Hannah Brooks is great at her job.

Like, really great.

Part of what makes her excel is her ability to blend in coupled with her incredible skillset of being able read people and decades of jujitsu experience.

That’s why she’s one of the two top personal protection agents, AKA bodyguards, at her company. But life circumstances and the new client throw Hannah for a very unexpected rollercoaster of a loop: the new client is none other than Hollywood’s most reclusive actor, the man who won Sexiest Man Alive two consecutive years, Jack Stapleton. And Hannah has to pretend to be his girlfriend in order to protect him.


Katherine Center’s latest novel has all the deep, heart-heavy moments of her other novels, but balanced with light, fun, and banter. Though there are serious moments, from childhood trauma to the loss of family members, whether they were close or not, there are also wild shenanigans and adventures on a Texas ranch that more than balance out the heavier moments.

I’m a total sucker for delightful banter. If it makes me laugh out loud, I’m here for it. There were numerous instances of laughing out loud, including on a plane (#sorrynotsorry, seatmates), that shows the humorous moments match the heartfelt ones beat for beat.

The characters were well-developed, particularly the main characters and the found family. After learning about Hannah’s difficult childhood, seeing her be embraced (even by a family that falsely believes she’s a girlfriend that could turn into a daughter-in-law) was such a treat.

Hannah’s battle with her baggage and self-worth, coming off of a bad breakup and while grieving, really humanized her as a character. Questioning one’s ability to be loved is a heavy topic, but Center made it both relatable and part of Hannah’s internal character growth.

The setting of urban and rural Houston, Texas, made for a well-rounded read. The city scenes allowed for certain plot points to be more believable, while the ranch scenes made room for some of our favorite rom-com tropes to fit perfectly (stuck in one place! One bed! Fake dating! The mix of Hollywood royalty and real people!)

If you love rom-coms, many of your favorite tropes will be here. There was only one trope I struggled with, and it’s more of a me-thing than a book-thing. Hannah is a petite woman who is often underestimated based on her size; it’s part of what allows her to do her job well. As someone thinking about inclusivity, I saw Hannah’s size as a missed opportunity for an average or plus-sized character to break the same stereotypes that Hannah faced. Let’s see a woman whose strength isn’t dictated by her size. We can absolutely have tiny and mighty– and we can also have medium and mighty, large and mighty, and plus-sized and mighty. But like I said, this is a me-thing, and I still loved the book. It’s definitely re-readable, which is one of the highest honors I can bestow on a book.

Thank you to author Katherine Center, NetGalley, and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy such that I could share my honest opinions.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center is available now!

I received an early copy from NetGalley. This is not a paid review.

Hannah Brooks has just lost her mom. She is grieving and rethinking her life. She has a job as a bodyguard and loves her job to the point where it is her life. Her be all end all. Her boyfriend (and co-worker), Robby, has broken up with her. All she wants is an assignment that gets her out of town and away from all of her emotions. Que Jack Stapleton, a movie star, her next assignment who is local. So much for getting out of dodge.

Hannah begrudgingly accepts the assignment to keep an eye on Jack. Jack has a few low level stalkers that they are keeping an eye on, but for the most part there doesn't seem to be any threat to his safety. He has come home to help take care of his mom who was just diagnosed with cancer. He decides to introduce Hannah as his girlfriend so his family doesn't worry about his safety. Being brought into the circle of Jack's family is just what Hannah needs. They stay at his families ranch and become close to one another. Until Jack tells her he doesn't care for her and Hannah's world crumbles yet again...until she realizes there is something very wrong.

A romantic, yet thrilling, story that you can't read fast enough.

What a unique storyline ! The characters were quirky and interesting and the storyline held your attention, both making it hard to put down. i enjoyed this arc copy from netgalley and the publisher.

If you are looking for an easy cute romance read this book is for you. Hannah is the girl you want to root for and she was the main character I needed right now. Jack is of course the cute sexy man with a heart of gold and a past. This was a quick read and definitely made for an easy end of summer read.

Hannah has been hired to be a bodyguard to Jack, a Hollywood burnout who would prefer not to have a bodyguard. The pair have a palpable chemistry, and I quickly found myself rooting for them.

I am definitely not a regular rom com reader— I usually find myself rolling my eyes at plots that make others swoon— but I really did love this book. It’s super cute, engaging, and the characters feel real. Even the setting popped right off the page! I definitely recommend grabbing this one!

This book was everything a good romance should be!! It had great characters, a fun, flirty storyline and of course, a happily ever after!! I loved all the characters, especially the supporting characters from Jack’s family. The back stories of the 2 main characters were also compelling and interesting. This was my first book by Katherine Center but it won’t be my last.

I have loved Katherine Center's books ever since reading How to Walk Away and I was excited when I was given the opportunity by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley to read The Bodyguard and give my unbiased opinion of it in the following review.

This story is told by the main character, Hannah Brooks. She is a bodyguard and has worked all over the world protecting all kinds of people. When the story begins, she has been having some bad times. Her mother has died and the day after the funeral she gets dumped by her boyfriend who is also a co-worker. All she wants to do is immerse herself in her work, but her boss makes her take time off to grieve. Her first job back is to guard famous movie star Jack Stapelton. It is not the kind of job she was hoping for, it doesn't even take her out of town. She has no idea that this job will change her life as she knows it. Both Hannah and Jack do some growing, changing, and dealing with their pasts and I really loved how the story progressed. I loved how the author wrote Hannah's voice as she was telling the story with honesty and humor.

It was a nice change for the bodyguard to be the female character. Hannah was so serious, and yet she had a truly fun/rebellious side to her that made for some great scenes. Jack was sweet and will be a new book boyfriend to many readers. The author reveals just enough about the characters as the story unfolds to make it a smooth read. I can't say that I was truly surprised by anything that happened, but I was eagerly reading along until the satisfying climax and conclusion. I certainly had a smile on my face as I closed the book.

One tiny little picky thing I just have to mention. While it is obvious that the author did her research on the trials of famous actors and the job of a bodyguard, there is mention near the beginning of the book and a few other spots along the way about Jack having made his home in the "mountains" of North Dakota. Now, while there may be some higher peaks in North Dakota that might have mountain attached to their name, the writing leads the reader to picture something more like a true mountain range like the Rockies. The southwest part of North Dakota where Jack lived is actually part of the North Dakota Badlands and those peaks are more like buttes. It would have been cool if the author would have stated that Jack ran away to live in the North Dakota Badlands. At least I think it would have. I know the Dakotas are kind of "fly over" states, but this Dakota girl just couldn't quite get over that little picky detail. Don't get me wrong, I still loved the book, I'm just hoping that when I read a finished copy of The Bodyguard (and I do plan on reading this book again), maybe this little thing will be fixed. I can hope anyway, right? 4.5/5

“Just because you can’t keep something doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it. Nothing lasts forever. What matters is what we take with us.”

THE BODYGUARD is the newest from @katherinecenter, an author whose books I love to read in the summer because they’re fun and lighthearted. This one was no exception—I read the entire book on the plane home from LA and the flight went by so quickly! It’s a rom-com about a famous actor whose agency hires protection agent Hannah for his security while he’s visiting his family. It’s got some fun genre tropes and it also gave me While You Were Sleeping vibes (one of my all-time favorite movies). A great summer read—I enjoyed it!

Well this was a sweet and engaging little read. I devoured it in a day. I loved the flipped perspective of the female being the bodyguard, what a great change of pace in a romance novel. Also, this book featured one of my favourite tropes…fake dating! I really didn’t know what to expect with this one, but I would definitely recommend it for a great summer read. Looking forward to reading more by Katherine Center in the future. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this utterly delightful ARC. .

Life as a bodyguard has left Hannah overly aware of her surroundings but deficient in human relationships. After her mother's death and the immediate and surprise ending of her relationship with her coworker boyfriend she's slowly coming undone. Enter her next client and top priority - famous and extremely gorgeous Jack Stapleton and all reason goes out the window when she is forced to play his girlfriend in order to protect him from a crazed fan while he visits his family's ranch. Between the dark pasts they share reluctantly with each other, to the odd bond that has developed, it makes the unexplainable feelings that come along with it that brings new questions and concerns for all involved.
To say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book would be an understatement at best.
Hannah is the girl you can relate to and know that even at her messiest and worst there's something good coming her way. Her harder side which mixes with vulnerability had her becoming one of my favourite heroines, which says a lot if you know me.
Jack, well he is definitely more than we expected and just enough of what we all needed. His interactions with Hannah are both sexy and hilarious and he doesn't disappoint.
This book is the hug you needed and will leave you with something after you're done.
Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read and give my honest opinion.

Oh, I love me a good Katherine Center novel and The Bodyguard was just what I wanted. I planned to save it for vacation but I couldn’t stop reading once I started. You can read the flap for the summary but I’ll just tell you that it reads funny and tender and suspenseful. It is a completely engaging read with many wonderful lines and reflective moments on how we can rewrite the script of our lives if we have the right people in the right roles at the right time. Loved it!! I received an advance copy of this novel. All opinions are my own.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title.

I absolutely loved this book. It definitely lives up to the hype and I will be recommending it again and again.

HOLY COW - this book was such a breath of fresh air and one of my most surprising reads of 2022 so far. I genuinely enjoyed this book so much I didn’t want to put it down (and therefore made it really hard to read it on a weekday when I was supposed to be working).

Genuinely, Hannah and Jack were amazing characters and I enjoyed getting to see them develop and grow into the characters they became throughout the pages of this novel by Katherine Center.

I was instantly in love with Hannah, a character who we got to know slowly and quickly at the same time. She’s hard, yet she’s soft. She’s curious, yet she’s aware and focused. She’s hopeless and hopeful.

Enter Jack. Their meet-cute cracked me up, and from then on, every time Hannah made Jack laugh, I was a goner all over again.

Jack is the boyfriend every girl deserves. There’s something so profound about a male lead who has lost someone important to him, yet can’t help but love fiercely, even if from an arm’s length away.

Other things I loved about this book:
-Jack’s family
-Hannah’s team
-Famous person-normal person
-She’s grumpy, he’s sunshine
-The character development
-The setting
-The writing
-How quickly we fell into the story and the action
-The SWEETNESS
-The twist at the end
-The overall care for others that our main characters display

Read this if you love slow burn, tension, and a sense of belonging stirred in with some adventure, some romance, some awkward real life, family, and books where women can take care of themselves.

Big thanks to Katherine Center and her team at St. Martin’s Press, as well as NetGalley, for early access to an eARC of this book, as well as Book of the Month for making this one a BOTM July pick. I’m grateful to add it to my shelf! FIVE STARS FROM THIS LADY!

I received an ARC of this book and these are my honest thoughts.

Katherine Center’s Books are always a treat and this one is no exception. I liked the dynamic characters and parts of the story had me laughing. I think she is a great author for a fun summer read.

I received a digital ARC for The Bodyguard. (Thank you Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC)
I also purchased a physical copy from BOTM for myself.

This book does exactly what a rom-com is supposed to do, which is to make you smile and forget about your worries for a bit. There is a cutesy "fake-dating" romance (clean, no spice), a male main character who is charming & lovable in all of the best ways, and a kick ass female main character who you would want as a good friend.

I'm not going to lie, I picked up this book at a time when I really did need something Fluffy, easy to read, that would put me in a good mood. When the book opens up, the main character's mother is dying from a disease that I know too well because my own father suffered from it. At that point, I questioned whether I should continue. However, it was a very small detail in the book that only took over a couple of sentences. I continued to read it and the book was definitely "feel-good" with its sometimes crazy scenarios and its cute & happy ending.

A random thing that I loved was that there were a lot of references to Korea throughout the book. The author confessed that she has been watching a lot of k-dramas. As someone who has loved k-dramas for years, I loved this aspect about the book and I saw its influence, such as when the main character mentions that Jack appeared unannounced at her hotel for "one magical, snowy night in Seoul". If you know k-dramas, you know that the first snow is always romantic.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely pick up another book by Katherine Center.

Fav Quotes from the book:

"People loving you for your best qualities is not the same as people loving you despite your worst"

"Every chance you take is a choice. A choice to decide who you are"

This book was adorable! I give it a 3.5 rounded up.

The Bodyguard follows Hannah, an Executive Protection Agent, and Jack, a famous movie star Hannah is assigned to protect. Jack needs a bodyguard while visiting his family back home, to help care for his sick mother. To avoid further stressing his mother out over unseen threats and stalkers, he asks Hannah if she could pretend to be his girlfriend while on the job.

If you are a fan of the fake dating trope, this book is definitely a good one for it! While the characters have never met previously, I found their interactions entertaining, and was smiling at many points throughout the book.

I was not a fan of several side characters, it seemed like some were written solely with flaws in order to create some tension or conflict in the books. While I don't want to spoil anything, there was a scene I felt second-hand embarrassment from; I cringed!

Other side characters were great, and I love how Jack's family came to love Hannah. She deserved to have someone like Jack's mom in her life, and his moms *reaction* near the end of the book had me laughing and smiling. Reading about them all getting closer, especially Hannah and Jack, made my heart happy.

Really fun, cute and easy romance read! Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC.

A story about someone and their body guard is always something I love to see in television and film, and also read about. Usually it's a female and her male bodyguard, but in this story it's the opposite. I really like how that was done, and how it was handled through the story. When Jack's mom gets sick he goes back home to his families ranch in Texas to help out. The only thing is is that he has been honest with his family about having a stalker and having a bodyguard. To keep Hannah with him even against her better judgment and will they fake that they are dating. Even though some people don't believe it will work or be believable including Hannah herself, she follows through with it. Soon enough the relationship between Jack and Hannah starts to feel more real than fake. She is used to protecting Jack, but protecting her own heart is something that is hard to do. Thank you Netgalley for an arc of this story.

3.5/5 stars!

The heroine is a bodyguard who ends up with the assignment of guarding the famous star hero. As the assignment continues on, the fake couple ended up going to the hero's family home to spend time with his sick mom. As they spend time together, they get closer and that scares the heroine, who is scared to open her heart to love.

This is a nice Katherine Center book. I enjoyed the author's writing style, which permeates the whole book as the story flowed smoothly. Though I will admit that I would have loved some more details in certain parts of the story. Told entirely by the heroine's point-of-view, the story really showed the heroine's personality. I liked her growth in the story, but she made a bad first impression at the start of the book. I definitely enjoyed the hero, who seems like an ideal book boyfriend, with a nice family added to that. There were also other secondary characters that supported the main couple, though I'll admit some of them were not to my liking. And the book offered some serious moments, such as betrayal, grief, and stalking. Overall, it's an enjoyable Katherine Center book, but not my favorite.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own.**

After reading The Bodyguard I'm asking myself why I waited so long to read a book written by Katherine Center!! I loved this book!!! This book is the perfect summertime read...a fun, sassy story with loveable, quirky characters. Hannah is an Executive Protection Agent or bodyguard. Jack Stapleton is a superstar with a stalker. Hannah is hired as his bodyguard but he doesn't want his family to know about his stalker or his need for a bodyguard, so Hannah agrees to pretend to be his girlfriend. Along the way Hannah gains a sense of family...but must open herself up to hurt to find happiness.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have been so lucky lately to be reading books that make my heart just so darn happy. This is definitely one of them! I have adored every single one of @katherinecenter’s books and this one was no exception!

This heartwarming story explored so much. It touched on how complicated family dynamics can be; gender roles in the working world, and perception versus reality. Most importantly, it made me want to book a trip to Texas!!