Believing Again by Peggy Bird (Book 5 in the Second Chances)

This book is about Detective Danny Hartman, who works for the Portland Police department with her partner Sam and Doctor Jake Abrams, who is a thoracic surgeon, who works with veterans with PTSD at a clinic he works at. The two are put together when someone is targeting vets from Jake's clinic in homeless camps and killing them in drive by shootings. I like romance stories that are more than just girl meets boy, girl and boy fall in love, girl and boy live happily ever after. The backdrop of the book with the police investigation elevated a romance story to a new level.

I enjoy police stories and for the longest loved Milo Sturgis and Alex Delaware in the Kellerman police thriller genre, though at times they took themselves a bit too seriously and I didn't enjoy where the author took some of the core characters, but the relationship between partners Danny and Sam reminded me of that same relationship in Kellerman books. The author was able to keep the readers attention with trying to unravel who is targeting veterans in the homeless camps. What was a bit disappointing was how this plot gets resolved. I felt the author had a good idea that was never fully developed and brought to life. Even with the lacking resolution the writing was top notch and makes me want to see what else the author has done.

The relationship and romance of the story was surprising real and interesting at the same time. It was nice to see people in their 30's with established careers that for various reasons still were not great in the relationship department. This is true to life, relationships take time and it was nice to see this romance develop in a realistic time line and fashion. It was not just hey we meet 5 minutes ago and are now madly in love and moving forward with a wedding and future. This relationship was built on mutual respect, chemistry and two people who enjoyed each others company. I so loved seeing the getting to know each other part of any story. Those little growing closer moments over cooking for someone for the first time, having a couple of dates, asking questions about each other and learning about each other with each weekend and date that passes. Honestly a refreshing and real love story that I truly felt sad when I got to the end. I want to peek more into this story and these two quirky, flawed and such interesting characters the author has brought to life on the page for their readers. No one is perfect and neither is Danny and Jake, but those imperfections made them not perfect people but perfect for each other. I would highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to read more from this author.

~Darkling