Sworn to Protect (Sugarland Blue #1) [Shane & Daisy] by Jo Davis

I knew I didn't really like Daisy from the prequel.. but I hoped that it's going to be somehow different when we got the whole story. Sadly I was wrong. Nothing about her made sense to me, not considering she is a grown women. Shane was okay, I really liked him but couldn't see what he found in Daisy which was a part of the problem.. I struggled with this one almost from the start. At the third mark I knew it's NOT going to be a favorite but on 56% I decided it's only getting to a place when I want them APART and not together so.. that's where I stopped. 

Let's start talking about the relationship.. In the prequel we already learned that Daisy had a crush on Shane for YEARS. Then working together they "stumble" into bed together. It was CLEAR for BOTH of them that it won't lead to anything. Shane doesn't "date", and so even though Daisy wants to have his kids, she is ONLY going to have the sex. She could have rejected him, but she was WAY too much attracted to him (as I wrote before she was practically drooling over him..) so when we start this novel with her saying how much HE HURT HER I felt sorry for her. He did NOTHING. They had sex, it meant nothing, she knew that, so how exactly did he do anything wrong? when he didn't call her after? It made NO sense whatsoever. Later on she gets jealous and instead of asking him "what up?" she takes the word of someone who hates her guts (and was clearly trying to hurt her). Then she doesn't speak to him AT ALL though he tries desperately to talk to her. What she does? Takes an advice from a friend to let him stew for a week more. WHAT???? Are you 14 years old? I stopped reading when she got into THE most stupid and careless situation EVER - and naturally got hurt. That's where I realized that I couldn't care less about her.. :/

The big issue in this book is Shane's best friend dying from an OD leaving him as the guardian of his 17 years old son - Drew. I didn't know how I'd react to the whole issue because I don't usually enjoy reading of kids in romance novels. It was done well though. He was struggling, and Shane was struggling as well, grieving and trying to be a father figure for his best friend's son. There's still a lot to figure out about what happened to his father and why he ODed. Also Drew is getting into trouble because he is so lost. I felt bad for him and thought that Shane did a pretty good job. Also Tommy (Shea's husband) had a little to say and I liked his attitude :) What I didn't like? one guess - Daisy.. After the second time she meets Drew she states she "cares about him". It was total unrealistic and felt exactly as Drew saw it - her way of getting close to Shane. Even if she did a good job and she had solid advice it never felt genuine when I always KNEW she was after Shane. 

This was a real disappointment. It was all "Daisy's fault", I didn't like her so I couldn't for the life of me wish for her to have a HEA with Shane, because him I actually REALLY liked and would have asked for someone WAY better than her for him. He was really TRYING to start something real with Daisy but she never truly gave him a chance she just went along with her attraction and when morning came she couldn't deal with him. 

I'm going to read the next ones but I think I'm going to take a little break and read something else so my annoyance levels drops a bit. I don't want my opinion of this one cloud my read of the next ones.
 

 (DNF 56%)

Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 320 pages, 9-10 December 2015 / On GoodReads

 

 

ABOUT THIS SERIES

"Sugarland Blue" is a sister / spin off series to "Firefighters of Station 5" by Jo Davis also containing a total of 5 full novels. While the previous series focused around Firefighters, this one focuses on Cops. Some of the cops mentioned in "Firefighters of Station 5" has a book of their own in this series - Like Shane (1st installment) being Shea's brother - the MC in "Line of Fire" and Tonio (2nd installment) being Julian's brother - the MC in "Hidden Fire". 

I read only 3 books in this one, not going to continue reading the 2 final ones ("On the Run" and "Bring The Heat"). I felt it wasn't as good as the original series, both in romance and action. Also in the first 3 books (the ones I've read) there was a lot of emphasis on family (all having some sort of kid/young guy needing parenting) for me it ruined some of the romance build up and also felt unrealistic (especially in the 1st and 3rd installments..)

Books: 
0.5. Armed and Dangerous [Detective Shane Ford & Officer Daisy Callahan] (Published 2 April 2013) ★★★★
1. Sworn to Protect [Detective Shane Ford & Officer Daisy Callahan] (Published 7 May 2013) ★ (DNF 56%)
2. Hot Pursuit [Taylor Kayne & Cara Evans] (Published 3 December 2013) ★★★★
3. In His Sights [Chris Ford & Dr. Robyn Lassiter] (Published 2 September 2014) ★★★