The Bodyguard by Katherine Center, narrated by Patty Murin. Fantastic narration and a funny contemporary romance – but note some heavier topics in there including parental death, death of a sibling and cancer. But if those things aren’t dealbreakers, this one comes with a big recommend from me.

I suppose The Bodyguard would be categorised by many as a “romcom” but, funny as it is (and it really is) I shy away from the term. For starters, it suggests light and fluffy and the very first thing that happens in this book is the female lead’s mother’s death. While that part isn’t on page; the story begins the evening of the funeral.

The male lead character’s own mother is dealing with breast cancer (although she has an excellent result). There’s also reference, in the past, to domestic abuse (the heroine’s mother), alcoholism and death of a sibling (the hero’s brother). Those are all heavy things. While I wouldn’t describe this book as depressing, the topics covered are far too serious for the term “romcom” to sit well with me.

Instead, it’s a very funny contemporary romance, with low heat (that’s fine – it really didn’t need it) with the main characters facing some big issues over the course of the book.

Hannah Brooks is an Executive Protection Agent (aka bodyguard). She travels the world from her Houston base, providing protection services to the wealthy and sometimes famous. Up until the day after her mother’s funeral, she was dating a co-worker, Robbie. But he dumps her (he’s a real piece of work) and within the space of a month, Hannah has lost her mother, her boyfriend and her best friend (Robbie dates her next).

Hannah is not generally a warm and fuzzy type. She’s focused, mainly on work. She describes herself as a “shark” who needs to keep moving. When she’s still there are too many hard things to think about and she’d really rather not.

The agency Hannah works for has picked up a new celebrity client; Jack Stapleton. Jack is a famous Hollywood actor who has been reclusive for the past few years since the death of his younger brother, Drew, in a car accident. There are rumours, unsubstantiated and well quashed by Jack’s publicist, that he was driving drunk and that is what caused the accident. He’s been living quietly in North Dakota but comes home to be with his mother after she gets a breast cancer diagnosis. His mother wanted Jack to be with her as she faces surgery and whatever treatment is needed afterwards.

Jack is estranged from his older brother, Hank, and this causes extra problems because Hank is the ranch manager at the family farm.

Hannah is assigned as the primary agent for Jack’s protection while he is in Houston. It’s her opportunity to land the plum assignment of opening the London branch. She’s competing with Robbie and only one of them can succeed. She’s determined it will be her.

There are some suspenseful moments in the book but this is not a romantic suspense. In fact, my main criticism of the story is that Hannah doesn’t get enough opportunity to show her professional competence and skill. Instead, Hannah ends up pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend in order not to alarm Jack’s family and in particular his mother, who does not need any extra stress. Because reasons, Jack and Hannah end up staying at the family farm for a few weeks so the pretence becomes 24/7 and ongoing rather than only for occasional visits.

Hannah, who has been so alone (she and her alcoholic mother were not close) falls for Jack’s parents who have the kind of marriage she thought only appeared on TV. They are loving and lovely and she is made welcome.

But it is the relationship between Hannah and Jack that is the big draw for this book. Given the nature of Hannah’s role, they are forced to spend lots of time together and their connection is delightful.

There were many times I laughed out loud while listening; especially the “mad cat face” scene.

Jack, who has not laughed very much in the past few years, finds himself laughing at least once every day because Hannah delights him. Hannah is not a Hollywood starlet. She’s “ordinary looking”, some might even say “plain”. To Jack, Hannah is “real”.

Their banter sizzles but they do more than trade bon mots. They help each other deal with their respective griefs. They take care of one another in various ways. They become close and, inevitably, Hannah falls for him. Apart from being gorgeous, Jack is, it turns out, a really nice guy.

The story is told from Hannah’s first person (past tense) point of view and her obvious concern is that Jack is an actor and it can be difficult to know what’s real and what’s pretend. Hannah finds it hard to imagine Jack would want to date her in reality. So do many others in Hannah’s sphere.

We listeners know better of course.

The narration is superb. It’s my first experience with Patty Murin but it won’t be my last. She has fantastic comedic timing, great pacing and tone and also delivers the pathos of the story with skill.

At one stage I thought that Ms. Murin might be a pseudonym for Cristina Panfilio (another favourite of mine) because they sound so similar. (They’re not the same person; a simple Google search shows me that – which is the only reason it gets mentioned at all here. It’s not cool to out people – don’t do it.) So, they’re not the same person but they could be narration twins. There is a very similar style of delivery and the same things I love about Ms. Panfilio’s narration are what shone out to me in Ms. Murin’s performance. In other words, they’re both excellent voice actors.

I’m convinced Ms. Murin’s narration was at least 50% of the reason I laughed as much as I did and she was also probably responsible for at least half of the other emotions I felt throughout the novel. Hannah is a great character, vulnerable, fierce, competent in some things (her job – though this was more told than shown unfortunately) and woefully unskilled in others – navigating personal relationships for example. And Jack is wonderful too. He’s far more than just a pretty face but of course he is completely gorgeous. He sees through Hannah’s guard to the woman beneath and recognises her for the gem she is.

The narration is just excellent and the story is a lot of fun – just watch out for the potential landmines of those heavier topics – but otherwise this book is a big recommend from me.

Grade: A