Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

66 reviews

nova_lilias's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood

Moderate: Gun violence

molls's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

This is a fun-level 4 but an actual 3. I read it in like 4 hours. I laughed and kicked my feet. I also had to suspend some disbelief. 

Unfortunately this book makes one of my least favorite mistakes in media: telling me a woman is badass at her career and then only showing her being a neurotic screwup. MacKenzie in The Newsroom: allegedly a big deal reporter who has interviewed Osama bin Laden, but has a meltdown in episode 1 over a reply-all email. Kate in The Diplomat, whining constantly about trivial stuff like having to wear diplomat-appropriate outfits to diplomacy-adjacent social functions.  Hannah has good reason to be a little weepy in this book so I tried to forgive it, but we barely got to see her do cool bodyguard stuff at all, and that was a real bummer for me. No one on the team demonstrated much skill for executive protection, honestly, so it was a little hard to take them seriously. 

Also, I admit I am biased as a corgi owner, but Corgi Lady wouldn't have had time for all that nonsense.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Car accident

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Terminal illness

Minor: Addiction, Blood, and Vomit

mrsjoellebell's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Cancer and Domestic abuse

Minor: Blood

embelle's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

4.5

This was my first Katherine Center book, and I enjoyed it! It’s a really fun, sometimes cheesy, and other times deep and reflective, rom-com that flips the traditional bodyguard/celebrity romance. I found myself reading this book really quickly and wanting to know what would happen to the characters, and I appreciated how the lighthearted romance was complimented by discussions about deeper thoughts, insecurities and reflections. Overall, I had a great time with this book and am looking forward to discussing it at my next book club meeting!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Infidelity

katherinek's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident

Moderate: Cancer and Blood

Minor: Gun violence

meenakshisathish's review against another edition

funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-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

2.0

It would have been such a good read because the main characters do have enough chemistry and the conflict is believable. But there’s just too many tropes trying to out-do each other: dead mom, cancer-ailing mom, dead brother, toxic ex boyfriend, betraying best friend, funny side characters to give it a Brooklyn 99 feel. It feels more like a book written to do well in TikTok’s algorithm. 

Perhaps I’m being a little hard because the heart of the story is really sweet. But the writing and the composition of the story is the real downfall of this book. But I think the nail on the coffin was the unmissable pick-me vibes saturated throughout the whole narrative. There are only three female characters that are redeemable: the main character Hannah, the ailing mother of Jack Stapleton, and the quirky side character Kelly who is really there only to be a comic relief from time to time. The rest of the women in the story are shallow, selfish, and often just outright dumb. The last time I read a romance novel that invested in the patriarchal bargain was in middle school when I read fan fiction stories on Wattpad. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming and Gaslighting

Moderate: Violence and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Blood, and Abandonment

keelirae113's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad 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

4.0

Cute little rom com I finally picked up after seeing the hype lol. I’m glad the fmc didn’t allow those toxic people back into her life and was able to find the family she always wanted during a time of healing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

shellanor_rigby's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Blood

Minor: Domestic abuse

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

4.25

First person romance is far from my usual, but I was completely taken in by the warmth and freshness of this story. Yes, it's a trope for the ages, but the healthiness of the relationship between the leads was such an unexpected delight. A male 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.

The one thing that stretched my suspension of belief was the bodyguard team's antics. There's a lot of telling us about how great they are, meanwhile what's shown is a lot of... high school level drama. I just wish we'd seen more of what made this team - and our lead by association - capable enough to be hired by a beleaguered celebrity. 

All that being said: Do not - do not! - go into this book expecting realistic drama or steamy romance. It's a bantery, feel-good, reverse bodyguard trope that runs on rom-com logic, but (mostly) in the best way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Vomit and Abandonment

Overall: It's a very light-hearted, hopeful book but it deals with some background heavy topics. In order or prevalence:

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, until

one gets violent -> see gun violence.

Gun violence, suicide attempt, blood, injury: Someone is shot at and mildy injured.

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.

Toxic Relationship: Heroine has a generally very shitty ex-boyfriend.

Cancer: The male lead's mother is going through cancer treatment. There's mention of having and recovering from surgery, and the characters often briefly visit a hospital. The prognosis

ends up being very good and she completely recovers.

Alcoholism: More than one background character suffers from it.

One was killed before the story from driving recklessly under the influence.

Car accident, death: Past incident. The accident is described in detail more than once and led to a death by drowning.

The driver was under the influence, drove too fast, went off a bridge and drowned.

Drowning: One almost-incident during the story and one in the past - both described in some detail.

Vomit: One character has a phobia that he often vomits after being exposed to. It's not described in detail.

Abandonment: A character briefly describes a parent leaving them and their other parent abruptly when they were very young.