This was such a fast and fun read. Once I started, it was nearly impossible to put down. The narration is so fun and keeps the story constantly moving. I loved getting to know Hannah and I really related to her right from the start. Jack was an absolute cinnamon roll and I fell in love with him instantly. Jack and Hannah's chemistry was off the charts from the jump and going on their journey with them was such a treat. Jack's parents are probably my favorite book parents ever, we would all be so lucky to have people as wonderful as them in our lives. The stalker storyline was a fun mystery to unravel and I really enjoyed where it went at the end. If you're looking for a quick HEA romance, look no further, you will love The Bodyguard!

This was a great rom-com, albeit a little silly at times. You have to go into it knowing it's a little bit over the top, and a little bit awkward, where nerdy girl gets starstruck by a celebrity and they fall in love. Definitely an interesting premise where the girl becomes the bodyguard to the man. I thought the book was cute, funny and an enjoyable read. The last chapter/epilogue had me rolling my eyes a bit, but overall a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley and to St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read THE BODYGUARD in exchange for my honest review. Man, it is never hard to gush over Katherine Center's novels. And this one is no exception. Hannah Brooks has a witty voice that kept me chuckling, all as I related to her on a deep level. We all sometimes have our moments, asking ourselves "AM I lovable? Do I really deserve love?" And we hide behind things like work or hobbies to keep us so busy that we won't think about the answers. We tell ourselves we don't need anything because we're strong. And we ARE strong.

But we ARE also lovable. And while it's nice to receive that validation from others (like a super sexy movie star such as the swoony Jack Stapleton), it's amazing when that validation sparks something in you that you feel for yourself.

Every single one of Katherine Center's books. I feel this gravitational pull toward the internal arcs and transformations her characters journey through, and there's something so comforting about knowing that you're going to laugh while still tackling something serious. That even though these characters are fictional, they're helping you heal, or they're entertaining you, or they're just giving you a moment of joy—something Center is so adept at, it's nearly criminal.

Thank God it's not.

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
Pub date: July 19

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the gifted copy of this book!

Let me just say I loved this one and sped thru it so quick! This would be a great one to pick up if you’re feeling like you’re in a slump.

Katherine Center is quickly becoming a go-to author for me. This is only the 2nd one I’ve read from her, but I loved both of them! I love the way she portrays her characters and the powerful female leads she creates. There were a few aspects that I was able to predict were coming, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless.

Hannah does not look like your typical bodyguard. She loses her mother and her boyfriend dumps her the night after the funeral. She’s looking for an escape and for her work to keep her busy. That’s when she’s put on as primary on a new assignment, for famous actor Jack Stapleton. Hannah agrees to be his fake girlfriend so that his family won’t worry about having to be protected and things just get messy from there.
5/5 🌟

Katherine Center is a master storyteller and her new novel, The Bodyguard, does not disappoint. Hannah's mother has recently died and her boyfriend dumped her, but she plans to get comfort from the job that she loves as an Executive Protection Agent. Hannah is a professional bodyguard and she is unhappy when she is assigned to protect sexy actor Jack Stapleton. Although most women would welcome the chance to spend time with Jack, Hannah fears the assignment is too trivial for her. Jack has come home to Houston to support his mother while she goes through treatment for breast cancer. Hannah must pose as his girlfriend so that his family will not know he needs protection from a stalker. Hannah's feelings for Jack become complicated and she wonders if he is being genuine when they are together or acting. Center's novels are always uplifting and thought provoking. The Bodyguard is delightful story with interesting characters and an entertaining plot.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

The Bodyguard is a pretty easy read, perfect for the summer! This rom-com offers some fake dating with a grumpy-sunshine twist. I'll let you figure out which one is which!

For a romance, there is little to no steam on or off the page. There are a couple of kissing scenes, but those are in the last third of the book. I'm okay with steam on the page, but it is also nice to read a book without it.

Is it wrong of me to want to see this book adapted? I want to see Hannah and Jack interact in real life, I want to see her get upset when he calls her ordinary, and I want to see him laugh when she screams at the cow.

Are you looking for a fun book that is super easy to read? A book that you can take on vacation? Or one to curl up with on a rainy day? Do you enjoy smiling and laughing while reading romances? Then I think you should check out The Bodyguard.

I have enjoyed Katherine Center’s previous books and inhaled this new one just as quickly! I loved the unique theme of this story and have not read anything like it before. Having a pint sized female bodyguard pretend to be the girlfriend of an attractive male actor in order to protect him “undercover” … this is the recipe for a great novel. I could not put it down!

I found that I was so invested in the characters that it was easy to root for/against them. This book was not perfect - some of the story lines were not believable and some of the conversations I found not very smooth. However, it was pretty close and I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys light easy reads with a little romance and adventure thrown in.

This was my first by Katherine Center to read, and I absolutely loved it. Hannah was such a relatable character, and I loved that the book had just the right amount of humor and romance. I also liked that there was a little bit of thrill to it, too. I cannot wait to read another one of Katherine Center’s books.

This was really cute, and I ended up liking this a lot more than I expected to! It's a tad predictable, but charming and funny and touching, and I found it really fun to read. Thanks to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for the early copy! 
*
Synopsis: Hannah is a professional bodyguard who, after the death of her mom and losing her ex-boyfriend and her best friend to each other, is assigned to protect movie star Jack Stapleton. But because he doesn't want his mom, recovering from cancer, to worry, she has to pretend to be his girlfriend for the assignment. And she finds herself trying to deny the feelings she's developing, because he's just acting right? 
*
So first, I really liked rooting for Hannah. I loved her getting to prove herself over and over to people who underestimated her ability to be a bodyguard because she was a woman. And I loved how she handled herself with men who just sucked. 
*
I think the only part I didn't like was how Hannah keeps saying how good she is at her job, but then manages to have a cow sneak up on her and accidentally falls into a river...soooo turns out she's not so great at being aware of her surroundings?
*
But overall, this was completely charming, and I really loved so much about it. Especially seeing Jake's relationship with his family, and how that evolved. And his mom was just wonderful and lovely.  
*
If you're looking for something lighthearted and fun, this is absolutely it!

5 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.


I just adore Katherine Center’s novels. A little bit of intrigue, a little bit of romance. This was truly a fun romp.

Hannah Brooks, more often known as Brooks than Hannah, is an executive protection assistant. Better known to us as ‘bodyguards.’ Mostly her clients are oil executives and high profile businesspeople. Her work takes her all over the world to exciting locales. Usually she’s just in the background appearing to be an assistant.

Hannah and Robby, her coworker, have been involved in a relationship. It works. They understand each other’s commitment to the job. Hannah has just lost her mother, and Robby decides now is the time to tell Hannah that their relationship isn’t. Working. And add to that, now Robby and Hannah will be competing to run the office in London. It’s just more than Hannah can handle at one time.

Until she gets her next assignment. Protection for a very high profile actor who is coming back to Texas while his mother undergoes surgery and treatment for cancer. Every woman in the office would kill to pretend to be his girlfriend. But not Hannah. Hannah wants no part of it. Which is precisely why she is being given the coveted assignment.

Hannah was such a fun character. Kind of like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, Hannah really does need a complete makeover to even remotely look like someone who would be dating a sexy movie star. But not Hannah. She is just an every girl with a crazy job. I was in her corner from the get go. And the sexy movie star is no slouch either. He is absolutely someone that you have to like.

It’s beach read season, and I give this one five stars for excellent beach reading. It’s a little bit of paradise in Texas.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved how Hannah was all of the female rage energy and was clearly in charge of everything. I loved Jack as the classic book boyfriend material. I love a good fake relationship. This book hit all of the feels and good points for me. The backstories of the characters were well written and the interaction between all of them just really made for a great book.

Katherine Center is one of my favorite authors and this may be my new favorite by her. Hannah and Jack make the cutest couple ever and I’m now an official fan of regular person plus celebrity rom coms. ⁣I thought Jack’s family story was so well done and I love how the author makes her characters feel like your friends. ⁣I highly recommend this one!

I adored this book. I'm a huge Katherine Center fan, and this may have been my favorite of her books. I love the role reversal of having the heroine in the story be the protector for once. I don't usually like books where one of the characters is a movie star/famous celebrity, but Jack's character was totally down to earth and lovable. The chemistry between the characters leapt off the page.

I was going to give this five stars but I'm going to go with two in the end because of a harmful ableist trope that the author used, which ruined the story for me, I'll explain at the end of this review with a spoiler warning.

Read this until 4 am, it was that addictive from around chapter 3. I laughed out loud multiple times. The banter between Hannah and Jack was incredible and cute and swoony, but that's also how I'd describe jack. He is definitely my newest book boyfriend. Basically from the moment he stepped on the page, I was obsessed with him and knew he'd be wonderful. Hannah was also such a fun character. I liked her voice and a quirkiness of the story. However, it took some while to get used to the way she as a narrator would talk to the reader. It took me a bit out of the story at times, and at the end it felt like she was telling rather than showing through dialogue and monologues about the meaning of love and life, which was a bit unnecessary.


Spoiler for the ending: Center uses the 'the disabled guy is the villain' trope, which really ruined the end of the story a bit. *Of course* the villain has to be angry because he became disabled. *Of course* his wife left him because he is disabled. *Of course* the disabled villain now wants to kill himself because he could never be happy like this. (Sarcasm). All three of my previous statements are prime example of harmful ableism in fiction, and Center, who continually writes disabled people in her novels, should know better by now. The disabled guy was the villain in Things You Save In A Fire, too, and he was also bitter about his disability ans hurts others. So now I'm wondering if this is a pattern for the author and it's really off-putting in one book, let alone two. There would have been a million ways to have a stalker fan without making him a so-called pathetic disabled man, especially when there aren't any other disabled people in the book, save a casual mention of Jack having a learning disability as a child and no more mention of it later. It really sucked to read that, as a physically disabled person myself, after such a wonderful book. I was literally squealing throughout most of novel and ready to recommend it to everybody until I got to that part. Now, unfortunately, I don't want to recommend it to anybody because I don't want to hurt anybody. Center also uses a lot of ableist language and slurs throughout, which in this day and age should be easy to catch before printing, and just substituting with non-ableist language.

Ah, there is something about the way Katherine Center writes characters and dialogue. I loved Hannah. She is a woman breaking into the stereotype of a man’s job. She is a tough, albeit little, woman who knows how to handle herself and Jack. Jack was a character I loved right away because you could tell there was so much heart under the hurt. Jack’s brother, on the other hand… I would have loved to see Hannah demonstrate her takedown on him!

Woven through the protection storyline, Hannah was dealing with her own discovery of self worth. It was a joy to watch her grow and evolve. Jack also had his own backstory and trauma to deal with. I loved the way the storylines all merged together. The Bodyguard was yet another amazing book from Katherine Center!

The Bodyguard was an enjoyable read. I liked it and it was fun, but fuck this book would just not end. I swear it was like The Sound of Music, where it had a solid three stopping points where you think you’re done but it just. kept. going. Some books benefit from an epilogue. Rarely do books need three (it didn’t have three, just the one, but fuck it felt like there were three).

I love Katherine Center books and this was no exception. It was a fun, joyful, rom-com that made me laugh and cry. I loved the characters and thought Jack was perfect. Hannah was the primary bodyguard for the actor and this seemed unrealistic but the book had fun with it. I also liked the setting of the Texas ranch and think this would be the cutest movie.

Katherine Center writes "feel good" novels and The Bodyguard does not disappoint! Hannah Brooks is an Executive Protection Agent, who has just lost her mother and has been dumped by her boyfriend, Robby, who is also her colleague at the security agency. Jack Stapleton, the movie star, who has dropped off the grid, since his brother died in a tragic accident is Hannah's client. Jack has a stalker and needs protection. They pretend to be in a relationship when Jack has to go home to the family ranch because his Mom is undergoing cancer treatments. The characters well developed and story line flow beautifully. I did not want to put this book down! The Bodyguard is a delightful rom-com and a true "feel good" story I loved this book so very much! Thank you to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, and Katherine Center for the ARC!

Such a truly delightful book. I was highly entertained the whole time. I laughed, and, to my surprise, found myself shocked with some twists I didn't expect. If you are a fan of rom coms that take you away to another time and place, then this is for you!

“Maybe love isn’t a judgement you render—but a chance you take. Maybe it’s something you choose to do—over and over.”

Hannah is a bodyguard and hired to protect superstar Jack from the elusive “corgi loving, sweater knitting, stalker”. When Jack goes home to help his ailing mother, he wants the family to know nothing of his stalker or his bodyguard, so Hannah agrees to be the pretend girlfriend.

Even though it’s her job to protect Jack, you will find he is very protective of her, especially when it comes to her ex. I loved how he was always sticking up for her. I also loved how they always made each other laugh, like with the cow incident at the farm!

Aside from the romance that blooms from the “fake dating” in this book, you also get a good story about a family navigating the trials and tribulations of actual life, and it feels relatable.
When Hannah took the job she had just come back to work from losing her own mother. To see her get close with Jack’s mom and bond and forge a relationship of her own was incredibly endearing.

This book was heartwarming, yet fun! There were many laugh out loud moments being inside Hannah’s head and hearing her thoughts, and I loved that! This was my first Katherine Center book, and it certainly won’t be my last! I absolutely adored the style of her writing, and how it captivated me immediately!

What’s On The Pages:
-fake dating
-a female bodyguard
-a hilarious encounter with a cow
-a beaded safety pin
-one bed & granny nightgowns 😂
-peanuts & cinnamon rolls (IYKYK 😂)

⚠️CW/TW: parent with cancer, domestic violence

✨Rating✨
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Steam Factor 0/5 (soft kisses)

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this eARC! The Bodyguard is out July 19th!