Surface (Guarding Her, #1)

by Anna Brooks

[Eve1972]

 
 
~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
I had high hopes for this one. It sounded like it was going to be a perfect insta-love over the top alpha male book. Alas, it turned out to be just OK. It started out really good but as soon as I found out the hero was f-cking around with OW while claiming to always want the heroine, not to mention keeping any guy that was interested in her away, the story lost some of its luster. Not to mention I hate time jumps and we get a couple in this book (two months later -- five months later). AND...it was pretty slow moving without much interesting happening. So yea, it was a bit of a disappointing read. The writing itself wasn't bad. The pace was really up and down. Slow moving in places and then hyper speed in others. The plot was pretty cliché and could have used some tightening up. Last, it was all wrapped up in an OK ending. Since this is a start to the series I expect we will be seeing this couple again in other books.


~HERO~
ROYCE...He was OK. He was your typical over the top alpha male. The book starts out with him basically claiming the heroine as "mine." He was sweet. He was protective. Unfortunately, he was also a little bland and do not even get me started on how he chased every guy that was interested in Paisley away, but felt it was A-OK to continue f-cking other women --- and yes I am going to be harping on this fact A LOT because it pissed me off. *lol*


~HEROINE~
PAISLEY...Paisley was a virgin (groan). She had a crush on Royce since she was 14. I thought she came across a little bland and immature (she was 19). But overall she was an OK heroine.


 

~SECONDARY CHARACTERS~
This book was rich in secondary characters. A lot of the guys from ROYAL ACE SECURITY make appearances. I assume a lot of them will be getting their own books. I also enjoyed Paisley's adoptive parents Erik and Polly. 


~HEAT LEVEL~
Low. This one wasn't all that spicy. There were a few sex scenes, but they were more on the milder side. I also didn't think this couple had great on page chemistry.


~ANGST LEVEL~
Low. This wasn't a very angsty read. Royce and Paisley are off and running right from the start without really any hiccups in the relationship. Most of the angst comes from the underdeveloped side mysteries. There wasn't any OW drama. There was a bit of OM drama in the form of Chad (again another underdeveloped side story). I will say that I wasn't crazy about the fact that Royce apparently slept with OW the entire time he was "waiting" for the heroine. Maybe if the heroine hadn't been a virgin. Maybe if he hadn't told her to stay "sweet" for him (aka stay a virgin) before he left her. Maybe if he hadn't purposely been keeping her from forming potential relationships with other guys. I could have gotten past it. I don't need my characters to stay celibate if they are not in a relationship but at the same time, you can't try to sell me a crock of sh!t about how the hero was all in LOVE with this heroine and knew she was going to be "HIS" starting from when she was 16 then have him off f-cking around. It just never works for me. If you love someone and are just biding your time until they become legal you don't f-ck around with OW. Period. 

P.S. Please for the love of all that is good STOP with the f-cking virgin heroines!


~IN THE END~
Like I said, it was OK. I can't really say anything more positive about it than that. It had a bunch of cliché stuff I hate. It felt underdeveloped. It was slow. That said, I am an optimist, so I MAY give the next book in the series a chance. Hot alpha men security series are usually like crack for me. We'll see. Yours truly is going to give this one a single thumbs up.