Title: Granite: A Rocky Start
Author: GH Worth
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: Contemporary M/M
Length: Novella (102 PDF pages)
Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5
A guest review by Tj
Summary Review: A case of the Assistant DA and Police Detective who are hot for each other, but can’t seem to find the time to be together that unfortunately suffered from shallow characterization.
The Blurb: The attraction simmering between Detective Baxter Alexander and Assistant District Attorney Cameron Hamilton for two years finally explodes into life during the middle of an important homicide investigation gone bad. Both men are dedicated to doing their jobs, and finding time for a personal life isn’t easy, especially a new lover, when reality keeps getting in the way. No matter how hard they try to spend time together, nothing goes as planned, but despite a rocky start, they’re determined to keep trying.
The Review: So I was really interested to see how GH Worth had developed since I read Tell No Lies a few months back. Granite: A Rocky Start had what seemed like a promising plot. Assistant DA Cameron Hamilton and Detective Baxter Alexander had known each other through work for 2 years, and apparently secretly lusted after each other. The story begins when the latest case they are working falls apart when evidence is deemed inadmissible and the suspect goes free. Baxter is called in to meet Cam to discuss the case and witnesses Cam flipping out over the turn of events. Interestingly, this change in Cam’s demeanor gives Baxter a push to make some suggestive comments and ask Cam for a date.
Their attempts to date, and find time to be alone to act on their long denied lust for each other over the next week are constantly derailed. Then there are some coincidences that once again put them together, but predictably fate causes a minor disaster and they are denied their chance again. So for a good part of the book, they are not actually having much of a relationship other than talking about how much they want each other. There is no sex until fairly late in the story when they finally get to be alone.
Overall the story started with an interesting beginning, but for me the characters never really came to life. We learn a little about each of them, but nothing about who they really are, so as a result I found myself not really so interested in what happened to them.
Unfortunately the story also had a few of my personal annoyances. Baxter and Cam used pet names (babe, honey) from very early in the book. I do realize that they had known each other for 2 years, so perhaps that was the idea of why this would happen so soon, but they hadn’t known the other was gay until Baxter asked Cam for a date, so this seemed odd. And the pet names were used in place of their actual names… a lot. Cam actually says he loves it when Baxter calls him ‘babe’. I just didn’t buy it so early in their relationship.
The prose, even during the one love scene was a tad over the top for my tastes. Just for example, Baxter tells Cam to ride him and Cam replies : “Now all we need to do is slick up your saddle horn and give me a little stretch, and we’ll be good to go.” I think it was supposed to be cute or funny, but it felt like neither to me. This actually pulled me completely out of the story as it felt unreal. Even outside of the bedroom, I found the talk of how hot they were for each other seemed over the top. Then we have them declaring love forever after a week and one roll in the sack: “You’re stuck with me. The forever kind of stuck. Think you can deal with me on a full-time basis?”
So in the end, the somewhat underdeveloped characters and over the top prose left me feeling disengaged from what happened to the characters. But perhaps if you’re a fan of this type of story and the issues that I mention aren’t a big deal for you, then you might enjoy Granite.
Sounds like a pass to me, TJ. Those are my worst pet peeves as well. I’m going to make a generalization here, but tough guy detectives and such are usually the last people I would expect to start in on the “I can’t live without you” crap right away. That bugs me to no end.
Understandable Cole. I had trouble with the together forever line. It just seemed unbelievable.
What Cole said, ha, ha! I would expect detectives and prosecutors to be more cynical than that. 🙂
I know, me too Val, me too.
Tj
I feel really bad that I asked you to review this book. Your first review was a book by this author and I thought this would be better, but obviously it’s worse. I know that we can’t tell how a book would turn out from reading the blurb and this one did seem to have some promise. I see that the flowery prose is just as evident here too. 🙁
Don’t feel badly Wave. As you say, there is no way to know how good a book will be. And I was curious to see how the author had improved since the last book. Some things were better, but some things stayed the same. It just, as Lynn would say, left me feeling “meh”.