She's everything he hates, but he's the only one who can keep her safe...
Pop sensation Parker Beck has been living a double life since she was eighteen. Through the disguises and fake name, she’s managed to keep her real identity a secret for the past six years. But she’s always known it was only a matter of time before the tabloids got their hands on the truth.
When the news leaks, it’s even worse than she’d feared. Now unprotected, Parker desperately needs a bodyguard. But with her history, no one is willing to take the job.
Heath Bridgers wants nothing to do with Parker Beck. That one-fifty grand salary they’re offering just to babysit her? Well, that he could use. Especially now that a family emergency has him spiraling into a hole of debt he’s not sure he’ll ever climb out of.
The job will be easy. All he has to do is dodge a few stalkers and make it through a year. The one thing he will absolutely not be doing is falling in love with her.
Broken Perfect Lies is perfect for fans of bodyguard romances and thrillers...with a Hannah-Montana-inspired twist. It contains content best suited for mature readers.
Katie Wismer writes books with a little blood and a little spice (sometimes contemporary, sometimes romantasy.)
Be the first to know about upcoming projects, exclusive content, and more by signing up for her newsletter at katiewismer.com. Signed books are also available on her website, and she posts monthly bonus content on her Patreon (including a Patreon-exclusive book!)
When she's not reading, writing, or wrangling her two perfect cats, you can find her on her YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok.
I heard that according to this book's author 'Broken Perfect Lies' is perfect for those who loved Hannah Montana. Though this one's genre is adult suspense, which sounds more interesting.
I am so disappointed that I didn't like this book, especially because I was fortunate enough to get an advanced copy of it. But while the book started off strong, it just fell flat in nearly every way for me.
Let's start with the positives. From the start, Katie Wismer did a great job establishing both Parker and Heath as fleshed-out and compelling characters. I personally liked Heath a lot, and I really liked his relationship with his family and his motives for taking on a dangerous job. The writing wasn't anything special, but it was easy to read and had a good balance of dialogue and exposition. I think you can tell from the writing that Katie is an editor, so that felt very solid. I also think she did a good job with introducing the premise of the story to the reader without info-dumping all the stuff that happened prior to the book's beginning.
But from, the story kind of got... boring.
For a book that's being described as a romantic suspense, there is very little suspense in the book. Including the flashback scene of the wedding, there are only three scenes in the whole book that could be called suspenseful, and the two scenes in the current timeline don't occur until quite far into the book. The romance was the forefront, though I could never really buy into it. I liked Parker and Heath as characters, but I never felt any chemistry or heat between them, really.
Honestly, for a book that's been repeatedly called "spicy" (god I hate that word), there was very little sex or sexual tension present in the book. The first half of the book felt very much like setting the groundwork and get-to-know-you stuff, and there just wasn't much feelings developing on page. Even in the character's narration, there wasn't a lot there until very deep in the book. It felt like, because it was a romance we were expected to read between the lines and almost fill in the feelings for the author. But it wasn't there on the page until the latter third of the book.
And then, there were only two... ahem... ""spicy"" scenes in the whole book. Which I don't mind in a romance, really, but for a book that's being marketed as "spicy", you would think there would be more there. Otherwise, it just feels like a bait and switch.
But like I said, a lot of it was just boring. There was so little action, and coupled with how little the romance was present for so long, and there was just nothing really going on.
And as for the final conflict between Heath and Parker-- it felt so... contrived? I think, if there had to be a final act conflict between the two of them, it should have focused more on the actual obstacles in their relationship, such as his mother not liking her or the complexities of him being her employee (which literally never gets addressed, but okay).
I feel really bad for not liking this, and I feel bad about having to post a fairly negative review, but that's just how I feel. I don't think this was bad, really, but it just didn't do what I think it was trying to.
I don't usually read this genre, but every time I see a teaser for this book, it grabs my attention... So today I randomly looked it up on Amazon after seeing another teaser to "just read the sneak peek pages" and see if it caught my interest. Or that's what I told myself lol, but instead I just stayed up way past my bedtime because I had to finish the book! This was so well done, I'm really impressed by the characters, the dialogue, the pacing... there was definitely a section toward the end where I struggled to get through (not because of the writing but the content was just hard to read), but overall I loved it and thought the grief was portrayed so accurately.
This book had a great premise and I was sold by the authors marketing, however, I ended up disappointed with this book. I think this could’ve been amazing if there’d only been more focus on the aspects of the book that was used to market it. Ie: the bodyguard romance, enemies to lovers (this may have only be alluded to by the author saying they dislike each other at first to be fair, I’m not positive she ever claimed enemies to lovers), the Hannah Montana vibes, and, most importantly, the suspense.
The author made a few confusing choices for this book, in my opinion. Starting with the fact that our bodyguard character, Heath, isn’t a bodyguard. He’s never had any sort of security job, been any sort of bodyguard, and he doesn’t even have a background of being in the military or a fighter of some sort, nothing. He was a construction worker who randomly decided to lie about his experience to become a security guard, I guess, because they’re paid better? And ending with the fact that the main bad guy/stalker shows up before the book starts, spends the majority of the book in jail while the MC is getting attacked randomly here and there, and then resurfaces again in the end. There was no real build up or suspense in any part of this novel.
I had the same problems with this book that I did with this author's Marionettes book and that’s two things:
1. It never felt like much/enough was happening. There was no clear throughline making the plot extremely weak imo. By which I mean, Parker's first interaction with her stalker happens before the book starts. Said stalker is then in jail for most of the book before showing up at the end for the final showdown. Meaning, there's no real suspense for most the book. There are no letters from the stalker from prison. Nothing but a few seemingly random attempts at killing Parker where no time is spent trying to figure out who's doing it and nothing links to the stalker so nothing is linking together to build suspense.
The few things that were happening often just didn't make sense to me. This is a personal thing, a I didn't suspend my disbelief far enough kind of thing. But a lot of the aspects with Parker and so many people wanting to kill her, I found hard to believe. These are some questions I had while reading:
How is this one random stalker so much more skilled than every security guard / cop / person he comes across?
How did he constantly find them?
How come her address keeps leaking? In real life, plenty of celebrities manage to keep that stuff secret, why are Parker's people so incapable of protecting her information?
Why do so many people want to hurt Parker? (Don't get me wrong, I know there are a lot of terrible people out there who send plenty of death threats to famous people. But most, as far as I know, don't go so far as to place a bomb under their car. Or throw a steel toed boot at them on stage.)
How did the stalker escape jail?
How did the stalker get pass their security system? If he was there before they got to the beach house, how did he know about it?
How did Heath get back to the house before the police?
And 2: the characters lacked depth and never managed to go beyond two dimensional archetypes. I’m going to use a line from the marketing again here, the author refers to Heath as an “intimidating bodyguard with a secret heart of gold”. Meanwhile, we’re shown from the very beginning in Heaths POV chapters (which the book starts with) that he’s a soft/sweet/caring person. There’s nothing secret about his “heart of gold”. I also found it really hard to see him as intimidating because of the aforementioned fact that he has no training. He's just a tall guy with muscles.
For a story about a Hannah Montana type superstar, Parker was a pretty uninteresting character. A lot of this has to do with the fact that we don’t get to see her as the famous pop star with a secret identity. We only see the aftermath of her secret being leaked. Besides being in danger because she's famous, there's really not much of her being a popstar in the book and nothing with her having to balance her identities or anything because that was made moot by the beginning of the story. There was no real depth to her, to her interactions with other characters (mainly because she spends most the book alone or with Heath), or her relationship with fame.
This is just something that personally annoyed me but nobody in this book likes to do their job. Heath did not take his job as a bodyguard very seriously. He had family things going on yes, but you're being paid a lot of money to do a job and you just keep leaving the person you're supposed to be guarding. Then there was the brief plot point of Parker not being able to get out of her contract with her record company. This could've been an interesting plot point and made sense if there was more time spent on it. If it was showed that the record company was pressuring her to get back out there before she was ready, if there was any real back and forth. Instead, it's just suddenly thrown in that she wants to quit and her record company won't let her. And, for me, it was hard to have sympathy, because, again, this is your job, of course you can't just randomly decide to quit with no repercussions. I think the author was trying to show how manipulative and controlling record companies can be but it missed the mark for me because there wasn't enough time building up that aspect of the book.
The romance was okay. I don't think it was terrible or anything but the lack of character development made me not particularly care about the romance one way or the other. The third act conflict was.. not the best, in my opinion, and by the end of the book I was skimming because I couldn't connect to either character so I didn't really care what happened by the end.
This review got away from me but, to be clear, I didn't hate this book. I found it really easy to read and I was pretty addicted in the first half. I think the writing itself was really good and easy to read. I just personally thought/wished it would've focused more on the suspense and building up the characters than it did, and that the plot had been a little stronger and more of a focus.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I love thrillers and I love romance, so why don’t I read more romantic suspense? This wasn’t the most action packed romantic suspense on the planet, but I did enjoy having that external plot as the reason the characters came together and the reason for tension at different points in the story.
Parker Beck is a super famous pop star, but under the stage name Ryker Rae. Nobody was supposed to know who she really was, until her information was leaked and a stalker attacked, leaving her previous bodyguard dead. Enter Heath Bridgers, he faked his resume saying he has previous security experience because he really needs the job to pay for his sister’s medical bills. In the beginning Parker and Heath are so consumed with their own grief and emotions that they aren’t really drawn to one another. Slowly, after spending time together they start to connect and develop feelings. But can Heath keep Parker safe from the people who are still out there who mean her harm?
I really appreciated how long it took for Parker and Heath to fall for one another. A lot of times in romance novels the characters’ inner monologues will instantly be something like “our eyes met for the first time and I immediately pictured bending her over a table and fucking her.” And while instant attraction like that happens, in books I tend to prefer it taking time. Over the course of the story Parker and Heath develop great chemistry with one another. This isn’t the steamiest book, there’s just like two scenes. But I think they worked well in the story because everything is so built up by the time you get to them. I also appreciated that after the 3rd act conflict things aren’t easily resolved and swept under the rug, it takes time and building trust again.
Because the plot mostly follows Parker and Heath as they’re just holed up in an apartment trying to stay safe, the story could feel stagnant at times. I think it makes sense that they don’t go many places or do many things, but it did end up making the book feel a bit repetitive. I was hoping to see a bit more of Parker in the spotlight to get a good feel for how famous she’s supposed to be. Also, the end of the book felt super rushed in comparison with how drawn out the rest of the story was.
Overall I enjoyed the book even though I had some quibbles with the pacing.
I just can’t get over Parker expecting Heath to choose her over his sister. Out of all the reasons for them to break up, that was by far the dumbest. Dani was already injured and then she ends up in the hospital … but oh Heath is the bad guy for choosing to check up on her instead of staying with Parker. Then the excessive groveling when truthfully he shouldn’t even be punished for that in the first place. No thanks.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I usually hate romance books, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
This book was my first Katie Wismer book. It was fast-paced and an easy, enjoyable read. The characters and dialogue were well-written. The romance between Heath and Parker was realistic and I was rooting for them the entire time.
I will definitely check out more books by Katie Wismer!
*Gah* I wanted to adore this book. The premise, the COVER, beauitiful. I've followed Katie Wismer's YouTube for a few years and read most of her current novels and enjoyed them so I was extremely bummed this one didn't work for me.
To keep it short, I didn't feel the characters at all. The main characters felt more like shells of people than actual people and the side character's having no development and felt like paper cut outs was my biggest hurdle with this book. I wanted to love Parker and Heath but they felt like nothing characters. Add in a romance that didn't seem to have any development and the first spicy scene came out of no where, I struggled to push through and finish the book. I agree with another review posted how Bodyguard romances are best with the more "forbidden" factor, trying to hide their relationship or facing some type of similar obstacle -- Broken Perfect Lies didn't have anything of the sort.
A lot happened and nothing happened at the same time. I think if some of the events were cut and the remaining ones were given more time to breathe and be fleshed out, the story could have had some real, solid suspense. However, everything just moved along without much reflection, no real talking about what happened. It didn't feel like there was any internal dialogue much less spoken dialogue about what was happening.
I preordered this book because the premise was right up my ally --- sad it didn't live up to the hype I put on it. I didn't dislike it enough to give it a one star, and will read more for Katie Wismer in the feature.
I read this book fast and I was enjoying their slow build of trust and their relationship. I did feel some parts seemed to happen too quickly or too easily (the painted wall and how Heath felt inclined to help her with painting it but never helped with anything else to make the apartment more of a home). She wasn’t upset at all when she found out he lied on his resume/ just laughed it off. After almost being killed in the past and somehow doesn’t care that her bodyguard lied about his experience. Seemed far fetched and could’ve been an issue that was teased out and explored. Seemed like lazy writing for it to not be a problem in the slightest. Also was annoyed with the last part of the book when he left her. How are we suppose to root for them at all when he abandoned her in her greatest time of need? By the end I was just skimming the book. The author is talented but too many things that annoyed me or made me feel that it wasn’t believable.
Katie has done it again! I wasn’t sure if this book was going to be my thing, but it really was. I really enjoyed seeing some of her poetry in here as song lyrics and journal entries! It added some extra ✨pizzazz✨ to the book, plus I’m a huge fan of the poetry.
I love Parker as a main character. She had so much depth and I really love the character development she went through in the book. She is such a complex character to follow and it’s hard to follow her pov sometimes because of the things she’s going through, but it really helps you grow attached to her.
Then there’s Heath. I really liked him and how he helped bring Parker out of her shell despite not wanting to at first. He’s also a big family guy and I really loved seeing the dynamic between him and them.
Overall I’d say if you want a dark Hannah Montana bodyguard romance look no further.
I'm so bummed. I watch Katie Wismer on Youtube quite religiously at this point so I've been excited about this release since she first hinted at it. Spicy Hannah Montana was her pitch. I'm sorry but there were two spicy scenes and they were both pretty vanilla. I was expecting more. Also, as someone who has studied the prison system and crime for most of my adult life, the made me actually laugh out loud. That does not happen and the way it was glossed over like it's just an easy thing to do really took me out of the story. I couldn't suspend my disbelief. The writing was great though and i enjoyed the idea of the story. The execution just wasn't my favorite. Honestly this is probably a 2.5 star but I don't want to bring down a lesser read self-published author's average rating so I'll round up instead of down.
DNF - good god I hated this I had so many issues with this book - the main male character has no security or bodyguard training or experience and this wasn’t checked or referenced?? - there is zero suspense in this book. everything that happens is from the past and we get told it instead of experiencing it and from what I have seen, there’s a tiny bit at the end - katie advertises this as hannah montana but again we see nothing of a double life as she has already been exposed in the first chapter - there is zero chemistry between the characters. like nothing. not one ounce at all. shocking.
Quem aqui gostava de Hannah Montana mas nunca amou nenhum dos love interests? 🤣 aqui têm uma história inspirada na HM mas com spice e bodyguard romance 🔥
Uma escrita fluida com equilíbrio perfeito entre descrição e diálogo e grande foco nas emoções dos personagens quanto ao conflito pessoal de cada um. As cenas spicy foram ótimas e na quantidade certa (3/4 acho), assim como as cenas de ação/suspense, que não foram muito exageradas
Inclui também mensagens e passagens do diário e as letras/poemas tocaram-me imenso! As dificuldades de viver uma vida dupla e depois as consequências de ver o segredo descoberto, assim como lidar com o luto do antigo guarda costas são o que mais afeta Parker. Acho que é das personagens femininas mais bem escritas que li nos últimos tempos.
A mudar alguma coisa, punha mais pining entre ambos (porque metade da diversão do bodyguard romance vem daí), e mais conversas/evidências de se estarem a formar sentimentos pois achei que a química foi fraca e só se tornou evidente quando finalmente de envolveram - acho que a autora a podia ter colocado mais na página. Apesar disso, algo que ficou comigo foram eles enquanto pessoas individuais.
As emoções complexas que a Parker sentiu no conflito final foram bem escritas. Ela entendeu a escolha dele mas aceitou que estava magoada na mesma. Não foi egoísta com ele (não lhe atirou a escolha à cara a dizer que ele errou), mas também não foi egoísta com ela mesma (com o trauma todo por que ela passou, entendo que tenha ficado magoada). Continuo a achar que o Heath não devia ter pedido desculpa pela escolha que fez, acho que fez todo o sentido, mas acho que autora escreveu muito bem a complexidade das emoções humanas quanto à Parker.
Não me arrependo de ter comprado logo em pré venda e recomendo a quem quiser uma leitura rápida e viciante✨ Não diria que tem muito suspense, mas tem a quantidade certa para mim.
the story had really good potential, I wish it was more fleshed out in terms of character development and plot development. I would’ve loved to see more chemistry between Parker and Heath 😭
Wow I loved this! We have a super fast moving plot, characters you’re definitely going to fall for, and lots and lots of drama! The plot twists kept coming and I was definitely on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next- or WHO would show up next.
Parker and Heath were such an easy couple to root for, and while their relationship did take a backseat to the drama at times, I love that they found their way back to each other. We also got some pretty spicy scenes without it being too much.
I am just loving all of Katie’s books lately! Can’t wait for the next one!
What a fun read! Thank you Katie Wismer for providing me with an e-ARC for an honest review. Parker and Heath are so likable, I live for the drama and the drama was GIVING. The plot is fast-paced but in the best possible way, I could not put the book down. Katie is no stranger to writing female characters with depth; Parker was no exception. It was great following along on her coming into her self-worth and value. Who doesn’t love a bodyguard romance? Heath had great praise for Parker's journey. Overall a good time! 4.5/5
J'ai lu les premiers 65% normalement et le reste en diagonale parce que c'était l'ennui.
Après ne pas avoir aimé le 1er livre de l'autrice, j'ai laissé passer plusieurs de ses sorties avant de la retenter. Principalement pour voir si elle allait s'améliorer. Je répète ce que j'ai dit dans ma review du 1er livre de Wismer, mais ça me peine de pas aimer ses bouquins parce que je suis beaucoup sa chaine youtube et je sais combien d'efforts elle met dans ses bouquins. C'est pour ça aussi que j'ai attendu avant d'en lire un autre, la peur d’être de nouveau déçue. Mais voila, j'ai tenté une deuxième et peut être dernière fois.
Cela étant dit, oui d'un coté Wismer s'est effectivement améliorée et ce au niveau de l'écriture. Je trouve ce livre beaucoup plus agréable à lire. Mais malheureusement je retrouve dans BPL le même problème que j'avais dans son premier livre. L'autrice veut caler beaucoup trop de péripéties dans une seule histoire et au finale rien n'est marquant, tout s'enchaine sans s'attarder dessus plus que ça parce qu'il faut passer au problème suivant. Le résultat est que factuellement oui il se passe beaucoup de choses dans l'histoire mais comme on survole tout et bien ça crée une sorte de sentiment d'ennui parce que rien ne ressort du lot. Je sais pas comment l'expliquer, en gros j'ai l'impression de lire une listes plutôt qu'une histoire. Genre: elle se fait stalker, elle se fait attaquer, on lui jette une botte à la tête, blabla et ainsi de suite. Au début ça ne dérange pas, ça se laisse même lire tout seul mais au bout d'un moment l'histoire stagne. J'ai du me forcer à continuer ma lecture, malheureusement mon intérêt n'a jamais été piqué.
Ensuite je voudrais parler de la catégorie, le genre de ce livre. Thriller et romantic suspense, vraiment? Sommes nous sures de cela? Parce que oui bof non en fait. C'est plus une romance contemporaine qui traite du deuil et d'une sorte de coming of age pour Parker, l’héroïne. Alors oui y a le coté 'un danger plane sur elle' mais de là a dire suspense et thriller, non. L'autrice avait aussi, sur sa chaine youtube, beaucoup vendu ce livre comme d'inspiré par Hannah Montana. Du coup on s'attend à ce que Parker mène une double vie, on s'attend à la voir les jongler dans le bouquin etc. Et en fait non, parce que le roman commence après que sa double vie soit révélé au grand publique. Le livre traite donc des conséquences et répercutions que cette révélation a sur sa vie. Rien à voir avec les attentes qu'on pouvait avoir de l'histoire avant de la lire à cause de la comparaison à Hannah Montana.
Mon dernier point est sur l'aspect romance-garde du corps. Heath est son garde du corps genre 2 semaines? C'est pas assez. Il est où mon 'taboo', elle est où ma tension? Il est où mon 'non je dois rester professionnel'? Il y a des attentes quand on lit une bodyguard romance, il doit y avoir ce coté 'elle était son travail et au fur et à mesure elle devient plus pour lui'. Mais là ils se connaissent depuis tellement pas longtemps qu'y a juste pas le temps de mettre en place cette romance comme il faut. Au delà de ça, je n'arrive pas à apprécier le personnage de Heath. Je suis dans une romance contemporaine, donc plutôt réaliste, on est d'accord. Or, cet homme qui n'a jamais été garde du corps avant et n'a jamais travaillé ne serait ce même que comme agent de sécurité, accepte le poste de garde du corps d'une chanteuse hyper connue. Pire, quand il apprend qu'on homme à essayé de la tuer et que elle reçoit encore des menaces il ne se retire pas? Le mec n'est absolument pas qualifié pour protéger qui que ce soit. C'est un gros con égoïste. Je comprends qu'il aie besoin d'argent mais la meuf aurait pu mourir. C'est pas adressé ça dans le bouquin. :/ D'ailleurs Heath se comporte tellement pas comme un garde du coprs que j'avais juste pas l'impression de lire une bodyguard romance.
Je m'attendais à quelque chose d’excitant avec des secrets, une relation disons 'interdite' et du vrai suspense, à la place j'ai eu de la tristesse, de l'angoisse et du questionnement de soit. Ce qui peut être bien aussi, mais c'est pas ce qui était annoncé. Le bouquin démarre plutôt bien mais il peine à garde le lecteur engagé.
PS: je viens de relire ma review et on dirait que j'ai détesté ma lecture, c'est pas le cas. Je mettrais genre 10/20, c'est ok sans plus.
A good book to me is one that makes me question things, expands my vision, evokes emotions from me and gives me an insight into a world that I would otherwise never experience.
This book delivered that, and I am so thankful for it.
I am perfectly content with my relatively simple life, but sometimes I wonder what my life would be if I were a superstar. And… I sometimes wonder how the lives of my fave artists look like on a day-to-day basis. In the world of social media we get a closer look at celebrities’ lives than ever before, still when it comes to the “real deal”, I know we are only scratching the surface.
Broken Perfect Lies gives you that juicy insight into a celebrity life even when that apple that you taste might have some rotten parts in it. Compared to many other “rockstar romances”, this book felt so real. On some occasions Broken Perfect Lies read like a diary of a celebrity, and I loved the poetry sprinkled in between the chapters.
It was suuuuuper interesting for me to see just how many complications come with money and fame and what additional challenges these people have while navigating romantic relationships, friendships, family and total strangers. We get to see these details through Parker’s character and we get to see the alienating struggles she has with the world and with her own self too. The writing is fantastic when it comes to showing the complexity of a celebrity’s personality. Parker vibrates energy and inspiration, same time after having too many negative encounters with hate, envy and human stupidity, she also developed a skeptical, untrusting and bitter side, together with a “hard to please” add-on. So when sh#t hits the fan, she is truly put through the test when it comes to opening up to people and making an effort to develop and keep up connections.
And this is the moment where Parker’s new Security Detail, Heath enters the stage.
*sigh*
Heath. Yeah… Heath.
Oh gosh… Heath is SUCH a wholesome character. He is warm, pure-hearted, cares about his family and has good intentions. But he is human and humans are imperfect. I am currently itching to write details, but I cannot do spoilers just yet. All I can say is that you will get a deep-dive on real human connections, on the subjects of trusting and forgiveness and what we should all damn remember when it comes to our own relationships.
The story has many twists and unexpected developments (again, I am itching to point out characters and events out to you that will surprise you when not SHOCK YOU), but I can tell you already: when you read this book, you will have the potential not only to be entertained, but also to learn a LOT.
And yea… while you are upgrading your relationship- and personality-skills, I can tell you that those steamy scenes, portrayals of abs, arms, hips and moves of a determined, protective male specimen IN ACTION won’t hinder you either…
This book had so much potential but managed to fall flat in every possible way. It started strong, and I found myself getting invested in the budding romance between Parker and Heath. The chemistry was there (even if the logic behind some scenes was questionable — we’ll get into that), and for a while, I was willing to overlook the little flaws. But then,
I wanted to like this book. I thought I would like this book. But everything derailed after that , and it was impossible to get back on track. It could have been a good book, but eh.
DNF so there's no rating. I got 55% in and I don't know, I was just bored😭. I don't care enough about the characters to try and keep reading.
Also, gone are the days of forcing myself to finish books I don't like!
But I did have a handful of quotes with zero context and my 2 cents just for fun🥰
□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□
"And if nothing else, at least for today, it’ll distract me from my need to murder John." —woah bro
"Bean There, Done That." —😭😭
"I tighten my fist around the cup, willing myself to feel his presence, for him to know that I’m thinking of him, that no one has forgotten about him." —Girl I don't care right now💀
"and run straight into something hard." —💀💀💀
"And honestly, his chest is so hard, I feel like I ran into a wall. I might even bruise." —honestly, not even mad at this because I'd write something like this too💀
"Someone broke into her old apartment to jerk off in her bed after we moved her out." —💀💀what
"Like she wants a pat on the back for something she probably only did for the tax write-off." — not him being a hater💀
"You don’t have to like her to make sure she doesn’t die" — real
"He barks out a laugh." —WOOF WOOF WOOF
"The only way I can think to describe Parker’s manager is she looks like an elementary school art teacher…but goth" —PLEASE😭?
"Maybe some of these orders are still decent enough to eat since she’s clearly going to waste them." —WHY IS HE EATING HER FOOD!!!!
"“What would you say to the people who think you’re a liar now? Fake?”" —💀💀💀💀ME PERSONALLY
"“Parker Beck has murdered Ryker Rae! That’s what the headline says!”" —THAT'S INSANE ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT HAPPENED 💀
"“And I thought my ex was shitty,” I mutter." —GIRL READ THE ROOM!! IT'S NOT NEARLY COMPARABLE
"Well, considering her net worth, it’s probably real hair." —💀 Why is him knowing the different types of wigs the most unrealistic thing ever???
"I know when someone’s flirting with me. We’ve been giving each other shit since we met, but the lines here feel blurry." — really though?
"His face falls. “I never disliked you.”" — YES YOU DID
Parker lives a double life - her identity as pop sensation Ryker is kept completely separate from her personal life until her secret is leaked to the press. Now that her fans - and her stalkers - know the truth, Parker needs protection but only one person will apply. Heath desperately needs more money. So be it if all he needs to do is babysit a pop star. Out of the loop, Heath doesn't realize how dangerous the job could be. He doesn't think he has a choice when it comes to paying the bills. Both their lives will be turned upside down as they start to fall for each other.
I was riveted from page one. The way that the author slowly revealed what happened to Parker was torturous. It was such juicy gossip and I just had to know what happened to cause Parker such grief. I was hooked on Parker's story as well as Heath's story. They both had such compelling backstories that endeared them to me as characters but also humanized them.
I felt Parker's grief and she carried that burden with her throughout the whole novel in multiple aspects of her life. Parker didn't just get over what happened and she never forgot it. I really appreciated how well handled the event and its consequences were for her What happened was completely devastating and catastrophic to Parker for her future, her emotional well-being, and her identity.
The story was fast-paced and quite the page-turner. The only part that made me pause was the transition from protector/friend to lover. It felt abrupt and didn't follow the story's tone up to that point. I wanted them to get to that point but I didn't like how it happened. It didn't feel completely real and seemed to come out of nowhere.
I also appreciated that there were not an overwhelming amount of sex scenes. Heath doesn't ever talk down to Parker and his nickname for her isn't something diminutive.
The amount of tension and action borders on ridiculous but also drives home the message that celebrities are denied basic privacy and have a real need for bodyguards even after they move on from their pop star lives.
This book suffers from too many pointless characters and scenes which could easily be removed without impact to the plot.
Barely anything interesting or meaningful happens for about 90% of the book, and when there is action, it's stuttering, nonsensical and is over in about 3.5 seconds.
The characters are cardboard cutouts with almost no defining traits; they all have the same speech and thought patterns and not much going on to make them memorable or sympathetic in any way.
The 5-page-long sex scenes are gross and gratuitous. And those diary excerpts... Why???
The title of the book doesn't mean anything and has no relevance to the story.
The protagonist is a massive whiny, spoiled, self-entitled brat and I rooted for the villain the entire time.
All in all, it was an unsatisfying read and I'm glad I didn't spend any money on it. No more Katie Wismer for me.