I'm a big fan of Jo Davis's Firefighters of Station Five series so I was thrilled when I heard she was returning to Sugarland, TN in a series featuring police officers. Even better, the series was starting with Shane Ford's story, a character who appeared in several books in the first series.

In SWORN TO PROTECT, Shane is regretting his love 'em and leave 'em attitude towards Juvenile Officer Daisy Callahan (see the novella Armed and Dangerous) when tragedy strikes. His best friend, NFL Star Brad Cooper, is found dead by his son Drew. Shane finds himself mourning his friend, responsible for raising a hurting and angry teenager, and leading an investigation into an illegal drug that contributed to Brad's death. Daisy steps in as a friend to both Shane and Drew. Shane quickly realizes life is too short and he must work to prove himself worthy of Daisy's devotion.

I reached the end of SWORN TO PROTECT with mixed feelings. I found it to be an engaging story that filled a craving for romantic suspense. Shane has strength of character, conviction, and charm. Daisy is a good partner for him; strong, independent, and caring. A number of familiar characters make appearances which is always the best part of a series for me. What I found lacking was the depth and intensity of emotion and suspense that characterized the books in the first series. Some of it comes from splitting the story of Shane and Daisy's relationship into two parts. The novella was too short to adequately build interest in the relationship or the investigation and removes the core of the conflict between Daisy and Shane (his fear of commitment) from the book. By the time SWORN TO PROTECT begins Shane has worked through the issues that caused him to walk away in the first place. Overall, I was left with the impression that Ms. Davis was still finding her footing when it came to writing a police story. I look forward to seeing what she does with the next book in the series, Hot Pursuit.