Name: Grumpy Bodyguard Wolf (Special Wolf Security Agency #3)
Rating: 4.1 (4 reviews)

394 reviews39 followers

June 9, 2025

This book reads like it was originally twice as long, but the author went through and randomly deleted every second chapter. The story progression makes no sense. The plot makes no sense. There's not enough backstory given to allow a reader to understand what's going on with the hero, and the resolution to his medical issue is extremely anticlimactic and unearned. There are major plot lines introduced and then just dropped and some major plot holes too. Inordinate amounts of time are spent on people who ultimately have no bearing on the story, but our hero and heroine spend almost no time together.

I'll try to summarize the plot but, as I said, it reads like it was fed through a wood chipper and then the editor "did their best" with what was left over, so no promises.

We start off with the heroine, Amara, standing naked in front of a man who is not the hero and totally at ease. Who is this guy? Her assistant or something, Jackson. Jackson is one of the people who got WAY too much page time when he ultimately had nothing to add to the story.

Amara is a pop singer at the height of her career and she knows it. She's telling Jackson that she doesn't give a damn about what the executives at the record label want. She's the talent, and she'll walk if they don't do things her way. Meanwhile, in her inner monologue, she's regaling us with talk about how amazing her body is, and how her lips in particular are so world-class that she's got multiple makeup deals for them. So, basically, she’s a vain princess the first time we see her.

Then she makes reference to the fact that a crazed fan hopped up on stage at her last concert and now she wants a full time bodyguard. For some reason "the executives" don't like this idea, but she's insistent that she get one. And not just any one, she's hand-picked Jaspar. She knows of the bodyguard firm he works for and they're apparently well known for protecting celebrities. And she looked at all their employees' photos and she thought Jaspar was cute so it has to be him.

Next scene, we're on a phone call between Jaspar and his boss, Flex. In the ensuing call we learn that there's something seriously wrong with Jaspar and his inner wolf. We know from the back of the book that Jaspar is a wolf shifter, but the book itself plays things all coy and won't just come right out and tell us what's going on. There are vague references to Jaspar and his twin brother having merged their wolves and that, apparently, caused them both some major issues. They also talk about keeping "the beast" at bay, which seems to be a separate entity from Jaspar's inner wolf because there are times when the book makes reference to all three of them working in harmony.

Jaspar has to keep this "beast" at bay through some pretty extreme measures. He has to drink potent doses of wolfsbane and also have regular blood transfusions to keep from completely hulking out, but the treatments are becoming less and less effective the longer they go on....and yet, even knowing all this, both Flex and Jaspar think it's a good idea to assign Jaspar to Amara's bodyguard job.

I'm sorry, WHAT?? On what planet would it be a good idea to put a guy who can't control his beast in the position of having to act as protection for a celebrity in the middle of the city? He'll be surrounded by people at all times, so if he loses control, it's virtually a guarantee he'll be spotted shifting and the whole secret will be blown. And, fear, anger, and danger specifically make his beast come to the surface. Guess what emotions he's guaranteed to feel in his role as a protector? There's just no world in which this makes logical sense.

And to make things even worse, Jaspar has to go for regular doctor visits, to get his blood transfusions and to do some kind of dialysis. So he doesn't even have the TIME to protect Amara. But we're not supposed to think about any of this stuff. Just turn your brain off and accept that he's totally going to be her bodyguard and it's fine, okay?

The next chapter opens with Amara giving an interview. The interviewer gets a little pushy and Amara walks away. The interviewer tries to pursue her and Jaspar flattens the guy. Wait, when did Jaspar and Amara meet? Why didn't we get to see that first interaction?

Wood chipper, that's why.

Then they leave and Amara asks Jaspar to take her somewhere of his choosing. She wants to do something fun. Jaspar immediately gets on board with this idea. They go to the parking garage and he tells her to get on his motorcycle.

I'm sorry, what now? Why does he have a motorcycle there? Didn't he and she arrive together? How can he be guarding her body if he's in a separate vehicle from her? And what is the plan for whatever vehicle she arrived in if they ride off on the motorcycle together? How much time has passed since the last chapter? Have they developed some kind of relationship off-page in between chapters? Why would she ask him to take her somewhere? Why would he be willing to do it? If she's in danger from crazed fans then his top priority should be keeping her safe. That means keeping her in controlled environments as much as possible. You know what's not a controlled environment? A freaking motorcycle! Those things kill people all the time even without bringing stalkers into the mix!

But they don't get as far as the actual ride because Jaspar senses that they're being pursued. He tells Amara to hide behind a truck and then he circles around behind the pursuer, somehow climbs soundlessly on top of some cars, and then uses his wolf/beast powers to walk along the ceiling and drop down behind the bad guy. You know, like how wolves can totally walk on ceilings and things....after they've been bitten by radioactive spiders...

The bad guy has a syringe, which Jaspar knocks out of his hand, then they engage in hand-to-hand combat. The bad guy is very, very good. Professional level. Jaspar can hold his own well enough but he's sure this is a professional hit/kidnapping of some kind, not just your run-of-the-mill stalker. He eventually injures the bad guy enough that he takes off, getting into a getaway car to escape. Jaspar then proceeds to chase the car...LEAVING AMARA ALONE AND UNPROTECTED, WITHOUT ANY CLUE AS TO WHETHER THERE MIGHT BE ADDITIONAL ATTACKERS WAITING TO GRAB HER.

Yeah, this guy is definitely a first-rate bodyguard.

Amara tries to give chase, but she's quickly left behind by Jaspar's preternatural speed. She collapses on a bench and tries to call the police...only to find that both her phone and the phones nearby suddenly have no signal. Amara quickly deduces that the signal must be being blocked, which means these kidnappers are VERY sophisticated.

Eventually the police are called but then Amara wishes they hadn't been because she doesn't want this event to end up on the news. Jaspar eventually wanders back and tells her to leave. He'll stay and wait for the cops, telling them that he was protecting a client but that he's not at liberty to give the client's name.

Then we're treated to a prolonged "who can be the biggest asshole" competition between Jaspar and the cop in charge. The cop hates private security people because they don't do REAL police work. Which is just so ridiculous. It's not like the local cops actually WANT to have their own people pulled off their regular work solving crimes to sit around babysitting a celebrity, so the fact that there are private bodyguards is doing them a favor. Jaspar is also unnecessarily dickish in this scene, deliberately antagonizing the cop when it would have been faster to just cooperate. Somehow, though, he's allowed to leave without revealing who his client is.

Now, you'd think that he'd be in a hurry to get back to Amara since a very professional outfit of kidnappers was just thwarted. It's a lock that they will try again to snatch her at their first opportunity, right? But no. Jaspar doesn't go back to her. He goes to see his doctor friend and get his medicine. This also takes a very long time even though it doesn't really go anywhere.

Back over with Amara, she's at her house and her very efficient and motherly caretaker has drawn a bath for her. Amara takes the bath, wonders where Jaspar is, and then has a bit of a breakdown about how alone and scared she is. Then we're told she heads downstairs to shave herself bald.

Um, what? She's shaving her hair? Like from her head? Fuck, that means she's having some kind of mental health crisis, right? What's happening? Are there deeper issues here than just the events of the night and being generally lonely in her ivory tower? Your guess is as good as mine. This NEVER gets explained or even referenced again. Seriously, WHAT. THE. FUCK? The wood chipper strikes again, I guess.

Back with Jaspar, he's hulked out and slaughtered a bunch of chickens and other animals in order to drink their blood and such. How delightful. Then, suddenly he's feeling the effects of some kind of drug and seems to be getting pursued by someone. I don't know if I missed something in this section or if the wood chipper struck again, but he's running and quickly heading for a blackout. Somehow he finds himself at the edge of Amara's estate. The drugs have blocked his wolf and beast forms so he's back to being a naked human.

He manages to scale the fence and then goes up to the house - completely undetected by the security guards who are there, I might add. There's one quick reference to Jaspar seeing Amara through the window "tugging on her hair" and then he blacks out.

Back with Amara, she's finished mutilating her hair and then heads back to bed to masturbate while thinking about Jaspar. She makes it all the way to the big-O and then a male hand lands on her belly and she SUDDENLY realizes that Jaspar has been in bed next to her the whole time, passed out, and she just didn't notice him.

Yeah, I'm just going to have to go ahead and call BULLSHIT on this. I don't care if Amara has the biggest fucking bed on the market, there's no way she'd miss the fact that there was a giant naked man passed out on it.

Next morning, Jaspar wakes up confused. He can't remember how he got to Amara's house, let alone her bed. He can't even remember if they had sex. Amara walks in and gives him breakfast on a tray and a suit that just happens to be custom tailored to his exact measurements. Then she tells him they're leaving in 20 minutes...but THEN she tells Jaspar that he needs to take a shower first because he's filthy and stinks (which is another reason she DEFINITELY would have notice him in bed with her the night before).

Where are they going? Well, Amara has decided that she wants to go home to her family and she's taking Jaspar with her. No discussion about this. No allowing him to check things out ahead of time to ensure her safety. No checking to see if he's even available to go on a multi-day trip. Just, let's go. And he agrees! Because he's an idiot and not a real bodyguard. Then the doorbell rings, and Amara goes to answer it. You might think that Jaspar would insist on doing that himself since, you know, he's supposed to be protecting her but, as I said, he's an idiot. He does look out the window, though, and sees that it's the asshole cop he antagonized earlier. Jaspar is upset that the cop figured out who his client was after all, which puts Amara at risk of an embarrassing tabloid story.

And then that scene ends, and we never find out what happened with the cop. What did Amara say to him? What did he ask her? How did he find out that Amara was Jaspar's client?

Wood chipper is your only answer.

Then next thing we know, they're on the plane and Jaspar insisted on making some kind of unscheduled detour to pick up some food. This is food which is somehow linked to his pack, and he even says as much to Amara and she doesn't even question his use of the term. He hand feeds her bits of food, and she's licking the crumbs and such from his fingers. It's all way over the top with the amount of sexual chemistry the author tries to add to the scene because we barely know these two and there's been no sexual tension whatsoever between them up to this point.

But it gets worse from there. Apparently, these three dishes that Jaspar made a special stop to get have "herbs" in them which act as an aphrodisiac. And suddenly Amara is a raging nymphomaniac who so horned up for Jaspar's dick that she even threatened to rape him if he didn't agree to fuck her willingly. Jaspar says no, because he realizes that he basically roofied her, and locks himself in the cockpit to avoid her amorous attention. Amara proceeds to wail and beg outside the door like a cat in heat until the "herbs" wear off, after which she's supremely embarrassed.

What the FUCK did I just read? Why was this included in the story? I call complete BULLSHIT on Jaspar "forgetting" that these three dishes, eaten in close succession, would have such an effect on Amara that it would essentially rob her of her free will. I mean, how could ANYONE forget that? At best it makes Jaspar a blithering idiot, at worst, he's a total asshole who did this on purpose for his own sick amusement. There was just no reason to put this in the story.

They spend a couple of days at Amara's family's house and finally do some kissing without any herbal interference. Amara's mom interrupts the kissing to drag Amara away and say she's moving too fast and she doesn't actually know anything about Jaspar. Amara scoffs at this and insists there's something "real" between them....only to return to Jaspar and find him on the phone. She eavesdrops on his conversation and hears Jaspar talking about another woman who "will always be his first, and only, true love."

This is the sum total of all the explanation we get about this mystery woman in Jaspar's past. Hell, we got more information from the book blurb than we did from the book itself. From the blurb we learn that this other woman's name was also Amara, apparently? And she died. But none of that is in the book so fuck you if you want to know more. Take it up with the wood chipper.

After hearing this call, Amara realizes that she really doesn't know anything about Jaspar and she's secretly grateful that her mother interrupted them and kept her from making a mistake.

Then there’s another jarring scene change and we’re suddenly with Amara in the middle of giving a concert. What happened between Amara and Jaspar for the rest of the trip? Did they talk about this other woman at all? Did he wonder why Amara was pulling away? What happened? None of your business, that's what.

Jaspar is really struggling to hold onto his beast at this concert, and when a fan jumps up on the stage with Amara, Jaspar breaks the guy's jaw flinging him back into the crowd. This act of violence pushes Jaspar's control over the edge and he runs back stage. Amara soon follows and she sees him starting to shift. And we're expected to believe she's the ONLY one who sees this. We're told that "thankfully" there was no one else back stage.

BULL-FUCKING-SHIT. You can't even find a high school play where there aren't a dozen or more people back stage at all times. For a major pop star's performance there would be tons of people! Security, people manning the lights, directing the backup dancers, Amara's entourage who would help with her costume changes. Fucking everybody would be back there! There's no fucking way the area would be deserted. But this is the story we're given.

Jaspar hulks out right in front of Amara, claws through some kind of tarp and takes off, leaving her unguarded, once again. Jaspar is then being pursued by some guy named Devon who is part of some organization who believe the "beast" inside Jaspar is an abomination and he needs to be put down. He's the one who chased Jaspar to Amara's house that one time. But somehow, miraculously, the fact that Jaspar is being pursued this time magically makes his beast, his wolf, and his human side learn to get along and he's suddenly in total control. We're just given a line or two of straight exposition telling us that Jaspar magically knows he's in complete control now and he'll never again be at the mercy of the moon or his baser desires triggering the shifts. he also knows he can stop taking the wolfsbane and doing the transfusions and such. He's just totally got this now.

Well alrighty then. That sure is convenient even though it's not at all supported by the events of the plot.

Despite this grand revelation, Jaspar is still being pursued by Devon and Devon has him dead-to-rights. But, lucky for him, Amara has gotten over her shock at finding out werewolves are real and she followed them, managed to sneak up on Devon despite her having absolutely no training whatsoever, and she bashed him in the head with a rock. So Jaspar is saved. He then transforms into his naked man form, picks up Devon's unconscious body, and runs off into the night, leaving Amara alone.

2 months later, Jaspar shows up at Amara's place, they exchange ILYs and decide to be a couple. They also have sex for the first and only time, which felt a bit gratuitous since the story was over.

What a nightmare this story is. None of it makes any sense. Who was trying to kidnap Amara at the start? Or are we supposed to think it was actually Jaspar who was the target all along? If that's it then it just reinforces that he shouldn't have taken this job in the first place. He actually PUT her in danger by being there. That’s the opposite of protection! Why did we spend so much time with the doctor and Jackson, and the cop, none of whom ended up mattering to the story? What was the deal with Jaspar’s dead first love? What happened in his past with this whole, merging with his twin brother, unleashing the beast thing? And how the hell did he magically get the beast under control at the end?

And the romance, my god, the romance. There fucking wasn’t any. These two clowns don’t know anything about each other. They barely talked, they barely even kissed before that final gratuitous scene at the end. There was no romance, just some sexual attraction. And even that seemed to be mostly on Amara’s side. And WTF was up with that business on the plane???

I honestly don’t understand how the few other reviews have rated it so highly. There was just so much wrong, so much MISSING from this story that it doesn’t even make sense. Reading it was like reading a choose your own adventure book from front to back instead of following the “turn to page 23” directions. The new chapters frequently picked up from a completely different place than the last one ended and with no explanation how we got from point A to point B. Just a baffling number of issues.

bodyguard-romance boring cliffhanger-ending

Grumpy Bodyguard Wolf

Anastasia M. Banks

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Anastasia M. Banks

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