***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
Kinda a weird premise that I wouldn't normally get into, but Freeman handled it perfectly!

Kat Parker has been assigned to keep incredibly charming movie star Zac Edwards safe from a stalker. After a disastrous first encounter, he's not convinced she can do the job. Each has secrets they're desperately trying to keep, unfortunately for them both, they can't hide from their pasts forever.

Up Close and Personal starts off with a very strong rom-com vibe, it's funny with great banter. As the story goes on there's a bit of a mystery/suspense plot that starts to take off. Both main characters have pasts that they're trying to keep from the other and you spend a good portion of the book trying to figure out exactly what happened, even so, there was still plenty of witty banter and chemistry. If you're looking for strictly a light rom-com with no drama, this maybe isn't the book for you. Overall, it's a good read.

Up Close and Personal is the gender-swapped version of The Bodyguard you never knew you needed. Kat Parker is a former army sniper and she's been tasked with the hardest job of all: protect Zac Edwards, the hottest movie star she's ever seen. If only he would stop flirting with her.

One thing that was so nice to see in this movie was that the attraction went both ways and they both admitted it. It was irritating when both characters were so overcome with their insecurities that they convinced themselves the other person hated them, but that is mighty realistic. What I found difficult to put my head around was the constant come one from Zac. He wasn't a sleazy character, but Kat made it clear nothing could happen with them while she was protecting him, but he NEVER stopped and it got really irritating.

Overall, I liked the story and the flip from the normal version of this. Zac still never really accepted Kat's expertise and never stopped trying to take her out of the line of fire, but ultimately they worked well together, and I think they were a good fit.

I got this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Kathryn Freeman’s ‘Up Close and Personal’ is a refreshing twist on the bodyguard trope, and is more layered than you’d expect.

When former soldier Kat Parker is assigned to be heartthrob actor Zac Edwards’s bodyguard, she never expected to be so taken with him. But he has a stalker, and she needs to protect him, so falling for him isn’t in the cards. Zac Edwards may be an actor, but he thrives on keeping his private life private. Being assigned a bodyguard isn’t really his cup of tea, even though this particular bodyguard is absolutely captivating.

I love a good slow burn, and this story definitely delivers on that front. I also enjoyed the fact that Zac and Kat have more to them than meets the eye. You think you know where the story is going, but there are a few interesting twists along the way. I also like how the author inverted the bodyguard trope, as well as how the hero and heroine function in the novel to give her story a fresh take on an old classic.


An ARC was generously provided by NetGalley and HarperCollins UK in exchange for my honest review.

From the moment that Zac and Kat met I was hooked. Once again this author's fabulous ability to write humorous scenes, characters with clear chemistry and enjoyable conversation has shone through, to make this a ridiculously enjoyable book!

It's not every day you read a book featuring a film star and a bodyguard, especially not when the bodyguard is female. Kat is amazing, she is like a female superhero, and all the while she is looking after her 14 year old niece, in addition of doing her day job of protecting superstar Zac from what we assume to be a stalker.

Although you may never in your life come up close and personal with a movie star actor yourself, or need a bodyguard, these are characters that are so lifelike and realistic that it feels as though you know them intimately. They are both clearly hiding things from each other, which may or may not be relevant to Zac's protection.

I loved seeing the various revelations and there is plenty of action in this book. I also really enjoyed seeing just what a nice guy Zac truly he, he made some gestures that were so lovely, including treating Kat and her niece to a memorable day out for them, even if he wasn't that into it. I would have swapped places with any of the characters to have had the experience Kat had that day!

This is just another top quality Kathryn Freeman book which is what makes her an auto must read author for me. Thoroughly enjoyable the whole way through, I accidentally managed to read it one sitting (when I'm sure I was meant to be doing other things).

Thank you to One More Chapter and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily,

Thank you to Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

There are so many things that appealed to me about this book. The British setting, forbidden romance, the gender reversal of the Bodyguard (have not seen the movie but familiar with the storyline). Unfortunately I just did not connect with this book at all. I think what frustrated me the most was Zac's lack of respect for Kat's refusal to date him to keep things professional. It wasn't that the sexual tension was too much, he just kept pushing her and that was frustrating.

The characters had layers but I didn't feel that their true motivations, layers were developed. They were kept hidden from the reader too much, delayed in how they were revealed in a way that it seemed to hurt the overall story development rather than further it. Then it ended quickly, wrapping everything up neatly.

The writing was well done and with more character development there could be something which was why it was so frustrating to read.

Great idea and definitely a light read.

I really loved parts of this book, and some of it I found to be a bit of a slog to read. The chemistry between Zac and Kat was good and was what got me through the book. At times I found the plot to either go extremely slowly or really rushed, so overall the pacing was a bit off. However, I still enjoyed the book.

The concept of Up Close and Personal was just up my alley: bodyguard and star, close proximity, forbidden romance, and all of that with inverted gender roles that promise a strong badass woman - sign me up!

And while I do usually love those tropes, I realized pretty quickly this is not what I was expecting. I had to dnf it at around 40% and I usually don't really dnf books.

First of all, I found Kat quite annoying. And I'm not talking about the insecurity about her looks, because I thought that was quite reasonable given the circumstances. What really annoyed me was all the times she points out how Zac uses posh words. Listen. English is my third language and I didn't think that any of those words were particularly difficult or erudite. I'm not sure if the author really believes she's giving Zac a high-class vocabulary, or if she's trying to paint Kat as the stereotypical army person which is too practical to use words longer than a couple of syllables. Regardless, that irked me probably way more than it should, but it did.

When I read the synopsis I was very much looking forward to our main heroine being super badass and breaking stereotypes in her chosen profession. And she did, kind of. Being a woman in a man's world myself, I couldn't help but be slightly annoyed by the constant use of the 'gender card'. Of course, a lot of her troubles being taken seriously and respected have to do with her gender, and because of being a woman she has to work twice as hard as any man, but her mentality is self-destructive. You can't think like that, otherwise you'll burnout.

Zac was very charming and fun, but I felt like his continuous flirting and all his conversations about not wanting Kat to get hurt to protect him felt patronizing and, in my eyes, really took away from the idea of a badass heroine the author wanted to go for. If even the male protagonist doesn't take her seriously enough to trust she can do the job she's been hired to do, why should others or the readers?

Moreover, I did not appreciate Zac trying to wear Kat down into agreeing to go out with him. I think that was a lack of respect on his part and again ties back to not seeing her as the capable professional she is. In the book we do see that Kat is attracted to him too, but she clearly asks him to respect her and let her do her job. She doesn't really get it. I hope that later on in the book they do get together on equal terms and not because he just never gives up (and not in a good way).

I'm probably being too harsh on this, but many of the topics of the book hit close to home and I did not particularly appreciate the way the author dealt with them.

I might try to read it again closer to the publication date.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an e-ARC copy.

This one started off ok, but I quickly disliked the leading man. I found him pretentious and possessive that was a real turn off. Then I was just impatient with the main characters who could not get their acts together. I ended up speed reading to see how everything wrapped up.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was amazing! I read it all in one sitting and literally couldn’t put it down.
The story sucked me in from page one and I found myself laughing along with the characters witty banter.
Kat was a badass main character I adored her and her story so much.
Zac was adorable and I loved how their romance played out on the pages and found myself rooting for them from page one.
Overall I absolutely loved everything about this book and give it 4 stars.

My second waltz with the author which didn’t quite go well like the first time and made me write another I didn’t enjoy it but I also didn’t hate it, let’s stay in the middle kind of 3 starred review!

Truth; nearly two decades ago I’ve watched a dramatic romcom sharing the same name starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert Redford ( I can still hear Celine Dion’s song: Because You Loved Me playing in my head. Even though I hate her songs and when I see famous Titanic scene as My Heart will go on plays, I want to scream and throw something out of window!) I smiled myself and requested this book. Don’t get me wrong the only thing similar about the movie and the book is their common name. This book seems like vice versa of Bodyguard without “I will always love you” theme song ends with different and unreliable conclusion. ( At least that’s what I thought)

My quick opinions:

Charming Brit movie star Zac Edwards is threatened by a stalker and instead of hiring dazzling all time coolest bodyguard Kevin Costner or his cooler and younger follower Scottish beauty Richard Madden, they hired tough, professional (sleeping with the boss and falling in love don’t count! She was still cool as cucumber!) Kat Parker to protect him.

You may fill the blanks about their sizzling chemistry which wasn’t reliable for me and reminded me of teenage insta love story because there are no specific explanation why they like each other and what kind of special bond they formed. It happened instantly!

I didn’t have any problems about the characters. I loved them as individuals but I didn’t like them when they fell in love. When they were together they turned into immature, childish, annoying types who didn’t listen to each other. Their communication problems brought so much unnecessary angst and over exaggerated drama into their story. I was looking for some enjoyable and smart banters, flirty dialogues, swoon- cute-soft kind of rom-com story and Zac’s back story about his dark past was underdeveloped and senseless.

Overall: The story started intriguing and but this promising premise turned into something repetitive and disturbing drama and the characters I liked turned into annoying soap opera actors. I’m giving my three stars for promising start and the smart plot idea.

For other reasons I mentioned before this story and conclusion didn’t fit with my expectations. That was not bad but it had so much potential to be better.

Special thanks to NetGalley and One More Chapter / Harper Collins UK for sharing this Arc with me in exchange my honest review.

Up Close and Personal features Kat as a bodyguard to ultra-hot and charming Zac Edwards.
While I liked Kat and Zac separately, I felt nothing for their relationship. It felt forced, and they were constantly second guessing what the other person felt based on various statements from the other person. It was really frustrating. I wanted to see more build to their relationship. I didn’t even enjoy their meet cute because it felt as though Zac just assumed Kat would like him because he was a movie star.
Also, this book felt too long. It just kept going and going after both Zac and Kat’s secrets were revealed.

I was disappointed as I was really excited to get this book after I read Freeman’s The New Guy.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I liked the chemistry between Kat and Zac from the very beginning. My favorite aspect of this book was Kay’s willpower. She is the ideal feminist main character. She was in the army, refuses to apologize for the close male friends in her life, and does not entertain the idea of leaving her position as a close protection officer because others think she is not strong enough. She never breaks these views, even for the guy that she loves. The plot was well constructed and the writing was great. I just wish we had more of a build up to the climax, but other than that I was entertained until the last page!

Instant chemistry that sizzles throughout! Kat is just trying to do her job guarding Zac but he's got to make it so bloody difficult just by being himself. I loved getting to know both Kat and Zac's backstories. They didn't each get to where they were in their lives very easily. Both had depth and secrets but were so guarded they couldn't figure out when to come clean.

I loved Kat's fierce devotion to Debs and even the bits we got to spend with Mandy as well. And Zac was just someone you wanted to hold and tell them it was alright even though that's precisely what he would tell you he didn't want. Such beautiful, flawed human beings.

This was an easy read I got through in one evening; just the treat if you want some spark and sizzle and and whole lotta pent up love.

Using the familiar bodyguard trope, this contemporary romance delivers a strong narrative and likable characters. Zac is a prominent film star whose life in in danger. Kat is hired to keep him safe. When the danger escalates, can they deny their budding feelings to keep everyone focused on saving Zac’s life? There’s something for everyone in this book: friendly banter, suspense, action, and love.
3.5 stars rounded up.
Advance readers copy provided courtesy of #NetGalley for an honest review.

On a superficial level, Up Close and Personal is a fairly enjoyable read - the characters are likable enough in their own rights, the plot is decently compelling, and the light fluff aspect is there. However, I just found myself unable to care about the couple.

Starting from the initial meeting, I couldn't connect to the characters' romantic interest in each other, which all stemmed from an apparent instant attraction for the other person. For my tastes at least, there wasn't enough reasoning given to argue for an emotional link between the two. It appears that whatever was there was enough for the characters though, because they seemed to fall hard, fast.

I would like to take the time to acknowledge that my reception of the book may be colored by a personal preference for romances based in pre-existing relationships. I need an emotional epicenter to latch onto, and with cases of "instant attraction," that need becomes even more vital. Unfortunately, this book just didn't meet my bar with the first interaction, which automatically put it at a disadvantage from the start.

This ended up being a recurring theme though: either Kat or Zac would say or do something that seemed to spark a deep emotional reaction within the other, one that was far more excessive than I thought the situation called for. Consequentially, I remained detached from the couple's feelings for each other. Even when they met via Kat crashing into Zac, the given rationale for Zac being intrigued rather than upset by the woman is that Kat is so apologetic about spilling champagne on him and that the rambling apology is apparently amusing. He is "enthralled" to the point of being unable to move when she heads off to fix the problem she created. Yes, I see how this attraction works in theory, but it just seems to me that Kat was responding how any sane person would in that situation. The only explanation that makes sense to me for Zac's interest, then, is that it must be connected to his physical attraction.

And therein lies my issue. Over and over, the narration would try and convince me that Kat and Zac appeal to each other in an emotional capacity, but it would somehow do so in a way that only seemed to highlight their physical allure toward each other. There were even several occasions where a character's immediate response to an emotional confession by the other was to make out or have sex. I won't be so remiss as to try to claim that the two didn't have an emotional connection at all. There were times where I could agree that one of the character's words were indeed rousingly sweet and charming or that their actions were appealingly thoughtful. However, it just didn't add up to enough - the emotional connection just never even came close to the level of physical attraction that was described, and my overwhelming verdict by the end was that these two just didn't really make a good couple.

This conclusion came on the basis of four observations:
1. The disproportionate emotional responses the two had towards each other, coupled with the constant emphasis on their physical attraction made me feel like they were more in lust than in love. At the very least, it felt reminiscent of a "honeymoon phase" in perhaps a teenager's first relationship. Every emotion felt heightened, but in a "wow, you're being pretty dramatic" way.
2. Probably owing to the intensity of their emotions for each other, Kat and Zac seemed to be constantly letting instinct dictate their reactions. As a result, they were always misinterpreting each other's words or actions or expressions, letting their own emotions color their understanding of the situation (usually in a negative way). This was due to an immense amount of insecurity on both parts, which, while understandable, gets very irritating. Especially when both parties can't grasp that the other person is also insecure.
3. Which leads to my ultimate frustration: the two just don't communicate with each other. The two of them keep so much of their negative impulsive reactions to themselves, and it ends up manifesting in other negative ways, like lashing out at each other for things that aren't the reason they're actually upset. When the majority of a book's conflict could be resolved if the characters just communicated with each other, it doesn't speak well to how much I'm going to enjoy a read. I'm not asking that the two immediately reveal their deepest secrets in the name of love, but words as simple as "I'm not ready for a relationship due to something I'm not ready to talk about" would go so far in not making the other person - and the reader - want to tear their hair out. Instead, we have characters going through cycles of making bad decisions based on bad assumptions.
4. I'm just hard-pressed to find the two to be emotionally compatible. There is an inherent lack of understanding of the other's thoughts, needs, or wants (besides sex, apparently). Just looking on a fundamental level, Kat's way of showing love is through protecting the people she cares about, while Zac's is by doting on and spoiling others. Kat is highly uncomfortable with being showered with material things, while Zac hates the idea of Kat being put in danger all the time. They spend so much of the book being upset with one another over these key aspects of each other, and I'm not sure that by the end, both parties have compromised enough to convince me that this relationship can last.

Overall, Kat and Zac just didn't seem emotionally mature enough for this relationship. It speaks a lot that I often found the wisest character to be the fourteen-year-old niece (though even she was not immune to the insane emotional logic driving the couple's relationship). By the end, the only thing that I could believe this relationship had going for it was Kat and Zac's physical attraction towards each other, what with the amount of physical intimacy the characters employed in lieu of emotional intimacy. And even that can't be said with 100% conviction.

You would think that with the amount of stress that has been placed - intentionally or not - on the couple's physical chemistry that we could at least see it manifested when they have sex. Instead, in all but one instance, every lead-up to sex essentially ends in a "fade to black"-esque cut. Even the one "explicit" scene felt too general in description to establish what should be a culmination of the clear chemistry between the two. I'm not just trying to ask for smut, I swear. I would just like for some part - any part - of their relationship click for me. I don't want to come out of a romance novel having no faith in the future of the couple's relationship. And unfortunately, that's what happened. I existed in that weird space where I wanted them to get over all of their excuses for not being together already while not actually supporting their becoming a couple.

I'm highly aware that my dissatisfaction is in no small part magnified by my personal desire to see a relationship deeply rooted on emotional foundations. Someone in search of a lighter read may have no qualms at all with the development of Kat and Zac's relationship - it is fun and flirty after all, when they're not angst-ing over each other. Still, it doesn't change the fact that I spent so much of the time thinking how these two don't belong together that no amount of cheese or vague physical intimacy-induced pleasures or happy endings could save it. I was a client that this bodyguard couldn't protect.

A great romance with an entertaining story arc and well-developed characters.. I enjoyed the flipping of script from the concept in The Bodyguard, to reverse the gender roles and have Kat as the bodyguard and Zac as her client.

From their meet-cute till the last page of the epilogue I was engrossed in Kat and Zac's journey. Learning tidbits about each of their lives and watching them their relationship grow was deeply satisfying. I appreciate when romance novels don't gloss over the messy bits, the story was realistic in its consequences.

I enjoyed the role reversal, with Kat being the bodyguard and Zac needing protecting. Does it bother anyone else though that the book cover shows Kat as being blonde and not brunette?

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An exciting romance novel that kept me on my toes the whole time. The storyline was exceptional and the characters engaging and believable.

3 stars!

I so desperately wanted to enjoy this, and I JUMPED on this book immediately after getting approved, but I'm sad to report that my high expectations were not met. By no means is this a bad story, it has everything I LOVE for a five star read, and yet...the execution fell short.

Let's be real, the bodyguard trope is FOREVER a guilty pleasure of mine, but I've not read too many books where the bodyguard is the female, so you bet I was on board with Kat/Zac's story...but outside of the swoon worthy cover, I didn't find anything about the story to be swoonworthy/worthy of feels.

I will admit I'm not a huge fan of books told in third person, but some authors like Julie James, make it work. Perhaps this is because with 3rd person I find that there is a bit of distance between me and the main character, but the best 3rd person books are ones where the lead still has a strong voice and I can feel their personality through the pages...with Kat and Zac, I felt that they were both a bit bland and as a result, I was unable to connect with either of them, and as a result, I didn't really CARE how the story turned out because I wasn't vested in the character or their happily-ever after. Perhaps it's a me thing, perhaps not. Others seem to be enjoying this one so definitely still consider this book if you want a quick romcom that takes a spin on the bodyguard trope.