If you can’t stand the heat, don’t fall for a firefighter… Mackenzie O’Neil is on a crash course with burnout. She’s got a scar on her face and a shake in her hands. A temporary job as a small-town family physician is just the prescription. She’ll learn to meditate. Sleep more. Take up gardening.
She definitely won’t take her shirtless, firefighting neighbor’s hot body for a test drive.
But Linc and his tattoos are very persuasive. What’s a harmless little adrenaline-fueled fling between neighbors? It’s all naked fun and games until the shadows from Mack’s past find their way into her present. Can Linc be her hero when she needs him the most or will their scars ruin everything?
One thing is certain: Someone is going to get burned.
Author’s Warning: This small-town happily ever after is smokin’ hot, sweetly hilarious, deliciously suspenseful, and a one-two punch to the feels. One-click for a disaster dog, precocious kids, a good ol’ fistfight, nosy neighbors, high-adrenaline first responder heroics, firefighter bromance, and kitchen sexytimes.more
Ohhhh this book is EVERYTHING. If you have read Lucy’s books set in Benevolence then you are in for a treat. Even if you haven’t? You still are because this can be read as a stand alone. Having read the others it made it richer to revisit some of our old friends. Lucy has been teasing readers in her Facebook group about Benevolence Fire Chief Lincoln Reed aka Chief Sexy Pants for awhile now. So many of my favorite book boyfriends come from Lucy Score books but I think Linc just left them all in the dust. I loved so many things about this book but getting to know Linc as more than a ladies man?? AMAZING. The first chapter grabs you by the throat and has goosebumps rising up as you are a bystander to a horrible traffic accident. This is how Chief Sexy Pants meets Mack aka Doc Dreamy the new flight trauma surgeon as she arrives on scene. She leaves Linc tongue tied and flustered and their banter just gets better from there. Add in Sunshine, all the others from Benevolence that we know and love, plus a few new friends and this one will have you reading through the night. My husband kept giving me strange looks because at one point I was gasping, laughing, and my hands pressed to my face crying.
Reading my reviews it’s obvious I’m a Lucy Score fan. However there are very good reasons for that and this one??? This book as I said before is EVERYTHING. Absolutely everything. Watching Mack work through her past and demons. Seeing a soft and sweet side to Linc. Meeting Mrs. Moretta’s new boyfriend. All WELL worth the price of admission. Read it. You won’t regret it.
Side note, I already had a book hangover and then I read the afterword with the story about the real Sunshine. I found myself sobbing in bed trying not to wake up my husband and trying to figure out how in the world I was going to get to sleep. So worth it.
The town of Benevolence, MD has a new doc in town and she has Linc “my first, middle, and last name is flirt” Reed all kinds of tongue tied. Mack is a trauma surgeon who finds herself at a cross roads smack dab in Chief Sexy Pants back yard. From the very first tumultuous chapter I was invested in this story.
If you’ve read the first 2 stand alone books in this series, Pretend Your Mine and Finally Mine, then you have met Linc and like me, have wondered where his playboy ways have taken him. I would never have guessed he would turn out to be such a delightful, delectable, and determined sweetheart. His relationship with Luke and their ensuing banter had me outright giggling. I adored his interactions with his nieces and nephews. Best Water Gun Fight Ever! Plus he has the most lovable pet! (Make sure you read the afterword by the author.)
Mackenzie O’Neil, aka Mack or Doc Dreamy, has witnessed overwhelming amounts of trauma and has put herself on a leave of sorts. Choosing to take a temporary position in family medicine, she’s doing what she feels is best for her wellness. From their very first meeting, the flirtations started and her and Linc had chemistry in spades. The dilemma was if she should act on it and Linc voted “yes” immediately. Her straightforward sassy attitude and fearlessness had my instant respect.
Besides the budding relationship between reluctant Mack and persistent Linc, I felt like there was a strong story around all the other first responders. The emergency situations and crisis these men and women face each day is daunting and I felt Ms Score portrayed that in such a respectful way. Also, how can I forget the glimpses of our favorite couples from the first two books and the insights we gain about their beautiful lives! I loved being back in Benevolence!
What a fantastic read this newest book by Lucy Score was!! Protecting What’s Mine had amazing characters, a storyline that had me completely transfixed and the best dog ever!
I first have to say I love firefighters and in light with what is happening in Australia right now, I love them all the more. Right from the very beginning we know the type of man Fire Chief Lincoln Reed is. Without thought or hesitation, he jumps right into a horrific traffic accident and saves lives. And it is here that he gets the first glance of a fascinating flight trauma surgeon and he is a complete goner. For the first time in his life, this well known ladies’ man is at a loss for words and she flies off with a lasting impression.
Mackenzie O’Neil is new in town, she is in need of a change of pace, she was on a fast track to a burnout so she gave herself six months in Benevolence, Maryland to live a slower paced life. To achieve this she takes on a temporary assignment at a small family practice. Mack is definitely a mystery for most of the beginning of the book. What we do know is what an awesome doctor she is, especially in high stress emergency situations, unfortunately people skills is where she lacked. I loved watching her evolve and it was so great to see her grow.
I absolutely adored Linc, he was not only a hero, he also was an awesome uncle and the best fur-dad to Sunshine, the yellow lab with separation anxiety. And once he was able to speak again, his flirty demeanor was back on full force. The banter between Chief Sexy Pants and Dr. Dreamy was the best and the chemistry was off the charts. Mack tried so hard to stay away from Linc, but that was definitely short lived. And when we learn more about Mack and her past, my admiration for her definitely grew. I loved watching the two of them fall in love with each other and get that happily ever after!
And on a side note, I am also a huge dog lover, the snippet of the true story of Sunshine gave me all the feels. Dogs are the best with giving unconditional love.
I highly recommend Protecting What’s Mine, this was definitely a 5-star read!
If you are looking for a book that makes you feel from beginning to end, this is the book for you. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not over the top angsty, but it is the perfect combination of community, love, everyday heroes, and overcoming adversity. Mix that with a dirty talking firefighter and an elusive trauma surgeon, and you have perfection.
With each and every book Lucy releases, I feel like I’ve found a new favorite, but this book definitely earns a spot in my top five favorites! It is one I know I will come back to and reread over and over. It is action packed, full of all the good vibes a strong community can bring, and has a love story for the ages. Linc is epic book boyfriend material. I also loved Mack. I love that they are both deeply layered characters. While Linc may seem like a playboy for life, I loved seeing so much depth beneath that surface. I also loved learning more about Mack throughout the story and understanding why she made the choices she did. There was so much about both of them that brought all the feels.
As with all Lucy books, the writing in this book is fantastic. Once you start reading, you will be glued to your chair forgetting the world around you exists. At least that was my experience. It had a fantastic conclusion, but I still wanted more, because I love them so much. It truly has all the hallmark characteristics of a Lucy book with love, laughter, and all the feels.
While I loved popping back into Benevolence and touching base with some of my other favorite characters, this is a complete standalone. However, I don’t know how you could finish and not want everything you could get from this town.
The first book I read by Ms. Score was Pretend Your Mine and I was taken with the story and Ms. Score’s writing. Luke and Harper still live on as my favorite couple, however, Mac and Linc are a close second.
First off the return to Benevolence, MD is like coming home to an old friend. We see a lot of the same faces and see how time has been kind to them after putting them through a lot to get there. Linc and Mac have a connection from the time they lay eyes on each other. I couldn’t help but laugh everytime he would call her Dr. Dreamy. The hot fire chief and the sexy doctor, what a great story!
You can’t help but fall in love with Linc. This family man who just needs a someone to build that family with. He is flirty and dirty and swoony all in one! Mac is a little harder egg to crack. She has been through a lot and doesn’t want anyone to get close to her. She puts up a good fight but can’t help but fall for the fire chief who has knocked her off her feet.
This was a great read in a town that I can’t get enough of. Ms. Score does an amazing job with details and creating a world that you want to be a part of and lose yourself in. These are the kind of books you want to read over and over again. Great story!
This is a wonderful story! I simply could not stop reading: it was toss in the laundry, read; put in the dryer, read; and, finally after dinner tonight, I finished and it all felt wonderful. I laughed, teared up and kept reading with amazement. I loved Linc! Tell you a secret, I’ve waited a long time for someone to write a hero’s story with the name Linc and this was perfect. He’s sensitive, caring and loves his family. Then he meets Dr. “Dreamy” Mackenzie. His Dreamy turns into the light of his life. This is a book you must read and be ready for feeling love, enjoying sensual scenes and getting to The End with an HEA.
I absolutely LOVED this series! I believe this book was my favorite of the bunch. I love Mack’s personality and authentic duality of being strong and vulnerable. I love Linc’s emotional side, masked by his easy-going persona and playboy antics. Then all that STEAM! The danger in the plot was amazing, and I finished the story feeling brave for them.
PROTECTING WHAT’S MINE by Lucy Score. Book 3 of Benevolence series. Fire Chief Lincoln Reed is known for his heroics in the fire department and in the bedroom, while Flight trauma surgeon Mackenzie O’Neil is on a crash course with burnout along with a scar on her face and a shake in her hands. A temporary job as a small-town family physician is just the prescription she needs, and she’s immune to flirty first responders. So, she thought. PROTECTING WHAT’S MINE is I quote: “a smokin’ hot, sweetly hilarious, suspenseful with high-adrenaline first responder heroics, firefighter bromance, kitchen sexy times” and a whole lot more. Lucy Score has a knack breathing life into quirky, charming small town with swoon-worthy characters to make this a must read for anyone who loves small town romance and firefighters.
This was a wonderful story with a setting and cast that really helps to elevate the story from a romance between the couple to one that really highlights the beauty and love that could be seen in what is a pretty perfect small town. Benevolence is an awesome place!
This romance is between Linc, the fire chief, and Mack, the awesome trauma surgeon who saved Aldo during his deployment. These two characters are amazing- relatable, sweet and truly written to be heroes. I loved reading about them together but also a separate entities who just had such a passion for saving lives.
The romance was well done, with Mack, especially having a difficult past and because of that, finding it difficult to trust. Linc was an amazing hero and Sunshine the dog? Perfect. Used not only for some comic relief, Sunshine also made my heart just “awwww” throughout the book. In fact, much of the book did that!
We see the other prior couples and their family through the book so while this book is standalone, it would be best to read the other two first (I binged on the other two books before reading this one). And it was so worth it. I really want to go back to Benevolence soon please!
Protecting What’s Mine was a seriously fun read! I couldn’t get enough of Mack and Linc and their witty banter and all the laugh-out-loud, entertaining moments. I loved their ups and downs, watching them come together and falling in love. It was exciting to read and I loved it all.
I fall in love with Lucy’s writing more and more with every book. She always brings the right amount of humor, steam and suspense. Linc and Mackenzie had so much chemistry and were so great together. There is so much fun small town shenanigans, there was also a lot of emotions mixed with nail biting rescue scenes. I listened to this book and Natalie Duke was amazing. She did a great job with giving each character their own voice. Highly recommend this book, a five star read/listen for sure.
Linc finally received his love story and WOW! This is about Linc and Mackenzie. Benevolence has been a favorite town since Luke and Harper, but then came Aldo and Gloria to make it much better, now we have Linc and Mack and WOW is all I can say. Linc is the Fire Chief and Mack is only there temporarily to cover in the family practice. Fire Chief Linc has always had a reputation and in the past books that he has been in – he has played some part in the happiness of his friends. The best of this book is Sunshine and all of the family members as they are into everything and were hilarious. Other families that make these stories what they are Sophie, Ty, Mrs. Moretta, Dr. Russell, Linc’s sisters, all of the kids involved, even Abner Kersh!
I have a confession to make on this book and that is that I have had it since it first came out and I started to read it but then I didn’t want to continue it and it wasn’t because it wasn’t good, but because my thought was that once I completed the book, I would have to give up on this small town as the three main character would have found their happily ever after. I finally gave in this week and decided to read this book and I hope that Lucy comes up with a story of all of them together because this book not only had me laughing but crying too because it was just that GREAT!!! I will recommend everyone to read the extended epilogue that Lucy provides as it has Sunshine’s story which of course touches your heart in more ways that you can imagine.
As always, Lucy Score does NOT disappoint!! This is an amazingly sweet, scorching and sexy story that you do not want to miss!! This can be read as a stand-alone, but do yourself a favor and read the others in the series first, and you will appreciate the characters and their story that much more.
Lincoln Reed, aka Chief Sexy Pants, Fire Chief of the Benevolence Fire Department, and Mackenzie , former military flight trauma surgeon turned small-town family practitioner and part-time flight doc, have so many sparks that they need the fire department to keep them under control! Throw in Linc’s girl Sunshine, old and new friends, and family members – bit the amazing and traumatizing kind – and you have a story that is impossible to put down. You will root for Linc and Mack to make it against all odds, and will laugh and cry in the process.
Wow— I have read several Lucy Score books which have mainly been super witty rom coms! I absolutely love the way Lucy writes and really enjoy reading anything from her. I will say, this book was different than the previous book I have read by her. This book was more of a serious romance with both characters having some issues from their past they have to work through. It was definitely more slow paced but it was so worth it! I really enjoyed this sweet romance read!!!
I so thoroughly enjoyed Protecting What’s Mine. It’s a well rounded romance with some suspense, danger and romance not too mention lots of steamy interludes. There’s also great excitement and the peril associated with first responders. In fact Lucy Score ramps ups the danger/excitement factor in the first pages. Small town USA embraces a visiting doctor and teaches her how to stop and smell the roses while giving her the humanity she didn’t think she had.
Lincoln Reed AKA Chief Sexy Pants becomes book boyfriend that you can crush on almost immediately. He’s heroic, flirtatious, funny, good looking and genuinely likeable. Oh! Did I mention sexy? Cuz he is. Dr. Mackenzie O’Neil AKA Dr. Dreamy needs to learn stop and smell the roses because she’s burned out. Highly proficient medically, adrenaline junkie for sure but she’s emotionally damaged by her past so relating to everyday people is not her strong suit. Slowly, very slowly Linc and the community of Benevolence get under Mack’s skin and worm their way into her heart. Together they’re hometown heroes who are deeply loved by each other and those who surround them.
I really enjoyed this book. I liked both Linc and Mack. Their banter was witty, funny, and entertaining. They made me smile. There was a good buildup of sexual tension and just enough steamy scenes.
I liked the small town atmosphere, the sense of community, family, and friendship. There were only a couple of characters I didn’t like, and they were not portrayed as people you should like.
Mack had a dark secret that she was reluctant to share with Linc, or anyone else. There wasn’t much angst in this book, but I thought there might be a bit more detail about Mack’s past. The book also has a little action along with a pinch of mystery and suspense.
A very entertaining read that had Linc and Mack reaching their HEA. I also got an epilogue and bonus material!
“Plans changed. Dreams grew. And happiness sometimes just snuck up on a person when they were least expecting it.” This was one of my favorite quotes in the book and it came from the Bonus Epilogue. So many great quotes in this book to savor.
After reading Pretend You Are Mine I had a little different impression of Lincoln. Turns out Linc is a brave man with a kind and generous heart. I loved how he touched Mack in such a loving, caring fashion.
Dr Mack I really enjoyed. She’s a brave, tough woman with a past that she continues to run from. She certainly was out of her element in a small town family practice.
One additional character I would like to mention is Linc’s dog, Sunshine. Like most pets, Sunshine played a big part in the lives of Linc and Mack and I loved that.
It was great catching up with the residents of Benevolence. This is one of the best three book series I have read. Each can be read as a standalone but you will want to read them all.
Lucy Score is such a talented writer and she continues to come up with original stories that contain interesting and endearing characters.
This one is just super cute, funny lol moments, family drama, and the cutest dog ever! Mack aka Dr. Mack comes into town for a slower pace after Afghanistan and childhood trauma. She meets the local fire Chief Linc or Chief Sexy Pants after he saves the day on the freeway. Linc is smitten at first sight with Doc Dreamy. Linc is great with kids and of course has the best dog ever, and is know for his way with the ladies. Mack is a trauma surgeon, flight doc, and saves the town in small and big ways thought the book. She is also strong as all hell but gets blindsided again with family drama that she tried to bury deep.
Another great Lucy Score book with a wonderful meet cute, strong lady, so many LOL moments, great
side characters, characters from her other books, and steamy steamy chemistry!
Overall, 4.5 stars and 5 steams!
Chief Sexypants is officially my new Lucy Score favorite. Shameless flirt with a heart of gold and the best dog in the world. I mean, Dreamy should marry him just for the dog (the rest of the package is pretty great, too). Score has leveled up with this one! Two thumbs up and a heart thud on the floor.
I’ve just discovered Lucy Score’s books, am three in since I picked up the first one, with loads more to go!
This one is a great read!