Tere Michaels - Love and Loyalty

Seattle Homicide Detective Jim Shea never takes work home with him—until now. A judge banged his gavel, declared a defendant not guilty, and laid waste to a family. The emotional fallout of the trial leaves Jim vulnerable and duty-bound to the victim’s dying father.
It’s that man’s story that screenwriter Griffin Drake and his best friend, actress Daisy Baylor, see as their ticket out of action blockbusters and into more serious fare. But to get the juicy details, Griffin needs to win over the stoic and protective Detective Shea. Their attraction is immediate, and Daisy encourages Griffin to use it to their advantage: secure the man, secure the story. Neither man has had much luck when it comes to love, and when their one night together evolves into a long weekend of rapidly intensifying feelings, both Griffin’s fierce loyalty to Daisy and his very career is put to the test.
Because the more Griffin is drawn into a new life with Jim, the more his Hollywood life falls apart. Secrets and broken trust threaten Griffin’s relationships, and he’ll have to choose between telling the truth or writing a Hollywood ending. 

Comment: I've read the first book in this series almost two years ago and after finishing, I knew I'd eventually read this sequel too, considering how interesting the character of Jim was, even if he only appeared for a little while.

This sequel has him as a protagonist and I had hopes to see how he would be developed.

In this book we follow Jim Shea, a 45 year old cop who leads a very lonely life despite his small group of friends. Jim is very dedicated to his job and all the concerns of t take much of his time, and he can't help but to aid a couple whose daughter was killed and when the book starts the trial is ending and the accused is acquitted. This makes the mother not bear the pain and she dies of a massive heart attack. Now years later, the widow husband. Ed, is also quite sick but Jim is still present to help. 

One day Ed gets the request to authorize the rights for a film to be made, with the story of his daughter, something still present in people's minds because of the attention it got. The main actress and the screenplay writer show up in Ed's house, in the role of producers too, to convince him it will be a good idea. Griffin, the writer, really wants the film to be made and to be a success but he understands Ed's wishes for it to portray his daughter well and he also likes Jim is there to help. As he asks Jim's help with details, their lives get to become more and more mixed up. 

Can they overcome external issues in the path to happiness?

As it happened it the other book, I liked this one as well. The story itself was interesting enough to make me feel like reading more pages and I especially like the personal side of things between Jim and Griffin.

I think the best detail about this book was how both guys weren't looking for a relationship but they still saw themselves in one, even if it was something they didn't want to label.

The story was well thought, I'd say.

I liked how Jim and Griffin's relationship developed and how sweet things were, how both guys didn't think too much of themselves but sort of got to be special for the other, in a believable pace. I think their both inner thoughts, their personalities and how we got to see how they really were when it was time for them to face some issues individually made this a very good read and I was always interested in knowing more about them.

I especially liked how Jim was professional but not indifferent and how Griffin really struggled with what he felt was not going on well.

The romance is sweet. I really liked the little scenes with them, how the focus was more on how they complemented each other or why they were attracted to one another and not as much on the sex scenes. I also liked that, when the movie sub plot and the couple's relationship reached its peak at some point, both reacted accordingly but neither acted as a fool or as a naive person. I liked how both were honest and things didn't go towards conflict and separation areas.

The movie plot has something to be said...  I liked how it didn't overpower the romance, how we got to see the domestic side of the guy's lives even with the movie plans on the background. It gets to be pretty obvious how and why some things happen they way they do but I was positively surprised by how everything was solved in regards to the movie issues, even with the more emotional details included and some were quite emotional.

The story isn't perfect though because in the end Jim makes a decision and I kind of would prefer to think of him as he was through the whole book. It's nothing bad but...ehh, it does make things feel a little different.

Nevertheless, the HEA is sweet, not perfect but suitable and it finished well an already good story.

Grade: 8/10