To Love and Protect

Dee
Gibbens
Genre: 
Contemporary

Darcy O’Donnell is taken hostage and used as a sex slave by one very demented Adam Vangard, a man with money and a moral clock spinning backwards. State Trooper Logan McCade finds Darcy on a Louisiana highway, half out of her mind and fleeing for her life after being tortured and demoralized for six months.

“To Love and Protect”is melodrama at the speed of light and has the ingredients for a fast-paced novel.  But, when Darcy wakes from a three day coma after her rescue, barely awake and lying in a hospital bed, she allows heated kisses from the State Trooper instead of screaming for security. A woman who’s been brutally raped and beaten for months, would not allow anyone near her so quickly. Readers will find it hard to believe Darcy would allow him to climb in the hospital bed with her and give him “relief”. Also surprisingly, in a nanosecond, the hero is divulging his undying love.  Point of view shifts are numerous. Euphemisms like “Baby, Hon, Sugar” by the hero, come too early and too often. Readers want the protagonists to fall in love, but if it happens at warp speed, without being earned, they won’t be coming back. 

The secondary characters are likable. The hero is lovable. The bad guy is dangerous. The foundation of the plot is intriguing. Ms. Gibben’s has the makings of a very exciting story with plenty of potential.

Natasza Waters