Review: “The Guardian” by Kimberly Kincaid

Series: The Intelligence Unit, #2

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: March 9th, 2021

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Kimberly Kincaid is a new to me author, but she is going on my list of authors that I need to read more of instantly! I love romantic suspenses and I feel like it takes a certain kind of author to weave together a story filled with the right kinds of twists and turns and still give you that fluttery feeling in your chest. The Guardian provides all of that and more, especially with two brilliant leads in Matteo and Delia.

“She wanted to taste him with her tongue, to drown in him, to soak up the full force of all that intensity he always kept banked beneath those broody stares and firm frowns.”

Delia Sutton is a numbers girl. She can look at a sheet of numbers and find discrepancies without even trying that hard. She’s considered weird, odd, and all other things that people call those they don’t understand, but Delia is special. She is a truly special kind of person. I loved the character so much. She might be a nerd, but she’s a confident, sassy, sexy nerd and I loved how she’s not afraid to say what’s on her mind, especially when it comes to her work. Delia takes her job seriously and works to prove her worth every step of the way. But, she’s also got this sexy, sassy side that is so damn appealing. It’s not like she’s peeling away layers of her nerdiness to become this other person, it’s just who she is and only certain people get to see that.

Then there’s Matteo Garza. Sweet lord, this man. He’s a member of the Intelligence Unit and he’s all kinds of broody, sexy alpha bad boy. He’s a cop who takes his job seriously, he’s very by the book and sometimes forgets to tone it down when he’s hanging out with other people. Much like Delia, Matteo is so much more than the grumpy broody alpha male that he is and I like how around his friends and around Delia, you get to see the other side of him. He’s damn good at his job, but he’s also very focused on not letting anything get to him because he doesn’t want to deal with feelings and emotions, which are obviously not good things for a cop.

“You taste like cake,” Delia murmured, the thought flying out of her, unchecked.

Matteo laughed against her lips. “You taste like sin.”

Delia and Matteo have known each other a while – Matteo’s baby sister is Delia’s best friend and Delia has had a massive crush on Matteo since the moment they met – so when they’re reconnected after a mugging lands Delia in the hospital, everything changes. There’s an instant connection, but I liked that Matteo’s brain didn’t automatically go to ‘yeah, she’s hot’. He’s the kind of guy who is so focused on his job, everything else just kinda fades into the background. But Delia relies on Matteo, putting her crush on him aside to focus on finding out who mugged her.

There’s so much more to this story that I cannot get into without giving everything away. Delia and Matteo have to work through everything and together to fully uncover this case that has landed in their laps. But it’s the relationship that they build that really got me. I loved how it happened so gradually, it wasn’t a complete slow burn, but given that Delia’s been crushing on Matteo since college, maybe it was? When she’s around Matteo, Delia becomes this siren and I absolutely loved seeing that side of her. They are just incredibly hot together and so damn steamy! I devoured this book in one sitting, because everything about these characters and the plot just got under my skin and I needed more!

I can’t wait to dig into Kimberly Kincaid’s backlist and discover more romantic suspenses that will be added to my list of favourites and I most definitely cannot wait for Maxwell’s book!

Thanks to Kimberly Kincaid and Wildfire Marketing Solutions for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.