Gold Digger by Aleksandr Voinov
M/M Contemporary, Novella
Released: September 17, 2012
Riptide
Reviewed by Mandi
I’m a huge fan of Aleksandr Voinov’s Special Forces series. Huge, as in the two heroes, Dan and Vadim are two of my favorite guys. It is super emotional, angsty, violent, and just pure torture to read. And I love to be tortured when I read. So when I heard the author was coming out with a novella featuring Vadim’s son, I became very excited.
Nikolai Krasnorada works for a company that explores and mines gold in Armenia. Nikolai has worked for this company from the beginning and is good friends with the CEO. They realize they need help from a larger company to be successful mining this gold, and turn to LeBeau Mining in Toronto. Nikolai presents his case to the CEO of LeBeau and also his nephew, Henri. After the presentation, the CEO asks to take some time to think about the proposition, and Henri offers to show Nikolai around the city and takes him out to dinner. After a little alcohol, Henri offers Nikolai a blow job to end the evening. Nikolai has never been with a man (although he has thought about it a little) and decides why not. From here Nikolai starts to explore a sexual relationship with Henri, which by all accounts is hot. I think for someone never being with a man before, he may have fallen into it a little easy. However, my main complaint isn’t with the sex in this book, but that the sex is the only thing that Nikolai and Henri have together. I never once felt an actual romance develop. They had sex a few times and then it felt as if a HEA is just tacked onto the end of the story. There is no sharing of feelings or any type of foundation for a relationship to build up from. While the sex is hot, because it lacked romance, it really didn’t work for me.
We also never really get to know Henri. Told in the point of view of Nikolai, this book is all about his life, and his journey during the timeframe of the book. We learn about his father, Vadim and the awkward, colder relationship they have together. I liked how they work on it, and I like that we get to see the two of them together to work out their issues. Nikolai also has major drama with his sister, but that felt more forced and rushed. It felt just thrown in to give him more conflict in his life. I didn’t like the inclusion of that storyline.
There is also conflict over the business dealings, as the CEO of LeBeau decides on a hostile takeover route, putting Henri is an awkward position, both working for LeBeau and being Nikolai’s lover. The business dealings seemed to work out a little too easy. I think overall, I needed a longer story, both to convince me that Nikolai and Henri are actually headed towards a relationship – that Henri would sacrifice all that he does to be with a man by all accounts he barely knows. And to make the outcome of the business dealings flow better. And that would give us a chance to actually get to know Henri better. It’s a good start, but I needed much more.
Rating: C-
Recent Reviews:
Fiction Vixen – B
Ed and Em’s Reviews – 4.5/5
Smitten With Reading – B
Goodreads
It sounds like it might be worth a read.
That’s too bad about the romance side of the story. The connection between Vadim and Dan is just amazing, and I don’t think that story would have worked as well if that had been missing.
I’m aslo confused about the relationship with Vadim, it seemed good at the end of the trilogy. I wonder what happened in the meantime.
In this novella, Dan and Vadim are married – Dan is traveling is he is not pictured in the book..but all is well between them.