tinkeringcheck's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
First person romance is far from my usual, but I was completely taken in by the warmth and unique freshness of this story. Yes, it's a trope for the ages, but the healthiness of the relationship between the leads? A love interest with emotional maturity and an overabundance of green flags? Clear discussions of boundaries and feelings? It was a breath of fresh, Texas air and the best kind of romcom you can root for all wrapped into one wise, silly, hopeful package. I adored it. I adored all of these characters. And I especially adored Jack's family.
That being said: Do not (do not!) go into this book expecting realistic drama or steamy romance. It's a bantery, feel-good, bodyguard trope that runs on rom-com logic, but in the best way.
(Sidenote: As someone with a family member who taught crime prevention for a living: Hannah's way of looking at the world was pretty accurate. You can laugh at her for thinking about the ways a potted patio plant can be used to break a window, but there's a reason my silly painted rocks were never allowed on the front porch as a kid. Even though the romantic hijinks and kooky coworker drama could overshadow it, I thought those details showed that she really was quite capable at her job.)
That being said: Do not (do not!) go into this book expecting realistic drama or steamy romance. It's a bantery, feel-good, bodyguard trope that runs on rom-com logic, but in the best way.
(Sidenote: As someone with a family member who taught crime prevention for a living: Hannah's way of looking at the world was pretty accurate. You can laugh at her for thinking about the ways a potted patio plant can be used to break a window, but there's a reason my silly painted rocks were never allowed on the front porch as a kid. Even though the romantic hijinks and kooky coworker drama could overshadow it, I thought those details showed that she really was quite capable at her job.)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Medical content, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment and Vomit
Overall: It's a very light-hearted, hopeful book but it deals with some background heavy topics. DEATH OF PARENT, DEATH, GRIEF: Very beginning of book skims over the main character's mother dying, and the grief from that is a catalyst for the rest of the book. Grief (and hope) is a major theme. DOMESTIC/PHYSICAL ABUSE: Past, as a memory. A very violent incidence of it and the injuries/aftermath is described by character who was a child at the time. STALKING: With one lead being a famous actor, there's lots of discussions about stalking in general. Stalking incidents are discussed in detail, though light-heartedly, untilSpoiler
one gets violent -> see gun violence.Spoiler
In a hostage situation characters are held at gunpoint and one suffers a graze on the head that bleeds a lot but isn't too serious. The shooter plans to kill himself, not the hostages, but is talked down.Spoiler
ends up being very good and she completely recovers.Spoiler
One was killed before the story from driving recklessly under the influence.Spoiler
The driver was under the influence, drove too fast, went off a bridge and drowned.alishalaurit's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Death of parent, Cancer, and Death
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Vomit
sebradley29's review
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Bullying, Cancer, Body shaming, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Chronic illness, and Death
queerbean's review
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This is pretty good although it’s really predictive, very, I mean the plot twist didn’t blow my mind at all because I just knew.
i honestly enjoyed reading this thing. It was cute, a little surprising, romantic, cute again, interesting. But I think a certain tipe of person would like it more than me , or at least someone who enjoys reading this cliche appearance things (the short girl, muscular guy, you know, the steriotope) that are considered hot now days. I don’t, but most people do. (So do you know, it’s not full of blondes and skinnie girls and that Kind of straight esteriotipes, I’m just saying that the book was always mentioning the fact that they had diferent highs and muscular masses and in my personal opinion is a little cringe and not realistic enough to be “cool” or sexy, just annoying)
Despite it, yeah, I would reccomend it, Jack was lovely and I actually loved the fact that hanna was able to fucking tackle him, that was awesome.
A good read
3.75 ⭐️
i honestly enjoyed reading this thing. It was cute, a little surprising, romantic, cute again, interesting. But I think a certain tipe of person would like it more than me , or at least someone who enjoys reading this cliche appearance things (the short girl, muscular guy, you know, the steriotope) that are considered hot now days. I don’t, but most people do. (So do you know, it’s not full of blondes and skinnie girls and that Kind of straight esteriotipes, I’m just saying that the book was always mentioning the fact that they had diferent highs and muscular masses and in my personal opinion is a little cringe and not realistic enough to be “cool” or sexy, just annoying)
Despite it, yeah, I would reccomend it, Jack was lovely and I actually loved the fact that hanna was able to fucking tackle him, that was awesome.
A good read
3.75 ⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Minor: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Stalking, Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Cancer, Alcohol, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Death of parent, and Car accident
gabs_parr's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Car accident, Stalking, Gun violence, Death of parent, and Death
Minor: Mental illness, Vomit, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Cursing
atamano's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident and Gun violence
Moderate: Stalking, Body shaming, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Cancer, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Mental illness and Vomit
gretchenplz's review
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is if Yellowstone was a romantic comedy instead.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Cancer, and Gun violence
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Stalking
Minor: Vomit and Suicidal thoughts
kaydeedickins's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Death, and Medical content
Moderate: Alcohol, Cancer, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcoholism, Vomit, and Sexism
maeverose's review against another edition
2.5
Sadly, this did not end up working for me. It started out alright, The writing style didn’t put me off (It was a tolerable amount of cheesy) I actually enjoyed the first half for the most part. Fake dating is one of my favorite romance tropes, I liked the idea of a bodyguard trope, especially with the bodyguard being a woman. But then towards the end I started to lose interest. There were also several things that bothered me throughout the book.
Which are:
-Hannah is a very bad bodyguard. She kept protesting doing things that can’t possibly be as bad as things she’s had to do for other jobs, she’s trained to handle tense life threatening situations - yet freaks out and shuts down over a shirtless man in front of her… She’s a grown ass adult, has had sex with men before, and she just shuts down over a man’s undulating six pack (seriously why that word choice)? Yes this is a cheesy rom com and I’m probably taking it too seriously but still.
-All the back and forth conversations/arguments where Hannah refuses to accept or agree to something but eventually gives in. It always went on way too long, was overdone and got annoying pretty quickly.
-Along those lines, Hannah needing to be told a million times that Jack liked her before she believed it. It started to come across as her just being completely clueless rather than insecure.
-mainly because of those last three things, but also just because of the narration, Hannah seemed very immature.
-a lot of body shaming
-internalized misogyny
-very heteronormative (every single character is cishet)
Which are:
-Hannah is a very bad bodyguard. She kept protesting doing things that can’t possibly be as bad as things she’s had to do for other jobs, she’s trained to handle tense life threatening situations - yet freaks out and shuts down over a shirtless man in front of her… She’s a grown ass adult, has had sex with men before, and she just shuts down over a man’s undulating six pack (seriously why that word choice)?
Spoiler
She was completely clueless about Jack’s fears, nightmares and feud with Hank when she was told during the briefing about what happened with Drew. Isn’t she supposed to be good at analyzing people and assessing situations? And she was scared of cows??? That scene was funny to be fair but made zero sense.-All the back and forth conversations/arguments where Hannah refuses to accept or agree to something but eventually gives in. It always went on way too long, was overdone and got annoying pretty quickly.
-Along those lines, Hannah needing to be told a million times that Jack liked her before she believed it. It started to come across as her just being completely clueless rather than insecure.
-mainly because of those last three things, but also just because of the narration, Hannah seemed very immature.
-a lot of body shaming
-internalized misogyny
-very heteronormative (every single character is cishet)
-Jack getting physically aggressive with his brother and smashing that plate
-I felt like there should’ve been a content warning for suicide attempt for the end of the book. Even though we’re told many times that things could get messy given Hannah’s job, the whole book was very low stakes up until then, and that kind of came out of no where. For a rom com especially, it seemed a bit much. It felt like she almost tried to keep that scene a bit lighthearted as well with the writing style, but that’s not a scene you can make light of imo. It felt a bit insensitive.
-I felt like there should’ve been a content warning for suicide attempt for the end of the book. Even though we’re told many times that things could get messy given Hannah’s job, the whole book was very low stakes up until then, and that kind of came out of no where. For a rom com especially, it seemed a bit much. It felt like she almost tried to keep that scene a bit lighthearted as well with the writing style, but that’s not a scene you can make light of imo. It felt a bit insensitive.
-
Spoiler
the fact that the villain was disabled and ‘ugly’, plus the villainizing of mental illness in general (no that ridiculous epilogue did not make up for it)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death, Gun violence, and Stalking
Moderate: Cancer, Ableism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Blood, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Medical content, and Terminal illness
Minor: Fatphobia and Vomit
Graphic: death of a siblingpodanotherjessi's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This genuinely had me laughing and squealing for about 85% of the book. The other 15% is a pretty ever split of hard-hitting moments that land really well, and attempts at deep themes that feel saccherine and heavy handed. Overall though, this was completely delightful. You have to o in expecting it to be ridiculous, but if your mindset is right it is a lot of fun.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Vomit