Lacy's Reviews > Mine to Shield

In Kennedy L. Mitchell’s Mine to Shield: A Second Chance, FBI Standalone Romantic Suspense (Protection #9), Killian Cooper, a broken FBI agent, and Millie Anderson, a young professor, work together to take down a dangerous cult despite their rocky past.

Millie goes undercover as the fake wife of the FBI agent, who turns out to be the man who broke her heart ten years ago. She loved Killian with all her heart before discovering he’s been safe all this time, but she’s decided to (try to) hate him. Once Killian and Millie are undercover inside the cult’s compound, they’re surrounded by danger and lies and forced to trust and rely on each other, causing the lines of their fake marriage to blur and past feelings to rekindle. Will they make it out alive together once they uncover the truth and expose the cult’s leader and his evil depravity? Or will Killian leave Millie alone again forever, as she fears?

Mine to Shield is written in Millie and Killian’s first-person POV and tells their love story, alternating between flashbacks to the past—when they meet in college and fall in love—and the present. Once Killian and Millie meet, that’s it. I love how gone they are for one another. Killian and Millian are soulmates, and so meant to be. While Killian was emotionally tortured even then, the things he’s suffered between then and now are unimaginable, and they have changed him in ways she has yet to discover. Molly has matured and become better equipped to be his partner and stand up to him and his forceful alpha personality. Those moments are something to see. They complement and balance each other so well. He keeps her safe. She keeps him emotionally centered. Both are extraordinarily intelligent individuals who are all about each other, though each is deeply insecure about whether those feelings are returned. I love Killian and Millie’s relationship and their interactions—past and present. Kennedy develops and evolves their relationship and characters through intensely emotional, sexy, steamy, intimate interactions and love scenes that reveal their characters and further the plot. She is so skilled at writing love scenes that are deeply emotional and sensual at the same time. I’m always overwhelmed with emotion while reading and when I finish a book by her.

I love the relationships and interactions between Mitchell’s complex, relatable, likable characters that she develops through humorous, snarky, emotional, and suspenseful interactions. The Dallas-based BSU Team is like a family, and it always feels like coming home when you see characters from earlier books again, especially favorites. Killian’s relationships with these characters are essential to his character’s development and evolution. I can’t get enough of this team or this series! I’m so ready for the next one.

An intense, dark, suspenseful, sexy, emotional, steamy, angsty, romantic, and beautiful love story, Mine to Shield is highly recommended for fans of second chances, forced proximity, undercover, pretend marriage, and romantic suspense.

While Mine to Shield is a standalone romance, it has character crossovers with the other books in the Protection Series and is best read in order.

4.5 stars