Am I going soft or slowly becoming a romcom fan? We’ll revisit this another day but here today I loved the The Bodyguard. Right out of the gate Hannah Brooks is a stellar protag that’s hilarious to read. I tend to be critical of romance novels as I often have problems with tone and the internal character voice being gratingly overdramatic, but The Bodyguard had me constantly chuckling and smiling. Hannah is still overdramatic but her self-awareness of how dumb she’s acting coupled with snappy humor keeps things fresh and engaging. The first half reminded me of a hypothetical modern cross between Miss Congeniality and the Proposal (the fish out of water tale of competent and professional woman and the fake dating for family tropes). And that alone would make it a fun yet cliched read. What really sold me on this book is the perfect balance between the focal romance between Hannah and Jack and the overarching plot of the personal protection service and threats made against Jack’s life. I often find romance novels have an uneven emphasis between the two parts or ping pong back and forth abruptly, however this one effortlessly incorporates both. The personal protection bodyguard…
