Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Heart’s Desire | 2016 | Kris Michaels | Buy |
Published in 2016, A Heart’s Desire sits outside Kris Michaels’ Guardian Security universe as a standalone thriller with an M/M romantic core. The story follows Liam Mercer, a former FBI agent who walked away from the Bureau after being kidnapped and tortured by a serial killer five years earlier. When that same killer escapes custody and fixes his attention back on Liam, the FBI sends Steel McKenzie to convince Liam to come back and help close the case.
The novel works on two tracks: the tightening threat of a killer who has been waiting five years to finish what he started, and the slow, complicated connection forming between two men who have no reason to trust each other and every reason to. Kris Michaels handles the thriller elements with the same directness she brings to her military romance series, keeping the stakes concrete and the pacing forward-moving.
For readers exploring Michaels’ full catalog, A Heart’s Desire shows the range that sits beneath the Guardian brand. The romantic suspense bones are the same, but the setting and pairing give the book its own identity.