“Dimon excels at creating memorable, complex characters.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)Salvation, Pennsylvania. The commune located in the small town was advertised as a modern Utopia: a place to live, share, and learn with other like-minded young people. Cate Pendleton’s sister was one of them. Now she’s dead—and Cate won’t rest until she finds out who killed her. Stonewalled at every … she finds out who killed her. Stonewalled at every turn, she approaches a DC Fixer for help and ends up with Damon Knox, a mysterious man with a secretive past. But Cate soon discovers that she not only needs Damon, she wants him, which isn’t good—for the attraction brewing between them will only lead to complications that can turn into danger . . .
Damon has tried to erase the hellish memories and the evil that happened in Salvation ever since he left a long time ago. Still, he can’t turn his back on Cate. As Damon works with Cate to uncover her sister’s killer, he finds himself drawn to her more and more. But how will she feel about him when she learns about his connection to the place?
Joining forces to uncover the truth, they must stay one step ahead of a cunning killer who’s bent on not being exposed.
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I enjoyed this book so much. It’s a given that with Ms. Dimon, you would get action adventure with a mystery that wouldn’t be quite easy to solve. The Protector definitely has those elements in spades but add two protagonists that appears not the ideal couple but with witty and humorous bantering between them it’s easy to see where the relationship is going. Cate and Damon takes readers on a murder waiting ten years to be solved. Add in a fake relationship and you can predict the sparks are about to fly. What I really love about this romance is Damon and Cate’s lighthearted often humorous zinging banter that takes a lot of weight out of the heavy theme of murder, betrayal and dark family pasts. It’s sexy, with a female protagonist who has he own agency and a hero marching to her tune. The Protector is one of those romantic suspense reminiscent of those old romance comedies with great memorable couples!
Cate Pendleton is trying to find the truth to what really happened when her sister dies at Sullivan. She doesn’t believe that she fell off a water tower to her death, when her sister was afraid of heights. But her investigation into her sister’s death is getting nowhere and now there is someone breaking into her home.
Damon doesn’t want to accept the job at Sullivan. He rather keep those secrets buried. But Wren does not give him much choice in the matter. When he meets Cate, whom he is to protect, he is struck by her beauty and her need for help. But when danger arises and the risks becomes higher, Damon is determined to help solve the mystery. Or die protecting the one who has opened his heart. Will he be able to protect her and deal with the blast from the past that is his father?
Oh my I loved this book! This book was full of action, danger and suspense from page one. I had such a hard time putting it down. The story was explosive and edge of your seat fun. This is the first book I have read from HelenKay. I was not disappointed at all. I do wish I knew it was a series before starting this one. Even though it was perfect as a standalone, I would have loved to have a more in-depth reality on the other characters. I think I would have enjoyed this one even more than my 5 stars worth. 😉
This author mixed the perfect cocktail of suspense and romance, creating a very exciting book. The book flowed smooth and was flawless. It had a unique story line with plenty of twists and turns, with plenty of secrets to reveal. It will keep you guessing till the very end. Who you may think did it, most defiantly will not be the one who did it.
The main characters were magnetic and fierce. They were strong and perfect for each other. These two were a hot commodity. They burned up the pages with their steamy love affair. Damon the bad boy and Cate the strong independent female. A perfect match. Yin and Yang. I loved their crazy banter and unfinished sentences, that sometimes had me laughing out loud. Very lovable.
“You do not eat a hamburger everyday.”
“True. Some days I mix it up and order a cheeseburger.”
“Then why were you walking away from me?”
“I was giving that man his coat back.”
Overall this book was amazing. It is full of suspense, danger, family issues, hot steamy sex and most of all love. Not the conventional kind but it works for these characters. If you love action and adventure and thrills to no end, then this book is perfect for you. With amazing characters and great suspenseful plots, this book is sure to hold your attention and make you a fan. So go and grab your copy today. You will be glad you did.
One of my picks for must read reluctant heroes in my monthly PopSugar Feature
Everyone has a past. Most people accept it and move on to adulthood. Damon had to escape his past to be able to become an adult. Now his boss wants him to go back to his past to help a young woman who’s sister died in the compound where Damon grew up. To say Damon is not enthusiastic about this plan is an understatement.
Cate wants to know how her peaceful sister with an absolute fear of heights, died by falling off a water town in the ‘educational’ compound of Salvation. She must find a way to go to the compound and find out the truth. She can’t move on until she has answers to her questions.
Now the fun begins. Lots of suspense, trying to guess who the murderer is (and being wrong more than once), both Cate and Damon realizing that they care for each other more than just a quick hookup, although that’s here too and is very HOT! Fire, close calls, big reveals about Damon’s life, and hamburgers. It’s all here!
Pick this book up for a great read. Humor, heart, dealing with the past, and finally looking to the future.
I love these wonderfully written romance suspense stories and this one is fabulous. My first in the series but the others have definitely moved to the top of my ‘to read’ list. This one was a terrific reading experience and what I really liked is that the author didn’t giveaway to many details about the previous stories in the series. Just a sense of the comradery (and some humor) with the group of specialists and their loves. This one has it all. A marvelous and unique couple in the mysterious Damon and the tenacious Cate, a superb storyline with suspense, danger, intrigue, lots of secrets and a budding romance, and a spectacular ending. Damon goes back into his version of hell to help Cate get closure and justice for a loved one. Their journey is fraught with roadblocks and resistance but they are not deterred. And they find love along the way amongst all the bickering and banter and flirting. They are a sexy couple not to be denied and they have each other’s back once the trust is established. The writing is superb with all the elements needed to create a marvelous romantic suspenseful story. I loved it!
Greta story line. Characters are so real-we all know someone like them, or wish we did! Love the entire series. A definite add to your reading list.
Full Disclosure: I went into this book blurb unread (because that’s how I roll sometimes), so I was not expecting a romantic suspense/mystery element but that’s what I got and I’m not mad about it! Between the mystery of what the heck is up with Salvation, what happened to Cate’s sister, who is stalking her, and Damon’s secret past with the weird town/people – The Protector was a page turner and so different from anything I’ve read recently or that’s on my TBR. If you’re a fan of Toni Anderson’s Cold Justice series, I highly recommend this! I loved the forced proximity/fake relationship aspect and really enjoyed the banter between Cate and Damon, as well as the fact that I felt on the edge of my seat through the large majority of the story. I do plan on reading the first books in the series and continuing on (if there are to be more). Thank goodness I already have a couple of them in my possession already! 4 out of 5 wine glasses.
I hang on to each and every word as I was reading The Protector. With the brilliant banter, the twisted word games, the subtle hints with the ever-escalating suspense, the way the fake romance turns into an inferno of real, true feelings, emotions that wrapped around my heart as well as the protagonists, and how the thrilling suspense and anticipation of the malice influenced and affected the deepening emotions growing between Cate and Damon, all together it created an amazing, riveting, and ardent tale, an unputdownable story that enchanted and charmed my mind and heart while I devoured it.
Cate Pendleton’s fearless pursuit of justice for her sister, to find out the truth about her sister’s destiny and death was admirable and showed the capacity of kindness, consideration, compassion, and determination she was able to. She is smart, goal oriented, with an organized mind, and capable to hold her own. She is passionate, comfortable within herself, and she knows what it is to want more, to need more, to survive, and to succeed.
Damon Knox is such a complex man with deep mental wounds from his upbringing and from the consequences of the actions of the authority figures in his early life. He has completely closed off his past to survive, relying only on his inner circle of friends. He has his job, where all the good he does, is like a redemption from his past. He uses jokes and humor to hide behind, yet there is a deeply feeling, caring, passionate man under all the tough exterior, that won my heart, over and over again through the tale.
Together Cate and Damon complete each other. They bring peace of mind to each other, they feel safe and centered, able to conquer anything while in each other’s company. The passion between them is beautiful, I loved how equal they were in each other’s eyes, physically, mentally, with the investigation, and with the battle to survive the deadly hostility the face.
The palpable malice in the air, the intense and intimidating atmosphere at the Sullivan compound, the threats, and attacks against Cate and Damon are constant in the story, giving it a very edgy and potent tone. The suspense is well twined together with the developing love story. The tight bond, and support of the members of Fixer’s team demonstrating what a true brotherhood is like.
With vivid images of the thrilling, dramatic action and suspense, of the desirous, delightfully delicious love story, built by sharp and illustrative dialogue, words that easily captured my mind and wrapped around my heart, HelenKay Dimon delivers another home run in this prized and popular series. A must-read in my opinion
~ Five Spoons
THE PROTECTOR is the fourth full-length instalment in HelenKay Dimon’s contemporary, adult GAMES PEOPLE PLAY erotic, romantic, suspense series focusing on a tight knit group of life-long friends, known as the Quint Five whose business it is to investigate and ‘fix’ whatever has gone wrong. This is Damon Knox and Cate Pendleton’s story line. THE PROTECTOR can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.
Told from dual third person perspectives (Cate and Damon) THE PROTECTOR follows Damon Knox as his latest assignment working for Levi Wren is to return to a place that all but destroyed his life. Cate Pendleton’s sister ‘died’ under mysterious circumstances while living and learning at the Sullivan Compound in Salvation Pennsylvania, a cult-like compound whose secrets lie hidden behind locked gates and armed guards. Having approached Levi Wren for assistance in uncovering the truth Cate learns she is to work with a man whose own secrets are closely related to the Sullivan Compound where her sister had died. Enter Damon Knox, the man with whom Cate will fall in love. What ensues is the fake relationship between Damon and Cate, and the potential fall-out as Cate and Damon are targeted for sins of the past, sins that wish to remain buried along with the dead.
Cate is desperate to uncover the truth about her sister’s death but years of searching for the truth have the people living and working at the Sullivan Compound worried when our heroine arrives in town with Damon Knox. Damon is a man who is unable to let go of the past but finding himself in Salvation, Pennsylvania stirs up too many memories for himself and the people who remember what happened years before.
The relationship between Cate and Damon begins as a business arrangement that must present as a fake romance in order to get past the people in charge. Damon believes himself empty and cold, unworthy of love having been betrayed by the people from his past. Cate suspects Damon’s inability to let go of the past stems from his need for closure thus facing his demons means facing the man who destroyed his life. A fake relationship with Cate forces Damon to reveal the truth, and in doing so allows our hero to forgive himself for what happened in the past. The $ex scenes are intimate, erotic and intense without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.
The colorful secondary and supporting characters include Levi Wren, Wren’s second in command Garrett McGrath and Trevor Gault (of the Quint Five); as well as several members of the Sullivan Compound-Leader Steven Sullivan, brothers Roger and Vincent, and Steven’s assistant Liza.
THE PROTECTOR is a story of suspense, romance, betrayal and revenge. The premise is entertaining; the romance is seductive and compelling; the characters are charismatic and dynamic but the lack of any significant background information regarding Cate or Damon was a bit disappointing especially as it concerned Damon and his years spent in the Sullivan Compound; or what it was he actually did for Levi Wren. THE PROTECTOR is an interesting, spicy and intriguing tale of determination and grit.