Karen Does Cindy Gerard…

Well, I’ve read quite a few books lately, here’s a quick rundown of my thoughts on the Cindy Gerard Bodyguard series:

To The Edge

Jillian Kincaid is the daughter of a very rich businessman, all her life she’s been surrounded by bodyguards, following her every move, now that she’s a grown woman, she refuses to be treated like a child, and having a hired protector follow her round all day, is all too reminiscent of her childhood.

However, when she starts receiving threatening letters, she’s forced to rethink her stance, even though she hates the thought of her privacy being infringed upon. Enter Nolan Garrett. He’s been hired by Jillian’s dad to make sure she doesn’t get killed. Nolan was expecting a spoiled bitch, but instead he is surprised, when Jillian turns out to be an independent lady, who proves to be a tough nut to crack.

I really liked both the H/H, and this book in general. It was a quick easy read, but when the perp was revealed, I must admit, I was surprised. I liked the romance between Jillian and Nolan, and there was enough of a balance between romance and suspense to keep me happy.

Oh, did anybody notice that Gerard has a habit of using the term “geezus” a la Tara Janzen? I’m just sayin’.

To The Limit

Eve Garret’s life is in danger, whilst chasing after Tiffany Claybourne, a billionaire’s daughter who she’s no longer officially supposed to be protecting, she gets herself smacked upside the head, and knocked unconscious. Whilst investigating the disappearance of her ex-charge, she runs into the guy (Tyler ‘Mac’ Maclaine) who stole her virginity when she was just eighteen and in lust. Eve finds that she still hasn’t gotten over the fact that he abandoned her minutes after deflowering her, but unfortunately, she’s gonna have to suck it up, because he’s been hired to find Tiffany, so she’s gonna need his help.

Although Eve showed a lot of potential in To The Edge, I think Gerard took the road well travelled, and instead of confirming her kick-ass status, she took the easy route, and made her into a damsel who had to be rescued by her ex-boyf. I really hate that. Why would you change a kick-ass heroine into a TSTL whiny bitch? Anyway, generally, TTL, was a lot harder to read than TTE, I didn’t particularly care for Mac, because he came across as an arrogant arse.

To The Brink

Now we’re talking!

Darcy Prescott is part of the diplomatic service assigned to Manila, in the Phillipines.
When her best friend gets killed, Darcy is afraid that she will be next, especially when she opens up the envelope that her best friend leaves in her safe keeping. Before she hides the contents of the envelope, she places a call to Ethan Garrett, the ex-husband, who she divorced five years ago. She’s forced to leave a message for him, knowing that he is the one person on earth who will come to her rescue, come hell or highwater.

Darcy manages to mail the envelope, just before, she is kidnapped by a gang of men, working for an unknown killer.

When Ethan picks up the message from Darcy, he realises that he’s still not over his ex-wife, and that he’ll probably have to kill again, to make sure that she stays alive. He takes a team with him out to the Philippines to rescue her, knowing that failure is not an option.

I loved this story. It seemed to have much more of an emotional intensity than the previous two books. Ethan was my kind of hero, dark, and brooding, without being a whiny-arsed bitch. Darcy was also fab, and I loved the fact that although they were divorced, they both knew that the other would do whatever it took to keep him/her safe. Their marriage didn’t end because they didn’t love each other, and I thank Gerard for not having Darcy and Ethan harp on at each other for the majority of the book, like so many authors who use this particular plot device tend to do.

Although it was easy to guess who the baddie was, it was still well written, and moved along at quite a nice pace.

If you do decide to read all three books, I would advise that you read them in order, because if you read TTB first, the other books will probably disappoint. (Although I do think Gerard’s frequent use of the phrase “To a man” started grating a little bit)

Good rec Anne, as usual you were right, this was certainly the best out of the bunch! I’m really looking forward to Dallas’s story, after having been introduced to his eventual heroine in TTB.