The Marshal's PI: Yours to Protect Book 2, Este Holland

I think I have a new book to add to my favorite shelf.  With drama, action, sweet confessions, and a whole lot of steam to drool over, this is easily one of my favorite reads of the year.  I was immediately drawn into the story and was glad I chose to start the book after my kids were in bed because I didn't stop reading until it I got to the end.  There was something so captivating about Kai and Gannin and the story itself was believable.  Add in a fantastic cast that's absolutely going to bring me back for more and I'm sold.

Kai is quirky, amusing, brash, and exactly what Gannin needs in his life to find his mellow.  I liked that Kai knows himself, makes no excuses, and still thinks before he acts most of the time.  There are some characters that think they know more than they do and unwittingly put themselves and many others in more danger than without their "assistance" and Kai wasn't like that.  Yes, he wanted to have more control over what he did, but when push came to shove, he let others take the lead.  What really made him memorable to me was his personality and the way he was with Gannin.  He wasn't in so much denial to everyone and himself about his feelings, he merely had no experience with deeper connections and wasn't completely convinced that he was diving headlong into love.

And with Gannin there to catch him, there was nowhere safer to land.  Gannin is a big, hard man who is focused beyond most people's capability.  His honesty and determination rule his life and there's no other way I would want him to be.  He's made of loyalty and passion, he just hasn't yet had a focus outside his job that earned all of him.  While his attraction to the crazy man-child bothered him at first, it didn't take long to become something he didn't want to be without.  The straightforward way he treated Kai and his feelings toward him totally won me over.  He was clear, direct, and so surprisingly soft that I pretty much melted.

The steam was another case of melting, for sure.  Their chemistry was beyond palpable and I loved that it didn't take the center stage for the whole book, that there were different facets to their relationship that balanced out their passion.  It also didn't dominate the story's overall plot.  We got a whole lot of non-sexual action too so I felt the story was extremely well balanced.  There was a slightly more disturbing part and I found that believable and that it added depth to the story where so many other novels produce the nick-of-time saves when we all know that's so unlike reality.

I've found that I'm at a loss when trying to think about the story's negative aspects and I'm supremely thrilled that I'm having this problem.  I suppose I could sing its praises again, but I'm sure you're tired of reading my thoughts at this point, so we'll just leave it at, "This book was awesome and I immensely enjoyed reading it."

*$3.99 on Amazon!

Dodging bullets shouldn’t be fun…should it? 

It is when the man protecting you is hot as sin.
Kai is a happy-go-lucky guy. At least, he was before the mob came knocking on his door.
He’ll go to any length to protect a secret, even work with US Marshal Gannin West.
The only man who can help.
The only man who drives him crazy.

To figure out how to stop the one who wants Kai erased, he’ll have to cooperate… But will it be too late?