The Superstar

Title: The Superstar (Bodyguard #1)
Author: Patricia Logan and Jonathan Young (Narrator)
Publisher: Westburg Publishing
Release Date: August 19th 2015
Genre(s): M/M Contemporary
Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
Reviewed by: Belen
Heat Level: 3 flames out of 5
Rating: 2.25 stars out of 5

Blurb:

Storm Ellison is the sexiest man on two legs. The gorgeous young star of “Trapped on an Island”, the hottest reality show on television, is instantly recognizable the moment he leaves his palatial mansion. Paparazzi follow him everywhere, leaving him no peace or privacy, selling his pictures to the tabloids, and cementing his reputation in the press as a slutty gay playboy. As Storm prepares to sign his first major movie deal, his manager decides he needs protection. What he doesn’t expect, is to be attracted to the cold bastard who’s now running his life.

Balthazar Grant, freelance bodyguard, is a huge, handsome, rough and ready former Marine, trained by the best, and willing to step between Storm and anyone stupid enough to come at him.

Always stoic and serious, Taz lends a deadly presence to Storm’s entourage whenever he ventures out in public. Storm doesn’t want a bodyguard, much less one who won’t let him live his fast and loose lifestyle with impunity and he’s certainly not one to be dictated to by an overconfident Marine who has opinions about everything including who he should hook-up with.

When a deadly threat hits Storm’s world, he’s suddenly living his own reality show, only this one has an outcome which doesn’t involve being voted off an island. Will Storm wake up before it’s too late and will Taz be able to fight his attraction to the handsome young superstar while trying to convince him he’s in very real danger? The pair will soon learn that reality is stranger than fiction.

In romance stories I love the whole “bodyguard and his charge fall in love” trope. So I was excited to come across this story – and in audio! Add into the mix it’s an interracial romance and, well, color me intrigued.

Balthazar “Taz” Grant is a huge, gorgeous former Marine with eyes of silver and skin the color of good chocolate. Storm Ellison is the sexy scripted reality show star he’s been hired to guard. And…honestly, it all unraveled pretty quickly for me. I wasn’t engaged, I didn’t care about the characters, the narration alternated between being too slow then abruptly becoming too fast. The one nice thing I can say about the narration is the character voices were well done for the most part.

There are quite a few contradictions in the story-telling. Two examples: when we first meet Taz he is the color of milk chocolate, but when Storm describes him he’s the color of dark chocolate. Storm is a “superstar” who just won an Emmy for the scripted reality show he’s been on three seasons, and hosted the Emmy’s, but he’s then described as a “star on the rise”.

I was super frustrated by the slow burn and Taz and Storm fighting their attraction to one another for so freaking long. Also, be forewarned – there is on page sex with other people and sex while thinking about other people. Both of which are major turn-offs for me, especially in a romance!

The plot was frustrating and kind of all over the place, random characters showed up and were hard to follow, the best friend was way too involved and spotlighted (though it was nice for a female character not to be vilified in a M/M Romance for once), and the timelines were weird and hard to follow. All of which kept drawing me out of the story to shake my head, roll my eyes, or have to backtrack to figure out what the hell was going on.

Another frustration came from the Hispanic housekeeper, who I think was supposed to be for comic relief at times, but I didn’t care for her portrayal. But that may be me being oversensitive.

Bottom line: If you’re into interracial slow burn romances where details don’t really matter and you aren’t bothered by cheesy dialogue – you might like this story.

I cannot recommend it.

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