Bob has been an Agent for the Inspector General's Office for sixteen years when he gets a new partner. She's young, and beautiful, and he tries to retain professional detachment. Then there's the fact that she's from another culture, which makes for some miscommunication sometimes. Imagine what could happen if they had to go under cover together. Wait! You don't have to! You can read all about it.
Size: 172 KB (33,090 words)
Genre: Romantic
Sex Contents: Some Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, Romantic, Reluctant, Interracial, Slow
Review by Jim S [other reviews by Jim S]
Reviewed: - (Review Updated: )
It appears that fans of Lubrican found this story, given it's rating at the time of this review (8.54). The rating, btw, is the minimum that I'd give it.
Lubrican applies the interracial code to this story, but I find that misleading. To me, that code is inflammatory, bringing to mind stroke stories where BBCs dominate white submissive wives (or vice versa). This story, however, is more about different cultures than different races even though there is physicality between members of different races. However, said physicality is something far, far from that kind of the aforementioned crudeness.
Here the author examines the differences between the two protagonists and their respective cultures in a very gentle manner. Both are creatures of their upbringing and that creates a beautiful dynamic (and conflict) that drives the story throughout. Very, very realistic conflicts arising from unusual conditions are created, then resolved softly. If you're an old movie fan like me, this story feels a lot like the old John Wayne movie "The High And The Mighty". The ending reminds me of the ending of that movie (landing softly). He also has an affinity for pregnant female protagonists, but that condition always seems to flow logically from the story itself.
When Lubrican's on his game, he's hard to beat. And he is on his game with this story. Creativity out of the way, let's get down to the basics. Like all of his stories, the proofreading is first rate. No homonymic errors and no misspellings. That makes reading his efforts, well, effortless. Something I wish I could say for a number of really, really good, creative authors here.
I read this story when it first came out and it took awhile (obviously, about four years) until my feelings about it coalesced. Better late than never.
10s all around.
