The Boss by Melissa Schroeder is a second chance romance if the two main characters live through mission impossible. Mac and Vic have backgrounds in the world of CIA and M16, making them perfect for the private security business. They are not nearly as good at relationships as they are at their business, hence the break up. Now thanks to the mission Mac needs help with the reunion happens.

Early on the story has a definite James Bond feel especially at the embassy. However, as the story progresses, it takes on a more unique feeling. Also, there is so much going on in the plot department, making it an edgy suspense story with a heavy dose of steamy romance. Since there is no short supply of characters or shady dealings, this is a read that keeps you on your toes.

I wanted Vic and Mac make it as a couple but could see the wariness along with the walls that they kept between them making this as impossible as the original mission. It also didn’t help that others thought they had a say so in Mac’s life. While this served to ramp up the suspense element in the story it didn’t feel real. Still, it is an interesting read, realistic or not.

Six years ago, Mac was part of MI6 and Vic was with the CIA and they ultimately become partners in business and in bed. Their on again/off again relationship ended six months ago when Vic left however Mac has tracked him down and needs help with her latest assignment has gone sideways and needs help. Although they are no longer together the fact that Mac went to Vic and that Vic agreed to help shows the depth of their feelings for each other and that they are not over.

While on assignment one of their team members, Rock, saw a girl being kidnapped and in the process of saving her kills the kidnapper. The team is in danger but they are not sure who is after them as it could be the Russians, US Government Agencies or someone they don’t know about yet but whoever it is wants the girl.

This story takes you on a journey full of twists and turns. Both Mac and Vic are independent and stubborn and their biggest downfall is their inability to communicate and wariness to trust each other with how their true feelings. The characters are well developed, the plot is intriguing and the ending surprising. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

The Boss
Melissa Schroeder

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kidnapping, Murder, and super sexy spies all rolled into one story. This was a suspense romance between 2 ex spies that recently broke up and have to work together again to solve a huge crime.
Mac took on a job to surveillance a diplomats son. When the diplomats son is seen with a girl that is obviously drugged and kidnapped. One of Mac's guys blew the plan.

“I mean he walked into the bastard’s flat and knocked him out cold. He took the girl and headed out the door. But not before he ran into the Russians who had ordered her. She was the package. By the time he made it back to headquarters, the girl was awake and asking questions, and there were three dead Russians, a bleeding son of a diplomat, and a Russian crime boss after us. Worse, they have connections. The FBI showed up at the office door, but we were already out the back.”

Now Mac and her team are on the run from the FBI, CIA, and the Russian mob. Now Mac needs her ex's help. Vic used to be her boss but 6 months ago he left her and his team. Vic decided to help them out, but doesn't know how he is gonna be able to keep away from Mac while he does. He's already had his heart broken once by her and doesn't want it to happen again.

This is a great suspense read. I love to see the unrequited love between Mac and Vic. Once they are able to open up to one another they will be able to work shit out and get back together.

I definitely did not see the ending of this story coming. I love the twisted plot and so glad I wasn't able to figure it all out before the end.

I really enjoyed reading this one. So if you like romantic suspense, this one is a good one to add to your TBR list.

Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

This book is full of action inside and outside the bedroom. There is mystery and suspense as Vic, Mac and their team try to out smart the enemy. The story line is full of twists and turns, and keeps you enthralled to the very end. Absolutely loved this book!

Wow this one had a lot going on! Former partners and lovers Mac and Vic are reunited when Mac shows up on Vic's doorstep asking for help on a case that is clearly too much for her to handle alone.
Her case involves the Russian Mob, the FBI, and the CIA so danger lurks around every corner. There is a ton of action and twists to the story so you'll have a hard time putting this one down. I would recommend this one.

4.0 Star Review The Boss by Melissa Schroeder

The Boss is a romantic suspense and I enjoyed reading this story. With fast paced action and a interesting story line you cannot help but be drawn into the world created by Melissa Schroeder. These books are exactly what I have come to expect from Melissa Schroeder, well written and riveting.

When a case turns bad and MacKenzie Donovan find herself being chased by several “bad guys” she has no alternative nut to crash back into the life of her ex-lover and business partner Vic Walker.

Adding suspense and danger to the mix, it soon becomes apparent that there are unresolved feelings involved between Vic and Mac. Their relationship has always been passionate, whether making love or fighting. Both these alpha personalities want to be the one to come out on top. Who will win in the end? At the heart of this book is a second chance at love; let's hope that Vic and Mac are prepared to jump for the brass ring and hold onto it.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from the publisher through Netgalley.

I loved this book from page one till the very end. I adored the fact that the hero and heroine were older and still trying to figure out love. This second chance romance/romantic suspense kept me rooting for Mac and Vic and wondering just what the bad guys’ motivation was. I’ll admit I figured it out who the bad guy was as soon as we met him but I was blown away by the ending. This was a hell of a story and I wouldn’t mind watching Rock & Tessa get their HEA and Jay needs a love too.

Spies, Russians, hackers, lovers and fighters. Suspenseful and exciting The Boss never quit. Mac and Vic, former lovers and business owners, were on the outs for a bit when a job went sideways and Vic was needed. MacKenzie is a powerful woman with drive and serious tactical skills. Vic is the guy with brains and abs but doesn't know how to talk to his woman, typical guy. The relationships between the others could easily give us another couple of books. Millie is a sassy chick with genius hacker skills and easily picked up the military lingo. I could see her fitting right in to the group. I've been a fan of Schroeder's books for awhile, her Task Force Hawaii series and military romances, this is a new favorite. I found myself trying to piece it all together and figure out who the ultimate bad guy was and why. On the edge of my seat the whole time.

*ARC provided through Netgalley, review written voluntarily.

I feel like I should have liked this one more than I did, but often I was bored while reading it. Mac and Vic were predictable, from their history to why they broke up, to them getting back together. It was more fun to see Rock and Jay both pipe in with their thoughts about Mac and Vic as a couple and co-workers. Millie was fun to read about. She pretty much said what came into her head, oddly enough fitting in with those that were protecting her.

I was a bit surprised by the bad guy, didn't think that the person had it in them. I was glad to see they were caught and ended up loosing everything.

It reminded me a bit of The Catch on ABC but without the bad guy turned good guy character since both work together at the agency to catch bad guys. Nothing really memorable to make me want to talk about it to library patrons or to re-read it as I tend to do with great romance novels. I still really enjoy this author and will continue to read her books, just not her best work.

Felt a little like I picked up this book and started reading half way through, I could have done with more back ground but I liked the story itself and I liked the characters so I enjoyed the story.

I liked the concept along with most this story, however I found it hard to connect to Mac and her character behaviour was counter balance to the story. I love this author and will continue to read her books but this one didn’t grab me

This is a smoldering, action packed fubar journey with two alpha former spies who own a contract security company. The book is the progression of this two on again/off again alpha lovers as they find they really are a great team together both in the op as well as in bed. They just have to figure out how to talk to each other about feelings. I loved seeing the teamwork and magnetism of the relationship on this contracted NSA security detail that goes sideways over and over. You find yourself rooting for them to make it as a couple with Vic's dominating, take charge personality and Mac's prickly porcupine personality that hides a soft center. I haven't read a romantic suspense Melissa Schroeder book before. She can write ANYTHING! I wasn't sure Mac and Vic had a chance of putting their tumultious intense relationship with two alphas back together. I found myself rooting for them all the way. Great job Melissa, you kept me guessing all the way to the end. Thank you, Entangled and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book!

Very readable lightweight book with lots of action.

I enjoyed this book. It opens with Mac sneaking into Vic's home to bring him back into the business to help with a challenging case. Vic and Mac had separated six months ago after a particularly ugly fight and haven't spoken since. They had owned and run a business together after they left government employment, so wwhen Vic left, Mac was left holding the bag by herself.

Mac accepted a government contract, something Vic has no interest in, and things have begun to fall apart. Rock, an employee, saw a woman being kidnapped and stepped in to rescue her. He had no idea why she was so special or why so many people wanted her.

This is a fast paced romantic suspense. While I enjoyed it, the characters didn't resonate with me - instead of becoming completely immersed in the story so that it feels real, I was always cognisant that I was reading a novel. I loved Vic, but didn't connect with Mac. She was so emotional and had such wide mood swings that I kept waiting to hear she was pregnant. I liked Millie, but the changes and personal growth in her during the course of the book was over the top. If only we could evolve that quickly....sigh.

Fans of the genre will enjoy this book. The story is creative and engaging and I look forward to reading more by this author.

an ok read

Gifted book through the author and Netgalley.
Sadly this was not one of my favorite books by this author.
Maybe I have become to accustomed to her character building books like her A Little Harmless series or Santini series and my expectations are to high. Maybe I put to much hope that this being a different type book that it would be equally as good, therefore causing disappointment. Either way I didn't feel a connection to the main characters, I didn't really care for Mac at all she was too closed off and bipolar. One minute she'll kill you and tough the next she's crying. I did like the man H Vic and Rock and Jay. I even liked Millie' s character more than I did Mac.
I also found the dialogue repeated from paragraph to paragraph just slightly worded differently. Why, why repeat the same things over and over again?
2.5stars and that's only because I adore this author and have loved all her other books I have read. If this turns into a series I don know if I'll give it a chance. This in no way means I won't still read this authors work, one mediocre Apple and all that.

A difficult case reunites ex-lovers Mac and Vic and teaches them exactly what they’d been missing while they were apart. In the spy world however, everything is shady and nothing is what it seems—this is at least what fiction tells us, be it in the movies or in books and whether art mirrors life or not isn’t quite the debate here really. Melissa Schroeder writes a pretty convincing suspense and it’s a story that takes off from the very first page, although I found myself rather disoriented without the groundwork and the name dropping that came in the first chapter.

Mac/Vic’s split because of a difference in opinion along the their constant fighting made for an interesting second-chance kind of novel because it involves 2 very jaded people who actually know the score, having been in the game for a long time and play an on-off relationship the way they want. There’s definitely some kind of secretive James-Bond vibe to it, yet I had a hard time getting invested in all of the characters though and not just the protagonists. Mac/Vic’s push-pull status throughout became off-putting, and they way they perceived their so-called relationship as a game so callously played made me wonder if they actually were compatible at all beyond sex. The ‘serious’ evaluation of their relationship comes in this book somehow lacked the delicious tension that I normally look for, and Mac/Vic’s scenes were peppered with more regret and caution than the fresh, exciting feel of a new relationship as they work together this time around. It’s definitely mature, more adult though—and probably appealing to others who are tired of teenage shenanigans in their adult protagonists—but I wished I could have summoned more excitement about them.

The long and short of it, ’The Boss’ is probably not quite for me, even though I do like what romantic suspense has to offer.