Malicious Intent is at the top of my list for the year so far! Lynn Blackburn’s Defend and Protect series follows a group of secret service agents in the Raleigh, NC office. This is the second book in the series but can be read as a stand alone. It is action packed with an intriguing plot. The main female character, Ivy, is a brilliant bioengineer with a PhD who is the founder of a company with cutting edge technology getting ready to launch. Someone is attempting to sabotage it before it gets off the ground but why and to what extent. The male lead, Gil Dixon, is a US secret service agent who knows Ivy from his childhood but hasn’t seen her in 15 years. They have a lot to uncover from their past all while trying to stay alive and keep her company from being destroyed. If you have read Blackburn’s previous books, you will recognize characters that are helping from other agencies. This romantic suspense has just the right amount of everything! And it leaves you looking forward to the next book in the series