THE SEX DETECTIVE - Anna Natasha

I have to admit that the premise of The Sex Detective immediately caught my attention. And how often do you read a book with a main character whose name is Xochitl AND you happen to have a relative with that name?

Xochitl Buenaventura works for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health as a sexual health worker, tracking down people who may have been exposed to sexually transmitted infections. Her latest case becomes considerably more complicated when she discovers that the client in question is Cristian 'Cris'Martinez, a guy she had a crush on back in high school. And now, because of her work, she’s not supposed to fall for him. But of course she does.

Cris has problems of his own. He’s been kicked out of an art residency and is trying to figure out what comes next when Xochi arrives to tell him that he may have been exposed to an STI. When his ex-girlfriend denies being responsible, Xochi and Cris start looking into what is actually going on and uncover a much larger situation involving an underground adultery ring. Meanwhile, the professional relationship between them becomes increasingly difficult to maintain as the attraction grows. 

I really liked the basic concept here. There’s something fun about having a sexual health worker become romantically involved with the very person she is supposed to be investigating, particularly when he happens to be someone she already had feelings for. The romance itself worked pretty well for me, and Xochi is an interesting character with a job that makes for a somewhat unusual romantic-comedy setup.

Cris was a little more problematic. He’s almost too simple as a character and seems remarkably easy to change. Much of Xochi’s attraction to him also seems to be physical, and I never quite felt that there was enough underneath that attraction to make the relationship as convincing as it might have been. She's willing to support him and encourage him as an artist, and he's more than willing to learn all about her faith.There are certainly moments when the two of them work well together, but I wanted a little more character development from Cris.

My biggest problem with the book, though, was the amount of religion. I generally don’t care for books that take a specific religion (ANY religion) and turn it into a major cause or answer, and this one pushed that particular button for me. More importantly, Cris is so willing to accept it that the whole thing didn’t really ring true to me. It felt less like an organic part of his character and more like a “Mary Sue” moment designed to make everything fall neatly into place.

That said, this is Anna Natasha’s debut novel, and I’d definitely be interested in seeing what she does next. There’s a good idea here and enough enjoyable writing and romance to make me curious about her future books.

Looking for a good book? The Sex Detective by Anna Natasha is a fun contemporary romance with an unusual premise, an appealing female protagonist, and a romance that mostly works, even if some of the character development didn’t quite convince me.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

* * * * * *

The Sex Detective

author: Anna Natasha

publisher: Cosmo Reads

ISBN: 9781464289644

paperback, 320 pages