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As my mother's 24/7 caregiver, November being National Family Caregiver Month has always been important to me. Not because I want personal recognition for what I do but to help show people that caregiving is more than just medical assistance, it can also be emotional, physical, psychological, that it effects every aspects of a person's life, it can be temporary, short term, long term, chronic,. I would give anything to make it so my mother did not need the assistance but that isn't possible so I do this so she can have the best quality of life and still live in her own home. So I realized that there are stories out there that have caregivers and whether it's a big or small part of the plot doesn't matter, they help show people what caregivers provide all within very entertaining romances and reading experiences.
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Summary:
Ellery Mountain #10
Someone wants JC dead, and Adrian is the only thing standing in the way. Has war followed them home? Or is something more sinister at play?
JC struggles to understand his place in the world, and despite being wealthy beyond imagination, he’s never found real happiness outside of his friendship with Adrian. Enlisting in the army is his attempt at finding purpose, but tragedy strikes, and only the Ellery Veterans Center can help put back the pieces of his shattered life. With a bullet fragment in his brain and seemingly no chance of ever being the man he once was, he begins to lose hope.
Adrian didn’t hesitate to follow his best friend to war, but with their unit decimated in an ambush and JC bleeding into the dirt, Adrian buries his hopes for the future to keep the man he loves safe. Acting as JC’s bodyguard means he is secure for now, but threats from an unknown person escalate to attempted murder, and Adrian has no choice but to take JC and run. When the Sanctuary Foundation intervenes and takes them into their care, they might be safe, but revealed secrets could destroy everything.
Sometimes, even if love finds a way through tragedy, it can be impossible to imagine forever.
This book features characters from my action-adventure romantic suspense Sanctuary series, but you do not have to have read Sanctuary to enjoy this story. This best-friend-to-lover, hurt-comfort romance has bodyguards, threats, found family, and a guaranteed love-filled happily ever after.
RJ Scott has done it once again! Turned me into a blubbery mess all the while making my heart warm with this tale of love, friendship, recovery, healing, drama, and of course a hint of mystery. For those who have read the previous entries in Ellery Mountain, I would say The Soldier and the Boydguard probably touches a little more on the mystery element and as good as it is(kept me guessing to almost the reveal) it is not the dominate factor. Just a great multi-genre blend all the way around.
As a 24/7 family caregiver, I purposely held off on reading Soldier until November so I could fully appreciate the caregiving element for National Family Caregiver Month. The author gets Adrian's desire and frustration spot on, for a caregiver to find the right balance between assistance and letting the loved one do for themselves is often the hardest part of one's day. Through Adrian's inner monologue we can literally see that scale(the caregiver's brain) waffling between too much and not enough.
Don't mistake my above comment as the author trying to teach a lesson, this Ellery entry is 150% entertaining but just knowing the author put that much heart into that aspect of Adrian's role in JC's life made this story even better. I just really have a greater sense of respect for an author who "gets it", be it through thorough research or personal experience, that blend of reality and fiction can really be a "make or break" moment for me. RJ Scott definitely makes it.
I don't want to touch too much on JC only because I'm afraid once I start talking about this brilliantly created character I'm going to give too much of the mystery factor away and as you know I'm a spoiler-free kind of person. I will say that his journey is equally heartbreaking and heartwarming. The pain alone, both physical and emotional, brought tears to my eyes but knowing he gets up everyday despite it also made me smile. Some days he may have had to force himself and some days it may have been all Adrian's doing but whatever the reason he still did it. That tells me all I need to know about the kind of man JC is so there is no way I am not rooting for him.
Caregiving doesn't have to be long term, it can be short term as well but it's always ongoing and constant while needed. Through JC and Adrian's friendship as well as their individual inner monologues, RJ Scott lets us see that. Sometimes that constant need can be hard but also rewarding and it's their friendship that shows that the most but it also helps strengthen the love.
Okay, I know I'm talking about the caregiving element too much but as a caregiver it is a subject that is close to my heart and one that when done so accurately, I need to showcase it. I apologize for being too wordy on the subject.
One more thing I want to mention and that is the inclusion of members of the author's Sanctuary series. It's been awhile since I read that one but I remembered the characters instantly and found them to be just as enjoyable now as when I first discovered them.
So to sum up this overly wordy review: The Soldier and the Bodyguard is amazing and edge of your seat heartbreaking yet uplifting, a winner from beginning to end.
Summary:
Wanted: One night together, no strings attached. Hold me, make love to me, treat me like I’m the most important person in the world. No talking. No names. And don’t be surprised if I’m gone in the morning.
After crushing on my best friend for years, I realize he’ll never want someone inexperienced like me. So I decide to get it over with, play the V-card once and for all with an anonymous hook-up. The terms are simple: no talking, no names.
It isn’t as easy as it seems. Now I can’t get the handsome stranger who greeted me with soft kisses and gentle touches out of my mind. Those hands, those lips... But it was just a one-time thing, and I need to forget about him once and for all.
At least I know I won’t ever see him again—until I board a flight and catch sight of a familiar profile in the cockpit just as the door closes.
The Soldier and the Bodyguard by RJ Scott
The lie in the mirror was that I couldn’t see the bullet fragments in my head. Only machines could see the damage, but I knew what was in there, and I scratched near the scar, which itched like fuck.
“Hey, don’t do that,” Adrian murmured and laced our fingers together so he could tug me away from worrying at the skin. He’d have been horrified if I’d told him I had this idea that, if I scratched hard enough and then tilted my head, the fragments would fall out.
I did that in my dreams, but I’d also discussed it in my chats with my therapist, who told me it was understandable to feel as if I could reach into my brain and pick out the metal.
Understandable. Reasonable.
“Sorry.”
Adrian squeezed my hand. “It’s okay; I’m just jealous that you have a wicked scar for the ladies.”
I glanced at him. “And the men.”
He nodded and I wish I knew what he was thinking, but Adrian had this inscrutable way about him. Or maybe it was that my brain wasn’t working enough to try to read his thoughts the way I’d always been able to do before. My doctor likened this challenging part of my recovery to face-blindness, saying that the part of my brain that understood expressions was damaged.
“Yep, all the men, too,” Adrian corrected himself in his usual upbeat breezy fashion, then pulled me away from the mirror and sat me in the chair. I couldn’t tie my hair back on my own, but he knew that, and already had the thin leather he twined in my damp curls to tame them. “Ready for a shave?” He picked up the shaver, but I shook my head. “You’re gonna grow a beard, JC? For real?” He was teasing me because that was what Adrian did. He pulled me out of the dark times, and he laughed with me, and at me, and he made me remember I was still alive.
I wish I weren’t alive. I would give anything for Taylor or Asti to be here instead of me.
“It hurts,” I admitted, and as soon as I said it, I wanted to take back the words because Adrian dropped to a crouch in front of me.
“What hurts?” he asked with urgency.
“The… thing,” I patted my cheek, but my hand was shaking, and I dropped it immediately.
“Your head hurts?”
“No.” Yes.
Virgin Flyer by Lucy Lennox
I was terrified.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking, and I worried I was sweating enough to stink. Also, how long was a douche supposed to last before nerves negated the effects?
I shook my hands out and paced back and forth in the hotel room. I’d splurged on a nice room on a high floor with a gorgeous view of the river. Not that I could see much of it now that it was dark, but it had been pretty before the sun had gone down. Now it was mostly city lights.
I stopped pacing and pulled the curtains closed. No one needed to watch what was surely going to be an utter disaster. Another good reason I’d laid out the no-talking rule. It would hopefully prevent the man from asking what the hell my problem was. Also, I didn’t want him to ask about my experience or lack thereof. My hope was to… somehow cover up my virgin status by acting like I knew what I was doing.
I did not know what I was doing.
Thank goodness for Google. Thank goodness for porn. Hell, thank goodness for Grindr if I was being honest. No matter how much of a fool I made of myself tonight, I wouldn’t have to ever see the guy again and he’d never know my real name. I’d even locked my wallet and other personally identifying items in the hotel safe just in case.
Embarrassingly, I’d also texted Jay and told him where I was in case I was murdered and/or kidnapped. He’d asked me why I’d never used him as a wingman before, and I’d piled on more lies, saying I’d never needed backup until a bad experience the month before. Then, of course, he’d wanted to ask me all about my close call. I’d mumbled something about bad poppers and hung up.
I didn’t even know if guys used poppers anymore, and I sure as hell knew I was too much of a dork to be a popper user. Jay had probably immediately called Chris to ask him about my bad popper experience. Even now Chris could have been trying to get ahold of me to make sure I was all right.
I raced toward the closet to get my phone out of the safe, but tripped over my own foot on the way there and sideswiped the TV table with my hip, hard.
“Fuck,” I hissed, looking down at the offending piece of furniture. And that’s when there was a knock on the door.
I slapped a hand over my mouth to keep from yelping. Was it too late to cancel? What if I was so nervous I couldn’t get a hard-on? What if…
He knocked again.
Oh god. It’s happening.
I took a deep breath and strode toward the door as confidently as I could fake being. After shooting one last warning look over my shoulder at the TV table, I reached for the handle and pulled the door open.
My eyes had never before been gifted with such a sight.
I blinked and was surprised to see him still standing there. Tall, broad, handsome as hell. He had dirty-blond windblown hair and was dressed in a dark wool coat over a white button-down shirt open at the collar. I could see darker blond chest hair in the vee of his shirt and a prominent Adam’s apple under dark evening stubble. I wanted to lick it. I wanted to sniff it. I wanted to climb up his large body and beg for him to touch me. My stomach dropped. This was unexpected.
Writing love stories with a happy ever after – cowboys, heroes, family, hockey, single dads, bodyguards
USA Today bestselling author RJ Scott has written over one hundred romance books. Emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, single dads, hockey players, millionaires, princes, bodyguards, Navy SEALs, soldiers, doctors, paramedics, firefighters, cops, and the men who get mixed up in their lives, always with a happy ever after.
She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing. The last time she had a week’s break from writing, she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a box of chocolates she couldn’t defeat.
After enjoying creative writing as a child, Lucy didn’t write her first novel until she was over 40 years old. Her debut novel, Borrowing Blue, was published in the autumn of 2016. Lucy has an English Literature degree from Vanderbilt University, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the years and years of staying up all night reading tantalizing novels on her own. She has three children, plays tennis, and hates folding laundry. While her husband is no shmoopy romance hero, he is very good at math, cooks a mean lasagne, has gorgeous eyes, looks hot in his business clothes, and makes her laugh every single day.
Lucy hopes you enjoy sexy heroes as much as she does. Happy reading!
Lucy hopes you enjoy sexy heroes as much as she does. Happy reading!
Lucy Lennox
The Soldier and the Bodyguard by RJ Scott
Virgin Flyer by Lucy Lennox
