Review: Undercover by Eliot Grayson
SYNOPSIS:
Gabe wants Alec between the sheets…too bad Alec’s undercover already…
Rich kid. Party boy. Gabe is tired of the labels. He’s a smart guy, but ever since he got kicked out of grad school, people are only interested in his no-limit credit card and his pierced ears…and other places.
Tall, dark and scowling Alec hates Vermont, with its artisanal-freaking-everything and its irritating people. To be fair, most people irritate Alec, including the FBI director who sent him here to investigate a smuggling scheme involving yoga mats.
When one of the cutest twinks Alec’s ever seen takes an interest, Alec knows there’s an ulterior motive. No one with multi-colored hair, piercings, and an ass like that would want boring, serious Alec. The kid must be up to no good. Either way, Alec can’t blow his cover. If only he could keep his hands off of Gabe long enough to find out what he’s up to…
Can they ignore their explosive chemistry long enough to foil a smuggling ring? Or will their budding relationship sink faster than a yacht full of contraband?
REVIEW:
I wanted to love this story, I even went in with an opened mind. But then I learned Gabe was a chemist, and my trepidation started creeping in and low and behold, my instincts were right. So here comes another rant. I apologize but I just want to read one book where the chemist isn’t an idiot or thinking about molecules and atoms 24/7, we aren’t like this in real life.
Your resident romance reading chemist is ready to tell you how NOT to portray the sciences in books. Over the course of the story we learn Gabe spilled coffee on an NMR, and NMR runs around $50,000-$150,000 with most universities have one that costs easily six-figures. You wouldn’t even be allowed food or drink in the room, let alone why are you close enough to the instrument to ‘spill’. Secondly, Gabe mentioned a lab mate using the lab microwave to heat up food. Frequently, if a chemistry lab has a microwave its used for bacteria, no one is going to heat up there actual food in there, it’s disgusting. Finally, Gabe was kicked out of his chemistry Ph.D. program, essentially for being lazy and slacking off. Then he was able to appeal it, that would NEVER happen, like if you are lazy and slacking you usually get offered a Masters degree and the door.
Now back to the actual romance. I liked the quirky meet-cute/meet-awkward between Gabe and Alec. The story was filled with plenty of sexual tension but it really lacked in the connection department. I never felt anything but lust between these two. There were no deeper conversations or any emotional connect, which is hard to do when you are concealing your identity like Alec. But even on Gabe’s end, where his character could have really grew and developed, the author seemed to keep everything superficial and light.
The ending felt so rushed, you spend the majority of the story wondering when Gabe and Alec are finally going to give into the slow-burn of sexual tension. When they finally give in, everything in the rest of the story happens quickly after. Like sex, drama, truth revealed, anger, forgiveness, HEA all happened within a matter of like two short chapters. It didn’t flow at all and really pulled me out of the story that I was struggling to connect with an stay in to begin with.
I think the biggest issue I had with this story is it lacked any balance or character depth. Things moved so drastically slow that I was bored or we were moving so fast that I was suffering from whiplash. But most importantly, get beta readers that ARE CHEMISTS if you plan to write chemists. *sigh*
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