NEW RELEASE- REVIEW- Doug -Police and Fire- Operation Alpha-Downeast SWAT Book 4- LJ Vickery

Title: Doug -Police and Fire
Series: Operation Alpha-Downeast SWAT Book 4
Author: LJ Vickery
Genre: Romantic Adventure, Action, Adventure, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Independent
Release Date: March 12, 2024
Format: Kindle
Pages: 353
Source: Amazon

Doug Lumous has ghosts. Horrifying, invasive ghosts that have held dominion over his life for far too long. They’ve stunted his growth for years, almost costing him his job on the SWAT team any number of times. But he’s rolled with those punches because, well, he always has his Orono PD career to fall back on. And he knows that exorcising his demons will take a huge amount of effort, and he’s never been motivated to try. But now…the impetus is suddenly right in front of him in the form of an angelic, fairy-like sprite who makes him think about…more. He’s never wanted “normal” so badly before in his entire life.

Pixie has been burnt, but she’s managed to cobble along, at least outwardly looking like she has her life in order. She’s a teacher. She has a best friend. She adores her family. But she longs for the one thing that’s always been missing. A love she can call her own. It shouldn’t be so hard, but Pixie has a difficult time trusting men due to the horrific incident that changed her both inside and out, when she was young. Can the handsome, troubled officer in blue be the one who finally ends her long, self-imposed isolation from the opposite sex? It’s possible, because she not only trusts him—an anomaly in itself—but he makes her feel more alive than she has in years. Now if she can just convince him to take a chance.

Reviewed by Linda Tonis

Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

This book grabbed me from the first page to the last and I couldn’t put it down. A story about two people whose pasts have negatively affected their present and future.

Doug is a police officer and SWAT member whose past has made him distrustful of women and not a team player. He also works for MECASA, the Maine Coalition against Sexual Abuse, something he is very familiar with.

When his father died, he was sent to live with his mother, a drug addict and a woman with no maternal feelings of any kind. He suffered from abuse for four years until finally his aunt and uncle were granted guardianship. He lives with the nightmare he suffered and even with therapy is unable to let go.

Doug asked his squad leader, Talia’s sister Pixie, on a date something he had never done before and after two dates he totally ghosted her. His fear of touching, and commitment made him run despite her being the one he would want a relationship with if his past didn’t always raise its ugly head.

Pixie, like Doug suffered in her past, a past that left her confidence in shatters and the thought of a relationship zero. When she met Doug, she felt her guard dropping and feelings she thought long dead waking up. Sixteen years ago, her boyfriend killed his father, shot his brother and then went after Pixie and her sister Talia leaving Pixie with her left arm unusable. Now she met the man she totally trusts who wants nothing to do with her.

Doug comes back into Pixie’s world when he discovers she is alone at her sister’s house. He knows being alone scares her, so he takes it upon himself to watch the house, but Pixie sees him, and it begins the start of a friendship which is all Doug is willing to give. Pixie is willing to take whatever Doug is willing to give her and he finally begins to reveal his past, convinced she will run from him in disgust.

As Doug opens up to Pixie, he finds himself wanting more than friendship but his past just won’t allow him to accept kissing or touching a female. The abuse he suffered for four years at his mother’s home was something anyone would have a hard time dealing with. When Pixie is injured by the father of one of her students Doug is beside himself but then a teacher at her school begins to show her unwanted attention and refuses to take no for an answer.

Pixie is in danger and Doug is determined to protect her. He wants a relationship with her, but he knows he has nothing to offer. It was an amazing story watching as these two people who suffered at the hands of others try to overcome their pasts. Is there hope for Doug to allow himself to love something Pixie has already done.

This was a story of overcoming heartbreaking pasts and finding a new beginning, it was an emotional ride. I am never disappointed in any book written by one of my favorite authors, Ms. Vickery and this was just one more of her books that captured me and left me wanting more.