ARC Review & Blog Tour – Shield My Heart (Heaven Hill #10) by Laramie Briscoe

The Heaven Hill MC has always been a safe place
for Mandy Walker. Since being adopted by their President, she and her twin brother have been able to count on them for anything. The ragtag group of men
and the women who love them became the family the twins never had.

Having grown up under their protection, she’s
finding it hard not to run to them with the problems she has now. One reckless night with her love of more than ten years resulted in one positive pregnancy test.  The problem?Mandy is faced with a dilemma she never thought she’d fall victim to. Being a single mother, just like her mom was until Liam Walker came into their lives.Best Friend Member of the Heaven Hill MC Terrified of not breaking the cycle of his childhood Dalton Barnett knew the moment he kissed Mandy’s lips as a teenager that she was the only one for him. Taking her for granted
has been easy because she’s always been there. She’s the only person who’s ever given love to him unconditionally.When a calculated attack devastates Heaven Hill, Dalton, Mandy, and their unborn child are at the epicenter. Dalton must make
decisions to keep his small family safe. Before anything worse can happen, he knows he must shield their hearts.**Book 9 in the Heaven Hill Series can be read as a standalone **

Approximately 70,000 words

Review copy provided for an honest review

When author Laramie Briscoe asked me to read the first book in her Heaven Hill series, Meant to Be, and be completely honest with her about it I took her words to heart and I did and now eight books and a couple of novellas later, Shield My Heart is the last full length book in this series. It’s hard to say good-bye to the Heaven Hill MC, their significant others and the children they bore, but I feel like this book is the logical conclusion to this series and I applaud her for ending it on a high note. Through high school, through their 20’s and now almost thirty Mandy Walker and Dalton Barnett have been an item; an on again off again item, but an item none the less. We’ve seen bits and pieces of their relationship throughout the other books, but in Shield My Heart we really get a good look at their somewhat dysfunctional relationship and what keeps them together, but more than that we see a woman determined to make the best of her life no matter what and a man trying to do the right thing even when it might not actually BE the right thing. This book was a bit of an emotional roller coaster on many different fronts, but it was also engaging and hard to put down.

Since high school Mandy Walker has known that Dalton Barnett was the one for her, but they’ve had their ups and downs and lately they haven’t had much of anything so when Mandy realizes she’s pregnant and Dalton goes radio silent she knows that she’ll do anything to make the best life for her and her baby regardless of his involvement.

Throughout this series I’ve always liked Mandy but I always worried about her in that I never felt her Mom was the best role model for her. At times I felt like she was a bit lost in her life and that the reason she stayed with Dalton was because he gave her the feeling of security she had always lacked in her life. Mandy is pretty self reliant, has a good job and her own place and she’s had Dalton by her side for over a decade but Dalton has never given her all of him and now that she’s pregnant she knows that she can accept no less. While Mandy loves Dalton with all her heart, she also has come to realize that she needs more from him than he’s willing to give and for that I admire her because she won’t take anything less for her and her unborn child.

I’ll be honest when I say that Dalton has been an a$$ to Mandy on more than one occasion and especially after she found out she was pregnant. I get that he’s dealing with some personal issues and that he feels that by distancing himself from her he’s keeping her safe, but in reality he should also know that criminals don’t work that way. More than once in this book I wanted him to think and be smarter. I get that his childhood wasn’t great and I understand he has issues stemming from that, but I hated that he felt he couldn’t trust the woman he’s been with since his teenage years, his best friend or the man he considered a mentor with his problems and let them help.

One thing I respected greatly about Mandy and Dalton was their refusal to talk about what was going on with their relationship with other people. While I think Mandy did it out of pride of not wanting her friends and family to know how bad things had gotten and also to spare Dalton from being in an uncomfortable position with the MC and at work; Dalton did it because he didn’t feel it was anyone’s business but his and Mandy’s and they needed to work it out between them. There was no doubt Dalton felt he wasn’t worthy of Mandy and he refused to see that she loved him no matter what his issues or his past.

This book was definitely more character based and focused on these two working through everything to find their way to each other and while we did see quite a bit of Mandy’s family and the rest of the MC their relationship was the focus. My one complaint is I felt like there was a MC problem that was left wide open and I felt like a better conclusion to that situation needed closure. Regardless, Shield My Heart was an emotional journey and it was nice to see two people who’d been together a long time, figure out how to work at their relationship, grow more confident in their abilities to be there for each other and love and accept one another completely. Well done!