YVONNE’S SHORTIES #328 – The Bodyguard // Reckless Girls

Time for another round of Yvonne’s Shorties! This time around a contemporary romance I enjoyed and a psychological thriller that failed to hit the mark.

Title: The Bodyguard
Author: Katherine Center
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
First published: July 19th 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Finished reading: November 4th 2022
Pages: 320

“I wondered if having faith in yourself was just deciding you could do it -whatever it was- and then making yourself follow through.”

I’ve enjoyed Katherine Center‘s writing in the past, although her previous title was a bit of a dud for me… Thankfully The Bodyguard has restored my faith and I ended up having an excellent time with this story. If you are looking for a fun read with lots of banter and a slowburn romance, this is definitely your book! I really enjoyed reading about Jack and Hannah,and it was interesting to see their characters develop. The banter itself was brilliant, and without doubt the star of the show. I do have to say that there were quite a few cliches involved and I wasn’t sure up to what point Hannah’s behavior was credible considering she was supposed to be a professional bodyguard… But if you ignore this and just focus on the entertainment level, The Bodyguard delivers. I loved the interactions with Jack’s family! There was something I could have done without though: the whole cheating/love triangle vibe and Robby and Taylor as characters in general. They are highly unlikeable and kind of ruined things slightly for me… Without them, this probably would have been a 5 star read. I’m not sure what to make of the final part of this story either, as it felt like it was trying too hard with all those inspirational messages (especially the scene on the roof). That said, The Bodyguard was still a very fun and heartwarming read and just the dose of uplifting slowburn romance and banter I needed.

Title: Reckless Girls
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
First published: January 4th 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Finished reading: November 7th 2022
Pages: 320

“A sort of madness sets in when one is away from society for too long, when one looks out to the horizon and sees only sea and sky.”

Right… I definitely didn’t expect this to happen when I first added Reckless Girls to my shelves. I love a good locked room mystery and I love a remote island setting, so I felt like I had hit the jackpot here. I’ve been excited to read it ever since it was published, because despite the mixed reviews I truly thought this was going to be a hit for me. I guess I was wrong. What started out as a solid enough read soon turned sour as I was able to get to know the characters better. They just all seemed so… shallow and self-centered. The majority of the plot is basically having to deal with their drama, secrets and past, and then I’m not even talking about the love triangle vibes and multiple active cheating situations. Ugh. After a few days on the island, I started to hate them more and more, up until the point that I couldn’t care less what happened to them. There was actually a surprisingly lack of suspense during most of the book, only to dump it all on you in the final part in a rush. And not only did I see most of the twists coming from a mile away, the ones I didn’t guess failed to blow me away because they were completely over the top. This might just have been because the story was beyond saving for me at that point, but who knows… This definitely wasn’t the exciting survival on a remote island story I thought I was going to get… Instead, it felt more like one of those trashy reality TV shows with lots of drama and cheating just for the sake of the drama ~~(no offense if you enjoy those shows, but I can’t stand them)~~. The over-the-top ending only sealed the deal for me; I’m starting to think I should stay away from this author in the future, because her YA titles didn’t work for me either (not counting the first Hex Hall book).