Book Review: Up Close and Personal by Kathryn Freeman (ARC)

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher One More Chapter for providing me with a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Up Close and Personal

Author: Kathryn Freeman

Expected publication: June 12th, 2020

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Description: Sizzling chemistry, a page-turning will they/won’t they romance and the hottest twist on one of your favourite movies…

British actor Zac Edwards is the latest heartthrob to hit the red carpets. Hot, talented and rich, he sends women wild…all except one.

Close protection officer Kat Parker hasn’t got time to play celebrity games. She has one job: to protect Zac from the stalker that seems to be dogging his every move.

Zac might get her hot under her very starched collar, but Kat’s a professional – and sleeping with Zac is no way part of her remit… 

Rating: 4 / 5

I really need to stop reading book reviews before reading the book, because although this one has a lot of mixed reviews, it actually turned out to be a really good book!

It’s a contemporary romance about a famous movie star who has good a crazy stalker sending him notes and following him (just as most celebrities do have at some points), but his manager thinks he can never be to cautious. So he hires a bodyguard for Zac. And the bodyguard turns out to be a very cute girl Zac tried to seduce the night before!

Zac is a posh control freak and a perfectionist whereas Kat is the complete opposite. She’s messy, chill and laid back. But as in most rom-coms, opposites attract. And they soon find each other sleeping together, and sooner than expected falling for each other.

Zac was such an interesting character. I love how the author didn’t make him overly cocky and fame-struck only because he is a famous celebrity. He was actually very normal, except for his rituals that are only a part of his persona because of what happened to him when he was a kid.

I loved Kat as well because of how self-confident and strong she is. It might be a bit cliche that only because she’s a bodyguard she drinks beer, is not ladylike and doesn’t like dressing up because all the female bodyguards I know don’t act or dress any different than me outside of their work. But I do understand that Kat had to be portrayed as different from most girls.

I love the segment of both Kat and Zac’s past, and I didn’t realize such a light and easy book will become so serious. Even though Zac seems to have everything under control, that couldn’t be further from truth. But even though both of them had a difficult past, that just built them even stronger and made them love each other even more.

I do wish this was a bit more action packed. It is very interesting but I would still think there would be more crazy action scenes. It was still fun, though, and very fast paced and eventful.

Kat and Zac’s romance was very sweet and I like that it wasn’t over-the-roof. They slowly learned to not only love but also help each other in their own problems and insecurities.

I do believe this was based on a movie The Bodyguard, but since I’ve never seen it I can’t say if has elements of the movie or if it’s similar. You be the judge of that.

This is not a typical rom-com troupe and if you’re into that you should definitely pick it up. And never judge a book based on reviews (both positive and negative), we all have different tastes and opinions and that’s why you should always give book a chance before judging it too soon.

Happy reading!

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