A review by bibiran
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

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

3.5

this was 75% funny and cute and 25%... um.. "mark this 3 stars instead of 4" vibes

so the pacing was pretty decent, though I feel like I was waiting for something more momentous to happen on the ranch instead of you know, they get along because they're just generally nice people and his mom just really wants them to get married for some reason. like I feel like the length could've been shaved and the climax (on the roof of his house) should've been sooner. 

the banter/jokes were usually pretty funny! a giggle was giggled! that was probably the best part of this. i think though, that the book should've wholly stuck to that instead of attempting to make profound statements about beauty and love and insecurity, because coming from a character who was confident in her abilities etc. and wasn't crippled by insecurity really, just going through a rough patch in life and having a normal reaction to suddenly being close to a handsome famous person, having that be one of the closing messages felt off. 

speaking of this emphasis on trying to make statements on beauty, self-worth, and love, it felt like some kind of personal insecurity and opinion slipped through the cracks in the writing, which ultimately made me rate the book lower than i would have. 

there is a point in the book where the main character describes Bratz dolls as looking "like Barbie had undergone extreme plastic surgery: overly made-up cat eyes, and giant, swollen lips" and goes several steps further describing them as looking like "mutant porn stars." (what?) it's important to note that these dolls have features closer mirroring the features of women of color and resonate more with people belonging to that community as well, not that I would expect a white woman writing a book about white people in a Texas ranch to be in tune with these kinds of things but as a woman of color it took me out of the book and I wasn't able to fully enjoy it after that, knowing I would have to come back to it as I wrote my thoughts later.

the book also takes to backhandedly belittling other women who were more "conventionally attractive" as opposed to the main character, who is not described as ugly at all? just like, a normal woman, who is most likely pretty as women always are? and it does it in the most un-nuanced, grotesque form as well, making the beautiful celebrity girlfriend with "bouncy plastic boobies" (?) and a perfect "airbrushed plastic" face an almost cartoonishly evil character? what was the reason? it just felt like the author had some kind of vendetta against conventionally attractive women that rubbed me the wrong way.

it wasn't all bad, the book had fluctuating moments of lucidity where it said some things about beauty, societal expectations, and insecurity that i agreed with, but i feel like it was definitely not strong enough a suit to be made as a recurring theme, so she lost me. it was, like i said, 75% decently enjoyable, which is a lot more than i can say about most contemporary romance books, so definitely power to her for that.
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