💄🕶️ Book Spotlight: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

Genre: Romance • Contemporary Fiction • Emotional Fiction

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☕ Book Details & Rating

Format: Audiobook
Series: Standalone (but connects loosely to The Rom-Commers)
Year Published: 2022
Page Count: 320
Rating: ☕☕☕½ (3.5 Coffees)

🥤 Perfect Sip: Caramel Iced Latte with a Shot of Espresso

Why it Works: Sweet, smooth, and full of comfort — but with that extra kick you don’t see coming. It’s charming and warm like Jack Stapleton, yet packs just enough caffeine to match Hannah’s fierce determination.

About the Book

Hannah Brooks is a professional bodyguard—skilled, serious, and surprisingly unassuming. After a string of personal and professional blows, she’s ready for a low-key assignment. Instead, she’s tasked with protecting Jack Stapleton, a Hollywood heartthrob who’s retreated to his family’s Texas ranch after tragedy struck his life.

Jack doesn’t want his family to know he’s under protection, so Hannah is forced to pose as his girlfriend while secretly keeping watch for potential threats. What starts as an awkward charade quickly turns into something more genuine, as Hannah discovers there’s more to Jack than the headlines—and more to herself than the walls she’s built.

Funny, heartfelt, and full of emotional depth, The Bodyguard is a story about healing, rediscovering connection, and finding love in the most unexpected places.

⚠️ Spoiler Warning

This review contains mild spoilers. Proceed with your latte in hand. ☕

My Thoughts

Out of the four Katherine Center books I’ve read so far, The Bodyguard lands at the bottom of the list for me—but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad book. It has all the ingredients of a good rom-com: forced proximity, one bed (but no spice), and a fake relationship. The setup was perfect. But for some reason, I just didn’t connect with Hannah or Jack like I have with Center’s other characters. Maybe it was the dialogue this time—it lacked that spark and banter I’ve come to love from her writing.

That said, I couldn’t help but feel for Hannah. She’s going through it—a strained relationship with her late mother, grief, betrayal, heartbreak, and a career setback all at once. Work is her safe place, her escape from real life. So when her boss assigns her a job in her hometown (the one place she doesn’t want to be) and her boyfriend dumps her right after her mom’s funeral? Oof. Then her best friend betrays her on top of it all. It’s hard not to feel protective of her. The flashbacks to her childhood only add more layers to why she’s so guarded and driven.

Jack Stapleton, who fans might remember from The Rom-Commers, is a well-known actor estranged from his family. His brother blames him for their sibling’s death, and while his parents mean well, they don’t exactly help mend the rift. Jack returns home when his mother has a health scare but doesn’t want to add stress by revealing he’s being threatened—so Hannah poses as his girlfriend while secretly protecting him.

The fake dating trope works well here. There are genuinely sweet, heartfelt moments—the piggyback ride, the beach walk, those small gestures that make you smile. Both Jack and Hannah slowly start letting their walls down… until Hannah’s ex plants doubts in her mind that undo all their progress. Enter the third-act breakup, followed by some exciting twists that tie things together in the end.

Even though The Bodyguard didn’t hit me the way Center’s other books have, her research and attention to detail remain unmatched. I learned more about the life of a professional bodyguard than I ever expected to, and I loved that Hannah was written as short and petite—it’s rare to see a heroine who’s underestimated because of her size but uses it as her strength.

Final Thoughts

While The Bodyguard didn’t capture my heart quite like The Rom-Commers or The Love Haters, it’s still a solid and enjoyable read. Katherine Center’s signature blend of humor, hope, and healing shines through even when this one doesn’t hit quite as hard. The story explores grief, forgiveness, and finding strength in vulnerability—delivered with her usual emotional honesty and charm.

There is a bit of language sprinkled throughout, but it’s mild and never distracts from the story or its message. Overall, The Bodyguard is a sweet, thoughtful rom-com with plenty of heart and just enough depth to keep you thinking after the final page. It may not be my favorite of Center’s books, but if her name’s on the cover, it’s still an instant “add to cart” for me.