Review: Sworn to Protect

Reviewed by Shelly
 

Reeling from the sudden death of his best friend Brad Cooper, detective Shane Ford of the Sugarland Police Department life just got a whole lot more complicated. Not only is he now the legal guardian of Brad’s teenage son Drew, he also has to solve the mystery of Brad’s death. Daisy Callahan is the juvenile officer that Shane had a short, hot and wham-bam thank you affair with and he’s now realizing that maybe letting go was not the best thing he could have done.

This is the spin-off from another of Davis’s series (Firefighters of Station Five) and there’s also a story (Armed and Dangerous – Sugarland Blue #0.5) in the series prior to this. Suffice it to say that I found that out during the read because there were parts of the story that I felt I was already supposed to know. All that being said – what I didn’t know didn’t hurt me.

All three were likeable characters for me. Shane is the town’s bad boy bachelor who’s too pretty for words. He has a very loving family and a great group of supportive friends who don’t mind knocking him around when he gets too full of himself. I thought that he showed reasonable and not overly dramatic insecurities when it came to both of these relationships – as a lover and mate to Daisy and as a father and mentor to Drew.

Daisy was my absolute favorite character; I saw her evolution from this almost mousy girl who made it so easy for Shane ---he didn’t even put forth any effort – to this woman who knew she deserved more than the way Shane treated her. You go girl!

Playing a significant role in both Shane and Daisy’s life, angry teenage boy, Drew deserves his own mention. Growing up in a household that’s just you and your NFL star of a Dad can play quite the mind game. Then throw in that you suddenly lose everything that’s familiar and dear, it’s no wonder that there’s a little (okay a lot) of sulking and behavioral challenges that the adults around him have to manage. I enjoyed the progression of Drew coming into his own and finding out where he belonged. There were some parts where I was just biting my lips with anxiety and silently admonishing - don’t do it Drew - but sometimes we have to learn the hard way. Good stuff there.

In the end there was enough intrigue, suspense, romance, love, friendship (and the sex wasn’t bad either,) that kept me going and gave me my HEA.

Happy Reading Folks!

Rating: B

*ARC provided by Penguin Group via NetGalley

Click to purchase: Amazon

Sworn to Protect

by Jo Davis

Release Date: May 7, 2013

Publisher: Signet