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PROTECT AND SERVE - Gwyneth Bolton Harlequin Kimani/Romance July 2008 |
SYNOPSIS: Detective Jason Hightower has waited 15 years to find out why Penny Keys left him. Penny hasn't returned home to face her difficult past, or the man she still loves. But Jason wants answers, and nothing will keep him from the truth.
SERIES ROMANCE |4+| Keren Childers
REVIEW:
Penny Keys is a business owner who comes home for her big mama’s funeral. When
her long lost love Jason Hightower is there glaring from a distance, Penny wants
to wrap her family affairs up and head back out of town. Will Penny’s secrets
from the past catch up with her and will she be able to wiggle her way out of
lies? Only Jason has another plan and that’s to confront her before she runs
away again.
Ms. Bolton introduces two very headstrong characters. Penny is stubborn and
determined to keep things the way they are, even though things are a disaster.
Her childhood was rough, but she had her grandmother to care for her. Her mother
was hooked on drugs and ran the street. These issues helped to cause havoc in
her relationship with Jason. She risks true love to run away from ignorant
people who have negative things to say about her. She’s smart and has dynamite
business sense, but she can’t let go of her past.
Jason Hightower is a fine specimen of a man, who is a cop by nature and with his
forensic background can read people very well. He knows Penny is hiding
something and he is more determined than ever to get some answers. This man sees
something he wants and he goes for it. I truly admire that about him.
Though PROTECT AND SERVE has a well-developed plot, I did have an issue
with some aspects of Penny’s secret that did not go over well with me; however,
the other plot twists more than made up for that. Of course, the love scenes
were steamy hot and only added fuel to the fire.
The secondary characters are hilarious. I love the other Hightower brothers and
can’t wait for their stories. I would have loved to grow up in a neighborhood
with some fine brothers like these. They are policemen and firemen and there is
just something about men in uniform that puts a smile on my face. You can’t
leave out Carla, Penny’s mother who is a hot mess, but is so funny…or Sophie,
who is always in the center of somebody’s business and definitely needs to be
put in her place.
Bravo, Ms. Bolton, on a job well done. PROTECT AND SERVE is definitely a
book worth reading. I can’t wait for MAKE IT HOT, the next story in the
Hightower Brothers series.
reviewer@romanceincolor.com | 9th July 2008