Playing His Dangerous Game - Tina Duncan
Mills & Boon Modern
Harlequin UK, 2011
ISBN: 9780263887167
My rating
From the back cover:
"What happens when you break all the rules...?
Socialite Shara Atwood is used to playing the celebrity game. However, the buzz of vintage champagne is nothing compared to the heady gaze and indecently muscled physique of her new bodyguard, the enigmatic Royce...
Royce has his work cut out for him! Shara is no spoilt Daddy’s Girl, but a fiercely independent woman learning to stand on her own two feet. Shara knows she should do as Royce tells her – especially when his body is between hers and danger – but she can’t help but think she’ll have more fun not obeying his every command..."
Tina Duncan is a new-to-me author, and since this is a Modern I thought I would give it a go.
The hero Royce is hired by the heroine Shara's father to act as a bodyguard for her as she has been receiving some hassle from her ex-husband. Royce's first impression of Shara is that she is just like any other spoilt rich girl. But he soon realises that Shara is so much more, and that he is fiercely attracted to her. Shara is not happy to have Royce around, after spending the last year in an abusive marriage she doesn't want to be dependent on another man. But after her ex-husband's threats become more serious, she is forced to concede. As they grow closer, Royce and Shara begin to fall for one another. But Royce knows he needs to pull away and Shara only ends up hurt again.
I feel a little disappointed with his book. It sounded like it was going to be much more exciting that it turned out to be. The subject of the heroine's domestic abuse is handled well and with sensitivity by the author. But everything was revealed quite early on in the book and it felt a little too info dumpy. I think it would have created more tension throughout the book if things had been revealed in a more gradual way.
The hero is a bodyguard hired to protect the heroine from her abusive ex-husband - sounds good. His great suggestion to help her... get a restraining order. Come on, surely anyone can think of that themselves. A big let down in my opinion. I thought he was going to suggest he take her away to some secluded cottage and the sexual tension between them explodes or something. But no, the whole book is him staying with her and helping her fill out the paperwork and wait for a court date.
My last (I promise) moan about this book is the structure - every sentence is a new paragraph, and the change of POV, using scence breaks, is almost constant sometimes after only half a page. Both of these things disrupts the flow and pacing of the book and makes it quite difficult to read.
Not one for me, I'm afraid.
Xx
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