The Long Con by Lori Toland

The Long Con by Lori Toland
Loose-Id

Novel

Rating: 3/5

Blurb:
British Agent Nathaniel Bradley is tasked with bringing home a stolen heirloom. After tracking the Faberge egg all the way to a group of criminals in New York, Bradley infiltrates a ring of con artists and gets sucked into the role of a high priced prostitute.

While hoping for a chance to take back what is rightfully his, Bradley's sole mission becomes to seduce Tony Terranova, Jr, the heir to a notorious mafia dynasty. Though Tony is strikingly handsome, the usually dominant Bradley is hesitant to submit to the sexual whims of a dangerous Mafioso.

What Bradley doesn't expect is for Tony to fall to his knees so eagerly for him, leaving him blindsided by how intensely their dark tastes complement each other. Now Bradley is caught up in a deadly game of lies and desire, where what he truly wants may not be what duty requires.

Review:
I am on the verge of not liking and liking this book. My expectations weren’t met and it could just be all me because I was expecting an action packed read. So I feel all let down that I didn’t get the angst and suspense that I wanted.

Bradley is British agent on a mission. He is out to get back a priceless Faberge egg stolen from his family *things like that should be kept under serious lockdown*. He tracks the egg to New York, gets caught up in a con, and loses his heart to a mob boss’s son. It sounds exciting and thrilling, but in all honesty, that’s all that happens.

I was waiting for the awesome to kick in, but the entirety of the book was all about Bradley losing his heart to Tony. The whole con set-up I didn’t find all that believable, and thank the word neither did our characters. Bradley and Tony’s feelings come off like a bullet train, fast and moving ahead at full speed. They’re so in love but how can a law-abiding citizen fall in love with a crime boss. It’s a battle of doing the right thing or being caught up in the feeling of love.

Yes, the story is a bit over the top, and offers nothing in the angst department ‘IMO’. My sole reason why this book had me doing eye roll numerous, is because it was just too freaking descriptive. I felt like I knew every hair on Tony’s head personally. Bradley our sole POV describes everything he’s feeling and doing, I found it tiresome and unnecessary all most of the time.

I did like the characters and I just wanted so much more from them, I wanted so much more from the story. The BDSM part of it was ‘meh’ at most nothing too extreme but I feel wasn’t done very well. The whole story is a bit unreal, and I had more questions than answers at the end of the book.

Through all my complaints I read this book fairly quickly once I started, which I guess ups the entertainment factor. I felt the ending was just a little too neat, but what the hell happy endings make me happy. Overall, my high expectations left me grounded and I wish I liked this one a little more. It’s a 3 Pants Off because I could finish it, and some of the sex was hot.

3 Pants Off