Ordinary People, Extraordinary Worksa world of books, both good and bad

Jun
6thA Safe Story Adequately Told

As plots go, GUARDING JESS relies on the basic suspense factor. A woman – Jessica Pennington, in this case – is somewhat well-known and is the target of a stalker. The threats have gone beyond letters and phone calls; in the first few scenes, Jessica receives a package that contains a letter bomb. Luckily for her, she’s just met Noah Samuels, her new bodyguard who manages to keep Jessica and her friends safe for the time being. There is an attraction between the two but one that seems will never happen, since Noah highly dislikes women like Jessica, who makes a living by teaching etiquette classes. Shannon Curtis writes two main characters that are somewhat believable. Jessica is an independent woman who, while she understands the dangers happening around her, is determined to continue doing what needs to be done in her daily routine. Her tenacity causes issues with Noah, who just needs to keep her alive. Noah is a typical man’s man and though he’s not the best hero I’ve read in a novel recently, he’s decent. He’s protective – at first only as Jessica’s bodyguard, but soon because he realizes he has feelings for her – but not in a cringe-worthy way. The splattering of secondary characters also works, especially Jessica’s aunt who, like the others in this book, has two sides to her. As for plot, there isn’t anything spectacular. It reads like a typical stalker story with a love story emerging from the likeliest of characters. [...]