Kismet Heart: A Protector Romance by Brinda Berry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We start with Malorie recounting the most traumatic experience she ever had when she was the lone survivor of a bombing and the loss of her mother and the after effects this has had on her. We then move to Malorie having dinner with her uncle JT for her 18th birthday, they are discussing Malorie going to college and leaving home, well, Malorie is expressly saying she doesn’t want to go and JT is on his phone, that is until Malorie goes to the bathroom to get away from it all. On her way, she bumps into a guy outside the bathroom where he knocks into her, he drops his phone and as Malorie reaches down to get it,she is bumped into by someone coming out of the mens and is pushed backward by the door. This leads to an awkward conversation with the guy and a panic attack in the toilet when she got there. Thinking no more about the event, she returns to the table in time for cake, where JT insists that she makes a wish as she blows out the candles, then as she is cutting the cake, she is surprised when someone joins them at the table, her uncle had invited someone to talk about work with to her birthday celebration! When the realisation hits that it is the guy from the bathroom incident, she doesn’t know what to do. When her uncle introduces him as Ace, they briefly discuss the work offer JT gave him and JT tries to press a bit more about his character, Ace does not feel comfortable with this and so decides to leave the restaurant, the offer and the others to their dinner.

As he gets to his car, Ace realises he can’t find his keys, as he is looking for them, he sees a suspicious man hangin around outside the venue, once he decides that he has left his keys inside the restaurant, he goes back in to find them. This is when all hell breaks loose and the guy from outside is now inside and threatening the hostess at the door. As JT starts to give Malorie her present and the explanation which goes along with it, she hears shouting and as Malorie looks around, hearing all of the commotion, she turns to see the gunman and starts to panic again, JT tries to reassure her when she hears a sound like a car backfiring and the next thing she knows, JT is lurching out of his chair and she can see the blood on his shirt, when her brain catches up and she realises it is a gunshot. As she is about to go over to him, an arm grabs her, she falls to the floor, feels the injuries sustained in the fall and the table she was just sitting at being flipped over, she is trying to reach JT, but when another shot rings out close to her hand, she is pulled away and when she turns to see Ace there, she is confused as to why. She again tries to get to JT, but when she can’t, she tries to get the gift he was going to give her, she can’t leave that last connection to him behind! She starts to hear sirens in the background, but again, the gunman starts to shout and Malorie turns towards him instead of running away, he threatens to kill more people and that just snaps Malorie into action, she rushes him screaming and attacks him, this gives the police enough time to get there, but she has been shot in the action and blacks out.

As she gets rushed to hospital, Ace accompanies her with the gift and stays until she is out of surgery, he also meets another family member of Malories, hands over the gift bag into their safekeeping and leaves the hospital. This is where Ace thinks that he will never see either Malorie or the other man again, but both of their stories have begun to intertwine and they will not be separated again, he becomes her bodyguard, but things will never again be straight forward for either of them.

This is a story of love, death, despair and hope and the only way of knowing which prevails is to read the book and follow in their path.

Reviewed by @roxsannel

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