Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Watch Me

AUTHOR: Sloane Kennedy

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 315 pages

RELEASE DATE: November 8, 2020

BLURB:

Nikolai
My rules when it comes to my job in personal protection are pretty simple:

1. Protect the client’s life, not their feelings.
2. Don’t put hands on a client unless you’re getting them out of harm’s way.
3. For God’s sake, don’t do something stupid like fall in love.

Twenty-four hours after meeting Jude Archer, rules 1 and 2 are already out the window.

Thankfully there’s no chance of falling for the callous businessman who cares more about his next deal than he does his own safety.

Jude may have managed to make fools of all the guys his wealthy boss and rumored lover has hired to watch him, but he’s playing in the big leagues now. The son of a bitch might not value his life, but I’m pretty fond of mine.
Time to teach the clueless Jude Archer a few hard lessons…

Jude
My rules for success aren’t for everyone, but they should be.

1. Work hard.
2. When you’re on the verge of giving up, work harder. Life owes you nothing. You have to take what you want.
3. For God’s sake, don’t do something stupid like get distracted by feelings.

With just weeks between me and the closing of the deal that will give me everything I want, I don’t have time to worry about a supposed stalker who hasn’t had the balls to do anything more than send a few threatening letters to my wealthy boss.

Sure, I sent a few so-called bodyguards packing. Even if I thought I was in serious danger, I can’t have someone watching me 24/7. My life works the way it does for a reason and no one, not even the gorgeous Russian ex-soldier who thinks he can scare me into submission, is going to change that.

Nikolai Falkov thinks he has something to teach me? Yeah, good luck with that.

REVIEW:

Watch Me is a standalone opposites attract, enemies to lovers, bodyguard romance revolving around Jude Archer and Nikolai (Nik) Falkov.  Jude is a businessman on the fast-track to a VP position at TDS Corporation, but he needs to lock it in by completing a crucial property acquisition deal.  He is also rumored to be the lover of the much older owner of TDS, Clifton (Cliff) Hayes. Jude is icy, removed, all-business and completely unfocused on anything other than his property deal – even his own personal safety.  Cliff and Jude have been receiving threats, most aimed at harming Jude, but Jude has systematically driven off every bodyguard Cliff has hired to protect him.  Enter Nikolai, who is brought in as a last resort to act as bodyguard to watch and protect Jude.

To say that Nikolai and Jude clash is an understatement. Initially, their relationship is like a chess match – move, then countermove – each trying to one-up the other to achieve a goal … two diametrically opposed goals.  But as emotions are apt to do, the cool, calm focus required for chess-like moves quickly morphs into something more primal – a blatant tug of war for control. They harbor a lot of frustration over the situation they are both put in; neither really wants to be in their put-upon roles vis-a-vis each other. That frustration bubbles over into hostility towards each other, but that just masks their undeniable, instant attraction. Needless to say, the unresolved sexual tension in the early parts of the book is off the charts.

Both Jude and Nikolai have secrets and baggage (which I won’t spoil by detailing here), but suffice it to say that neither of them are what they appear to be on the surface.  They both have put on facades to protect themselves, albeit in different ways. There’s immediate attraction between them, but also infuriation. Nikolai is infuriated because of the cavalier way Jude views himself and his safety. Jude is infuriated because he is allowing this man to break his focus, something he, by necessity, has to keep a very tight rein on. Jude is attracted to Nikolai against his will and better judgment, and that both frustrates him and angers him in equal measure because Nik is upending all of the internal safety protocols Jude has built up to protect himself.  The irony is that in order to let Nikolai in to protect his body, Jude has to grapple with feeling unsafe and vulnerable in protecting his emotions.

The title is dead-on in a multi-layered way. “Watch Me” has the obvious reference to Nikolai watching and protecting Jude as a bodyguard. Similarly, you have Cliff watching over Jude to make sure he’s safe. Then you have Nikolai, reduced to helplessness because he can only watch his sick, toddler nephew get repeatedly sick. But the most remarkable meaning of “Watch Me” is defiance – like when you tell someone not to do something and they defiantly respond, “Oh yeah? Watch Me.”  That is Jude to a tee.  He gets pushed into accepting protection that he doesn’t want and not only does he object, but he doubles down just to prove he has the control, that he can get his way, … that he is the winner.

The underlying driver of the plot – the anonymous threats Jude is receiving – is inexplicably sidelined for most of the book. There is a resolution, but it felt rushed. I hoped there would be more made out of that storyline; as it was, it felt somewhat contrived because it wasn’t developed fully.  The upside is that we had more time to explore Nikolai and Jude’s relationship, but the book could have been better balanced.  Otherwise, it’s a great read; a terrific book with two really likeable MCs, a sweet, although somewhat angsty, romance, and a definite HEA.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Amazon