Title: Protecting You
Series: The Boston Kirkpatricks, #1
Author: S. Donahue
Joella Soriano is a tough as nails detective who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and bring the scumbags of her city to justice. She was recently promoted to second-grade detective and is ready to spring into action. She gets her opportunity when the Captain asks her to go undercover as a stripper at Hush, a strip club owned by the intriguing and smoldering Brendan Kirkpatrick. Joella’s task is clear: Bring down the high profile drug dealers that are disguising themselves as employees. Before now, Joella could handle pretty much anything that crossed her path… until now.
Aware of the bad dealings within his club, Brendan Kirkpatrick enlists his lifelong friend Captain Jeremy Weston from the twelfth precinct to help him. With Jeremy’s expertise, Joella’s never say die attitude, and Brendan’s business savvy, they concoct a plan to take back the club and take down the drug operation. Upon first glance, Brendan is taken aback by Joella’s beauty. The thought of this elegant creature working as a stripper in his club has him both uncomfortable and undeniably turned on. The more time Brendan spends in Joella’s company, the more he finds that he cannot resist her. As Brendan begins to develop feelings for Joella, he has to draw the line between protecting his business and protecting his heart. But when Joella’s life is endangered, too, will Brendan be able to separate business from pleasure? Nothing is as it seems, and lines will be crossed.
Who is protecting who, exactly?
This was a great story. It had two headstrong characters who are undeniably attracted to each other. They’re both used to being in charge but over the course of the story lines begin to blur. There was a lot going on to keep my interest and I easily read it in a day.
Brendan and Joella have this instant chemistry. Brendan is lucrative business owner, sexy, protective, and of course a bit of that alpha male possessiveness that we all love to read about. Joella is confident and passionate about her job as a detective. Thrown into a whole new kind of undercover assignment she begins to heal from her past loss. I really enjoyed both of these characters and their personalities.
There were a few times I felt like the story took a turn all of a sudden without much persuasion from either character or any particular event. However, I don’t think it deterred from the overall story. There were constantly new pieces of the investigation being revealed and new situations between Brendan and Joella that kept the story moving forward and kept it interesting. I really enjoyed the book and I look forward to more in the series. 4 out of 5 palm trees!