Book 30/30.
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than a highly trained bodyguard, but she is an expert at protecting people using whatever happens to be within reach. Her latest assignment is Jack Stapleton, a famous actor whose good looks have made him a paparazzi favourite, and whose current problem is an obsessive stalker. After stepping away from Hollywood following a family tragedy, Jack returns to his family’s Texas ranch when his mother falls ill. There is just one rule: his family cannot know about the stalker or Hannah’s real job.
To keep her presence a secret, Hannah reluctantly agrees to pretend she is Jack’s girlfriend. What starts as an awkward cover story soon becomes surprisingly believable as the two grow closer. Hannah may be perfectly capable of keeping Jack safe, but protecting her own heart proves far more difficult. As their fake relationship starts feeling real, she has to decide whether she is willing to risk getting hurt for a love she never expected to find.
I am very deliberate about which books I start and end my reading challenges with, because I like to kick things off and wrap them up on a high. So when I came across The Bodyguard, the premise immediately caught my attention, particularly the refreshing gender role reversal of the FMC being the bodyguard protecting the MMC. That, coupled with the fact that I had been seeing a lot of Katherine Center on my bookstagram, convinced me to give it a go for my book 30/30.
So you can imagine my disappointment when a book I excitedly chose to end my reading challenge with ended up being an average 3-star read 😭
The Bodyguard was not a bad book per se, it was just… okay. The plot, pacing, characters, setting, writing… everything about this book was just simply okay. Yet it could have, and should have, been so much MORE! The story was ultimately less exciting than its premise, and it needed a little more depth and a lot more build-up to some aspects to take this romcom from okay to really good.
That said, you can be very sure I will be watching the movie adaptation (renamed Guarding Stars to avoid confusion with the famous 1992 Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner film) starring Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki as Hannah and Jack 🤩
** A guide to ratings **
1 star – did not like it
2 stars – it was okay
3 stars – liked it
4 stars – really liked it
5 stars – it was amazing