Review: This one hits the spot, hits the ground running and fulfills the promise
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 28, 2014
The pairing of two damaged souls, Jackson and Portia, was introduced in Sugar and Salt. In Protecting Portia, their journey takes center stage. Portia is recovering from a horrific experience, doing it with style and class and from a well of strength that her guardian, Jackson, recognizes but is reluctant to tap into. He is content with self-flagellation and denial, not allowing himself to take the final step to consummate their admitted love for each other. Portia takes extraordinary steps to help Jackson shed his self-imposed judgement and punishment, steps that are at once intuitive, erotic and inspired.While I truly enjoyed these two characters, watching how respect, admiration and love manages to overcome severe dysfunction in the one and reaffirms the core strength in the other, I had issues with Jackson's backstory. He is prone to violent episodes, even with friends, all due to a history for which we have hints, but not enough to justify the extent and scope of his reactions. For Portia, on the other hand, the backstory, the reasons for being in America, what happens next, and how she escapes is more fully fashioned.After reading Sugar and Salt, adapting to present tense was easier in this installment. I found Protecting Portia to be a more satisfying read, nudging it toward 4.5* but with one caveat: these episodes are serial in nature, with an obvious cliff-hanger at the end of this second novella in the series. The next two characters in the upcoming book have an extended set-up, although it is in service to the overarching plot.As with the first book, this is a very solid read, and leaves this reader anxiously awaiting the next in the series.