LOVE AND LOYALTY – Tere Michaels

When the not guilty verdict is read at the trial Detective Jim Shea has just wrapped up, he falls into a depression that won’t let up.  He wonders if life can get any worse when he gets the call from a friend of his, Ed Kelly, to come to his house.  Ed, who just happens to be the father of the victim, has adamantly refused to even consider letting anyone in Hollywood have the movie rights to the case involving his daughter, Carmen. Once Jim gets there, his world is rocked yet again because Ed is entertaining the thought of letting two strangers produce a movie about Carmen.  Little does he know, but the real fun is about to begin.

Griffin Drake is not your normal Hollywood screenwriter.  He actually has a conscience that he listens to.  That trait endears him to Ed Kelly, but it’s Detective Shea that Griffin can’t stop thinking about.  When he gets back to Hollywood from Washington and has to actually write the script, he has writer’s block.  Thinking that this is as good an excuse as any to contact Jim, he calls and invites the detective out to dinner to discuss the movie.  The fact that he is in Hollywood and Jim is in Seattle doesn’t stop him from being impulsive.  Griffin is soon glad he made the call, when he winds up staying with Jim for almost a week.  Unfortunately, while Griffin’s love life is heating up, he soon gets some unpleasant surprises from an old friend, Daisy.

LOVE AND LOYALTY is a well written novel.  Although I didn’t much care for the secondary plot involving Daisy and her husband, the rest of the story was engrossing to the point that I was sorry it ended.  Jim and Griffin are two very realistic characters who grab on to your emotions and don’t let go.  In one scene you will want to smack one of them, but in the next you will forgive them everything.  The side stories are believable, and the emotions are real.  You should know the sex scenes, while well-written to convey the urgency and pull both guys feel, are also explicit.  For a book that manages to make the reader’s feelings run the gamut from anger to happiness without missing a step, be sure to check out LOVE AND LOYALTY.  You will be glad you did.

Angela Camp