The Bodyguard
By: Katherine Center
Published Year: 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 320
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): She’s got his back.
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka "bodyguard"), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.
He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.
They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.
What could possibly go wrong???
Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.
First Impressions
Katherine Center is one of my auto-read authors. I have loved her 3 previous novels. This cover threw me a little bit because it doesn’t follow the same theme of her three previous ones, but it’s cute and follows the current cartoony trend. The plot sounded good but, let’s be honest, I would’ve read it no matter what.
What I thought
Because I loved her previous novels, I tend to hold Center to a very high standard. This book was not one of my favorites of hers, but I still enjoyed it.
Hannah is a bodyguard. When she is assigned to Hollywood star Jack Stapleton’s case, she doesn’t expect to have to act as his girlfriend as well. Jack has come home to Texas to be with his mother as she undergoes cancer treatment. Since he doesn’t want to worry her, he doesn’t want his family knowing that Hannah is a bodyguard and instead, asks her to pose as his girlfriend. But spending so much time in such close proximity to one another sparks feelings to grow.
I’m going to start off with one thing I didn’t love, and then I’ll get into some of the things I did. This book had an interesting writing style in which the main character, Hannah, often broke the fourth wall and talked to the reader and I wasn’t crazy about it. For example, when introducing Jack she asked the reader things like “Well and of course you remember his performance in The Destroyer. And didn’t you just die with his kiss in the rom-com he starred in?” And it’s like no, obviously. I don’t know anything about this fictional character and you asking me and stating assumptions that I do know all this stuff made him feel more fictional not less. As the book went on this style faded out, but at the beginning it kind of irked me.
What I did love was Hannah and Jack’s chemistry. Even from their first meeting. Hannah herself could be a bit irritating at times, but when she was with Jack I loved her which I think speaks volumes. I do wish we had gotten little bit more of Hannah doing her actual job or using some of her skills, because you don’t get to see any of that until the end. I also adored Jack’s family.
Center often writes these contemporary rom-coms, but adds in a dramatic twist somewhere in the middle. This book still had that twist but I don’t feel like it was as devastating as some of her previous ones have been, though it did add a layer of depth I appreciated. I think that’s what makes Center’s novels stand out from other contemporary romance novels. Her characters are complex and they experience complex life events. I always enjoy reading their stories and seeing them grow and how they cope with so many aspects of life.
Out of all of her novels, this one felt the most pedestrian or surface levels. I feel like this would make a great movie and a great book club read. It was quick paced and kept me invested from the beginning. This wouldn’t be the first Katherine Center book I recommend, but it was still wonderful and I enjoyed the whole thing.