ARC Review: The Long Con by Lori Toland

Posted April 18, 2013 by Sophia Rose in Reviews / 0 Comments

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Long Con

by Lori Toland

Genres: M/M Romance
Released on September 10, 2012
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley

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I love those suspenseful stories surrounding jewel heists and expert con jobs so when I saw this one I just had to give it a try. I ended up really enjoying this story.

The story opens when a Faberge egg is stolen from Nate Bradley’s Russian step-grandmother. It has family sentimental value and he promises to do what he can to get it back. It is not a hollow promise because his job as an agent for one of the government agencies gives him experience in tracking this art crime.

Bradley takes leave from his job to track the egg and his search brings him to NYC. There he gets take for being a prostitute and roped into a long con scheme involving the egg. Things get complicated fast, but he goes with it because it is his best bet to get to the egg. The con artists think the egg they have is just a really good fake and they plan to sell it to Anthony Terranova son of a Mafia don. The whole scheme is dangerous, but then Bradley sets eyes on the target and knows he’s in real trouble. Instead of seducing Tony, Bradley will be the one getting seduced and where will that leave him and Tony when the truth all starts coming out. That is if Tony doesn’t kill him first.

The plot on this one was a fun ride waiting for that moment when Tony learned the truth as Bradley and Tony just fell harder and deeper for each other. It’s all told from Bradley’s perspective so everyone else’s doings are left to his interpretation. The twists that came in the end were great. I saw a few from the clues dropped earlier, but I missed one big one until it was revealed. The intrigue just made it even better.

I winced a little with how quickly the love word was bandied around in Bradley’s mind, but I know for some it can happen quickly. The thing that really got me off track for a bit was that I had a hard time seeing him as the Dom he claimed to be. Bossy and commanding lover who got into playing a scene, yes; Dom with a sub, no. Maybe he would be different if he wasn’t hiding who he really was and struggling not to fall for Tony, but at this point he wasn’t in the right place mentally to be caring for a sub. This was not something that caused dislike or even irritation; it was more an observation of how I interpreted the character I was reading about. This brings me to make the point that there are mild BDSM elements in the story.

I look forward to more stories from this author and I hope she writes another story about Bradley and Tony. Those who enjoy M/M Contemporary Romance or Romantic Suspense should give this a try.

Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read this book for review purposes.

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Sophia Rose

I was born and raised near Sacramento, CA. I have read since I was four years old and developed tastes that run the gamut of literature. I went away to college and have a degree in education, a certificate in family history research, and a certificate in social work. I worked for a non-profit agency with low income families for 20 years which included being responsible for the children’s library and promoting/teaching adult literacy. I have lived in Southeast Michigan for the last 18 years and I am currently a book addicted homemaker with a cat and husband who keep me grounded. Recently, I made it a challenge to review each book that I have read as a favor to author friends who said reviews are important. I have done reviews for Good Reads, Amazon, eBay, and Smashwords, but mostly at Goodreads and Amazon.