As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.
Books I Read:
ARC from Crooked Lane BooksNon-ARC from authorNon-ARC from authorNon-ARC from authorNon-ARC from authorNon-ARC from authorKindle purchaseFree Kindle purchaseFree Kindle PurchaseFree Kindle PurchaseKU PurchaseARC from Crooked Lane BooksARC from Meryl Moss Media Group, Rosewind BooksARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del ReyARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s GriffinNon-ARC from AuthorFree Kindle PurchaseFree Kindle PurchaseFree Kindle PurchaseFree Kindle PurchaseARC from St. Martin’s PressARC from Sourcebooks FireARC from Random House Publishing Group -Ballantine, Del ReyARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, DellFree Kindle purchaseFree Kindle purchaseKindle PurchaseKindle PurchaseFree Kindle PurchaseFree Kindle PurchaseKindle PurchaseFree Kindle PurchaseARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, BantamARC from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur BooksNon-ARC from authorARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine BooksARC from St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books
Books I got from NetGalley:
ARC from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s GriffinWish granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Delacorte PressWish granted from Sourcebooks FireARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Del ReyARC from St. Martin’s PressARC from St. Martin’s PressWish granted from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, DellLimited time Read Now from St. Martin’s PressInvite from author via his publisher–Level Best BooksArc from St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s GriffinARC from Atria Books, Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Romanceopoly 2023! (Read a contemporary romance by an author you haven’t tried before): Father Figure by James J. Cudney
2023 TBR Prompts (Shortest book on my TBR): Thirst by Graceley Knox
July:
Buzzword Reading Challenge 2023 (“Weather-related words: weather related words in the title: rain, storm, snow, clouds, sky, sunshine, hurricane): Stormcall by T.A. Marks
Sadie Montogmery has had good breaks and bad breaks in her life, but as a struggling artist, all she needs is one lucky break. Things seem to be going her way when she lands one of the coveted finalist spots in a portrait competition. It happens to coincide with a surgery she needs to have. Minor, they say. Less than a week in the hospital they say. Nothing about you will change, they say. Upon recovery, it begins to dawn on Sadie that she can see everything around her, but she can no longer see faces.
Temporary, they say. Lots of people deal with this, they say. As she struggles to cope―and hang onto her artistic dreams―she finds solace in her fourteen-year-old dog, Peanut. Thankfully, she can still see animal faces. When Peanut gets sick, she rushes him to the emergency vet nearby. That’s when she meets veterinarian Dr. Addison. And she’s pleasantly surprised when he asks her on a date. But she doesn’t want anyone to know about her face blindness. Least of all Joe, her obnoxious neighbor who always wears a bowling jacket and seems to know everyone in the building. He’s always there at the most embarrassing but convenient times, and soon, they develop a sort of friendship. But could it be something more?
As Sadie tries to save her career, confront her haunting past, and handle falling in love with two different guys she realizes that happiness can be found in the places―and people― you least expect.
First Line:
The first person I called after I found out I’d placed in the North American Portrait Society’s huge career-making yearly contest was my dad.
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
I am a vast Katherine Center fan. I have read almost all of her books and have loved them. So, when the publisher sent me an email inviting me to review Hello Stranger, I immediately accepted. And guess what? I loved it. I loved it so much that I gave it a rare 5-star review. This book did everything. It made me laugh and cry, and more importantly, it allowed me to connect with the characters.
Hello Stranger is a fast-paced book that takes place entirely in Houston, Texas. Almost all of Katherine Center’s takes place there, and I feel that she makes Houston an exciting place to live.
The plotline for Hello Stranger was unique. Before this book, I think I had only heard of face blindness mentioned on TV. And even then, I thought it was something the author made up. So, reading about it in this book (and googling it on my phone) made it fascinating.
Sadie is a struggling portrait artist living in a hovel on the roof of her best friend’s parent’s building. When a near accident reveals that she has a condition called cavernoma that requires immediate brain surgery, she declines. Earlier that day, Sadie had found out she had placed in a yearly contest that could be huge. But, given no choice (her mother died of the same thing), Sadie undergoes surgery only to discover that she has face blindness (prosopagnosia). To a portrait artist, this is career-ending, but Sadie decides to make the most of it. During this same time, she meets an enigmatic veterinarian when Peanut, her dog, suddenly gets sick. She also meets Joe, a resident in the building she lives in, who is happy to help Sadie when she needs it. Not disclosing her condition to them, Sadie starts dating and falling in love with both. With a deadline approaching and trying to choose between two men, Sadie must make a choice. Along the way, she also comes to terms with her estranged family and their choices. Can Sadie reconcile with her family? Who will she choose? Will she let Joe and the veterinarian know about her face blindness? And what about the contest? What sort of portrait will she paint?
The characters in Hello Stranger were well-written and wonderfully three-dimensional. Initially, I was not too fond of a couple of characters, but I liked them at the book’s end. The only character I consistently did not like was Parker. There was a particular sort of evilness to her, and it only amped up as the book went on.
Sadie—I loved her. She was one of the more authentic characters I have read in a book. She made me laugh (I annoyed my husband with the giggling I was doing), and she made me cry. But mostly laugh. I loved how she adapted to face blindness and used it in her art. I also loved how she was with Joe. I understood why she was so upset with her family, too. If I had been treated that way (being sent away toa special school for something that wasn’t even her fault), I would have had zero contact with them. It showed how forgiving (well, in a way, forgiving) she was. And I got her frustration with Parker. I wanted to punch that woman’s face (and I am not a violent person). She did some and said some unforgivable things to Sadie throughout the book.
Joe—Ok, so when I read that conversation that he was having about the overweight women who sat on his face and wouldn’t leave, I thought the same thing as Sadie. But, as I got to know him through the book, I started to like him. I thought he was good for Sadie. He even offered to help her with her portrait, which got pretty steamy for a minute. Then a lightbulb went off. I’m not going to say what, but I will say that it must have been confusing to him during a specific scene. I didn’t blame him for being angry.
Hello Stranger fits perfectly into the romance genre. I liked that the author took a more gradual approach to Sadie and Joe’s romance. There was no Instalove. Sadie didn’t like Joe because of the conversation I mentioned above. But, once the friendship turned to romance, it was awesome. What I also liked about this book is the author didn’t even mention that sex. Instead, the author had Sadie and Joe kiss a couple of times (and it wassuper hot), and the author kept it at that.
The storyline with Sadie, the contest, and her face blindness was well-written and well-researched. I loved seeing how Sadie tried to identify people (gait, hair, voice, personality). I also liked how the author incorporated it into the contest. I am not an artist (not even close to it) and had no clue how an artist with face blindness would use a grid to help paint people. But the author explained that (and I did a little research on my own).
The storyline with Sadie and her family was heartbreaking. It also made me extremely mad at her father and stepmother. I know her stepmother was trying to help during the book (and she did get brownie points for thedress) but believing Parker over Sadie was wrong. When overhearing what that witch said to her at the contest and what she did, I was furious for Sadie. I cried angry tears for her. Thankfully Sadie’s dad did hear and did try to set things right, but still. I had steam coming out of my ears. I hope Parker gets help (itsounds like she needs it).
The storyline with Sadie, Joe, and the veterinarian made me laugh. I figured everything out fairly early in the book. But it was fun to watch Sadie try to juggle two men. I winced during the breakup scene, and I felt so bad when Joe flipped out on Sadie. I 100% understood Joe’s anger and confusion (I would have been confused too). I did say (out loud), “This is why you tell people you have face blindness.”
The end of Hello Stranger was what I expected it to be. Sadie and Joe got their HEA. But, more importantly, other things were also on the way to being healed. I was sad when the book ended because I wanted to see where Joe and Sadie were in 5 years.
I recommend Hello Stranger to anyone over 16. There is no sex (a couple of kissing scenes), mild language, and very mild violence.
I want to thank Saint Martin’s Press and Katherine Center for allowing me to read and review Hello Stranger. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you liked reading Hello Stranger, you will enjoy these books:
I saw this meme on It’s All About Booksand thought, I like this!! So, I decided to do it once a month also. Many thanks to Yvonne for initially posting this!!
This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get a chance to go. That includes places of fantasy too!!
So….enjoy!! Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas (other than the fantasy….lol).
Panem
District 12, Capitol
United States
Florida
Ohio (Chestnut)
Maine (Dearmont)
New York (New York City, upstate New York)
Crooked Tree (unknown state)
New York (Willow Cove)
Massachusetts (Boston, Riverton)
Massachusetts (Pittsfield, Boston, Amherst)
Florida (The Everglades)
California (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Pasadena, Studio City)
Texas (Houston)
North Carolina (Raleigh)
Washington D.C.
Massachusetts (Coventry)
California (San Verde)
Wisconsin (Fontana, Lake Geneva)
Florida (Accident)
Colorado (Last Word)
Washington (North Bend, San Juan Islands, Seattle), Montana
Illinois (Chicago)
Pennsylvania (Johnston)
Iowa (Ames, Sibley), Minnesota, South Carolina (Columbia),
Alabama (Summerland, Hell), New York (New York City)
Illinois (Chicago), New York (New York City), Montana
Ljosland
Hrafnsvik
Japan
Tokyo
Guatemala
Guatemala City
France
Limoges, Perigueux
Giverny
Scotland
Edinburgh
Edinburgh, North Berwick
England
Hull
London
Bellehaven Bay, Regency London
Essex, London, Kent
India
Delhi, Kanpur, Calcutta, Brahmapur
Argentina
Italy
Ostia, Padua, Port of Civitavecchia, Palmro, Sicily, Florence, Rome, Milan, Pompeii, Amalfi, Tropea
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (for Cover Scavenger Hunt 2023—a bird)—Finished 1-1-2023
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth(for The StoryGraph Onboarding Challenge—-Read a book with more pages than the longest book you read in 2022)—Finished 1-17-2023
Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (for The StoryGraph Read the World—Argentina)—Finished 1-17-2023
The Tea Dragon Society by Kay O’Neill (for The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge—a contemporary or literary fiction novel with disability rep)—Finished 1-24-2023
The Reader by M.K. Harkins (for Beat the Backlist 2023—a backlist book)—Finished 1-24-2023
The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga (for Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge—Read the most recently added book to your TBR)—Finished 1-3-2023
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (for Scavenger Hunt—a book written by a woman using a male perspective)—Finished 1-19-2023
The Nightmare Man by J.H. Markert (for Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023—a book you meant to read in 2022)—Finished 1-5-2023
Lost Soul by Adam J. Wright (for 2023 TBR Toppler—a TBR vet)—Finished 1-3-2023
In Our Blood by William J. Goyette (for 2023 Monthly Themes—books that make you feel cold)—Finished 1-10-2023
Before the Coffee Get Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (for 2023 Reading challenge—a translated work)—Finished 1-11-2023
All Hallows by Christopher Golden (for 2023 ABC Challenge—A)—Finished 1-19-2023
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman (for Romanceopoly 2023!—read a thriller or mystery where one of the main characters are a detective or private investigator)—Finished 1-3-2023
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center (for 2023 TBR Prompts—a 5-star prediction)—Finished 1-16-23
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
Personal:
I hope you all had a wonderful week last week.
Mine was alright, super rainy, but alright until Saturday. What happened Saturday? Well, for one, BK was away on business but was coming home that morning. Second, I ended up in a veterinary ER for almost 4 hours. Settle in, and let me tell you what happened.
I was in the kitchen with my girls and 3 out of the 5 cats. Miss R decided she wanted to make sunny-side-up eggs with toast for breakfast, Miss B was going to make scrambled, and I was supervising Miss R. Vinnie, Tony, and Jesper were sitting on our chest freezer watching the girls crack eggs (I think they thought they would get some??). Meanwhile, Loki and Snickers were going between the living room, Miss R’s bedroom, and the dining room.
I heard a commotion, though nothing of it because Snickers and Loki have a love/hate relationship, and figured she was chasing him again. Then Miss B noticed the blood on the floor. We checked our feet (to ensure no onewas cut), wiped up the blood, and then checked Vinnie, Tony, and Jesper. I hunted down Loki while Miss R walked toward Snickers, who was lying in her room. Miss R screamed, and I came running. Snickers’s left eye was full of blood. So, I called my regular vet (who wasn’t in), grabbed the big cat carrier, and took her to the emergency vet. Thankfully, that was only 5 mins away. To make a long story short, after 4 hours, the vet saw her and told us that the tear duct and a spot on her lower eyelid got lacerated. She didn’t need stitches, but I have to give her a medicated eye ointment every 8 hours. I’m also taking her to her regular vet on Friday to see if any other damage was done. I am beyond thankful that this emergency vet opened up during Covid. Because I have a feeling her eye would have gotten infected if we had to wait until Monday.
So that was the extent of my exciting weekend/week. I was so stressed out on Saturday that it ruined the rest of the day. And ever try giving a cat eye meds? Thankfully, she’sgood about letting me do it, but I have gotten scratched.
Reading:
I got a lot of reading down until Saturday. Then that happened, and I couldn’t bring myself to read. I was too upset to concentrate. So, it set me back a little but not much. I picked up my Kindle on Monday, finished reading one book, and started another (see below).
The longest book I read this week:Hello, Stranger. I started reading it on Friday and expected to finish it on Saturday. Then…..well, Snickersapocolypse happened. It took me three days to finish.
The shortest book I read this week:The Things We Do To Our Friends. I finished it within a day of starting.
How was your week? Read anything good? Did you do anything exciting?
As always, let me know if you have read or are planning to read any of these books!!
What I Recently Finished Reading:
Sadie Montogmery has had good breaks and bad breaks in her life, but as a struggling artist, all she needs is one lucky break. Things seem to be going her way when she lands one of the coveted finalist spots in a portrait competition. It happens to coincide with a surgery she needs to have. Minor, they say. Less than a week in the hospital they say. Nothing about you will change, they say. Upon recovery, it begins to dawn on Sadie that she can see everything around her, but she can no longer see faces.
Temporary, they say. Lots of people deal with this, they say. As she struggles to cope―and hang onto her artistic dreams―she finds solace in her fourteen-year-old dog, Peanut. Thankfully, she can still see animal faces. When Peanut gets sick, she rushes him to the emergency vet nearby. That’s when she meets veterinarian Dr. Addison. And she’s pleasantly surprised when he asks her on a date. But she doesn’t want anyone to know about her face blindness. Least of all Joe, her obnoxious neighbor who always wears a bowling jacket and seems to know everyone in the building. He’s always there at the most embarrassing but convenient times, and soon, they develop a sort of friendship. But could it be something more?
As Sadie tries to save her career, confront her haunting past, and handle falling in love with two different guys she realizes that happiness can be found in the places―and people― you least expect.
What I am currently reading:
Vikram Seth’s novel is, at its core, a love story: Lata and her mother, Mrs. Rupa Mehra, are both trying to find—through love or through exacting maternal appraisal—a suitable boy for Lata to marry. Set in the early 1950s, in an India newly independent and struggling through a time of crisis, A Suitable Boy takes us into the richly imagined world of four large extended families and spins a compulsively readable tale of their lives and loves. A sweeping panoramic portrait of a complex, multiethnic society in flux, A Suitable Boy remains the story of ordinary people caught up in a web of love and ambition, humor and sadness, prejudice and reconciliation, the most delicate social etiquette and the most appalling violence.
What books I think I’ll read next:
Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans —though no one calls them that anymore.
His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the “Transition.” Now, eating human meat—“special meat”—is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.
Then one day he’s given a gift: a live specimen of the finest quality. Though he’s aware that any form of personal contact is forbidden on pain of death, little by little he starts to treat her like a human being. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost—and what might still be saved.
A Body Washes Ashore is the heart-racing sequel to The Killings Begin and Death in a Dark Alley that you’ve been waiting for. Bradley Pay’s signature blend of contemporary romance and psychological suspense will sweep you off your feet and into the thick of mortal danger. Tour Europe with Tracey’s new friend, Remy Martin, as she risks everything for the rush of true love.
Tracey’s new group of friends seems perfect. For as long as he could remember, he felt like an outsider, struggling to make connections, and living as an unknown serial killer certainly didn’t help. Now he and his new wife have discovered a circle of friends that begins to fill his need for close relationships. He’s one step closer to living a “normal” life despite the persistent cold-case investigators who refuse to ignore his murderous past in the US.
Remy Martin, a renowned professor of art history and one of Tracey’s new friends, also bears scars on her damaged heart. She has vowed to only sleep with married men to protect herself from heartbreak. However, the stakes rise when she breaks her biggest rule and takes things too far. But how can she resist? She never meant to fall in love or hurt anyone. Just like Tracey, though, she can’t erase her past. She must deal with the consequences of her affair, whatever the cost.
Don’t miss this landmark installation in the Spectrum Series saga, complete with the complex characters you love and a new romance you’ll never forget.
With the 80’s nostalgia of Stranger Things, this horror drama from NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden follows neighborhood families and a mysterious, lurking evil on one Halloween day.
It’s Halloween night, 1984, in Coventry, Massachusetts, and two families are unraveling. Up and down the street, horrifying secrets are being revealed, and all the while, mixed in with the trick-or-treaters of all ages, four children who do not belong are walking door to door, merging with the kids of Parmenter Road. Children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified, and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man. There’s a small clearing in the woods now that was never there before, and a blackthorn tree that doesn’t belong at all. These odd children claim that The Cunning Man is coming for them…and they want the local kids to protect them. But with families falling apart and the neighborhood splintered by bitterness, who will save the children of Parmenter Road?
New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Christopher Golden is best known for his supernatural thrillers set in deadly, distant locales…but in this suburban Halloween drama, Golden brings the horror home.
All Hallows. The one night when everything is a mask…
A playful and emotional romantic comedy from the author of Ten Rules for Faking It
Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Repeat. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. No distractions.
Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone who he likes, but won’t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game.
When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike a friendship. Because that’s all this can be. Hailey doesn’t want any distractions. Wes doesn’t want to fall in love.
I saw this meme on It’s All About Booksand thought, I like this!! So, I decided to do it once a month also. Many thanks to Yvonne for initially posting this!!
This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get a chance to go. That includes places of fantasy too!!
So….enjoy!! Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas (other than the fantasy….lol).
Scotland
Loyal (Village), Island of Altnaharra
India
Geeta’s unnamed village, Kohra
United States
Texas (Houston)
Kentucky (Brownsville–past + present)
California (San Francisco)
California
Connecticut (Hastings)
Georgia (Atlanta), Florida (Silver Bay, Varnedoe)
New York (Newborn City)
Arizona (Flagstaff, Sedona), Wyoming (Yellowstone National Park), California (Los Angeles, Encino, Westwood, Aladorio), Georgia (Athens), Nevada (Franklin Lake, Sierra Nevada Mountains), Utah (Salt Lake City), Indiana
Portents
Unknown City/State
Nevada (East Las Vegas)
Minnesota (unnamed domed city, G-town)
Arizona (Flagstaff)
California (Los Angeles)
Ohio (Columbus), Colorado (Telluride)
Arizona (Tucson, Dove Valley)
New York (New York City)
Agartha
Mount Olympus, River Styx, Hades (the Underworld)
Italy
Rome (Ancient)
Florence, Tuscany
Silver Empire
Argon (Argentium), Straits of Anthelos, Haddon Bay
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 Line:
My mother’s dying wish was for me to take a vacation.
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
I was over the moon when I got the publisher’s invitation to review The Bodyguard. I love KatherineCenter’s books. So, I didn’t even think about it when I accepted the invitation. But life happens, and I put The Bodyguard on the back burner as I dealt with some significant issues that I had going on. I am glad I finally got to read this book because it was amazing!!
Hannah is an Executive Protection Agent (aka a bodyguard) and is good at what she does. People underestimate her because she is small and blends into the background. Jack is a movie star who has been in seclusion since his brother was killed in a car accident a few years earlier. Hannah is assigned to Jack when he returns home to help out his family when his mother is diagnosed with cancer. His stalker, a middle-aged corgi breeder who knits sweaters, has found out he is home and has made some demands of him. But Jack doesn’t want a bodyguard, and his family doesn’t know about the stalker. So Jack makes a deal with Hannah; she needs to pretend to be his girlfriend, and his family cannot find out that he has a stalker. Hannah agrees but isn’t prepared for how comfortable she is with his family and Jack. The more time she spends with Jack, the more she likes him. What will happen when the stalker threat is gone? Will Hannah and Jack figure out that they are meant for each other? Or will their time at the ranch become a memory?
The Bodyguard is a medium to fast-paced book that is set in and around the city of Houston. The pacing of this book was perfect. It didn’t go so fast that I had issues following the plotline, and it also slowed down enough to process certain scenes. I also loved that the author set it in and around Houston. Houston has been a place I have wanted to visit (and is on my USA bucket list).
The main characters made this book with their witty dialogue and interchanges. There were characters that I would have loved to meet (if in real life).
Hannah—The Bodyguard didn’t start so well for her. Her mother died, and her coworker/boyfriend dumped her on the night of the funeral. Then, she finds out that her best friend/coworker has been sleeping with him. I wondered how she didn’t snap (because I wouldhave). I felt awful for her. Hannah was tough but sweet. I loved how she got starstruck when she first met Jack. She reacted to how I pictured a regular person would act when meeting someone famous. I also loved her vulnerable side. She was hurting from everything that happened and didn’t have a chance to process it. Overall, she was just a nice person. Of course, she was tough and proved it towards the end of the book. Oh, and I get how insecure she was with Jack. She had a tough upbringing (her mom chose abusive men over her daughter). She didn’t know if she could trust him or not.
Jack—He took a little more time to get to know in this book. Not that I didn’t like him, but he wasn’t very open with personal things (Hannah was an open book). Like his brother’s death. From his reactions, I knew that something wasn’t right about it. And it took until almost halfway through for the truth to come out. I also liked that the author didn’t have Jack living a hunky-dory life after his brother died. He had issues (mainly PTSD and anxiety). The author handled his issues delicately and allowed them to be worked on throughout the book (notice I didn’t say worked out). I did think that his being super casual about the corgi stalker wasn’t cool. He did realize how deranged she was once Hannah got threatened.
The secondary characters brought depth and extra life to the book. I loved everyone in this book. Well, not everyone. I thought that Jack’s older brother was a d-tickle for how he treated Jack (he assumedsomething, and it came back to bite him). Hannah’s ex-boyfriend/coworker and her ex-best friend/coworker were awful. I couldn’t believe what they both said to her (each separately and eachdifferent thing). It stung me as a reader.
The Bodyguard fits perfectly into the romance genre. Jack and Hannah had a slow-burn romance forced by their proximity. While I knew what Hannah was feeling (the author told the book from herPOV), I couldn’t understand what Jack was feeling. One scene at the end, where Jack told Hannah to get lost after inviting her to his house for a date, broke my heart. But I am glad that Hannah had second thoughts about what he said because if she didn’t, things would have ended differently.
The storyline with Hannah, her coworkers, and the fallout from her breakup was hilarious and sad. What upset me was not what her ex said to her (and it was a dick thing to say) but what her supposed best friend said. I liked how everything worked out in the end and how her ex ended up with no one (teaches him to be a jerk!!).
The storyline with Hannah, her coworkers, and the fallout from her breakup was hilarious and sad. What upset me was not what her ex said to her (and it was a dick thing to say) but what her supposed best friend said. I liked how everything worked out in the end and how her ex ended up with no one (teaches him to be a jerk!!).
The end of The Bodyguard had me almost in tears. The author wrapped up each storyline and did it in such a way that it made me smile. But I almost had a heart attack when Hannah and Jack’s storyline was wrapped up. What Hannah said made me go, “What the heck” for a minute before I read the following line. That was so not funny.
I would recommend The Bodyguard to anyone over 21. There is mild language, violence, and mild sexual situations.
If you enjoyed reading The Bodyguard, you will enjoy reading these books:
