She was like a beautiful weed that had started cracking at his foundation from the moment he’d laid eyes on her.
Sloane Kennedy
Loving Vin
Format:
ebook
Publisher’s Synopsis:
She was the daughter of a serial killer and she was living in his house…
After years of searching war torn Afghanistan for his MIA brother, Vincenzo Barretti has finally come home and now he’s ready to settle back into life as co-founder of Barretti Security Group. But his home is no longer cold and empty the way he likes it.
Mia Hamilton needs a quiet place to hide from the press to try to rebuild her life. Being the daughter of a notorious serial killer is bad enough, but being the one who killed him has made her a target for every news agency in the world. She wants nothing more than to be left alone, but the reporters are relentless and will stop at nothing to get their story. With no place to go, she accepts an offer from Dominic Barretti to stay at his older brother’s home until she can figure out what to do next. But she didn’t expect the homeowner to return so soon or to feel something she’s never felt when he’s around.
Vin doesn’t need or want a woman in his life and certainly not one that comes with so much baggage. So what if Mia evokes feelings in him he thought were long dead? She’s a liability and he wants her gone. But forcing the quiet, strong-willed young woman from his life turns out to be a lot harder than he thought…
Point of view:
3rd person. Alternating perspectives, not by chapter but clearly defined.
Rellim’s Thoughts:
Sloane Kennedy is known for her MM books, but in the early years she wrote MF too and I’ve enjoyed these stories just as much. While this is book 1 – the Barretti Security series is a spin-off of The Escort series and this book continues characters and events from Logan’s Need. Kennedy has written it in a way that you could start here, but it’s probably best enjoyed if you have that foundation. As such, this review may contain spoilers to previous books.
Mia is the daughter of a serial killer who imprisoned her. She was saved during the rescue of friends to the Barretti family. It was such a high profile case that Dom hides her out at Vin’s house to escape the hounding press. Vin’s been out of the country on various missions and returns to find Mia living in his home. Along with a menagerie of animals.
I enjoyed how Kennedy brought these two broken souls together. Vin, as the oldest, carrying the weight of his family’s struggles and losses plus a past where he was burned by love. Mia is young, innocent, and determined to finally forge a life but without knowing how. Vin initially fights his attraction because she’s 18 years younger and been through so much.
I like Vin trying to figure out Mia’s quirkiness and his interaction with the animals. While things heat up between them, I also liked that they start to get to know one another better – even if some of it comes from arguing. Mia seems timid, but she does stand up to and for Vin. It’s an interesting dynamic.
There’s a few suspense moments sprinkled in and eventually Vin and Mia get their HEA. There are some family events left unresolved to tease the next two books, Redeeming Rafe and Saving Ren.
About the author:
Although Sloane Kennedy always dreamed of being a writer as a teenager, she didn’t take the plunge until 2015 when she released her first novel. Since then, she has released nearly 30 books including the Amazon best-selling “Pelican Bay” and “Protectors” series. While she initially began writing M/F romance, she found her true passion writing gay romance and nearly all of her most recent releases reached the #1 spot on Amazon’s Gay Romance bestseller list and several have made it to Amazon’s overall bestseller list. Sloane was born in Germany but grew up in the U.S. and although she currently lives in Wisconsin, the place where she has always felt most at home is Seattle and many of her books take place in the Emerald city. When not writing, a menagerie of 2 dogs, 3 cats and 2 horses takes up what little time she has left in the day!
You can connect with Sloane Kennedy here:
My Favorite Quotes
“You’ve got a whole lot to explain Dom, and it better start with why there’s a fucking pig running around my backyard!”
“He saw a ghost of a smile pass over her lips and he wanted to shout out in victory. It made no sense why it should matter to him, but it did.”
“She was like a beautiful weed that had started cracking at his foundation from the moment he’d laid eyes on her.”
Rellim Reads 