I love the movie The Bodyguard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner so I was excited about the gender role swaps in this book version, but this was just… bad. The dialogue made me cringe and was so unbelievable. No one in real life would say the things every single one of these characters said to each other. It was incredibly cliched and the author had a habit of listing things in a really long winded way, that again, would never happen in a real conversation.

Also, I was so tired of being told how Hannah was supposedly the most observant person in the world and was basically a world renowned assassin/bodyguard to then have her constantly be shocked by farm animals (including an entire herd of slow moving cows?!) sneaking up on her. Her list of strengths at the beginning did not make sense with her behavior throughout the rest of the book.

I feel bad being so hard on this, but the thanksgiving scene with Kennedy Monroe sent me over the edge and I had to finally stop. There are several other complaints I have with the book but to avoid spoilers I’ll be done. It’s disappointing because I really did love the premise and I had high hopes seeing the early review ratings!

This was a bit lighter than Center's usually light books, but by no means was it weaker. The chemistry and connection between the two leads were great! It was an overall charming read.

Loved the trope of this book! I love seeing this author grow and change. This book to me reflects her growth and development as a writer. This book was a warm hug and left me smiling. So good and so fun!

3.5 star rating rounded to 4 stars.

Hannah Brooks doesn't have much luck keeping people in her life. Her father deserted the family when she was 7, her mother has just died, and her boyfriend has dumped her. She's working as an executive protection specialist and work has seemed to take the place of a family. She should be happy because she's gotten what could be seen as the job of a lifetime - protecting a hot Hollywood star - but she'd really rather have a different assignment.
Katherine Center always writes books that will entertain you and this is still the case with The Bodyguard. I'm not sure how convincing Hannah was as a bodyguard, and the ending was a bit over the top for me. But, I liked a number of the messages in the book and the opportunity to visit a Texas ranch!
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read The Bodyguard in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't for me. It very much had the "love conquers all" and "it doesn't matter how damaged you are, love of an equally hot person will solve it all!" tropes.

I didn't like our MC, she was very hard to read from. Especially in the beginning. If I hadn't been reading this for a challenge prompt, I would have DNF'd.

Just the idea of this girl's mom dying, her boyfriend dumping her the next day and basically being like "by the way, you're a shit human and everyone hates you." and then she meets some emotionally scarred dude whose mom is dying of cancer and I'm supposed to get behind their romance? Sure, they both deserve a HEA, but they need HEAPS of therapy first.

It's not a bad book, just not one I stand behind.

I was over the moon when I got the publisher’s invitation to review The Bodyguard. I love Katherine Center’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 would have). 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 assumed something, 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 each different 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 her POV), 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.

Romance touches the heart! The Bodyguard follows the story of a broken hearted woman whose estranged mother dies and in the same week her coworker boyfriend dumps her. Also, a movie star needs some assistance. Center makes formulaic less predictable and fun to follow.

I feel like such an outlier, but I didn't love this book like everyone else in the world. Part of it was the unknown trigger I was in for about Hannah's mother's death. And honestly, Hannah wasn't a very likable character. Jack's storyline was dramatic. His mother is sick and the trope of hiding the bodyguard as girlfriend was just ok.

This was a rom-com with some surprising depth, and exploration of a career that most of us misunderstand these days. Having just gone through grieving a parent myself, some parts struck a bit raw for me, but not untrue. Also there were some third-act twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. Stay with this one until the end.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my temporary copy of The Bodyguard by Katherine Center in exchange for an honest review. It appears July 19, 2022.

What a great book! I always enjoy a good fake dating trope but something about this one felt more real /plausible than some other books to me and I ate it up almost in one sitting! This is my first book by Katherine Center but she’s become a fav and likely an auto buy for me.

While I’m a little late in my review I did receive a complimentary ARC from NetGalley that in no way impacted my thoughts and review other than to bring me absolute joy from bringing this gem into my life!! 💕💕

Katherine Center is an auto-read author for me, and I did enjoy her newest release. Though her books are predictable rom-com fare, sometimes that's exactly what my heart wants in the moment. Nothing earth-shattering here, but exactly that loveliness I have come to expect.

I loved this book. No one is more surprised by this than me -- I am particular with novels about celebrities, having worked in the entertainment industry. A lot of them get it wrong. This one got it so right.

Jack is such a great love interest, and Hannah is an incredibly interesting main character. I loved her point of view. Their relationship developed so well and so naturally, I really enjoyed seeing them open up slowly, and falling in love without even realizing it.

And the cast pf supporting characters! Everyone was so consistent and fun, I really felt like every single character from Hannah down to the fans at the hospital were so clearly written that I could picture their entire personalities and histories as I read. Really incredible character work there.

I'll be buying this one as a gift for some friends I know will love it. And I will definitely be reading future books by Center!!

I love Katherine Center so much! I will stop everything when I get an ARC approval of her new book. I loved this and highly recommend it!

Katherine Center always is such an engaging writer. The Bodyguard did not disappoint. The chemistry was amazing and the plot line was super unique and fun. The way she balances the humor, romance, and heavier topics throughout kept the book really interesting. Loved!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy to honestly review.

Katherine Center ha a way of telling a story. It pulls you in from the first page. You want to be part of the families in her vbooks. This book did not disappoint

I absolutely LOVED this book! What can I say about this book other than that I loved it? I wholeheartedly recommend it. It may be light on steam but it’s so good and filled with all the feelings. Katherine Center is an automatic must-buy author for me and this book truly backs that up. This book is sure to be hyped up and take it from me, all the good things you read about it are absolutely true. If you aren’t already a fan of Katherine Center, I recommend starting with this and then work your way back through her backlist!

Misc. details:
Location: Texas family ranch
Trope/ Details: fake relationship, close proximity
Themes / Content Warnings: sick parent, fame, female career badass
Steam Rating: PG – closed door romance – a sweet romance with a building relationship – more like a women’s fiction with romance, or a fun rom-com.

“You can’t make people love you. But you can give the love you long for out to the world. You can be the love you wish you had. That’s the way to be okay. Because giving love to other people is a way of giving it to yourself.”

‘What was I allergic to? I was allergic to disappointment. I was allergic to betrayal. I was allergic to friendship. To hope. To optimism. To life, to work, to humanity in general.’

This book was so fun!!! I could not put it down and finished it in less than 24 hours! Our main characters had such a believable relationship and I loved Hannah's bad bitch energy paired with Jack's golden retriever vibe! The only thing that kept me from 5 stars is it took them so long to go from that fake to real relationship! Overall, highly recommend to anyone looking for a no smut, entertaining, swoon worthy read!

Hannah doesn't look like your typical bodyguard in fact she looks more like the person who needs the body guarding; which makes her the perfect undercover bodyguard for actor Jack Stapleton. She will go undercover pretending to be his girlfriend while he stays with his family trying to avoid his crazy stalker. There is just one slight problem Hannah has to also work with her former ex and the person he cheated on her with. And to add to this she finds herself actually falling for Jack. Will she manage to keep everything in check long enough to earn her promotion and move out of the country, or will she realize that there are somethings you can't guard your heart from.

Katherine Center is amazing at writing strong female characters in not typical careers. Each one of her characters is written strong in the best ways that they have flaws and their own personal issues but find ways to make it through them. That is what sets her love stories apart from all the others. I also love how she slightly includes characters from her other books in the new ones even if just for one passing moment it is a cool connection between them. I am a big fan of her Reverse roles in the stories and I think they play out nice without seeming overdone or in your face.

Once again she knocks it put of the park. The emotion, the journey, the feelings! Katherine knows how to write the perfect books that mix humor and depth to make us feel like we’re getting a break from the real world and diving into a book one.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center on audio is fantastic, Patti Murin does a great job voicing the main character (Hannah) and bringing the cheesy, but loveable, story to life.
Hannah Brooks is not what you'd expect when you think of "bodyguard" but she is an Executive Protective Agent hired to protect movie star Jack Stapleton. The last place Hannah wants to be is in Texas when there are bigger and better jobs in London to be had but she takes the job anyway. Hannah needs a distraction from the loss of her mom, the betrayal of her best friend and the dumping from her boyfriend. Jack is down to earth with some emotional secrets buried within. The relationship between Hannah and Jack was entertaining to watch develop, I liked their banter back and forth. The ending has some surprises. Those who like a little spiciness in their romances won't find that in this book. Overall, I really enjoyed listening to this book - it was fun and enjoyable!