A BOUNTIFUL TREASURE TROVE OF FEELS

There were seventy-one well-written magical swoonworthy chapters.. but that just wasn’t enough for me because I wanted more more more. I wanted to linger for a little while longer with these wonderful characters who I’d grown to love in a day. I wanted to bask in the euphoric feel of a perfectly penned and perfectly delivered love story. Seventy-one riveting chapters and they all counted.. and they were all addictively entertaining. In this dual POV love story CD Reiss has managed to weave a story that encompasses an off-limits tender love of soul meeting soul, a destructive dangerous love and a very touching familial love - and, whatever the love is, there’s emotional pain, angst and drama. Emily and Carter are loving, kind, self-sacrificing and loyal.. and CD Reiss has written one hell of a wicked story for them.. and for us.

Emily is a talented Choreographer and her handsome Bodyguard Carter Kincaid is a sexy ex LAPD Cop and there’s seismic chemistry between these two characters.. but Emily’s being stalked by her volatile low-life ex. So Carter has to be diligent, professional and to stop imagining all the ways he can make Emily scream his name.. and, for just a wee while, Carter was successful. But things change when Emily’s violent ex comes back on the scene to threaten, to destroy and to take back what he thought was always his. And mystery man Carter has secrets.. secrets that could change, or even destroy, everything that has built between them.

Worth a credit? Yes definitely yes.. all the characters felt real, the layering was good and the storyline was nicely paced as it was a deliciously slow simmer of heated glances, lust-filled thoughts and longing looks which rollercoastered it’s way through passion and pleasures to reach the forever kind of love. Great narration too.

7 people found this helpful

A Story and love and friendship

I adored Bombshell, I could identify with aspects of that story more than any other from CD Reiss, so I was really looking forward to this one. Bodyguard is set in that same world and I loved it. Don’t worry if you didn’t read/ listen to Bombshell they’re complete standalones, just set in the same world. Trust me, I don’t use the ‘standalone’ word lightly, I didn’t gain anything from listening to Bombshell first, just a big smile when a couple of characters got a mention in passing. The story itself is sweet, with an edge. I loved that although this was a romantic story about Carter and Emily, it was also the story of friendship between Darlene and Emily. It was sweet and beautiful. I know I can’t be the only person that finished this book and said to themselves, ‘I want Darlene’s story’ and if I was, then, I think I need to start a movement or something because I loved that girl!

CD Reiss always writes the best characters, as stated above, however, Emily and Carter are something special. I loved Emily, she had been through a lot, but she was still fighting. She didn’t shy away and close herself off. Her friendship with Darlene was lovely, so often the ‘friend’ is backstabby but that is not the case here, it was beautiful. As the book progressed you see Emily becoming more and more at ease and she changes, and that was beautiful to witness. Carter is so incredibly swoon-worthy, it’s not even funny. I loved him. He was strong and sweet. Commanding, and gentle. His understanding of what Emily had been through and what she needed gave him such an edge of perfection, sure he made a few mistakes, but he had the best intentions and they made him real.
I really enjoyed the progression of the relationship between Carter and Emily. It was like a rollercoaster with so many ups and downs. But those ups and downs made sense, it wasn’t conflict for conflict's sake. It made sense to the story and to these characters because they had other things that they had to consider, not just how they felt. Carter had a lot on his plate with his commitment to his job, to his family and to Emily, it was a constant ache that he took seriously, he was stretched so thin, but he made it work. He was still able to be a nice person and give his all to everyone he cared about. The sexy times between Emily and Carter were melt your headphones hot, they were placed well in the story and made perfect sense to the storyline and the characters.
Phin, oh my word, this child stole my heart early on. I just wanted to love him and make him happy. Fist-pump the size of my heart. Sigh, one of the sweetest moments ever.


Another fantastic dual narration. I loved the combination of CJ Bloom and Joe Arden, their voices complemented each other really well. I thought CJ Bloom was wonderful as Emily and conveyed her frustrations with her situation incredibly well. She was smart and sassy and that was performed brilliantly. My only issue was that Phin sounded younger than he was. Joe Arden was the perfect choice for Carter, he performed the sweet but commanding man so beautifully, especially the scenes with Phin. The emotion was conveyed beautifully. My heart may have melted a little. I can’t even think about those sexy times, Joe was on fire. The production was done well, I really enjoyed the music at the beginning and end of the book, it set the theme and mood of the story. I only noticed one tiny issue in chapter 47, a word is missing. It should be ‘long time’ but the long trails off and leads into the next sentence. It’s nothing major and doesn’t take away from the story but it’s enough to make you pause and think you missed something.

4 people found this helpful

Loved it!

This audiobook was such a great listen. The heroine is a choreographer to her lifelong star friend. She also has a crazy, dangerous stalker ex-boyfriend. The hero is at first a bodyguard for her friend, but when the ex starts escalating her star friend insists on her having him as her bodyguard instead. The hero has a son whose mother is a Hollywood actress and who doesn’t have anything to do with her son. The attraction between The choreographer and the bodyguard’s attraction is hot and immediate. Can they be together, keep her safe and balance his family and love for her? Great narration as well!

6 people found this helpful

Finn is adorable!

I am not going to elaborate why (you should find it out yourselves), but I think I got more interested in how his role played a part in the development of the love story of our MCs (I also did not see that plot twist coming! A telenovela plot twist in reverse, anyone?). Although truth be told, it was the love triangle, especially with an ex who can't understand to stand back and let themselves be without each other that got me interested. I must say it sort of delivers, but it still lacks confrontation for me.

Or maybe I missed it altogether. Anyway,

The story, as a whole, is delightful. But there are times, especially during the first quarter that made me remember that famous movie that has a very popular theme song. Good thing as it progresses, the story is evolving into another life of its own, if you know what I mean. The story and the character is not that mind-blowingly unforgettable, but at least the sexy times here can catch your attention for a bit. While I have always like how this author writes, I think this is one of her okay ones.

The narration definitely helped the story.

This book was good, but not remarkable.

I liked Emily at first, but the more she mentioned Charlene's success, the more her resentment at her own bad choices sounded bitter. Her friend was always there for her, and she kept mentioning her success like something that was stolen from herself.

Carter was great and until the end, he stuck by his principles of putting his son's needs, and security above everything else, including Emily, and i loved him for it!
He didn't know what he was doing as a father, but his mind was always in the right place.

They shared that insta connection, but Carter was a really private person, something that Emily couldn't accept, forcing him and his family to face their own past.

The whole stalker ex boyfriend plot sounded forced and not present like it should.
Emily's complains about security got old pretty quick and by then, I wasn't liking her that much anymore.

It ended as expected.
The narration helped to make it enjoyable but the story is really cliche.

🎧 About the Audiobook Narration 🎧

Narrated by CJ Bloom and Joe Arden.

They were the true colors of this book! I loved their narration and they made it easy to finish the story, even when I was already bored.

Missed too many marks for me :( DNF

I've been pretty pleased with previous reads from CD Reiss. (The Submission Series is on my Top Ten List!) However, I only made it to chapter 50 on this one.

1. I could not relate to the heroine Emily. She was annoying. Her arrogance, naivety regarding her stalker, and self-centered actions were too contradictory for me. Everything felt very "me, me, me."
2. Carter had his moments, but overall his character wasn't very consistent either. He had gone to great lengths to ensure privacy and secrecy for his personal life, but it was okay every time Emily unraveled pieces of it.
3. Joe Arden did a good job with the narration and probably lent a great deal to my positive vibes toward Carter. (Sorry I could only give two stars.) I don't think CJ Bloom was a good fit for this book. Her male characterizations were horrible and seemed to get worse as the book progressed. (Wish I could have deducted more than 3 stars!) Finn sounded like a 7 or 8-year-old with developmental delays instead of a young teenager. Joe Arden performed this role much more accurately, which unfortunately only added to the confusion while listening because they came across as two totally different people.
4. I think Finn was supposed to be 13. At times, his conversations were mature and he was apparently proficient with writing code and hacking websites or accounts. Then at other times, he was very immature and spoke on an elementary level. Perhaps, there was some conflict over how old this character was going to be? There's frequent mention of his "ADHD". It's possible there wasn't a clear understanding of that condition? Although Individuals with ADHD struggle with focus, they are often quite intelligent. Finn was just all over the place. I couldn't figure out what his situation was because it kept changing. And again, the narration that portrayed him as very young and slow was disturbing.

My "DNF" list is very short because that's a quirk of my own. However, I just wasn't invested in any of the characters enough to care how it played out. I was relieved that the title was available through the Plus-catalog. I would have been very upset if I had purchased this one.

Good enough

While I enjoyed the story line overall of this book, the female lead, Emily really didn't resonate with me. She made really stupid impulsive knee jerk decisions. Many that put her in in serious danger. She has a crazy ex out to get her and she seemed to just ignore that, justifying it as she was just to tired to worry about it any longer. Her love interest Carter was wonderful but had his flaws as well. Due to some past tragedy, he was over protective of his son, life and his own happiness. I'm glad they fixed it all in the end, but it really carried on far to long. I don't know that I would of made it long enough with either one of them to see it through.

Fun

I enjoyed the book and characters well. It's definitely not going to rank as a favorite, but it was a nice escape from reality.

Intense story about a young woman being stalked - but drags on some

Overly long dialog, but a dark, riveting premise about fame, and attracting crazies in the public. Emily, a young talented performer who becomes involved with an obsessive, overly possessive guy. Darlene, Emily’s best friend since childhood is an outgoing singer who has her own set of nut case followers and threats so she hires a team of bodyguards to care for them both. One of those guards, Carter Kincaid, is a former cop who falls in love with Emily, but has his own very messed up past involving a famous sister who was murdered by stalker. The story was interesting and at times a page turner, but also a bit repetitive in trying to draw out the suspense. I like this author and while she is known for several BDSM novels, this was not one of those. Carter is dominant but not over the top, as well as sweet and caring. He is trying his best to balance his life as a parent and his protective instincts both as a professional bodyguard, as a parent, and eventually as a boyfriend while Emily is learning to regain her confidence while being mindful that her fears are justified. But being alert all the time is wearing. They are both trying to outthink the psycho ex. Darlene is a wonderful, supportive and caring friend, a bit of a diva but very down to earth. She needs her own story though she is written like a channeled young Dolly Parton. Phineas or Finn is Carter’s adolescent son and another great character. Not much of an epilogue but maybe Darlene will get her story and we’ll see more of Emily, Carter, and Finn, and Simon, their dancer friend.

The narration was done well by both Joe Arden and C J Boom when they stuck to their own gender, but where Arden can manage a female voice fairly well, C j Bloom has a dreadful male voice. In addition she seems to get screechy when contrasting. She doe a good job with her gay friend Simon’s voice. It would have been excellent if they had done a duet performance from the two but listening to Bloom’s male voice was distracting. Worth a credit

Continuation with BDSM Couple

So the story continues with CD Reiss' beautiful creative mind. The narrators were amazing with the characters.