Reviews

The Protector by Morgan Elizabeth

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I just wasn’t sold on this novel. I wanted to like it; I’m a bit of a sucker for stories with this sort of plot and the dynamic between Luna and Tony was, for the most part, entertaining to me. There were things in this book I found refreshing; I liked that her brother was not massively bothered by the relationship very early on, as an example.

However, I found a lot of this book quite annoying. Tony was a really frustrating character. He’s massively overbearing, he victim blames, I hated the general idea that he (and her brother and father) knew better because they were men. This might not have been how the author intended this to come across, but it’s how it did. Quite frankly, Tony’s attitude stank for most of the book. Luna didn’t get space to breathe and this was treated like a positive, as if it was for her own benefit; and naturally,

Spoiler

every time he does give her some space, she nearly dies or gets assaulted. Again – its this idea that he knew best, all the time, and that Luna was just some daft woman who didn’t know how to look after herself.

Unfortunately, Luna wasn’t very likable to me either. I hate to use this term, but she came across like a doormat, especially considering a lot of the book is spent focusing on how much she isn’t a doormat.

Also, the way the book handled their age gap was…not good. Like, the gap itself isn’t huge – it’s 4 years and, at the ages the characters are in the book (Luna is 28 and Tony is 32) there’s obviously no issue here. However, I didn’t find the flashbacks where Tony candidly discusses how he only had a few more weeks to wait before she turned 18 appropriate – for me this is predatory language and just felt very weird to include it and, more than that, emphasise this as a really romantic gesture on his part. Like we should see it as romantic he was willing to wait till she was past the legal age of consent before he made any moves?

It just wasn’t great, unfortunately. The writing itself is quite solid but I found a lot of the content iffy and the main plot involving a stalker felt very cartoonish. I can imagine this book being quite popular but it fell very flat for me and, whilst I’ve read and enjoyed books by this author before, I found this off-putting.

Content Notes: Brother’s best friend / best friend’s sister, mutual pining, forced proximity.

Warnings:

Spoiler

Stalking, harassment, vandalism, burglary / trespassing as part of harassment, attempted date rape (in past), drink spiking, kidnap, violence, misogynistic language, threat of rape, victim blaming.

Other:

Spoiler

On-page sex, unprotected sex

Spoiler

Condoms used initially, FMC has an IUD, MMC and FMC have both had recent clear STI tests.

sbogrady's review against another edition

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dark funny hopeful medium-paced

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

3.25

ssamanthaat's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious 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

turtleswift01's review

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4.0

I really enjoyed this, especially a lot more than the first book! I’m always a sucker for brothers best friend and I loved how chill her brother was about them in this :)

kyraplummer's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced

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

2.0

i literally HATED the male main character lmao… He was such a jackass and ridiculously controlling. I know that’s the point of the book but he could be protective without being the literal worst. Their relationship started so strangely and there were very few redeeming qualities about the characters. I might give this author another chance cause i’m interested in some of the plots of her other books but so far, the two books i’ve read by her have been, simply put; just fine.

odabrynildsen's review

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medium-paced

2.25

_annie_27's review against another edition

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2.0

2⭐
This book was okay but it definitely needs some editing.
First of all there are too many repetitions.
I also noticed a mistake about Kate: in the beginning it says that she worked there since the opening but in the end it says she only worked there for a couple of months soo what's the truth???
I kind of didn't like the two main characters. They tried too much.
He's a cop.
The fact that she avoided him for 10 years is insane. They lived in the same town, had the same friends. Hell he's best friend with her brother. It's highly unlikely.
The ending ruined almost everything to me. We don't get to see their epilogue because a new character is introduced. I really hated it. In my opinion it was totally unnecessary since there are so many people who needed more attention.

This is the second book I've read of this author, the first I've actually finished but I'm so disappointed. Booktok lied again.
I don't know if I should give her another chance.