3.5 stars

This was a very enjoyable book for me. The reason I dropped it half a star was because there’s really a ton going on for a pretty short book. Plots and characters were being introduced all the way up to the very end. Also, even though I’m aware that this is a romance and not a mystery, I didn’t think the reader was given a ton of clues to figure out who was working with the bad guys. I liked all the suspense, which is what I typically like in a romance but the actual plot of why and who was coming to get Owen could have been better.

I liked Owen and Lucas and I liked them together. Lucas is a very sweet, very protective person from the very beginning of the book. I like that that was his personality. I know some people like love interest who are maybe more the asshole bad boy type but the only sort of love interest I really don’t like is total pushovers or people who are such assholes I can’t imagine the relationship ever being healthy. Owen is also a good character. He’s been a victim of a lot of horrible crimes but he isn’t completely meek or unsure of himself which I like. It also allows us to see how his relationship with Lucas helps him grow. There’s also baby Mia. I like it when there are babies in romance novels. I like it when the parent is expecting that the love interest won’t want to deal with a baby as part of the relationship and the love interest ends up loving the child. That isn’t really what happened in this one. Rather, Lucas has some of his own baggage with a past child to work through. I wish Mia had been a bigger plot point. She was definitely around and doing things but at times she felt like a she felt like an afterthought or just another way to add drama.

Another thing that sort of bothered me about this book involved the plot. This book is very fast moving and had a lot of action, which I love in my romance. I like that it gives the main characters a chance to be protective of each other. However there was also a ton of bad thrown at our main characters. Both of them had very tragic pasts that appeared in the book. I would expect this from Owen, considering who is character is supposed to be but Lucas too had several terrible things happen to him in the past. I think this book could have been stronger if a couple of things had really been focused on instead of trying to have all these different things happen.

I would recommend this for people looking for a relationship between two very sweet main characters that has quite a bit more plot then some other romance I’ve read. I would just be aware that I thought this book was fun but it’s probably not a super special or unique book. ( )

In Safe Keeping by Victoria Sue

2nd book in Heroes and Babies series. Can be read as a stand-alone. Contemporary romantic suspense, M-M.

Fire fighter Lucas saves lives in a fire and falls in love. Owen is running from a crime boss intent on tracking Owen down. There are so many officials on the payroll of the crime syndicate that Owen doesn’t trust anyone. He can’t. His baby Mia has no one else to protect her.

Fast moving with constant upheavals and twists make this book enthralling and suspenseful. ( )