To Know Her by Name

This was a good story and my first Lori Wick.
For awhile I was conflicted about what rating I would give, or whether I would finish. At first the characters seem to repeat observations and do a whole lot of telling the story rather than the plot moving much, but once Pup goes into the field things really pick up. And then it was excellent and very hard to put down! The ending was particularly well played out and not rushed at all.
I didn't feel like the spiritual parts were overly preachy at all, but were a natural expression of who the characters were or became; however, I wouldn't hand this book to a nonbeliever and expect them to enjoy wading through the Scripture parts. It was nice, though, to read through a book written in recent years in which I didn't find the author's theology trampling on my toes a wee bit–it all seemed quite solid scripturally, which was quite a relief.
I liked it that the romance was not overly squishy and mushy. The undercover work and Pup's spiritual journey both took up more space than the kissy-lovey parts, but there was enough to be realistic and pleasant. The only thing that bothered me was the time when McKay accidentally runs across Pup bathing in the lake by moonlight...yes, it was subtle, but I still didn't quite like it. And later it is referenced again as McKay realizes “he'd never had a hard time thinking of her as a woman” (though most of her undercover work is done as a man) and then adds mentally, “that would have been difficult after seeing her at the lake.” The whole idea of a man seeing a woman without clothes before they are married, even by accident and moonlight, is improper. Especially if he recalls it with pleasure.
The other thing that bothered me was–the numerals! Every single number in this book was written down as a numeral. So my mind is heading along a path of English words, and my eyes are assailed with, “6 years,” “age of 13,” “36 yards” and so on. The only numerals that should not be spelled out in prose are years and really long numbers. I'm surprised the editor gave that a pass. It definitely pulled me out of the story flow on repeated occasions.