Kristie J’s review of The Bodyguard (King Family, Book 2) by S. Doyle
Contemporary Romance published by Amazon Digital Services 12 July 18
This is the second book of the series and tells the story of Sabrina King, the youngest of the King siblings. She’s only a half-sister, because her mother married the family patriarch very shortly after the death of the mother of Ronnie, the heroine of the first book. Sabrina’s mother is a real piece of work and her father isn’t any better. Sabrina has grown up overweight, unloved, unappreciated, and bullied. Garrett Pine was her childhood champion. Several years older than she is, he defended her from bullies and was her only real friend. She developed a huge crush on him and almost stalked him. When she spies him under some bleacher benches with another girl who – shall we say – has dalliances with other guys, she tells him that he’s too good for this other girl. He gets angry with her and says something cruel and she runs away. And as the book says, she runs and runs and runs.
The next time we see her is several years later at her high school prom where she is the prom queen. She has lost all of her weight because of the running and seriously watching what she eats and has now become one of the “popular” girls. She’s in with them because she’s rich and (now) gorgeous and also with those less popular since she has been there herself. Now all she wants is to see Garrett again, now that she is looking so different. He had left town after he graduated and only recently returned as a deputy sheriff. She is a bit of a trickster in trying to get his attention. And while she does manage to get it, and he can hardly believe this is the same overweight, young girl that had an obvious crush on him, again there is an impediment in anything happening between them. He’s engaged.
Sabrina is once again devastated. For years she’s been convinced that when the time is right, they will be together. She happens to catch his fiancé with another guy and when she tries telling Garrett, again he goes off on her, accusing her of all kinds of things. But this time she’s the one to leave.
She heads to Hollywood, where she manages to score a reality show, one that follows her around on her frivolous life – think Kardasians. But she’s not the empty-headed fluff piece she appears to be on her show. She has her show, but a couple of things happen around the same time. She’s picked up a stalker, who is escalating, and her father dies. So she heads back to her hometown and once again is in the orbit of Garrett. But things are different this time. She’s still hurting from his accusations of being a liar and is most reluctant to tell him about her stalker; he’s been promoted to sheriff now. She doesn’t want to tell him anything about her life having been so badly hurt by him in the past.
But Garrett sees beyond the fluff piece everyone else seems to think she is. He knows how badly he has hurt her in the past and feels very badly that he did. He knows she’s always had a crush on him and he really misses it, now that she’s giving him the cold shoulder. But although he’s very attracted to her and feels very protective, he doesn’t want any kind of relationship, since his fiancé did him wrong all those years ago and left him at the alter.
Now, logically speaking, I shouldn’t enjoy this book as much as I did. In fact, it’s my favourite of the series. Garrett really is an asshole to Sabrina, but I adore her as a heroine, so she makes up for what Garrett lacks. She’s so broken inside but covers things so well that she just melts my heart. Her pain is my pain and her vulnerability is so well written. When Garrett is so nasty to her, when all she wants is to help him, it’s heartbreaking. We can see all her insecurities and why she hides so well. I sympathize with her completely, because I had a crush when I was young that went on for years and years. And Garrett does feel bad for how he’s hurt her and not believed her in the past and is bound and determine to guard her from her stalker, once Sabrina finally tells him the story.
As with the first book in the series, I’m glad I read this one. And it’s a new-to-me author, so I have some back lists to check out.
Grade: B+
Summary:
I’m known around the country as the Cowboy Princess. A reality TV star who likes champagne, expensive shoes and cowboys.
It’s a lie. For me there has only been one cowboy… except he never wanted me.
Now stardom has attracted the wrong kind of attention. From a person I know is hunting me. My only choice is to go home to The King’s Land.
Home to Garrett, the man I could never forget. While I have always loved Garrett, I knew he could never return that love. My childish lies drove him away.
Now my life is at stake and I’m not lying about that. This time Garrett has to believe me.
Because I need a bodyguard…
No excerpt available.
Other books in this series:
