Review: Beneath the Shield

Title: Beneath the Shield
Author: Diana DeRicci
Publisher: MLR Press
Publication Date: February 2011
Reviewed Format: ebook
Length: 106 pages

Rating: 3 out of 5

Blurb:
Jack Torres has been harboring, zealously nurturing a hidden guilt for three years. This mire of emotions has hardened his heart and his want to reconnect to the living world, keeping him isolated and unapproachable.

Brant Teller is a chance encounter Jack keeps from growing physically violent in a crowded nightclub. Parting ways, Brant doesn't expect to see the brooding, silent officer again. Yet when a domestic violence call brings the surly officer right to his ER, Brant takes a chance. What begins as a Sunday of football has the possibility to become so much more. If Jack will open himself up enough to release the agony of his own personal nightmare.

Review:

Main Characters:
Brant is an ER doctor with a third degree black belt, a man who is used to taking care of himself. He's understanding to a fault but has no problem saying 'no' when the situation warrants it, and doesn't give up easily. He's an interesting, likable character, but somehow too good to be true when taken as a whole, which made it hard for me to invest in him.

Jack is a former DEA agent turned cop after the death of his partner and lover, Leo. He's closed himself off from the world, nursing his pain in silence with only his cousin Trevi for company--and even that is accepted only grudgingly. So much of his characterization is tied in to his psychological solitary confinement that it was difficult for me to get a hold on who he was otherwise. The flashes of him as a person outside of his pain are appealing, but they're also few and far between for the bulk of the book.

Chemistry:
Brant and Jack's relationship begins with a mutual attraction after Jack rescues Brant from a confrontation with an ex, though neither act upon it for some time as Jack is in denial. Brant's early insistence that Jack could at least have a friend was touching, and the way that they developed their relationship into a romance was sweet, even if my eyebrows lifted over how much (or, rather, how little) time it took for "Just keep me warm," to turn into "I'm seducing you." The sex was well-done, but it went on forever; by the end of their first encounter, I was skimming. (Thankfully, follow-ups weren't anywhere near as drawn-out.) I did greatly appreciate the fact that both Brant and Jack considered themselves reversibles, though; a lack of strictly defined roles opens up so very many possibilities.

Secondary Characters:
The supporting cast is small and, honestly, I'm conflicted by it. I enjoyed Janet (a nurse in the ER) in her brief scenes, but Trevi put me off; although he's 24, he came off as a bouncy teenager to me. Ryan (Brant's ex) was a handy impetus to bring Brant and Jack together, but it was never really shown why he was so fixated on Brant; a little more backstory might have helped me see him as something other than a cartoon villain.

Story:
The story is woven between Brant's determination to develop a relationship with Jack and Jack's desire to remain alone and mired in guilt over Leo's death. It moves along fairly well, although it is bogged down periodically by Jack's moping; it's much more even when Brant is the narrator. Once they work past Jack's angst, things seemed a bit rushed; the length of time from their first meeting to lifelong commitment struck me as just way too short to be believable.

Writing:
Although pleasant, there were quirks in the writing that distracted me fairly often. Comma usage is inconsistent, so that I found myself repunctuating as I read. Some word choices threw me (e.g. Brant's tongue shaking hands with Jack's cock) and the order of some phrasing seemed reversed to me, which lessened the impact. On the other hand, there were choices that made me smile, like Brant's wallowing like a happy pig in the mushy feeling Jack instilled in him. There were typos here and there, but nothing truly egregious.

Other Thoughts:
Brant's understanding stretched the bounds of belief at times, but there was one part that sucked me into their relationship: Jack is questioning his worth and insisting that he's a bad person who can't even stand to look at himself, and Brant tells him, "[...] learn to trust in what I see, Jack." It made me actually say 'awh'.

On the other hand, there's the balls-punching scene. Frustrated with his attraction to Brant and the erection resulting from it, Jack nails himself in the crotch. I had to reread the scene to convince myself that it was an actual event, and not something Jack was dealing with in his head. I'm still a bit baffled by the reaction.

Overall:
By turns sweet and confounding, I'm torn on this book. Although it was an appealing story, flaws kept me from being fully engaged and invested in Brant and Jack's relationship. A bit more development and a bit less moping would've helped my enjoyment, but it was still a nice little story to pass some time with.