Review: DeMarco Investigations book 2
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 28, 2012
I discovered the DeMarco Family a few months ago and loved the combination of family, private eye investigations, and romance. I loved getting to know this dynamic family: the parents are former spys, the oldest brother is a former Ranger, the other brother is a mad scientist genius, and the daughter is a tech savant. When I discovered Ms. Julian continued this series I was eager to read about Nic DeMarco and Annie Reid. Those two were fighting and circling each other all through the last book, so I was anxious to watch the fireworks these two would produce.Annie has taken over Janey's Office Manager Position so Janey can do more work in the field. Annie loves the challenge and loves being a part of the DeMarco family business. She's been a surrogate family member since Annie and Janey first met as children. She keeps the office moving smoothly, except for when she crosses words with Nic DeMarco--which happens every time they speak, look at each other, hear the other, etc. Suddenly, Nic is receiving threatening phone calls taunting him. These calls promise retribution and violence but not against Nic. The caller wants Nic to suffer by watching Annie hurt and knowing Nic was powerless to stop it. Nic must keep Annie close to keep her protect her as he tries to uncover the identity of the dangerous stalker.In comparison to its predecessor, HIS TO KEEP was only okay for me. I don't know if I had higher expectations or if it just didn't click for me. I just felt let down.Both Annie and Nic are fighting an attraction to each other. Once while Annie was in college, Nic came to visit his sister and found Annie instead. Annie put the moves on Nic who rebuffed her advances; they've been fighting ever since. Nic thinks he is too old for Annie (9 years age difference) and frankly, I got tired of hearing it. Really tired. Extremely tired of it.I enjoyed watching Annie and Nic pull the other's chain. They were constantly throwing down the gauntlet and the other wouldn't disappoint. Their banter and teasing really showed how long these two have known each other and how entwined their lives really are. Even though they've known each other since forever, they both didn't know everything about each other. It was fun to watch them discover these things.I was a bit apprehensive about how the whole "protect your body" angle would play out in this story. I don't think it was anything new and played out like these storylines always do. I was disappointed how it ended because Nic was stupid...don't want to spoil it, but it was rather dumb move on his part for someone who is supposed to be vigilant.The best part of the story is the DeMarco Family. I was disappointed in that Nic kept trying to keep his family out of the loop. He kept trying to figure this all out on his own when he knew that he didn't have all the resources he needed. But then again, if did bring in his family the book would have been over early on. I just didn't think Nic acted like the smart PI he is supposed to be and was portrayed in the first book.Even with my annoyances with this story, I would still recommend this series. Can't wait to read about who catches the heart and mind of the third DeMarco. Who is clever enough to match wits with Jimmy?DeMarco InvstigationsSex, Lies and SurveillanceHIS TO KEEP