The Bodyguard

I think it’s safe to say that reality has been especially exhausting these past couple of years. It was for me. Luckily, just like for many others, the escape of fiction helped me get through the worst of it. Sometimes, what I needed was an intense cathartic reading experience. More often, I just wanted to feel good. Katherine Center’s The Bodyguard is a stand-out among feel-good reads. To put it simply, this book made me happy.

Hannah Brooks is an Executive Protection Agent (aka bodyguard), and she’s been hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from a corgi-breeding stalker. Because Jack’s mother is sick, he insists on keeping his stalker—and bodyguard—a secret, so Hannah agrees to pretend to be his girlfriend while visiting his family’s Texas ranch. Until the stalker leaves a threatening letter, handknit sweater, and nudes on his doorstep, and the danger becomes all too real. It’s as funny and over-the-top as it sounds.

I laughed so many times while reading The Bodyguard, and I’m excited for everyone else to experience it for the first time as well. A+ humor and banter, fast-paced action, and Katherine Center’s trademark heartwarming style make it a perfect romantic comedy with big-screen feels.

She’s got his back.

Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

He’s got her heart.

Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

They’ve got a secret.

When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.

What could possibly go wrong???

Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.