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A review by rida_reads
The Billionaire Needs a Bodyguard by Ravina Hilliard
2.0
The Billionaire Needs a Bodyguard is a story about a self-made billionaire named Michael - handsome, charismatic, married and divorced once and now does not believe in having long-lasting relationships. His company is going through a merger with a Danish firm and for that he needs to go to Copenhagen and woo the CEO and the Danish ambassador. But there's a catch - the ambassador's wife, Ivana, is pursuing Michael and does not know how to take no for an answer. So, he decides to hire an escort to pose as his girlfriend on the Copenhagen trip. Additionally, someone sends a death threat to Michael but he does not take it seriously. So, his security team hire a bodyguard through an agency with the help of MI5. Enters Alexandra aka Lex, a naive, under-confident girl, but with great observational, organizational, and managerial skills. Also, apparently she's great at her work too.
The storyline seemed very promising to me at first and I was intrigued. I really wanted to know more about these characters and the synopsis had me on my toes. But it was a long downward spiral for me, for at least 80% of the book. The way Michael treats her, even if she's an escort and a gold-digger at that, does not sit well with me. Their fights, their reasonings, I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Also, the girl is an escort and yet, Michael showed extreme jealousy and in today's time and age, real couples don't show such extreme signs of jealousy and possessiveness. During the remaining 20% of the book, the author really tried to redeem the characters and she succeeded to a certain extent. She managed to wrap up a lot of things that were dwindling in front of my eyes throughout the book, and I am greatful. However, some things were just plain inexcusable.
Some snippets of my experience:
Half way through the book, Lex discovers she is in love with Michael but I just don't get it. He has done nothing but taunt her and insult her. Yes, sure he was good to her in bed but that's just limited to sex. The author hasn't even developed Michael's character enough that we see any good side of him that will make Lex fall for him. There's chemistry between them, sure. But I wish the author had built his character enough so we knew certain characteristics of him for Lex to fall in love with him.
In one incident, Michael is asking Lex to be with him apart from their arrangement, he's asking her to be his girlfriend but Lex uses his past against him saying that "you don't have a great track record. Most of your relationships don't last more than a few weeks." This did not sit well with me. Because if Michael, or anyone for that matter, knows that a relationship is not going anywhere, he surely has a right to break it off and not be in it and make it toxic.
She goes on to say that she can't be with him. When he asks why, she says, "if you don't already know then you wouldn't understand even if I tried to explain it."
What??? Communicate woman. Please. Communicate.
Also, I give 1 extra star for the monologue Lex gives Michael at the airport. But then again, if she sees him to have all the flaws, what made her fall in love with him?
The author did try to address all these problems in the end of the book, like I said, and it did redeem the story for me, but only to a certain extent.
The storyline seemed very promising to me at first and I was intrigued. I really wanted to know more about these characters and the synopsis had me on my toes. But it was a long downward spiral for me, for at least 80% of the book. The way Michael treats her, even if she's an escort and a gold-digger at that, does not sit well with me. Their fights, their reasonings, I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Also, the girl is an escort and yet, Michael showed extreme jealousy and in today's time and age, real couples don't show such extreme signs of jealousy and possessiveness. During the remaining 20% of the book, the author really tried to redeem the characters and she succeeded to a certain extent. She managed to wrap up a lot of things that were dwindling in front of my eyes throughout the book, and I am greatful. However, some things were just plain inexcusable.
Some snippets of my experience:
Half way through the book, Lex discovers she is in love with Michael but I just don't get it. He has done nothing but taunt her and insult her. Yes, sure he was good to her in bed but that's just limited to sex. The author hasn't even developed Michael's character enough that we see any good side of him that will make Lex fall for him. There's chemistry between them, sure. But I wish the author had built his character enough so we knew certain characteristics of him for Lex to fall in love with him.
In one incident, Michael is asking Lex to be with him apart from their arrangement, he's asking her to be his girlfriend but Lex uses his past against him saying that "you don't have a great track record. Most of your relationships don't last more than a few weeks." This did not sit well with me. Because if Michael, or anyone for that matter, knows that a relationship is not going anywhere, he surely has a right to break it off and not be in it and make it toxic.
She goes on to say that she can't be with him. When he asks why, she says, "if you don't already know then you wouldn't understand even if I tried to explain it."
What??? Communicate woman. Please. Communicate.
Also, I give 1 extra star for the monologue Lex gives Michael at the airport. But then again, if she sees him to have all the flaws, what made her fall in love with him?
The author did try to address all these problems in the end of the book, like I said, and it did redeem the story for me, but only to a certain extent.