Review: It felt thrown together.  I didn't enjoy it.  It needed better plot and character development.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 8, 2010
A FINE SPECIMEN by Lisa Marie Rice.STORY BRIEF:While Captain Avery is on vacation, Lieutenant Alex Cruz is in charge at the police station.  Caitlin is a Ph.D. doing research.  Avery sends a message to Alex requiring him to assist Caitlin and to let her interview and observe police officers for a week.  Alex hates it, but he grudgingly allows it.  He takes her to lunch.  They begin to fall for each other.REVIEWER'S OPINION:I don't recommend it.  It's not nearly as good as her other books.  There are two stories going on, and both are lacking.  The first story is the relationship between Alex and Caitlin.  There is too much pondering and inaccurate assumptions.  Caitlin assumes things which are not true but cause her distress.  A major separation happens because Alex is commitment shy.  It just wasn't interesting.  The second story is about catching the crook Ratso, described below.CAUTION MINOR SPOILER:With evidence from Ratso they can put away major criminal Lopez.  The first time they catch Ratso he tells them he has to go to the bathroom, and then he escapes out a tiny window.  The second time they catch him, he tells a policeman that the cuffs are too tight and hurt.  So the policeman stupidly removes the cuffs.  Then Ratso does something bad.  I was irritated at the cops' stupidity.  And then we don't know if Ratso was wounded or killed or was able to give evidence or what.  That story was completely unfinished.DATA:Kindle count story length: 4326 (a little shorter than a typical romance novel).  Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words.  Sexual language: strong/erotic.  Number of sex scenes: 5.  Setting: current day Baylorville, California.  Copyright: 2009.  Previously released as "Taming Nick."  Genre: contemporary romance with a little suspense.