PROTECT AND SERVE

Author: Gwyneth Bolton ISBN: 9780373860753 7/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: KIMANI PRESS

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION Police detective Jason Hightower is flooded with memories when Penny Keys comes home to New Jersey. After fifteen years, he still wants to understand why she loved, lied to and left him. And he needs to know before she disappears from his life again.... Penny came home for family reasons, not to face her difficult past... or the man she still loves. But Jason is determined to have answers, answers that it breaks her heart to give. And it seems that nothing will keep Jason from the truth this time. Or, hold him back from what he wants to protect and serve the most... their chance for a future together.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

PROTECT AND SERVE by Gwyneth Bolton seemed more like a test in endurance than a romance, at least for the main male character in it, Jason Hightower. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy seeing a man get a run for his money, but even for my tastes, Penny Keys had way too much attitude. I could have gotten around this, but throughout the book she is also hiding a "secret" behind a masque of anger for Jason. Once again, this could work out if there was one shred of something to support her hiding it, but literally every single thing that is bad in her life, and between her and Jason, is her own fault. I never thought I'd hear myself saying this about a man, but poor Jason was completely blameless. Yet every step of the way he was treated like dirt and kept coming back for more. I couldn't figure out why. Was it because Penny had great hair? It was not explained why Jason loved her so much, only that he did. I found this guy's fortitude more unrealistic than the stunts in a James Bond movie.

In spite of this, I was able to enjoy some aspects of the book. There is an ethnic quality to the characters and the writing that I enjoyed very much. Gwyneth Bolton's storytelling is fun and full of flavor. I like stories about cops and Jason makes a great cop. Also, there's a little mystery and intrigue woven into the plot that I thought worked extremely well. The secondary characters were fantastic. I really enjoyed the personalities Bolton decided to use for Penny's parents. It was very entertaining. Penny, for me, was the least likeable of all the characters, which kind of put the romance in the back seat for me. This could just be a personal taste thing with me, because, in thinking about the characters, the self destructive behavior of Penny, and the way she insecurely sabotaged the relationship, could be what someone with her upbringing would do. I'm not sure. I guess I just didn't have as much tolerance for her as Jason did.

Joanne Shaeffer