Watching You by Leslie A. Kelly
Hollywood Heat #1

Truly enjoyable story that captured my interest immediately and held it throughout – superb writing – great plot – wonderful characters – can’t wait for book two –

Jessica Jensen aspires to make it big in movies as a screenwriter. She works hard, is talented, pretty and also a very good person. Her life has been difficult but she won the lottery when adopted by Liza’s family. Liza and she are tight as sisters and BFFs. When Jessica promotes Liza’s art to Reece Winchester’s Aunt Sharon she has no idea he sees and wants her. Reese Winchester is a man of Hollywood. As a child star in a family of stars he has seen much and has secrets. When they finally meet there is hot immediate chemistry. Their interlude is rudely interrupted by a window shattering and that is just the beginning of the bad things that seem to dog them. With one thing after another happening it is not an easy road to a HEA for the two of them…not at all…but it is an action-packed read that kept me turning pages to find out what would happen next. Reece and Jessica made a great couple and I loved their dialogue that had her stating exactly what she thought without being star struck or fearful of saying what she was thinking. And Reece…great guy and great book boyfriend!

This story introduced me to a new author – one I want to read work by again. I enjoyed this story and look forward to reading the other two books in the series. I would like to thank NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing-Forever Yours for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

I am a longtime fan of Leslie Kelly’s books. She writes snarky heroines with fun storylines and protective heroes that meet their match. Her latest, Watching You, is classic Kelly with a few twists. I like the Hollywood angle and she will definitely keep you guessing until the end. I look forward to reading the rest of this series as there were definitely a few loose ends when the screen faded to black.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this novel.

Romance,intrigue,suspense,crazy stalker. This first book in a new romantic suspense series from Leslie Kelly has it all. I can’t wait to read more about the Winchester brothers.

The best way to describe this book is “intriguing”. The mystery of what happened to Reece’s sister and who is committing the crimes affecting him and Jess kept me reading. The author did a nice job of parsing out revelations and events to keep the book moving forward.

The book could be tightened up a bit. There were parts that were bogged down and confusing, other parts that were slow, and still others that seemed like not enough attention was paid. Still, the book kept me reading and I will grab book two when it publishes so I can see where the over-arching mystery goes next.

Amazing! Reece and Jessica's story hooked me from the beginning and left me wanting more books on the Winchester family! The attraction between Reese and Jessica was immediate and intense, from two different worlds and the challenge to trust on another. The tragic history of Reece's childhood adds to the mystery through out the book keeping the reader wondering about the real story of his teenage years and rooting for his relationship with Jessica. I loved Jessica's strength and personality in dealing with everything thrown at her. I can not wait for future books by Leslie A. Kelly!

This is a very good story. There are so many things going on and to guess who did all the horrible things was impossible. There were plenty of suspects, but to guess who did what was hard to do. Reece has so many secrets and has been suffering in silence for a long time. There are people who are out to get him and Jessica gets caught in the middle of it. But, it could be someone from her past after her. I liked the twist at the end and I liked the underlying mystery going on with the three brothers. Can't wait to read the next story.

Watching You, (Hollywood Heat 1),  Leslie A. Kelly

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Romance

My first read by this author, so I didn't know her writing style. It proved to be a fun read and one I enjoyed but...there were a few things that made it fall short of a five star read for me.

The way Reece obsesses about Jessica after only viewing her from a security camera and then sets up their meeting, weird. Then when he gets her alone knowing what he does about the room...well, it made me feel uncomfortable about him and full marks for Jessica for being strong enough to stand up to him, to call him out on his actions. It made him look again at what has become almost an unnoticed habit, viewing real life and acting as though he's filming all the while and he does apologise. It was a bit weird though.

I wasn't convinced of the romance between them, they didn't really have enough interactions in the book for me to feel it developing, she was interning and working with him, but most of that was related “off book” so to speak and meant I didn't get that build up from initial attraction and lust to real feelings and love.

Then there's the mystery....s. It was hard working out was was connected and what wasn't, whether there was one person doing multiple things or multiple people doing one or more events. Confusing and given the length of the book ( fairly average at 4500 kindle locations) it meant there was a lot of characters and detailed that didn't really get explained properly. I did wonder as I approached the end whether all the incidences would tie up or if they would carry over into the next book, because time was running out. As it happens they did all tie up but in a way that was far to brief, lacked real detail for me. It felt a bit rushed.

It's billed as romantic suspense, but for me the romance side fell a bit short, though I did love the Hollywood B itches – I love characters like that, and the suspense angle was overly complicated. I felt like people were put in place purely to throw in another possible suspect when the story didn't need it and the time and words would have been better spent on fleshing out more the romance and the story-line as it was without them. ( Johnny, Alan, Steve for example, who all had stories that gave them plausible reasons to be connected to events, but which I felt were just muddying the waters rather than adding to the story overall)

Its a good start though to a trilogy and as we now know the brothers back story the next books will at least not need to repeat that, and be able to concentrate on more current events.

Stars: Three, I liked parts but felt others made things feel overdone.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

You know the horror movies where you want to tell at someone that the killer is just around the corner? Yes, I might have done that a couple of times while reading, Watching You. There wasn't one dull page.

Watching You is the first romantic suspense book in the Hollywood Heat series written by author Leslie A. Kelly. Looking forward to reading the second book, Wanting You. Thanks to NetGalley and Forever ( Grand Central Publishing) for the advance copy.

This is the first book in a romantic suspense trilogy. It is about the Winchester brothers former child stars. This is Reece Winchester and Jessica Jensen’s story. Hollywood can be a cutthroat business and Jessica is finding out just how cut throat. Jessica is a talented writer and hopes to someday be part of the Hollywood scene in her own right. From the moment Reece and Jessica meet there is a strong attraction, but Reece has secrets and Jessica has a stalker. When things start happening where is the threat coming from, Jessica or Reece’s past. There is a cliff hanger at the end of the book that leads into the second book. Usually I don’t like cliff hangers, but this one didn’t bother me. I enjoyed the suspense in this book along with the romance. I look forward to reading about Rowan and Raine. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

Full review to be published online in mid to late March.

WATCHING YOU is a fascinating story, although the plotline was a bit slow to gel. Jessica and Reece are engaging leads, and fascinating to read about. Both have secrets and mysteries in their pasts; things that have made them both stronger and more appealing as characters. The plotline they have been placed in, not so much. There are many loose, hanging threads, multiple POVs that came in later in the book, which merely expanded the puzzle that I thought would have started coming together by the three-quarter-mark of the story. What I also thought of as interlinked incidents turned out to be somewhat entirely separate issues and not tied together in the greater mystery of Reece’s shady past that Kelly had been constantly hinting at, and that was somewhat disconcerting given the build-up. It did however, come out as a flood of revelations at the end worthy of a Hollywood climax, though it shouldn’t have been too much of a shock considering what has been dominating the celebrity-world headlines in the past few months.

WATCHING YOU is still quite the intriguing read. There were parts I couldn’t totally get on board with, but there is a goodly amount of suspense, intrigue and mystery to keep me past my bedtime, and Kelly has sunk the three Winchester brothers deep enough in my book psyche for me to be wanting the rest of their stories. WATCHING YOU is the first book in Leslie Kelly's new “Hollywood Heat” series. For those who have never read the authors work before, this is a good read to start with.

‘Watching You’ reads like the establishing book of a series that it is: there’s a big back story kept under lock and key for ages, loose hanging threads that don’t necessarily come together, multiple POVs that aren’t confined to the male/female protagonists and possibly a cliffhanger which no one’s fond of.

And it’s tricky business, I understand, because the first book always needs to get the narrative arc just right without compromising the romance while leaving too many loose ends. A little of the Cinderella story is also written into this by nature of the plot (top director with an unknown, aspiring screenwriter), though Leslie A. Kelly’s version of Hollywood is one that’s filled with backstabbing nasties, sudden danger, numerous characters with their own less-than-noble agendas and the putrid stink of catty insincerity.

The start was admittedly a hard one for me, and made me question the ‘legitimacy’ of the pairing, so to speak. I found it difficult to understand Reece’s sudden, inexplicable obsession over a woman whom he’d first seen through security cameras, let alone his setting up a first meeting in such a calculated way that it simply came out as creepy.

Love at first sight seemed a rather mild way of putting what felt like a stalkerish situation, given the manipulatively controlling manner that Reece used to manoeuvre Jessica into his planned seduction. I was mollified however, as the author acknowledged this misstep of his and then later rectified it with several twists in the story that sort of helped tilt my worldview upright again. Kudos as well, to a heroine who pushed back and called Reeces out for behaviour that can't and shouldn't be excused.

I found myself absorbed nonetheless, as the story came slowly (maybe a little too slowly) together. There were many loose, hanging threads, multiple POVs that came in later in the book, which merely expanded the puzzle that I thought would have started coming together by the three-quarter-mark of the story. What I also thought of as interlinked incidents turned out to be somewhat entirely separate issues and not tied together in the greater mystery of Reece’s shady past that Kelly had been constantly hinting at, and that was somewhat disconcerting given the build-up. It did however, come out as a flood of revelations at the end worthy of a Hollywood climax, though it shouldn’t have been too much of a shock considering what has been dominating the celebrity-world headlines in the past few months.

As the first book in the series, ‘Watching You’ is more than a decent read. There were parts I couldn’t totally get on board with, but there is a goodly amount of suspense, intrigue and mystery to keep me past my bedtime, and Kelly has sunk the 3 Winchester brothers deep enough in my book psyche for me to be wanting the rest of their stories.

Let's take a minute to talk about first impressions. They matter. They really matter. This book cover made a great first impression. Usually I'm drawn to covers with topless men or couples embracing so the fact that this even caught my eye has to say something. I will not pretend I didn't imagine him topless, but even with his shirt on he looks powerful and in control.

All right, now for the story. This book starts out at an art gallery. Jessica wants to arrange a showing for her friend. Reece sees her on the security cameras and falls in love, lust maybe. Whatever it is, he knows he has to have her. However, he doesn't go talk to her like most men would he makes intricate arrangements with the goal of getting her alone several weeks in the future.

From their first meeting, their time together is riddled with drama. It's one thing after another, these two can't seem to get a break. To be honest, I didn't know what to think half the time, there was a lot of mystery and suspense. It seems no matter where you look someone was plotting to keep these two apart.

Which brings me to my first criticism the relationship felt forced. Don't get me wrong, Jessica and Reece had awesome chemistry, I enjoyed their banter. It seemed as though they were only together because of the stalker(s), or the threats on their life. There were no real dates, moonlight walks, romantic dinners, etc. While I liked the both characters, I didn't fall in love with them.

There was too much drama, all the time, and I couldn't relate to either of them. Had the author given them some time to be a normal couple with dates, late night phone calls, maybe the odd naughty text,  I might have been able to relate more. There also wasn't as much romance as I had hoped. There's a couple steamy scenes but overall the book is wholesome. 

My second criticism, I shouldn't even call it criticism at all, it's just a personal preference. I love reading about strong women. Reece tells us over and over how strong he thinks Jessica is. As a reader, I only see Jessica as someone who has to be rescued repeatedly. I would have loved to see her solve even one problem (the thing with the professor perhaps, or her job situation) without Reece stepping in to save the day.

To the authors credit, this isn't your typical celebrity meets average girl Cinderella story. We've all read that a few dozen times. This book was different because of Reece's secrets as well as the never ending threats and drama. I think this book tells the story of a celebrity who is victimized by stalkers and his secrets more so than a celebirty who falls in love. 

It was well written and engaging. Even though I wasn't in love with the characters, putting the book down was never an option. I had to know what would happen next and how all the loose ends would get tied up. Overall, it wasn't the best book I've ever read but it was a worthwhile way to spend an evening. I'd recommend it for anyone who enjoys reading about celebrities, especially anyone who prefers mystery/ suspense with a touch of romance.