Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Guarding My Heart
AUTHOR: S.C. Wynne
PUBLISHER: Loose ID
LENGTH: 36,538 Words
BLURB: Liam Carlington is a spoiled rich kid. He’s been acting out since his childhood love, Paul, devastated him by marrying a woman. He drops out of school in favor of drinking and partying too much. When his current bodyguard is injured in a bar fight, a new bodyguard replaces him.
His new protector, Scott Jackson, is gorgeous, and tough. He’s attracted to his new charge, and Liam is aggressive about how much he would love to get Scott in bed. But Scott is worried Liam is just using him for a sexual fling.
As much as Scott would love to give in to Liam sexually, he knows there is someone out there who has threatened Liam’s life. It complicates matters that Scott is beginning to lose his professional distance from Liam. He’s not willing to lose another client, but can he really keep Liam safe by staying out of his bed?
REVIEW:
“Little Liam spoiled brat, dirty stinking fucking rat. Never thankful, always a pill, his faggot ass I think I’ll kill. Given it all on a silver platter, his useless guts I think I’ll splatter. Mommy and daddy may cry for their son, but the town will thank me once it’s done.”
There were letters cut from a newspaper and glued crookedly onto the front of the sheet to form words. “This is like something out of the movies.” I laughed. Scott’s lips twitched with what seemed to be amusement, probably the result of the astounded look on my face. “It is rather old school.”
Liam Carlington is a grade A spoilt brat. When his closeted boyfriend breaks his immature heart he drowns his sorrows in partying, booze and sex, which I guess is the modern version of locking himself away in a convent. His life is ruined. He’ll never love again. This was how my life was now. I needed to learn to accept that my chance at true love was gone. Which is all fun and games until your bodyguard gets stabbed in a bar fight. But if you’re that rich and your bodyguard gets broken, you just buy a shiny new one.
Scott Jackson is Liam’s new bodyguard. He’s not exactly shiny new, he already has a few dents, but this ex marine plans on being much stricter than Liam’s previous bodyguard. Scott means business. Well, he does for a few days until they start drinking together, taking moonlit swims together and sleeping together. Suddenly, serious no nonsense Scott is willing to let professionalism fly out the window.
The speed with which these two get together is a bit of a let down. I love a good “seduce your bodyguard” type book because they tend to be filled with unrequited longing and slow building relationships. Scott’s token “no, no we mustn’t” is pretty much said as he’s whipping his pants off. It may be because of their speedy shift in gears that I just didn’t buy their relationship. Seriously, within about a week Liam went from never going to love again to being so in love I’m surprised he didn’t spontaneously break out in song. I have that stuck in my head now actually. Liam giving an impromptu performance of Your Song- the Ewan McGregor version of course because it’s much more dramatic.
The bad guys are obvious from the moment they’re introduced. In fact they’re so obvious I thought it might be a trick and it would turn out to be someone completely different. But no. I guess I would have liked a little more mystery on that front.
Liam pulls a classic TSTL maneuver and wanders off alone despite already surviving an attempt on his life. I remembered Dave had wanted me to call him to pick me up, but it seemed silly. Of course it seems silly, because Liam is a bit of an idiot who figures he’ll be safe simply because he’s walked that same route so many times before. That’s it Liam, follow your routines, the bad guys will never find you.
I like that Liam’s family’s fortune comes from a winery, which is also their home. I like that Liam and Scott spend some time working there so we get a glimpse of the workings behind the scenes. But it is only the barest glimpse and I wish there was more time spent exploring that. My favorite books are often ones that introduce me to a new environment whether that be a place, a job or a sport I know nothing about. The winery sounded interesting.
While I would have preferred some elements of this book be more fleshed out, especially the relationship between the two MCs, I still enjoyed it. I tend to like attitudey (I’m sure that’s a word) unlikable characters and Liam definitely qualifies. But most of all, for some reason I can’t explain, I loved this-
“Sorry that I’m bleeding everywhere.”
“No, it’s fine.”
RATING: 
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