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A review by divapitbull
Gangster Country by Kade Boehme
3.0
I loved the premise of Gangster Country and I liked the story – but I felt it fell short of what it could have been. My main issue with the story was the lack of character and relationship development - which likely was due to at least in part to length - or lack thereof. Gangster Country starts with Logan Marshall more or less fresh from the Texas farm meeting Gianni Rodriguez at a Manhattan party. Logan has taken his Social Work degree to the big city to make a difference and work for the Manhattan office of the Department of Children and Families; and Gianni is a half Italian, half Hispanic gang-banging thug with the Los Cuervos gang. They almost don’t hook up because Gianni is first hitting on Logan’s twinky roommate, but then they do, and then it’s a year later.
So somehow - unbeknownst to me – they boys went from hook up to regular fuck buddies, except that Gianni knows how Logan takes his coffee and calls him Angel (shudder, no one should be called Angel -ever. Unless that’s like actually their name). For his part, Logan knows that Gianni is “fiercely loyal and cared deeply for his family and friends, though he rarely spoke of them”. He also after being with Gianni for a year and knowing next to nothing about his life, began to grow wary, concerned Gianni was into something bad. Logan is not the most perceptive of social workers – by a long shot. I didn’t feel like Logan and Gianni were fully developed characters, I didn’t know enough about them to develop an emotional investment or to feel the chemistry between them. So when their world’s collided and the shit hit the inevitable fan… I wasn’t really drawn in.
There’s some pretty implausible melodrama, some efforts at angst, the whole Gabe thing was just kind of squicky (that’s probably just me), another leap into the future and a HEA.
So somehow - unbeknownst to me – they boys went from hook up to regular fuck buddies, except that Gianni knows how Logan takes his coffee and calls him Angel (shudder, no one should be called Angel -ever. Unless that’s like actually their name). For his part, Logan knows that Gianni is “fiercely loyal and cared deeply for his family and friends, though he rarely spoke of them”. He also after being with Gianni for a year and knowing next to nothing about his life, began to grow wary, concerned Gianni was into something bad. Logan is not the most perceptive of social workers – by a long shot. I didn’t feel like Logan and Gianni were fully developed characters, I didn’t know enough about them to develop an emotional investment or to feel the chemistry between them. So when their world’s collided and the shit hit the inevitable fan… I wasn’t really drawn in.
There’s some pretty implausible melodrama, some efforts at angst, the whole Gabe thing was just kind of squicky (that’s probably just me), another leap into the future and a HEA.