About the Book
Book: Protecting You
Author: Robin Patchen
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense
Release date: February 4, 2025
In a high-stakes game of deception, two rivals must work together to bring down a ruthless terrorist.
After Alyssa’s dream of working in US intelligence is thwarted, she leaves her mundane profession to pursue a career as a cyber investigator. Though she aces every case she gets, securing enough customers to pay her rent proves challenging. When a lucrative commission comes along, she thinks she’s hit the jackpot. But this client isn’t the British entrepreneur he claims to be. And then her old nemesis interrupts their meeting with a startling move.
NSA agent Gideon Todd is floundering in his new role as a single father to a surprise daughter, but he still has a job to do. He follows a tip about a terrorist, only to be shocked when he finds his old college adversary dining with the notorious killer. Maybe there was a better way to step in than by posing as Alyssa’s fiancé, but it was the best excuse he could come up with to insert himself into their meeting.
Gideon once stole the job Alyssa coveted, and now the last thing she wants is his help. But when he explains who her client really is, she realizes she’s in way over her head. Dariush Ghazi knew exactly what he was doing when he targeted her. She’s trapped. She must go along with a dangerous scheme, pretending to help him while working with Gideon…or end up dead.
In their quest to dismantle Dariush’s network of evil, Gideon and Alyssa risk sacrificing each other—and everything they hold dear.
Prepare to dive into this gripping tale of enemies turned allies, a fake engagement, and a deadly conspiracy.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Robin Patchenis a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of Christian romantic suspense. She grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, the setting of her Coventry Saga books, and then headed to Boston to earn a journalism degree. Working in marketing, she discovered how much she loathed the nine-to-five ball and chain. After relocating to the Southwest, she started writing her first novel while homeschooling her three children. The novel was dreadful, but her passion for storytelling didn’t wane. Thankfully, as her children grew, so did her writing ability. Now that her kids are adults, she has more time to play with the lives of fictional heroes and heroines, wreaking havoc and working magic to give her characters happy endings. When she’s not writing, she’s editing or reading, proving that most of her life revolves around the twenty-six letters of the alphabet.
More from Robin
Picture this:
You’re a cyber investigator, sitting across from a client in a Boston restaurant. It’s the first time you’ve ever met the man in person, but you’ve worked for him before. In person, he isn’t like you’d imagined he would be.
His arrogance doesn’t impress you, and he’s giving off a slightly creepy vibe, but he’s polite enough when he hires you to locate somebody for him.
It should be a simple job, right up your alley. He hands over a check, and you glance at the number. All those zeroes. This one job will keep your new business out of the red for months.
You slide the check into your purse and shake your client’s hand, still reveling in the knowledge that your business isn’t going under, not this month.
And then you hear a call from across the room. “Darling!”
You know the endearment can’t be directed at you. You’re nobody’s darling.
Still, you glance toward the too-loud patron and realize it’s Gideon, your fiercest rival.
You haven’t seen him in years, and even back when you were in college together, you’d barely been more than acquaintances.
When he was offered the CIA job you coveted, your thoughts turned altogether uncharitable toward the man who’d bested you one too many times.
Gideon must be mistaking you for someone else.
But he locks eyes with you. Wearing a wide smile, he reaches your table, leans close, and presses his lips to yours.
The kiss lights a fire that warms you to your toes. You ignore the reaction, though it takes considerable effort.
What in the world is he doing?
His whisper is so low that you barely hear him. “Trust me. Go with it.”
Trust him?
How are you supposed to trust him when you have no idea what he’s doing? Or why?
Before you can come up with a suitable response—and really, what are you supposed to say?—he stands and thrusts out his hand to your client, introducing himself as…
Your fiancé.
And then things really get interesting.
This is the scene that presented itself to me before I knew anything about Protecting You. After I wrote the first chapter, and with the help of wonderful brainstorming partners, I fleshed out the idea, turning it into a full-length novel.
This story features a single father who’s trying to figure out how to fill that role, a beautiful cyber-investigator, and a familiar enemy working to exploit the heroine and her entire family.
I’m so excited about this one. I can’t wait to hear what you think.
(And don’t worry. It’s not written in second person. Wouldn’t that be annoying for 300 pages?)
My Impressions
“What can we do?” “Just keep praying. There’s nothing more important than that.”
This line may not sum up the whole of Protecting You, Book 5 of the Wright Heroes of Maine by Robin Patchen, but it is certainly my favorite line. Being a very intense romantic suspense, involving a terrorist, the CIA, and the FBI, this novel contains constant action and tension. Heart-in-your-throat tension. Yet, when the male main character, Callan aka Caleb, comes to his senses, he realizes as we all should, that prayer is not sitting idly by, twiddling our thumbs. It is storming the gates of Heaven for the answers we need and only God Himself, though He may use humans, can provide.
To be fair, this story can be read by itself and enjoyed, but it is so much more beautiful read in the sequence of the series. We see characters we feel like we already know and love, and we quickly recall their backstories as the action ramps up in this one. I was pleased to have this book answer questions that had been previously raised about two of the Wright family members. I also noted that by involving cousins, Patchen is able to stretch out her series in a good way. I mean, how many siblings can there be in one family?!
Patchen nearly had me calling my cardiac doctor as I was reading. The suspense was unbearable. I would not even pretend that I knew what was going to happen next. I was along for a very fast, very dangerous ride!!
I can’t relate to being a computer genius like Alyssa or an ex-FBI agent like Callan, but I can relate to loving a young child, wanting to see children protected, feeling like I need to be in control, or like I need to prove myself to someone. This novel really brings out strong emotions. I loved seeing Alyssa, Callan, and Gavin navigate handling their emotions while fighting for the safety of those they love.
I also love seeing the Wrights as family “circle up the wagons” to protect one of their own.
I highly recommend Protecting You as part of the Wright Heroes of Maine series by Robin Patchen.
I received the book from Celebrate Lit. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.
Notable Quotables:
“Go look in the mirror in there”—he waved toward the bathroom—“and tell the man looking back at you the truth. That you’re not in control, and you’re not supposed to be.”
”Trauma, like bacteria, thrived in darkness. It reproduced and spread, infecting everything it touched. The only cure for trauma was bringing it to the light.”
“But her God wasn’t a God of logic. Or more to the point, He transcended logic.”
“A million seemingly small decisions, many wrong decisions, had led her right here.”
My Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Magnificent! I was on pins and needles throughout the whole book!
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, February 5
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, February 5
Book Looks by Lisa, February 6
For Him and My Family, February 7
Pens Pages & Pulses, February 7
An Author’s Take, February 8
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, February 9
Texas Book-aholic, February 10
Locks, Hooks and Books, February 11
Holly’s Book Corner, February 11
Betti Mace, February 12
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, February 13
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, February 14
Pause for Tales, February 14
Blogging With Carol, February 15
Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, February 16
Stories By Gina, February 17 (Author Interview)
Mary Hake, February 17
Blossoms and Blessings, February 18
Leslie’s Library Escape, February 18
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Robin is giving away the grand prize of a $100 Amazon gift card AND a box of goodies including a print copy of Running to You, a Welcome to Nutfield coffee mug, and a few surprise goodies!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions 