Dec 16 2006
REVIEW: Dirty Girl by Evangeline Anderson
Dear Ms. Anderson:
This story had real promise and I really loved the premise. Kat McKinley, a pathologist for the DC serial killer division and Phillip Paxton, psychologist and profiler have been friends and partners for years. Kat has serious sexual dysfunction problems. She suffers a dream every night that brings her to the heights of arousal but not completion. Because of a humiliating childhood experience, Kat cannot give herself release and so she is on the brink. She is emotionally and physically worn out. Worse is that the star of her erotic dreams is her partner Phillip. what she doesn’t know is that Phillip would do anything to be her partner in every sense of the word.
Kat and Phillip are lent to a local team in Biloxi. Department policy says that they must drive. It’s a two day road trip there both ways and Kat is worried that if she falls asleep in the car, she will have her dream again and her dirty little secret will be revealed to Phillip.
So the setup is good. I have some doubts about the technical details but it sounds believable so I am in until about 1/3 of the way in when the story turns from an interesting look at sexual dysfunction in an erotic romance to Hot Fleshy Thighs . [Random Crusie reference here]. There is no actual suspense in the book as the trip to Biloxi and the police work are merely backdrops. It reminded me of a play where they roll in different set pieces to depict a new background. You could have rolled in any number of places or occupations and the story would have been the same.
Then there was the interrogation scene where the criminal was confessing to a crime and Kat was having a sexual fantasy. It was weird and kind of gross for me.
For some reason, spanking played a prominent part in Kat getting over her sexual hangup. (both sexual and non sexual). The sex scenes were written without the deft touch of your previous novel, Dangerous Cravings. Instead, there was dialogue like this:
“Deep … God, Phillip … you're in me so deep!” . . .
“I'll show you deep, Katie,” he growled
and another classic
“Give it to me hard!” I cried. . . He roared, there was no other word for it. . .
The alternating first person also didn’t work very well for me. I didn’t find the two voices distinct. The coup de grace was a very stupid Big Misunderstanding. This one is a pass for me. I won’t be buying another Anderson book until I can get this one out of my head. D.
Best regards,
Jane
Related posts:
Dec 16, 2006 @ 09:07:37
Jane…
Let me give you a bit of free advice and save you a bit of money, every book I have read by Ms. Anderson has suffered this problem you mentioned here. I read one, thought it was a first book, and gave the benefit of the doubt; read a second began to wonder if it was her ‘style’; hit the third, shook my head and said never again. All her books are like this – bad dialogue, good premises with lousy execution, and you’re left wondering why you bothered.
Avaron
Dec 16, 2006 @ 10:01:06
I read and liked Anderson’s The Assignment, a m/m love story. So I bought this ebook a while back. It’s still sitting on my reader unread. :sigh: Sounds like it doesn’t compare to TA. Shame.
Dec 16, 2006 @ 11:13:51
I have to confess I didn’t like this one either. Besides the rather lame plot I thought the “reason” for Kat’s problem was completely out of reality. I grew up and still live in a catholic country – and believe me, what happenend to the heroine during her childhood would never have gone unpunished. A nun who treats a child like that would never be allowed to teach again – and what the fuck is with the mother of the heroine? My child acts disturbed, she clearly has a trauma … – helloooo? – why doesn’t she check it out, talks to other parents, talks with the school (or was it a kindergarten? I don’t remember any more) and seeks out psychological support. I would run amok if my daughter had such obvious problems. The situation appeared totally unbelievable to me – and therefore the rest of the story as well.
Dec 16, 2006 @ 20:52:18
LOL. I probably couldn’t read this one either, with dialogue like that. I’m just wrapping up my thoughts on The Assignment.
Dec 17, 2006 @ 10:32:28
I actually enjoyed Dangerous Cravings and don’t remember it being so porny. Maybe I will try the Assignment, but I need to let this book fade from my memory. Thanks for the heads up, everyone.
Dec 17, 2006 @ 16:10:53
Eh, I’ve always thought everything she has ever written was porn. She’s just a bad writer, period. I hear she’s the best-seller at EC and that makes me scratch my head and go, “huh?” Every single thing she writes is contrived, ridiculous, and trite.
It’s obvious that while she’s writing her books, she’s thinking in her head, “see, even a monkey can write this shit. I’m so bloody clever.”
Dec 18, 2006 @ 09:51:56
The Assignment? Oh my, being a big gay fag reader myself I thought it was a pure fan fiction rip off of that old Partners comedy movie. With angst replacing the gay jokes.
It also was totally unbelievable considering both the guys were straight. I kept thinking, yeah that would happen sure he would not be running out of the room by that point. Especially with the whole unexpected blowjob scene, he would have been so gone.
Dec 18, 2006 @ 09:54:13
Hee. I think we need Teddy Pig to be writing reviews of all the faux gay erotic romance/erotica these days. Who’s the Shelly(?) person who writes the gay EC books that everyone is telling me to read?
Dec 18, 2006 @ 12:36:13
Oh Jane,
Your wish is my command. It will be called “The Naughty Bits” Big Gay eBook Reviews. Specializing in the day to day issues of Werewolf Romance….
HA!
Dec 18, 2006 @ 13:36:20
Oh currently really liking J. L. Langley’s – Without Reservations.
Now here is a better straight/gay guy romance that sorta makes some sense.
I especially loved near the end where the stright guy who is about to (oh how can I put this nicely…) Lick Boy Butt, surprises himself at how it now turns him on. A “Fucking Priceless Moment” that made the book even better.
The Assignment by Evangeline Anderson at avidbookreader.com
Feb 12, 2007 @ 22:30:05
[...] All in all, this book was about average for me, C. Take heart. Others did enjoy it. I just didn’t think it was all that great. It wasn’t all bad. I liked the writing. The story was somewhat entertaining. Characterizations were decent. The author’s voice has a nice flow to it. Would I read anything else by her? Probably not. [...]