Title: Protect
Author: Paisley Hope
Publisher: Slowburn
Genre: Romance
Pages: 416
My Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤
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Protect
Rowan Kingsley has been through a lot over the past few years, including the loss of his best friend. His job as a hotshot firefighter isn’t easy, but it’s what he loves to do.
Now, Violette Taylor is back in town. Rowan dated Violette, the twin sister of his late best friend, when they were just 18 years old, and seeing her again brings back a flood of memories. But it’s not just difficult for him. Being back in Sky Ridge isn’t easy for Violette either; everything reminds her of her twin brother, who passed away years ago.
Review
This is the second book in the Sky Ridge Hotshots series, which is written by three different authors, something I think is pretty cool. I really enjoyed the first book, Fight by Sloane St. James, and I was excited to read this one as well. I was already somewhat familiar with Paisley Hope, since I recently read three of her books and absolutely devoured them.
The books I previously read by Paisley all had a cowboy theme, and for some reason, I’m really enjoying cowboy romance stories. I’m not entirely sure why I find cowboys so attractive, but I’ve now discovered that I’m also drawn to firefighter romances.
The main characters, Rowan and Violette, are great. They have a lot of chemistry, even though their breakup years ago was messy. They’re still clearly attracted to each other, and you can really feel the tension between them. I especially liked Rowan because he’s such a gentleman. The small things he does for Violette and her daughter completely melted my heart. The three of them together were just incredibly cute.
But this book isn’t all sweetness. Early on, you get a clear sense of how dangerous Rowan’s job as a firefighter really is. He even gets into an accident and ends up in the hospital with burns. I happened to read this book while there was a wildfire in my country, which made it hit even harder. It really made me realize how dangerous this job is, and I definitely have a lot more respect for firefighters now. This aspect of the story also added some action, which I really enjoyed. It wasn’t all fluff and romance; I liked the balance between tension and love. I think that combination is my favorite, and it’s probably why I’d also enjoy romance stories about soldiers, even though I haven’t read any yet.
The reason I’m giving this book a 4/5 instead of a full 5/5 is that I usually reserve five-star ratings for books that make me laugh out loud, truly move me, or feel life-changing. This one came close, but not quite. Still, I can highly recommend both this book and the series.