Being the heiress of Greenway Discoveries, Daphne Green has always lived a life of privilege. But when there is a break-in at her father’s office, he enlists the service of Milosh Petrov to guard her as a precaution. Just a precaution . . .
Assertive and straight-talking Milosh takes his job seriously: keep them safe and walk away. But when he’s tasked with posing as a close protection officer for Daphne, walking away starts to feel impossible. And when the threat against her life becomes very real, Milosh vows to do whatever it takes to keep her safe.
I liked it okay, but it was pretty mid level for me. The concept was average, romance was good but mostly average save few great moments, the writing was good but not incredible. It was nice but sometimes a little boring. Only because it didn’t really have a grab your attention premise amongst a sea of other options. It sounded great, but it was just good/okay. It frustrated me that almost grown woman exclusively referred to her actual Father as Daddy continuously like she was 8. It gave Booktok type hints but never properly followed through. Simultaneously characters were somewhat dull and unusually brutal at once. Everyone was good at everything. It felt like it hovered around the edge of great but just never quite made it. Good, but not incredible. Still a worthwhile read though.
Would I Recommend This Book?
Yeah, it was a perfectly acceptable bodyguard romance.
Similar Books You Might Like
If you are thinking what kind of books would have similar feel, themes or content, here is a list that you can consider:
A girl whose touch can kill you, imprisoned and in the middle of a war with extraordinary power… what else could you ask for a dystopian YA romance? A long series that some loved, and some hated – I read the first book to see what all the hype was about.
One touch is all it takes. One touch, and Juliette Ferrars can leave a fully grown man gasping for air. One touch, and she can kill. No one knows why Juliette has such incredible power. It feels like a curse, a burden that one person alone could never bear. But The Reestablishment sees it as a gift, sees her as an opportunity. An opportunity for a deadly weapon.
Juliette has never fought for herself before. But when she’s reunited with the one person who ever cared about her, she finds a strength she never knew she had.
I kept going back and forth on liking, hating, and tolerating this book.
The writing, I found to be sometimes nice, and other times more like drivel (eg talking about dying 5 times in one second… ugh). Often, it across as a too flowery, but I did enjoy The cross out of a “real” or raw thought followed by the one that the character thinks should be.
The story was very slow to start, and I wished it would have jumped in a few chapters earlier. Then, the story took a very different “beauty and the beast” vibe, before finally doing a sharp turn to superheroes. It was disorienting to say the least.
I know some spoilers and just CANNOT understand how we get from this book, to the final one….. I almost don’t want to know, and I’m hoping if I read any more, it won’t be a toxic relationship that we are supposed to somehow root for. I never do.
Content: violence, imprisonment, child abuse
Would I Recommend This Book?
I found this book was okay, but I prefer Whisper by Lynette Noni which holds a lot of similar elements but I thought was done a little better. It’s fine, but if you’re thinking the books will have closed doors, think again – that’s only the first two then things change.
Similar Books You Might Like
If you are thinking what kind of books would have similar feel, themes or content, here is a list that you can consider:
okay, i finally did it. i read divergent. am i a long way from the hype of when it originally came out? yes. do i care? no.
i watched the movie and read the book, so let’s compare.
The Movie’s Biggest Change
as is the case with pretty much every book to movie adaptation, it was condensed. the trials and tests are way shorter in the film, and it didn’t really make a difference to the overall movie. while it was fun and interesting to see that in the book, and while it did remove some of the tension, i didn’t really miss it – so point one for condensing things.
Where the Book Did It Better
HOWEVER, point for the book was the condensing of Al’s story. when he ends up in an ‘un-alived’ position, it was way more impactful in the book – the movie almost erased his character altogether. understandable, given how much they really needed to speed through. scenes like tris taking al’s place in the knives and how four actually handled that in the book vs movie was… different. different feels and honestly, i prefer the book.
shortening books is nothing new and i think i complain about it in every one of these comparisons… so yeah. there you are.
The Struggle of Adapting Tris
tris is very quiet. that didn’t translate well in the movie. the actress was okay, but it is a little difficult to fully understand the character when most of whats happening is inside her head. no narration i think was the right call, but it did make for interesting and boring all at once
The Ending Problem
divergent does end in a strange place, and thats because the series continues, but when it comes to movies ending on cliff hangers, i’m not a fan. id rather an ending that i can be happy with and then come back for the continuation of the story – something the hunger games did really well.
Divergent vs The Hunger Games
speaking of hunger games, this and that get compared all the time – so lets do that. i think hunger games book was LIGHTYEARS better than the film – but i think divergent book was only a bit better. so that’s progress, and maybe gives some insight into how well both movies did. plot wise, they are very different – so no comparison there. character wise, i did actually prefer katnis over tris – but it was a tough call.
so, should you watch the divergent movie or read the book? both…? they were ultimately the same story so if you’ve done one without the other, its pretty much same same… except for expounding on some things in the book. if that’s what you want – go for it! i enjoyed both.
Another week, another series review! This time, it’s one that I stumbled across without any knowledge, and fell in love with after book one! The Gallagher Girls – teenage spies in training…
Yes, I know how that sounds – and looks when you type it out – but there’s something about this series that even as an adult I still love. It’s about a group of girls who are in a special and elite private school, that secretly is a training ground for female spies! So, let me share a bit about the books and why I think they’re worth reading (and as with some of these reviews, it’s been a while since I read them so I’m going totally off memory!)
Cammie is a spy in training at the Gallagher Academy – supposedly a school for genius level young ladies, but not everything is as it seems. So when she meets a regular boy, who thinks she is a regular girl, and falls for him, she’s in trouble. It’s difficult to start a relationship by hiding who you really are, and add to that fact that you’re able to hack into his life and you’ve got a complicated situation!
This was a pretty soft start into the series. It was about what you’d expect from the above description, spy in training goes to school and defuses bombs, talking in French, then gets her first boyfriend in her spare time. The series really takes off into some fun places, and even though this was a very soft start it was just enough introduction into Cammie’s spy world that kept me interested to see where it would all go.
There are intruders in the Gallagher Academy… and they are tougher (and hotter) than ever before. A boys spy school are guests at Gallagher and while Cammie tries to figure out if she can give away her heart again, things are happening that could endanger everyone.
The addition of Blackthorne boys was amazing. I LOVED this side of the series, where we get to face off girls against boys and see who makes the better spies. There also brings another romantic element which Ally uses through the series in an exciting way.
Cammie is back and this time, she’s a Junior. When her best friend is targeted for kidnapping or worse, she will do anything to protect her. When the hot Blackthorne boy, Zach, shows up again she isn’t sure what to think about it – or him. Figuring out what the bad guys want, and who they really are leads to dangerous adventure.
We start really getting into the arching story in this book. There have been things going on in the background that are starting to be revealed, and it’s fun to see it all unfold. Spies (in books at least) have trouble knowing who to trust and what to do in the face of betrayal and friendship. I loved seeing Cammie balance duty with friendship, and trying to have it all.
The organisation that’s been working in the background is after Cammie and she’s going to have to decide who to trust. Someone has been labelled a traitor, and as she and her friends try to make sense of it all, she’s trying to hold her heart close to her chest.
Things are really heating up in this book. We get more information about the bigger threat, and start seeing cracks in everyone’s facade. The relationship with Zach and Cammie has been back and forth, and I loved seeing them continue with added complications.
Cammie Morgan – spy in training – meets Jason Bourne. Cammie has woken up in an Alpine convent with no memory of what happened during the summer… just the bruises. As she and her spy-in-training friends try to piece it all together, the Circle of Cavan (an evil organisation after Cammie) is trying to stop her from remembering.
I’ve read a Bourne book – well, half of one – and this was nothing like that. I loved this story as we try to work backwards with Cammie and figure out what devastating secret led to her memory loss. With only one book left, things really come to an exciting point in this book!
Cammie is close to graduating, but she has to try and balance that with her fight against the evil organisation Circle of Cavan. They’re planning something that would devastate the world, and she and her friends have to try and figure out how to stop it all.
Okay, I know the idea that a teenage spy in training could save the world from a big terror threat is a little thin, but this series made you believe it could be possible (sorta)! The final part to the story, all answers revealed and an ending that I had conflicting feelings about… But it was a wild ride!
There they are, in all their glory. And with a new book coming out of Ally’s that’s similar vibes but an adult fiction, not YA maybe this is the perfect time to read or re-read the series!
I decided to jump (very late – years late in fact) on the band wagon and read The Selection trilogy. So, how did I find it and what were the good, and bad’s for the series?
Here are my thoughts on each book in the original trilogy (I have yet to read the other few that came out afterwards, so this is where I’m focussing my opinions!):
This book was cute, emotional, interesting And utterly ridiculous all mixed into one. I don’t like “The Bachelor” but this was so much better that I didn’t mind the element of the story (especially when you consider no rose ceremony or the other silliness that normally comes with the show). The banter and characters were fun, and the world was interesting. One minor irritation was that some of the world building felt a little too delayed and I was left to just skim over some things and hoping it eventually got explained (it did – things like the number system). It surprised me how much I enjoyed this book, and I’m very glad.
I liked book two. The character interactions were still interesting and entertaining. My main complaint was that the continuing plot felt drawn out to a point where the story doesn’t matter anymore. It has now been aprox 600 pages – with another 300 or so – of a competition that realistically could have been done in 400 all up. Most of this felt like padding, and I don’t know how to consider the final book. All in all, good but not great. Not as good as the first, but still engaging enough.
The first book was great; the second felt like filler, but the third was my favourite! This was a great end to the trilogy of America and Maxon’s story – it had the good, bad and the ugly. Including hilarious and heart warming/wrenching moments. I was really impressed with the series overall, and pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
Content warning: some more intense kissing scenes, but that was the extent of it
A group of teenagers – some billionaires, and the others part of a family of long time thieves and con artists… what could go wrong?
Okay, a lot could go wrong. Most particularly, going to prison or being killed – two of the most common consequences of living as a criminal. But, somehow Ally Carter makes us root for the criminals, and we have some heist books in this series that were funny, somehow relatable, and altogether fun!
I enjoyed her other series about teenage spies – The Gallagher Girls – but it took me a while to grab these ones. The teenage spies are more intriguing, but the thieves were downright entertaining! I love a good heist story, and this for me, was it. So let’s go over the three main books in the Heist Society trilogy:
Fun story, easy to read, interesting plot and characters with great comedy and wit. Love Ally’s style and the ‘underground’ worlds she creates.
I was excited to see the romance, the character relationships and the antics to continue in the next book. It was a fun and a little nod to all the con movies out there!
Apparently I didn’t write an original review for this one but let’s see how good my memory is.
I liked the arc of our main character – knowing her family is a criminal business and not really wanting to be part of it, but knowing she will be whether she wants to or not. It’s got lots of anguish in what you’re born into, vs what you want to do and good vs bad.
The heist was fun, but very different to the previous story. I liked the twists and turns that we took, and as always the romance and fun character interactions was everything.
This was the least favourite of mine in the series. The final story took a very different turn than the previous. It was less heist, and more con/investigation.
The billionaire character I briefly mentioned above is supposed to inherit the entire business but there’s something evil afoot. It was more trying to make sure he keeps his money (if he even wanted it) and less pulling off the perfect heist for people who had been stolen from first…
If we look at the series as a whole, I would say that it was a 4 Star series. The planning of heists, and the heists themselves (by teenagers at that) was really what drew and kept my attention. They were funny and had lots of wit and bite between them, and I really enjoyed that as well.
It did seem like as the series continued, Ally lost what made the magic… maybe? But either way it is still a very enjoyable few books, and even though I’m not a teenager anymore, some YA can be read at any age. For me, this series is one of them.
Have you read this series? Or maybe another heist book or series that you loved? Let us know in the comments your HEIST recommendations!
Love letters, fake dating and a Netflix phenomenon… so I had to get on board
Estimated Reading Time 4min
When To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before hit Netflix, it quickly became one of the platform’s biggest romantic comedies. It spawned two sequels, launched plenty of internet crushes, and introduced a whole new audience to Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky. Naturally, I had to find out whether the book or the movie did the story better.
As always, spoilers ahead.
The Movie Made the Characters More Likeable
This is a complaint I seem to make in almost every book-versus-movie comparison, but this time it went the opposite direction. The movie improved the characters. A lot of the characters in the book felt more cynical, sarcastic, and difficult to like than their movie counterparts. Margot was probably the biggest example. In the movie, she came across as responsible and protective, with a genuine love for her sisters underneath it all.
In the book? She was just mean. I understood that she was trying to fill a parental role, but she lacked much of the warmth that made her work in the film. The same thing happened with Lara Jean’s friend Chris. Movie Chris is rebellious in a fun, slightly snarky way. Book Chris takes that much further, regularly skipping school and making questionable decisions. Even Peter wasn’t quite as charming in the novel. He wasn’t unlikeable, but he definitely wasn’t the Peter Kavinsky that became a fan favourite on screen.
Some of the Small Changes Actually Worked
One thing I appreciated was how the movie handled some of the setup. By including more backstory before Margot leaves for college, the film gave the family dynamics a little more context right from the start. There were also plenty of smaller changes. For example, in the book, Peter is the one who suggests the hand-in-pocket idea. It’s a tiny detail, but it gives him an extra layer of sweetness that I really liked. These little adjustments didn’t dramatically change the story, but they helped shape how I viewed the characters.
The Book Foreshadows Later Events
One thing I noticed while reading was how much groundwork the first book lays for the rest of the series. There are references to places and characters that don’t become important until later books, including the retirement home where Lara Jean eventually volunteers and reconnects with John Ambrose. The movie doesn’t include any of this setup. It’s not necessarily a problem, but it was interesting to see how much was already being established behind the scenes.
Josh’s Role Was Surprisingly Different
Josh remains much more involved in the family’s life in the book. Even after Margot leaves for college and everything becomes awkward, he continues coming over for dinner and spending time with the family. In the movie, he mostly fades into the background after the initial conflict.
Honestly, I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this change. On one hand, he’s been part of their lives for years, so it makes sense that those relationships wouldn’t instantly disappear. On the other hand, it definitely created a strange dynamic.
Kitty Was Much Younger
Another major difference was Kitty. In the movie, she feels only a few years younger than Lara Jean and often steals scenes with her confidence and sass. In the book, she’s significantly younger. And it shows. She feels much more like a child.
Because of that, the family dynamic changes. People treat her differently, and some of her actions feel more like childish mistakes than calculated mischief. Personally, I preferred the movie version. An older Kitty brought a lot more energy to the story and made the sisterly interactions more entertaining.
The Letters Were Much Harsher
One of the most surprising differences involved the letters themselves. In the movie, they feel like private love letters that were never meant to be sent. In the book, they read much more like goodbye letters. Lara Jean isn’t simply expressing her feelings. She’s actively trying to move on. Some of the things she writes are surprisingly harsh. She lists flaws and annoyances in an effort to convince herself she no longer has feelings for these boys.
When Peter later references some of those comments, I couldn’t help thinking that reading those letters would have been genuinely painful. This was one change I actually preferred in the movie. The softer approach felt more believable and less unnecessarily hurtful.
The Ending Changed Everything
The biggest difference between the book and movie comes at the end. The movie gives us the classic romantic-comedy ending. Lara Jean and Peter get together. Everyone is happy. Roll credits. The book does something very different. It ends with them broken up. Lara Jean begins writing another letter, setting up the sequel P.S. I Still Love You. Now, I understand why this was done. The series continues.
But it felt a little manufactured. Instead of feeling like a natural ending, it felt like the book was intentionally creating drama to make readers pick up the next installment. Knowing there was another book made it fairly obvious they would eventually find their way back to each other. For me, the movie’s ending worked much better.
Book vs Movie: Which Was Better?
This is one of the rare occasions where I preferred the movie. The book was enjoyable, and it provided additional context for several moments that only receive a brief mention on screen. But overall, the film improved the characters, streamlined some of the weaker elements, and delivered an ending that felt more satisfying. That’s not something I say very often in these comparisons. Usually, the book wins. This time, however, the movie takes it. And honestly? It wasn’t even particularly close.
Kids fighting to the death to be the ultimate victor and live in luxury… Okay, it wasn’t my first choice in reading material when The Hunger Games came out!
Estimated Reading Time: 5min
Okay, so I finally did it. I read The Hunger Games. I actually watched the movie years ago, not long after it came out. At the time, I wasn’t particularly interested in a story about kids being forced to fight to the death in an arena. It sounded awful, and not in a way that made me want to watch it. Now, almost a decade later, I’ve finally picked up the book and decided it was time to compare the two.
As always, there will be spoilers ahead.
The Main Story Stayed Intact
One thing the movie did well was sticking to the core plot. The major story beats are all there, and I was actually surprised by some of the smaller details that made it into the film. Things like Prim’s cat and Katniss’s dislike of it only take a few seconds of screen time, but they were included nonetheless.
At the same time, the movie removed a lot from the book, and that’s understandable. Films have time limits. Condensing material is part of adapting a novel. The problem wasn’t necessarily that things were cut. It was what was cut.
The Pacing Felt Backwards
One of my biggest complaints about the movie was the pacing. It felt like the first half of the film focused heavily on the lead-up to the Games, while the second half rushed through the Games themselves.
If anything needed condensing, I think it should have been some of those earlier scenes. By spending more time in the arena, the film could have explored the survival aspect much more effectively.
In the book, the Games feel brutal. You see the effects of starvation, dehydration, injury, exhaustion, and the constant threat of death. The physical and emotional toll is impossible to ignore. The movie touched on those elements, but often moved past them so quickly that much of their impact was lost.
The Missing Character Moments
The biggest casualty of the adaptation wasn’t the plot. It was the character development.
Throughout the book there are countless small interactions that build relationships and motivations. Many of these moments never made it into the film. In particular, the dynamic between Katniss and Peeta suffered.
The movie includes the broad strokes of their story, but it removes many of the moments that make their partnership believable. Because of that, the “star-crossed lovers” strategy never felt as convincing on screen as it did in the novel.
Without those quieter scenes, it becomes harder to understand why certain choices matter later.
The Characters Lost Some of Their Personality
Another issue was how the characters came across. Book Katniss felt sharper and more observant. Her relationship with Gale felt more balanced and established. Peeta, meanwhile, came across as significantly kinder and gentler in the novel.
One example that stood out was when Katniss sees Peeta with the Career Tributes. In the book, there’s uncertainty about what he’s doing and why. In the movie, some of that ambiguity disappears, making him seem more focused on self-preservation than he actually is. The result is that many of the nuances of his character get lost. He’s still recognisably Peeta, but not quite the same Peeta.
Where the Movie Worked Better
To be fair, there were moments where the movie had an advantage. The Reaping is a great example. When I read Katniss volunteering for Prim in the book, it was emotional. Watching it happen on screen was even more powerful. Seeing Prim’s fear, hearing the silence of the crowd, and watching Katniss step forward created an emotional weight that hit much harder visually. Film can sometimes communicate emotion instantly in a way that books can’t, and this was one of those moments.
The Ending Lost Some Impact
One of the areas where I felt the adaptation struggled most was the aftermath of the Games. The movie moves through these scenes very quickly. In the book, however, there is far more tension and uncertainty. Katniss is separated from Peeta, unsure whether he will survive, and the emotional fallout is given room to breathe. These moments also help establish how Katniss’s feelings toward Peeta are changing.
By the end of the movie, I felt like she seemed almost indifferent to him. In the book, that simply isn’t the case. Her feelings are complicated, but there is already genuine care there. Losing those scenes weakens the emotional payoff.
Book vs Movie: Which Was Better?
If you couldn’t tell by now, I preferred the book. The pacing felt stronger, the characters had more personality, and the emotional moments landed more effectively because they had room to develop.
The movie isn’t a bad adaptation. It follows the main plot closely and includes more details than I expected. But for me, the emphasis was in the wrong places. Rather than cutting some of the setup and spending more time on character relationships and the reality of surviving the Games, the film often rushed through the moments that mattered most.
As with most book-to-movie adaptations, the book simply had more space to explore its world and characters. And in The Hunger Games, that extra space made all the difference.
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