ARC Review: Up Close and Personal – Kathryn Freeman

Rating 3 Stars

What’s the book about?
British actor Zac Edwards is the latest heartthrob to hit the red carpets. Hot, talented and rich, he sends women wild…all except one.

Close protection officer Kat Parker hasn’t got time to play celebrity games. She has one job: to protect Zac from the stalker that seems to be dogging his every move.

Zac might get her hot under her very starched collar, but Kat’s a professional – and sleeping with Zac is no way part of her remit…

My Review
The first thing that intrigued me about this story (besides the cute illustrated cover) was the gender-role reversal. I love the Whitney Houston/Kevin Costner movie, The Bodyguard, so I was very excited to see that this one is about a male celebrity and his female bodyguard falling in love. There’s also a crazy stalker adding to the tension.

The pacing of this story is hard to describe. It felt like the action began right from the get-go but at the same time, there were some slower sections and the romance was definitely a slow burn. The execution also fell a little flat for me, particularly with the dialogue and development of the relationship, but the characters had a lot of potential. The hero and heroine were such opposites and I always enjoy the opposites attract trope so that aspect really brought me around with this story.

Overall, this was an okay read. While I didn’t really get very attached to the main characters, I did enjoy the rest of the plot and the gender-role reversal. It was an interesting concept that I think with a bit more revision of character development and pacing had the potential to be a really great read.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

AVAILABLE NOW!
Harper Collins AU
Harper Collins US
Harper Collins UK