Bear Claw Lawman by Jessica Andersen (Harlequin Intrigue #1363)

Publisher's Blurb:  When DEA agent Nick Lang came to town, even the toughest cases got closed. But his latest had become way too personal. He'd thought CSI Jennifer Prynne was just another no-strings fling, until a serial killer's attack left her battered, bruised and struggling to remember her past. Now, as the key to the entire case they'd been investigating for months, Jenn's safety became Nick's responsibility. He knew the murderer's identity was buried deep in Jenn's mind, but releasing it was dangerous—yet necessary. The old Nick was an expert at getting answers and moving on. But his heart told him this was one case he couldn't walk away from.…

Review:  Well, this book got off to a good, solid start and for the most part I really enjoyed it.  I liked Jenn - she is trying to pull her life back together and prove herself professionally after a tragic/embarrassing combination of losing her husband and then finding out he was a crooked cop (her last name is Prynne - get it?)  Then Nick, a rock star DEA agent arrives in town and within 12 days they have supposedly had 4 dates and Nick moved in so they could continue the incredibly hot sex.  Rather unbelievable but a fun read, even when the required obstacle-to-true-love occurs and Nick dumps her, terrified of his feelings for her.  Shortly afterward Jenn is attacked by the Investor, a homicidal criminal mastermind, and Nick is assigned as Jenn's bodyguard.  And this is about where I started getting annoyed.  First, Jenn and Nick are having all kinds of intense, personal conversations and tiffs in the Police Department.  It was hard to believe they would be so unprofessional, and harder to believe that those around them did not have a problem with it.  Second, and the larger problem for me, we learn that Nick has two sons who live with his ex-wife and her new husband who has adopted them.    Nick sees them a few times a year and is more like the Cool Uncle than their father.  But I cou1d not get past the fact that Nick has effectively abandoned his children.  Doesn't a parent have to give up his/her legal rights for another adult to adopt their children?  And Nick is so casual about it, in an I'm-a-complicated-role-playing-tough-guy-cop-who-is-not-father-material kind of way.  And I'm reading this otherwise fun book, and my fun has come to a screeching halt as I'm thinking that Nick is a spineless, whiny, douchebag, who chose to father two children and then bailed when fatherhood got too hard.  Which ended the whole sexy hero image for me, right there and then, so of course the romance is now tainted - TAINTED!   And it simultaneously pissed me off because I was really enjoying this book and I like the author's style enough to read another book. The ending was the standard HEA, although the Bear Claw PD is looking pretty incompetent when the Investor waltzes in and grabs Jenn.  I felt like the author's writing style was superior to the character-deprived hero and quickie ending.

For more information visit the author's website at http://www.jessicaandersen.com/.  I also reviewed Lord of the Wolfyn on this blog .