Hard Evidence (I-Team, #2)

by Pamela Clare

Fast paced, action packed novel heavy on the romance. Tessa annoyed me. She supposedly grew up poor and hardened on the streets but she was so naive it was ridiculous. She continuously put herself into highly dangerous situations with no regard for her own safety. And yes I get that as an investigative reporter it's part of her job to some degree - but she was just stupid. She has no self defense skills and although she carries a gun - has never bothered to learn to shoot it (which seriously?). Furthermore considering she writes the crime beat she has no concept of crime or the consequences of her actions and she wonders why the Chief and Julian get angry at her? She writes articles specifically targeting gangs and then walks straight into gun territory and seems surprised that they try to kill her. For all she was called smart a lot - she really didn't seem it. Julian had the whole bad boy with a heart of gold thing going on. He was more or less okay. The romance itself was pretty weak. The plot was enjoyable enough although too drawn out - Tessa took a really long time to get to the point of human trafficking. Too long to be considered realistic when we're talking about an investigative reporter who writes specifically about crime. 2.5 stars. Rounded up to 3 stars because it was just what I felt in the mood to read.