Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

105 reviews

cheye13'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

3.0

This was lovely, cute, and charming, if a little unremarkable. The relationship was sweet with the right level of push and pull, the characters had substance, and the plot was engaging. The writing was both skillful and easy to read. And even the heat level (or lack of one) was perfect for my tastes.

What I mainly felt was missing was more of a deep-dive into the leads' careers. I'm not one to say one's career fully defines one's personality, but both of these characters seemed so defined by their unique careers that it would've been fun to push a little further into that. Particularly Hannah – we never leave her POV, she has such a unique career, and she definitively, on-page, defines herself by her excellence in that career. Instead we get a lot of moping about her ex and best friend. And while that's completely warranted and doesn't detract from her as a character, it would be nice if she'd been a little more fleshed out, especially as our first-person narrator.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Car accident, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Stalking, and Alcoholism

Minor: Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

also note: detailed descriptions and phobia of drowning

vj_thompson's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was a funny witty romance. The banter and the character’s relationship was cute and fun. This is my favorite type of romance; where there is a little bit of thrill along with everything else.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Car accident, Death, Cancer, Stalking, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Cursing and Physical abuse

brie_is_reading's review

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

This book really worked for me. I loved it. I wish somethings outside of the main romance had been concluded a bit better. But overall a really great book. 💜

Things I Loved:
both mcs- just everything them, how they were with each other. 
Sending Bobby far, far away. How the author navigated and didn’t often fall into the common pitfalls of this genre. The absolute clear way that the internal thoughts were expressed. Just enough explanations of their jobs. They way this ending felt silly, but still worked. The goddamn birdhouses.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol, Cancer, Car accident, and Grief

morbookish's review

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Car accident, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Grief, Domestic abuse, Cursing, and Death of parent

burkiewiczs's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Grief, Body shaming, Car accident, Gun violence, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Stalking, and Domestic abuse

bookswithangeli's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted sad 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Gun violence

Moderate: Grief, Cancer, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism

allingoodtime's review

emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.0

 

This is one of those books I put off reading because of the buzz. I didn’t want to go in with my expectations too high so I waited for things to die down a bit. This is also a new-to-me author that I had no idea had multiple books adapted for Netflix until I read her Acknowledgements in this book. I’m glad I didn’t know that because I probably would have put off reading this for longer due to that whole expectations thing I started off talking about.

This story is more of a slow burn than I anticipated, but it worked well for the story. Hannah is not the most lovable character at first. Although she had some terrible things happen to her and I wished for her to have someone on her side, there was also something in her interactions with her partner and her best friend at the beginning that made me think of her as a bit oblivious to the feelings of those around her. I wouldn’t call her self-centered, but she was definitely self-involved. She may not have been overly lovable, but she was still likable. That all being said, the way she is treated by people who should be on her side, or at the very least people who have no reason to be cruel to her, is unfathomable. They’re a bunch of jerks!

It took me a minute to get used to how the first-person past perspective was written in this book. I’m not sure why, I read that POV a lot. Yet it was somewhat rough for me at first. I was glad it was only through Hannah’s eyes though. I had my thoughts about Jack and where he was at when it came to his relationship with Hannah, but it added more depth to the story that I was in the same boat as Hannah of not being quite sure. And as much as I was prepared to dislike Jack, as I’m sure Hannah was, he was too charismatic for me to have anything but love for the guy.

I love a fake relationship story and this one is no exception. Jack’s family, for all of the animosity between Jack and his older brother, is lovely. They set the scene for Hannah and Jack to relax and find their way to each other. They already had the chemistry from the very first time they meet, they just needed to learn to trust where that chemistry was taking them. Jack’s teasing side is irresistible and Hannah’s ability to let down her walls and show him her vulnerable side is beautiful. This story gave me so many feels.

I’ll be making it a point to seek out some of this author’s other work. I enjoyed this story a great deal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Alcoholism

katelynnreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

This book had good development of characters, grief was dealt with respectful, and there is a love story in there, but there is mention of domestic abuse of parent figure, as well as suicidal thoughts at a point in the book and those being triggers for me were enough to give a warning and a 4 star. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Domestic abuse, and Stalking

Moderate: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Car accident, Alcoholism, and Death

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

emotional funny lighthearted medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Gun violence, Death, Blood, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Sexism, Alcoholism, and Cancer

kimveach's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative 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

Cute and funny

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Car accident, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Cancer, Infidelity, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Death, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts