The Bodyguard by Katherine Center (★★★☆☆)
E-Book • Libby • Contemporary Romance • 2022
The Bodyguard is a contemporary romance about Hannah and Jack. Hannah is an Executive Protection Agent (aka, a bodyguard) whose next job is to keep wildly successful actor Jack Stapleton safe from a stalker while he visits with his mom who is sick. Hannah doesn’t seem like the typical bodyguard for a man like Jack, but that’s what makes her so good at her job. But in order to sell her presence in Jack’s life while he spends time with his mom at their family ranch, Jack and Hannah have to pretend to be dating. Ahhh… the fake-dating trope! It’s one of my faves, for sure. I really liked this book, but there was just something missing the mark for me. It was hard for me to understand the love story between Jack and Hannah—I could see them developing a close friendship after all of this, but I didn’t feel any chemistry between the characters nor see what made Jack fall in love with Hannah, or vice versa. I thought the ending was clever, although I could have done without the epilogue. All in all, a good romance but not one I’m rushing out to recommend.
The Smart One by Jennifer Close (★★☆☆☆)
Print • Owned (Thriftbooks) • Contemporary Fiction • 2013
The Smart One is a book about the Coffey family. There’s Weezy, the mother who might be a little overbearing at times. There’s Martha, the oldest daughter who is living at home and working in retail after burning out quickly in her career as a nurse. There’s Claire, the middle child who just broke up with her fiance and is in dire financial straits. And there’s Max, the youngest child who is away at college and just started dating Cleo. The story follows the perspectives of Weezy, Martha, Claire, and Cleo as they navigate life and family and careers and mental health struggles. It’s a character-driven novel, but the characters are just so awful and hard to root for. I wouldn’t say I need to like my characters to enjoy a novel, but when it’s a character-driven novel like this, I really want to be able to root for someone. Honestly, though, I don’t even know if I hated the characters as much as I disliked the writing. I wanted more for these characters, but the writing failed to live up to what they could be. They deserved better, I guess.
The 57 Bus: A True Story About Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater (★★★★★)
Audiobook • Libby • YA/Nonfiction • 2017
This book was… incredible. It’s part-fiction and part-nonfiction. The novel part, which is based on a true story, takes the story of a nonbinary teenager named Sasha who is involved in a horrific accident on the bus one day. A Black teenage boy named Richard thought it might be funny to take a lighter to the skirt Sasha is wearing. Sasha is sleeping on the bus at the time, but Richard thinks, surely, they will wake up before the skirt erupts in flames. Sasha does not wake up until they are engulfed, and some bus passengers have to help them put out the flames. Sasha then must undergo surgery and treatment for the burns while Richard is arrested for the crime. The novel flashes between Sasha and Richard’s stories, and between those chapters are nonfiction chapters. Information about the gender spectrum, about Black teenagers’ incarceration rates, about the justice system, about burn treatment, etc. It’s such an interesting way of telling a story, and I found myself truly awed by it.
What are you reading?
I’m reading We All Want Impossible Things, and I am really enjoying it. It’s classic Catherine Newman; if you know her writing you will know what I mean!
I’m reading the second book of the Thursday Murder Club series! It’s light/good so far!
I have heard really good things about that series!
The 57 Bus sounds like a really unique way of telling a story! Especially because the fiction part, if I am reading correctly, is based on a true story.
I am reading a bunch of things, but am at the beginning of most, so don’t have a strong feeling either way yet.
Yes – the book is based on a true story so it draws in both fiction and nonfiction elements. It was really unique and impactful!
Omg I want to cry just reading the description of the last book! I can see why it’s so good.
I am reading The Plot, which… you did not like 😉 It seems like a hella slow burn so far. I picked it up after Knox recommended it.
The 57 Bus was a tremendously impactful read. Let me know if you pick it up!
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts about The Plot. I hated that book and was v disappointed in Knox for giving it a green light. 😉
I just finished it last night and was v disappointed too. It was so slow, and so obvious. And I was not THAT impressed with the idea of the novel within the novel.
Yes to all of this! I think the most bonkers thing is that this novel-within-the-novel was somehow this blockbuster book, but it was just not that impressive to me. It just didn’t seem very realistic that THAT book, of all books, would be such a hit.
That last book sounds really interesting. My best friend is a child psychologist and she works in a gender clinic so I will have to tell her about this book as she likes reading things that relate to what she does for her job.
I just finished “Think Again” by Adam Grant which was good. It made me think about how inflexible I can be at times and how to open myself up to change/thinking about things differently. Now I’m reading “I’ll Show Myself Out” which is a memoir in essays about motherhood. I feel very seen reading it!
I would be interested to know if your friend heard about this case at all! I hadn’t heard of it, but I wonder if those working in gender clinics and such are familiar with it.
A friend highly recommend Think Again and I really need to pick it up!
The 57 Bus was available immediately on Libby, so I downloaded it. It sounds amazing.
I’m reading nothing good and I don’t want to talk about it and I cannot believe how long my reading lull has been. Maybe I just need to do a reread of something I already know I love to get myself kickstarted again.
Oh, I hope you like The 57 Bus. Our tastes don’t align usually, so I’ll be interested in what you think.
I also think The 57 Bus sounds amazing. I just put a library hold on it.
I read another book by Katherine Center- How to Walk Away, and i also thought that was “meh.” It wasn’t bad, but could have been so much better.
Yay! I hope you find it as impactful as I did.
Yeah, Katherine Center is basically a very “meh” author for me. That’s a good way to describe her books!
The last book sounds really interesting as ow it is structured. Hard to imagine. I will see if I can find it in the library.
I am currently reading. “Smoke gets in your eyes” and I am not really getting into it. But maybe because I have no real time to dive into boos this month with all the NaBloPo blog to read.
Oh, my goodness – that last book sounds heartwrenching and so, so powerful.
By contrast, the Katherine Center books are, for me, like, well, plain oatmeal. Inoffensive but nothing to write home about. If I’m truly stuck for reading (a Very Rare Situation, indeed) then they’re okay. But I don’t seek them out… much like others in this space. 🙂