PERFECT PARTNERS?

Author: C. J. Carmichael ISBN: 9780373716111 1/2010 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HARLEQUIN

Lindsay Fox and Nathan Fisher couldn't be more different. In fact, she knew after her one-year stint with the NYPD, she'd driven her former partner as crazy as he'd driven her. He was even part of the reason she left the force, although she'd never admit that to him! So she's more than a little surprised when Nathan answers her ad for a new investigator. Working together now they discover a delicious chemistry beneath their differences. Could they actually become more than partners? Then they take on the challenge of an unusual case—one that reminds Lindsay of her own painful past. Her instinct is to push Nathan away. But can she take a bigger risk and let him in?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I quite enjoyed PERFECT PARTNERS?—the first in a trilogy from Harlequin SuperRomance. In the novel we are introduced to the New York world of the Fox Agency, a detective agency run by a young, beautiful ex-cop with a shadowy past and a drinking problem.

Because she needs help with her case load, she puts an ad in the paper and her old police partner answers the ad. He wants a partnership and comes complete with a juicy case. However, he’s relationship-potential and she doesn’t do relationships.

My only problem with this fast-moving read is the heroine. She continued to bother me into the night after I finished the book. While the author did address some consequences of the drinking problem and also had her work on the emotional issues that were behind the drinking, I was troubled by the description of her as so perfect-bodied and beautiful, despite a steady diet of high calorie alcohol drinks. Also, she runs a very successful business for an insomniac waking up with a hangover every morning. I’m not sure that her drinking problem is resolved at the end of the novel either, but there is hope at least. I just wasn’t convinced that a long-term happy ending was there for sure, which is always what you want with a romance novel.

PERFECT PARTNERS? definitely creates food for thought more than the average category romance novel, along with a great read. Not a bad book to share with upper high school/college age daughters, in my opinion, followed by a discussion.

Heather Hiestand