Good story about how first impressions can be deceiving. I really liked the characters and there was plenty of action to move the plot along. While I thought the romance was a little lacking, it did not take away from my enjoyment of the book; although it almost felt like an afterthought. I would recommend and read again.

Well written and engaging. An entertaining read.

I always harp on about wanting more depth to characters, plots, stories, everything. In this offering, I think Amanda Radley got it just about perfect. There's just enough of everything to make it the perfect meal size.

I liked both characters. There wasn't an overwhelming amount of angst, but a well-balanced story.

Meh. It was a god body guard romance, but nothing note worthy. It took me a while to get into it and actually review. It was just okay.

I’m a big Radley fan but “Protecting the Lady” was a disappointment for me. I wanted to read this for the bodyguard/forced proximity trope that I love but unfortunately this didn’t really live up to that trope.

Eve Webb is a former protection officer who is suddenly brought back into the profession in order to guard simple, no risk, a female civilian; or so she thought. Lady Katherine Lovegrove is far, far away in line for the throne, that means she is practically a regular civilian. That is until her father, a judge, upsets the wrong people. Now, here she is with a 24/7 babysitter, that she sees as an inconvenience; until her life is threatened. While protecting Lady Katherine, Eve learns that Katherine is not what she thought she was and protecting her is not as easy as she thought it would be.

This was a very interesting book. I really liked both main characters. Their characters were well developed and the chemistry was there. It was a really quick read, and enjoyable. While I wouldn't say this was this author's best book, it was still a good book and a sweet lesbian romance.

This ARC was provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a good quick read!! 4⭐️, it's a delight

Summary- Katherine is 67th(ish) in line for the throne but has a job she loves and, unfortunately, gets a threat from a major crime family. Eve is a former bodyguard who doesn't like royalty, but she still takes the job too protect Katherine. One thing leads to another and, you know.

I haven't read bodyguard type romances before but I thought this was fun and flirty and had good characters! There's resolved miscommunication which works really well, both of the characters are really well developed, there's a wild staple gun scene, it's overall really well done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest review

Thanks to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the digital galley of this book.

Former Protection Command Officer Eve Webb gave up her career (and her country) after a terrorist attack left her disenchanted about the government organizations who are supposed to keep their people safe. When her former boss, Charlie, reaches out to her for a special job, she cannot refuse. She wasn’t expecting Lady Katherine Lovegrove. Katherine’s father wants her to take up her duties within the royal circle, but she wants something more. An independent lady in her 40s, she’s built a career for herself and relishes her independence. When a threat from a crime family after her father’s harsh sentence on one of its daughters, Lord Michael Lovegrove wants the best protecting his daughter.

I never get tired of enemies to lovers and bodyguard plot lines, and this book delivered pretty wonderfully on both. It’s a slow burn without the descriptive sexy scenes in case you’re not super into that in your romance. Though I enjoy a nice, hot book, it’s a nice break every once in a while to focus more on the characters and their growing relationship without following them into bed instantly and frequently. There’s plenty of smolder and the romantic tension builds quite nicely.

It’s exactly what I needed in between a string of SFF books of late, and I can’t wait to read more by Amanda Radley.

I've been a fan of Amanda Radley's books for a long time. I love, love, love her quirky, dry sense of humor and the types of situations in which her characters find themselves. When I'm feeling down, I know reading one of Radley's books is going to make me smile and laugh.

Protecting the Lady was a bit more serious than expected though. I mean, there were still a few good laughs but mostly it was fairly serious. Not a bad thing as it was still interesting and I like action mixed in with my romance. Did your mind go into the gutter? I meant thrillery action but sexy action is good too. Although if you're looking for explicit sex scenes, you won't find those here. But anyone who is familiar with Radley's work already knows that's not what she writes.

All in all, I did enjoy the book but it won't likely make it onto my re-read list.

I enjoyed this book - but I wouldn’t say it was spectacular. A fun lgbt romance, which admittedly is a lacking genre for the most part, but not thrilling like I expected it to be. Enjoyable - and for that reason I would recommend it to others who want a lighthearted gay romance - however to those who are expecting a thriller romance, where Eve’s role and the premise of the book is gripping, this book may fall short.

The at first face spoiled Lady Katherine Lovegrove rebels against needing 24/7 protection from Eve Webb a former Protection Command Officer who quit the force and left for Japan. Only at special request from her former boss does Eve reluctantly return to London for the protection job,

The two women must figure out how to work together to keep Lady Katherine while spark flies between them,

Another great book from Amanda Radley!

This is the first book by Amanda Radley that I have read, and I have enjoyed it very much. The story line includes both romance and suspense. I always like a book that combines both aspects in a story.

There are two main characters, and they are Eve Webb and Lady Katherine Lovegrove. Eve had been an officer in the Protection Command Organization in England. She resigned the position after she failed to stop a very devastating attack in London which resulted in the deaths of many people. Eve left the country and moved to Japan where she began her own business which accepted low-level assignments of protecting individuals. These contracts are way below her skill level and barely cover her living expenses, but she does not really care.

Although Lady Katherine Lovegrove is forty-something in line for the throne, she has led a very quiet life and loves her position as an event planner in a small company. Her father, however, is a judge and is frequently presiding over high-profile and dangerous cases. While overseeing such a case involving organized crime, threats are made upon Katherine’s life.

Eve’s previous boss and mentor asks her to do him a favor and come back to London to take on a protection assignment. She reluctantly agrees and does not know until she returns that it is a bodyguard position of protecting Lady Lovegrove, something she would never have agreed to do because she is anti-monarchy. However, this negativity soon vanishes as attraction between the two begins and the threats prove real.

Ms. Radley has done a wonderful job of developing her characters. When I read the synopsis of this story, I envisioned something different—more like the movie “The Bodyguard”. Instead of just a love story, the element of suspense took over the primary focus of the plot. From the very beginning, the story built into one that readers might want to go for “one more chapter” before going to bed.

I look forward to reading more of Ms. Logan’s books. I recommend Protecting the Lady and rate it 4 out of 5 stars.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Eve Webb is a former Protection Command Officer who fled London for Tokyo after a terrorist attack. She now teaches Japanese to people while telling herself she's happy and make the right decision to leave her old life behind.

Lady Katherine Lovegrove is a member of the monarchy and is forty eighth in line for the crown.  Her father is a prestigious judge who would rather she just do charity work and perform the duties worthy of her station. Katherine prefers her job as an event planner and would like nothing more than to be able to live a normal life.

A credible threat is made on Katherine's life due to the daughter of a crime boss Katherine's father, Michael, is preparing to sentence to prison time. Eve's old boss travels to Tokyo to convince her to return for a special assignment. He plays on her sense of duty and convinces her to take the assignment. It's not until she returns to London and discovers who she is to protect and she is not happy about it. Eve is not a fan of the monarchy. Just a bunch of spoiled people who have no idea or care about how real people live. She's not the only whose pissed, as Katherine is not interested in having a babysitter.

After an incident the two move to the family estate that provides better security and begin to come to an understanding. Will Eve be able to keep Katherine safe or will the crime family get the revenge they seek?

I like Katherine and Eve. They started out kind of irritating with Katherine acting like a child who was grounded instead of a woman in her 40's who Eve is working to keep safe. Eve's not much more mature when she only sees Katherine as a rich, stuck up brat, although Katherine's behavior doesn't give Eve much reason to think otherwise. When the two stay at Katherine's family home they begin to get closer but they don't have a lot of interaction. Katherine stays mostly to herself while Eve patrols the grounds.

This is a romance without any romance. It plays better as a friend story because the chemistry really isn't there. The two characters share two cheek kisses and they aren't together enough for any love to be believable to me. If the book were longer it would have allowed the relationship to evolve more. The danger that Katherine finds herself in wasn't resolved as dramatically as I would have liked it to be either. The secondary characters of Michael, Katherine's father and Eve's sister, Paula are wonderful. I really adore Glady, the housekeeper at Katherine's family home. Her relationship with Katherine is very sweet.

While this fell a little short for me in regards to the romance and suspense, it's a decent read.  I didn't fall completely in love with it, but that doesn't mean it won't appeal to others.

ARC received from Bold Strokes Book via NetGalley for an honest review

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974

Two worlds, one of royalty and one of the commoners meet in this action romance. Lady Katherine is under threat and Eve, her personal protection officer, comes to shield her.

The story is a good one. Some might find the constant mention of Eve's dislike of the monarchy repetitive and it's use as a page filler upsetting. The flow is good at first with character building, with the bulk of the action occuring in the last 25% of the book. You will want a continuation of their story. Hopefully we'll see that. The side characters will draw you in as well.

3 stars. Eve Webb was in private security until an incident caused her to quit and move to Tokyo. One day, her former boss goes to Tokyo and begs her to come back to guard, Lady Katherine Lovegrove, who is in danger due to her father's work as a Judge. Eve has always hated the monarchy and upper class, but decides to do it anyway. Katherine does not want a security guard and sure does not want Eve deciding what she can and cannot do, as she wants to work and plan events and be who she wants to be. She is not a typical upper class woman, and that surprises Eve and makes her question what she thought about the upper class.

This book was good, but felt short, I feel like there could have been more leading up to Eve and Katherine liking each other. They both dislikes each other for a good portion of the book, and then changed their minds, what seemed like very quickly. I liked the characters other all and I liked the premise of the book. Just there was a few times I felt like the book was rushed a little and I wish they had spent more time building their relationship up more. I would recommend this book if you like the author or you just like books about British upper class.

‘Protecting The Lady’ is an enthralling story, with attraction, sexual tension and that HEA we all want to see. It had me on the edge of my seat at times, rooting for Eve and Katherine at every twist and turn. Eve is a former Protection Command Officer, now living in Japan after a terrorist incident made her rethink her career path. When her former boss asks a big favour, she has to think twice. It involves protecting a minor member of the Royal Family, and as a staunch anti-royalist, Eve baulks at the idea. But in the end her sense of duty takes over and she agrees to the job. Lady Katherine Lovegrove is in danger due to the fact that her father is a senior judge, and about to pass sentence on a member of a notorious crime family. She doesn’t fully grasp just how precarious her situation is, and makes Eve’s job a whole lot harder than it has to be. As tensions rise between the pair, the danger escalates. Will Eve be able to keep her safe? And will she be able to keep her growing feelings a secret?

It was a cracker of a story. Absolutely brilliantly conceived . I couldn’t put it down and didn’t want it to end. Yes, it’s a love story, but there’s a whole lot more. The peril Katherine is in makes it high stakes and a thrilling mystery too. I loved the other characters around them too – especially Eve’s sister, Paula, and Katherine’s dad, Michael. Paula’s light-hearted and caring approach relieved the tension, and Michael’s love for his daughter shone through. I really enjoyed it.

I was given this ARC for review.

I am a huge Amanda Radley fan but this one fell a little short for me. I really liked Eve, couldn’t stand Kathryn, but that’s ok. I like when I’m not a fan of a character because she’s a little bit$$y but this book felt like the connection between the characters was not real or not there. The dialogue was spot on, and the secondary characters were great as usual, but this one missed the mark for me.

Normally I like Radley's books. They are cute romances with witty dialogue and interesting characters. This one fell flat for me though and I struggled to get through the book. As interesting as the bodyguard / unwilling subject can be in this case it didn't work out. The balance between mystery/action and romance was off, the chemistry between the main characters wasn't really there and, which is a personal dislike, the love was a bit too much insta without any base for said love in my opinion.
Sorry to say this is a 2,5 star for me. Never the less, I know Ms Radley has written much better books so I will still pick one up in the future.

Thank you Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for this review copy

Spoilers, ho!

Katherine Lovegrove, a distant heir to the English throne - think higher than two dozen steps - and daughter of judge Michael Lovegrove receives threats from an organized crime family because the latter is about to sentence the daughter of the head of the family to a lot of time in prison.

Eve Webb is a former protection agent, resigning from her job because of a double bombing - one immediate, one shortly after in order to catch first responders to the scene -and because she not only thinks she could have done more (how??) but because of the way information is compartmentalized and she thinks the intelligence services should be sharing information about things like threats of bombings so they can all work together to address threats. I don't have much optimism about this, no matter how this book ends. She's living in Tokyo, teaching English here and there and basically barely making ends meet. Her former boss now runs his own show, and goes to Tokyo to get her back to protect Katherine. There's quite a bit of money involved, so Eve says yes and they return to London. Eve knows nothing about the job, the specific threat(s), or the protectee. You can see where this is going when we find out Eve is a staunch anti-monarchist.

And of course it does: Eve threatens her boss that she'll quit on the spot because she is opposed to protecting a royal, no matter how distant, but he pleads with her to meet with someone: the judge. After hearing him out, Eve reluctantly agrees to do the job.

Katherine, trying to have her own life, objects, of course, and then goes on to have a childlike hissy fit about Eve staying in her apartment with her. The very next day - when her father hands down the sentence - a brick is thrown through her office window. Obviously, she won't be able to work there in person, as it puts everyone else at risk, so off they go to a very large manor (or very small castle, depending on your viewpoint): her childhood home. Where she promptly locks herself in her room. Like a child, instead of a grown woman almost 40 years old.

Eve's unhappy as well, and gets more people from her boss to help guard the castle, which, from a protection standpoint, is not a bad place to be: clear lines of sight, thick walls, and easy coverage of access points. It's a dream!

Except Katherine doesn't want to be there, doesn't want Eve and her crew on the site, and generally is petulant. She convinces Eve to allow her to attend a charity ball that she's been organizing for a year, and where she gets people to open their wallets wide, and Eve agrees after determining not that that's an easy place to protect Katherine but that it means so damn much to her. This would be a signal that you're allowing your judgement to be impaired because you're falling in love with he protectee even though there's no real chemistry going on.

And on that note, one other item: close protection duties mean close and almost always in contact. Alas, here, Eve and Katherine are not particularly close nor in constant contact with one another, so it's a bit mystifying how these two start falling for one another when they're also on different sides of things, attitude and royalty-wise, and Katherine has had a stick up her hind end about the lack of need of Eve's services in the first place.

In any case, they're on the way back to the castle afterwards, and someone takes a shot at the car, injuring the driver and causing Eve to jump into action, telling Katherine to get down, and taking over driving duties to get them to safety. Katherine is then at the castle, and Eve is off to a briefing with her boss. One again: not close, not in contact.

There are also no questions/discussions given over to the reader about the potshot at the car. Routes are varied, and they never take the same route twice, so how did anyone know? The obvious answer, of course: there's a mole. Either this does not occur to Eve or her boss, or the reader is left out until later. The former would be rather silly for experienced protection service people, and the latter is, I think, unfair.

Eve, deciding she's too close to Katherine, feely-wise, decides to hand over protection to someone else, and scoots. Katherine is promptly kidnapped, courtesy of someone ramming the car - again, how does anyone know the route?

Eve and her boss finally realize there's a mole, and there's a showdown in Ops, with Eve taking a guy to the floor and punching staples into his back until he gives up the location.

This leads to a bunch of services working together to retrieve Katherine, and Eve is there, leading Katherine out of the warehouse where she'd been stashed (and beaten), and where the head of the organized crime family has pulled a Stupid Thing, by being there on premises so the law can catch him, because daughter for daughter something something, even though his daughter is both not beaten and is also not dead.

So Eve and Katherine are reunited, and are now totally In Love, despite barely seeing one another through the whole book, and also apparently having worked out that whole royal-anti-monarchist thing in record time. The get the HEA, naturally.

As much as I hate the instalove trope, I recognize that it's a handy way to cut out many chapters of a book and get to the chase, so to speak. But you have to decide what the book is: is it a romance, with occasional flashes of mystery and danger? Or is it primarily a mystery/action/thriller, with occasional romance and/or sexytimes (note: there are no sexytimes in this book)? It's also fine if it it is both in equal measures, of course. I don't think this worked on any of the three. There isn't enough action except at the end for me to believe Katherine is any real danger that couldn't be averted. There is no chemistry and no romance. The only balance between the two is a distinct lack of either. I'd have read twice the number of pages to get either or both.

It sounds like I'm just pounding on this, but I'm not - I'm just demanding because I want good stories and I want them to make sense. YMMV on every point I've made before now, but I imagine the last one is true for everyone.

Two and a half stars out of five, sadly rounded down to two.

Thanks to Bold Stroke Books and NetGalley for the reading copy.

Royalty, body guard, English, class difference - happy sigh, gimme more. Amanda Radley, a British author, gives us a well-written novel with an enemies to lovers storyline and a icy-protection officer in dire need of melting. And apropos melting: this is rather slow burn (which I happen to like a lot) and the temperature is British-moderate (as in: no sex please, we're British, wink). The love story is intertwined with a likely protection-crime story and some gripping and dangerous scenes. I really like how the subtle burdens of a gilted cage are shown.Maybe the story was written or edited for international readers: I missed the British flavour - as in bullocks, butties (not bacon sandwiches!), etc. And the class difference is at least in the England I know always something which cannot be missed languagewise: it is not only a matter of where you buy your suit. Unfortunately it doesn't show in this otherwise well-written novel, sigh. More Britishness would be appreciated!
The editing missed quite a few instances where the same information comes up twice within a short period which irritated me a few times. And there are some obvious plot holes - since an enumeration will spoil the read I won't put them up here.
To sum it up: a lovely, slow-burn, enemies to lovers romance with a strong sideline of criminal activities which could have been enhanced by adding more English flavour and blotting out some plot holes. 3,5 stars.

Five stars. I find it weird to be seeing less positive reviews for this than for some of Radley's other books, when I think I liked it as much as the others I've seen from her this year (Detour to Love and Under Her Influence). And I loved those two!

The pacing for this story is a little tricky, as the part where Katherine goes into lockdown could have been tedious and mundane. In what I assume to have been an effort to avoid this, the author chose instead to do a couple of time lapses. One of them works well, but one of them spans their budding friendship, which was obviously problematic. The characters reflect on this change in their interactions a few times, but we only see a complete 180° from hostility to teasing banter. Adding a couple of conversations in between there might have slowed the pace down, and possibly bored some readers, but it would have worked better for me than what we got. Later, when Katherine is comparing Dee to Eve, it made no sense for her to contrast "serious" with "warm and funny," because we saw so much of Eve being serious as well.

(Spoiler) This is comparatively minor, but I wasn't quite sure about the ending: not between the characters, but regarding the decision to switch back to Eve as the bodyguard. As annoying as it was for her to pull away, as it may seem like just another romance protagonist distancing herself to cause conflict, I agree with the decision in this case. Yes, one would want to do even better with the motivation of caring about the client, but does that work in application? I would think that a complete professional keeps their cool better, and is more vigilant, than the lovestruck bodyguard.

Other than that, the plot, characters, and writing were fantastic. The character dynamic was a little cliché at first, but I appreciated how delicately the author explored the class division, and the reveal of Katherine's problems. I think she might have been a little less arrogant in the first days after meeting Eve, but otherwise, there was the clear message that first impressions are more intertwined with prejudice than anybody would like to admit.

On a different note, I appreciate that Amanda Radley is not one for including love scenes, but it has no bearing on the romance or chemistry. Even if I didn't prefer it that way, I think I'd still be amazed at how she writes about the "smaller gestures" while evoking the same amount of emotion. (Spoiler again, sorry) That moment when Eve leaves, but with a kiss on the cheek instead of something more? That could be construed as chickening out, but I found it incredibly sweet. Plus, it has never made sense to me to have the first "proper" or "passionate" kiss be so one-sided, or not explicitly consensual.

What might be one of the simpler plots I've seen from Radley nonetheless contains elements of complexity, and even invites readers to think a little about the significance of these characters and their backstories. That's not an easy feat to achieve, especially in your standard contemporary romance. Well done!