Jo Davis (1)

I picked this up because it had been shelved under BBW a few places, but I didn't really see that theme in this book. It was ok. I figured out the entire mystery within minutes, so it wasn't particularly intriguing. Overall not bad but I only really like contemporary romance that hits on one of my favorite themes, so I probably won't read any other books from this series. Even if firemen are pretty hot. Oh, one more thing that bothered me - the message that you can get away with basically cheating if you almost die a couple times. So much potential angst there but it seemed glossed over. … (mer)

3-1/2 stars

I was happy to finally have Sean's book. I really liked him. His struggle with alcohol and his family's death felt pretty realistic. I felt pretty hohum about the heroine. See I can't even remember her name.

I liked the angle of the old friend turned bad guy serving up some pretty damn cold revenge after 20 years. The bit at the end where he was going to blow up the town was a bit vague in detail though. Still it was probably enough for this level of a romantic suspense though.

I usually don't mind but the guys at the station house seemed a little too mushy this time around. I thought the guy talk was better in the earlier books.

It also didn't seem realistic that Sean got the promotion when he had been having so much trouble at work lately.

Still the writing was solid and the plot made sense and I had a fine time reading it.… (mer)

I liked this one. The writing was crisp and clean. The dialogue was good and believable. Tommy was well written and was a pretty believable man with problems that seemed real and not exaggerated in an angsty way. He had them but the author, while showing that they were significant in his life, didn't make him stew about them until you were sick of them. He sometimes seems a bit more mature than your average 23 year old. I kept flashing on my goofy 23 year old nephew but I will admit that not all 23 year olds are cut from the same cloth. And the fact that he didn't know quite what he really wanted to do with his life was realistic.

I thought that Shea's motivations were not as strong. Her past trauma and the way she dealt with it didn't ring quite as true but it wasn't bad. I think not enough time was devoted to her thinking about it since the author made it an issue in their relationship. The correct level of wallowing around in your thought is obviously a fine line.

The love scenes were pretty hot. Even more so than the typically hot ones in this series. The anal scene rang a little off to me. The author made it seem so ordinary by using vague euphemisms that she might as well have made it a non anal scene. Plus, I would think that just the voyerism thing would have been enough kink at one time for the average ex rape victim. Still they were mostly very well written and earthy and the byplay about the fantasies was a bit different.

In this novel there was plenty of fire fighting which was a bit lacking in the previous book. There weren't quite as many scenes with the Stationhouse Five guys all together though. The suspense plot was okay but not real suspenseful. The author didn't totally sell me on why the bad guy wanted Shea. Had she been a substantial heiress it might have been more believable. One nice piece of property seemed rather a small thing to make him determined to marry her. Maybe if she had been heir to a huge company or something.

A good solid enjoyable addition to the series.… (mer)

Detective Shane Ford's best friend, NFL star Brad Cooper, has just died and Shane finds himself caring for his sixteen year old son, Drew. At the same time, he is trying to make up for his behavior earlier in the year when he pushed Juvenile Officer Daisy Callahan out of his life. Daisy is understandably fearful of giving Shane another chance to hurt her. In the meantime, Drew starts at his new school and makes friends with a boy who leads him into trouble: skipping school, vandalism, smoking, and spying on the local drug dealer who happens to be his new friend's father. When Drew witnesses a murder, Shane must step in before his godson gets himself killed.
Sworn to Protect doesn't deliver much in the way of romantic suspense. The middle of the book is very slow, missing the opportunity to develop the suspense and the romance. Even though Daisy seems reluctant to reconnect with Shane, she ignores her fears completely to jump back into a relationship with him. Drew's situation doesn't amp up the suspense until almost the end of the book. The little conflict that there is in the story is very quickly solved. Overall, a disappointing miss.… (mer)