'The Bodyguard' by Katherine Center

 

From the BLURB: 

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.

***

'The Bodyguard' is US author Katherine Center's ninth published book, a contemporary romance stand-alone. 

We follow Executive Protection Agent (aka "bodyguard") Hannah Brooks as she experiences among the worst months of her life - her mother dies after a long battle with alcoholism, her boyfriend dumps her the day after the funeral, and her work-life is on the line as she's up for a big promotion that all of these personal hurdles could get in the way of. And Hannah is someone who very much prioritises work-life over home-life, and is in a real tail-spin as all of that is upended. 

Her one chance to redeem herself comes with a new job-offer that her boss, Glenn, assigns her to. But it's not the international jaunt she was hoping for; rather it's a home-base Texas job for international movie-star heartthrob, Jack Stapleton, who apparently has a corgi-breeding stalker on his tail right when he's trying to return home and be with his family as his Mum receives cancer-treatment. Also because it's a delicate home-life situation, part of Hannah's job will be to pose as Jack's girlfriend ... so as not to alarm the family. 

Rom-com ensues.

This was great, and I really enjoyed it and appreciated that Center in an author's note at the back says she wrote this in the thick of Covid pandemic and lockdowns, so she reached for the fluffiest and swooniest of stories to occupy her mind. And this is very much that! It's fun, flirty, carefree. Not a hard-hitter like some of Center's other books have been (my personal favourite that I think tugs on heart-strings as well as keeps heart fluttering is 'Things You Save in a Fire' but I am also a huge fan of 'Happiness for Beginners'). 

'The Bodyguard' (despite the Costner/Houston title!) reminds me strongly of Mhairi McFarlane's 'Who's That Girl?', with a dash of new book 'Funny You Should' by Elissa Sussman, and 'The View Was Exhausting' by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta. All in that famous-person dates an ordinary rom-com niche (very 'Notting Hill'!) and Center does it very well! 

Does it get *slightly* ridiculous with the high-hilarity and unlikely situations? Yeah, sure. The final half especially felt tonally "off" in a way I think is hard to explain, and I just don't think she quite nailed the dénouement. I also keep wanting Center to write like .5% more spice. Not full-blown, still 'cut-away-to-the-curtains,' but just a *pinch* more paprika to bring her in line with a Beth O'Leary or Mhairi.

But those are niggling little thoughts I had, and also that this wasn't my favourite of Center's books ... it's very much low of the middle for me, in rankings. But I think plenty of readers will have LOTS of fun with this one! 

3/5

'Happiness For Beginners' by Katherine Center

 

From the BLURB: 

Helen Carpenter can’t quite seem to bounce back. Newly divorced at thirty-two, her life has fallen apart beyond her ability to put it together again. So when her annoying younger brother, Duncan, convinces her to sign up for a hardcore wilderness survival course in the backwoods of Wyoming—she hopes it’ll be exactly what she needs. 

Instead, it’s a disaster. It’s nothing like she wants, or expects, or anticipates. She doesn’t anticipate the surprise summer blizzard, for example—or the blisters, or the rutting elk, or the mean pack of sorority girls. And she especially doesn’t anticipate that her annoying brother’s even-more-annoying best friend, Jake, will show up for the exact same course—and distract her, derail her, and . . . kiss her. 

But it turns out sometimes disaster can teach you exactly the things you need to learn. Like how to keep going, even when you think you can’t. How being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes getting really, really lost is your only hope of getting found. 

Happiness for Beginners is Katherine Center at her most heart-warming, captivating best—a nourishing, page-turning, up-all-night read about how to get back up. It’s a story that looks at how our struggles lead us to our strengths. How love is always worth it. And how the more good things we look for, the more we find.

‘Happiness for Beginners’ was the 2015 women’s fiction novel by American author Katherine Center. 

It has been a rocky, rocky start to 2022. Omicron got me. Australian summer has been unrelenting. Everything has been thrown off kilter and the last thing I felt like doing with a foggy head and post-Covid chest infection (oh yeah, severe asthmatic triple-boosted still felt that rona bite!) – the last thing I was even capable of doing was reading, for pleasure. It’s been an uphill battle to get back into the swing … enter; Katherine Center. A new-to-me author I discovered in 2020 and instantly appreciated that she had a backlist I could drip-feed to myself when the slumps got deep. Which I finally did this week, and with ‘Happiness for Beginners.’

Now – before I give you the lowdown, just know that yes indeed, this book is undoubtedly a by-product of the 2012 bookish fever for ‘Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail’ by Cheryl Strayed. It’s the story of Helen Carpenter who decides that a year after her divorce was finalised, she’s going to finally regain control of her life by doing a wilderness survival course that’s so far outside her comfort zone, she’s going to be in a new stratosphere of self-improvement. The only thing is; her younger brother’s annoying best friend Jake is tagging along – not only for a lift to the camp, but on the wilderness trek itself. Helen has never thought twice about Jake in all the years she’s known him; but suddenly this ten-years-younger than her upstart is clouding her head and ruining her very much solo mission of self-discovery 

What follows is the 3-week long trek, its trials and tribulations (made worse by the fact that Helen is the oldest person on the hike, everyone else is a 20-something college student doing this for credit) and the fact that Jake has revealed how long he’s been in love with his best friend’s sister, but also that he can’t pursue her. Much as he’d like to, and – to Helen’s surprise – she’d like him to. 

Okay. I loved this book! It is like ‘Wild’ but without the unrelenting sombreness of it all (and while – yes – Helen’s divorce is the catalyst for her adventure, she also has familial grief she’s unknowingly working through.) Something I love about Center’s books is that you know she’s put the work in; I thought it with 'Things You Save in a Fire' (unsurprised to learn that her husband is a volunteer firefighter), and it comes through here too. She does actually walk us in Helen’s heavy, blister-busting boots as she experiences a wilderness adventure and the practicalities and hurdles thereof. She doesn’t go overly mushy with the self-discovery and being one with nature stuff; instead she predicates Helen’s slow transformation on her ability to recognise her own limitations and patterns, and being willing to connect with people and trust in herself. I loved it! 

But let’s not pretend I don’t drool over Katherine Center’s beautiful books for anything as much as the romances. And the one in ‘Happiness’ is a doozy! Jake is the young, fresh as a penny popular college guy - Helen is his best friend’s older sister, and she feels every one of the years she’s got on Jake. But they have such spark, and the unrequited, slow-burn of it all is intoxicating! I think I also loved this romance because it did remind me of the one in my favourite Center book thus far, 'Things You Save in a Fire' – which also had a kind of “himbo” love interest (except Center’s male characters are not unintelligent; they’re actually more emotionally intelligent and very much have Labrador-qualities of good guys loving on jaded and hurt women, giving them patience, space, and understanding that makes everything so much more delicious!)

Yes this is a head-tip to ‘Wild’ and probably capitalising on the Strayed-mania of it all (it kinda more reminds me of that ‘Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life’ episode when Lorelai wants to have the book-experience… along with hundreds of other fans.) I don’t care, I think Center did a smashing job of taking a band wagon and making it her own. 

5/5 

P.S. - Helen's brother Duncan in 'Happiness' is the hero of 'What You Wish For' which I have also read and really liked, but didn't review because it was kinda just okay (3/3.5) but now knowing that Duncan from his book is the Duncan in that book ... and that Center's books all exist in a connected-universe? Ummm, I think I have to go back and re-read all of them and in order one day! 

'How to Walk Away' by Katherine Center

 

From the BLURB: 

Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment. 

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect. 

Having just finished Center's 2019 book 'Things You Save in a Fire' - I went back to this 2018 title because they're *kind of* linked.

In 'Fire' the firefighter protagonist Cassie references one particular call out that stayed with her; a woman badly burned and with a spinal injury after being involved in a light aircraft accident. An accident that happened within a few hours of her boyfriend proposing - the boyfriend who was the pilot and walked away from the crash without a scratch. Cassie in 'Fire' wonders what became of that woman, that she can't quite fathom the ways her life was altered from that moment on. This pinged for me, because I thought it sounded like one of Center's previous books and - lo! - it was indeed.

'How to Walk Away' details that very woman whose life was so utterly altered by one accident - Margaret Jacobsen who has to have skin-graft surgery and may have paraplegia below the knee forever. The book is very concentrated on the six weeks that Margaret 'Maggie' begins physical and occupational therapy, once she's well enough to grasp her new situation and start working towards rebuilding her life.

Six-weeks is all that her insurance company will cover, so that's why it's such a tight timeline and very focused on her rehabilitation (which rings true for American healthcare systems, and I found quite moving in and of itself). She's not only trying to get her altered body to cooperate, but she's juggling a fiancee (maybe?) who's gone off the rails, a pushy mother, understanding father, and her estranged sister Kitty who has flown home from New York to nag her sister into healing, apparently.

There's also physical therapist Iain - a Scottish giant of a man who wears crankypants constantly and pushes Maggie and her belief in herself. The two of them develop a special bond, that also feels very fragile for the circumstances in which they've met ...

I really enjoyed this novel (and I'm glad I followed my instincts to keep reading Center's backlist - particularly this one that harmonises so well with 'Things You Save in a Fire' the two of them acting as a sort of duology). I was also glad that the same way Center did such a marvellous job in 'Fire' of telling a true and fascinating story about firefighting, she did the same here about the challenges of spinal injuries, reality of PT (physical therapy) and existing in a world unfairly designed for the able-bodied. I did worry when a lot of Maggie's internal story seemed to be around "fixing" herself and recovering fully ... but that's actually Center being very honest about the stages of grief a person goes through for their own health and body after an accident.

I also thought the end-point that Maggie got to with her career ambitions was a little twee and cliche, and as with 'Fire' I did wish we got to exist a little longer in the happily ever after and how her life looked down the line.

But overall I loved this story too, and it has further clarified for me how much I love Center's writing!

4/5

'Things You Save in a Fire' by Katherine Center

 

From the BLURB: 

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she’s seen her fair share of them, and she’s a total pro at other people’s tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own. 

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie’s old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren’t exactly thrilled to have a “lady” on the crew—even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn’t seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can’t think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping . . . and it means risking everything—the only job she’s ever loved and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.

'Things You Save in the Fire' is the 2019 novel from Katherin Center, and it was my first time reading her, but it won't be my last!

This is the story of a female Texas firefighter who lands in hot-water when she gives a politician from her past their comeuppance ... but her career is somewhat saved when she's offered a move to Boston, to let the controversy blow over - that also coincides with her estranged mother begging her to come stay, and help her out post eye-surgery.

There's a lot of tension and fault-lines established early; our heroine Cassie hasn't been close to her mother, ever since she walked out on the family on Cassie's 16th birthday to be with the man she'd been having an affair with. Cassie is also moving to an old-school (and rundown) Boston firehouse full of old-guard firefighters who don't like the idea of a woman on their turf.

To add to the complications is Cassie starting her new job alongside an Irish-legacy firefighter rookie who is the first person to make Cassie's heart beat fast and even consider knocking down some of the walls she's put up over the years to protect herself.

I loved this book - I wasn't surprised at the acknowledgements to find that Center's partner was once a medic and is still a volunteer firefighter, because the insights she gives to the culture of camaraderie (tinged with misogyny) and the patterns of fires was really fascinating and clearly came from a place of deep respect to understanding. I also really loved the romance between Cassie and 'The Rookie' - Owen. It was a slow-burn (ha!) that really paid off.

I cried buckets reading this, and my only criticism was that the last two-thirds or so of the novel felt extremely rushed and like a fast-forwarded montage I would have appreciated living inside of a little more as reader.

But overall I'm glad I've finally given this author a try, and I look forward to delving into her backlist!

4/5