I think it doesn't happen much in real life!

Well, I have been hearing such good things about Dane - I was thinking of starting with her new book, though if this makes KJ blush...

Kate Diamond said...

Does anyone have a recommendation for a first Dane read?

nath said...

Great review, Jill! It seems this author has been everywhere on blogland this summer, I mean, her books are being talked a lot. So I'm glad to read your opinion :)

Ugh, I hate it when some characters are so bitter and abrasive, even if they have reasons. It's just not a personality I enjoy.

Tracy said...

Someone sent this book to me and I just haven't wanted to read it. Now I'm not sure I want to. The bitterness and abrasivness would get on my nerves. :)

Thanks for the review.

Jill D. said...

Carolyn - If you can handle John Lear's books then Dane's will be a walk in the park. It is no more erotic than the next one.

Kate - This was my first Dane book. Although, I did read a short story that was in the What Happens in Vegas anthology and it was pretty good. It is what put Dane on my radar in the first place.

Nath - I have noticed the same thing. You know me. If ever there is buzz, I have to be in the middle of it. I can't be left out, you know.

Tracy - The good thing is that she is only like this for the first chapter. It is really just to explain how devistated she was. I actually think you would enjoy this book.

Tracy said...

Really? Alright, I'll think about it. :) Thanks for the info!