Watch Me

by Sloane Kennedy

NikolaiMy rules when it comes to my job in personal protection are pretty 1. Protect the client’s life, not their feelings.2. Don’t put hands on a client unless you’re getting them out of harm’s way.3. For God’s sake, don’t do something stupid like fall in love.Twenty-four hours after meeting Jude Archer, rules 1 and 2 are already out the window. Thankfully there’s no chance of falling for the callous businessman who cares more about his next deal than he does his own safety.Jude may have managed to make fools of all the guys his wealthy boss and rumored lover has hired to watch him, but he’s playing in the big leagues now. The son of a bitch might not value his life, but I’m pretty fond of mine.Time to teach the clueless Jude Archer a few hard lessons…JudeMy rules for success aren’t for everyone, but they should be.1. Work hard.2. When you’re on the verge of giving up, work harder. Life owes you nothing. You have to take what you want.3. For God’s sake, don’t do something stupid like get distracted by feelings.With just weeks between me and the closing of the deal that will give me everything I want, I don’t have time to worry about a supposed stalker who hasn’t had the balls to do anything more than send a few threatening letters to my wealthy boss.Sure, I sent a few so-called bodyguards packing. Even if I thought I was in serious danger, I can’t have someone watching me 24/7. My life works the way it does for a reason and no one, not even the gorgeous Russian ex-soldier who thinks he can scare me into submission, is going to change that.Nikolai Falkov thinks he has something to teach me? Yeah, good luck with that.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Enemies To Lovers, LGBT, Disability, Gay

282 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2020

Reviews

[Wendys Wycked Words · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has been a long time since I've had the pleasure of reading a new Sloane Kennedy book. To say I was happily surprised when I found out she had written a new stand-alone is putting it mildly ;)



Everyone that knows me, knows that I am a HUGE fan of the "Protectors" and the "Finding" series. I re-read them all the time and "Finding Hope" is one of my all-time favorite books.

This book is a bit different though. We get a "bodyguard falling for his client trope". I have to be honest and admit that this isn't one of my favorite tropes. It has been done a lot lately, especially with "famous stars", but this time it is a businessman that needs protection...



Said businessman, Jude, doesn't want any protection though and so he does his very best to sabotage the bodyguards assigned to him. That is not so easy when it comes to Nik though. Nik won't stand for it... but Nik also stirs something within Jude...

Both men are immediately intrigued by the other. There is instant chemistry and instant lust between these two, but it actually takes some time for these two to "come" together (<- see what I did there)



I actually appreciated the fact that it wasn't an insta-love kind of story, but I was also mildly irritated by the slow burn ... I know I am a basket case!!!

I really enjoyed reading this one, though I have to say that for me, it didn't top the " Protectors " or the " Finding " series. Those series will probably always stay my favorite. It is hard to top "perfection"

I think lots of you will be overjoyed with a new "Sloane Kennedy" read. 


An ARC was provided to

in exchange for an honest review


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[~✡~Dαni(ela) ♥ ♂♂ love & semicolons~✡~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as Sloane Kennedy books go, Watch Me is relatively low-angst. Even better, the focus is firmly on the relationship between up and coming business hotshot, Jude, and his bodyguard, Russian-born Nikolai.

There are a few secondary characters, including Jude's boss and mentor, Cliff, and Nik's best friend, Mike, who owns the new security company where Nik works. These characters are necessary to the story and don't distract from it.

The stalking plot is a throwaway and just a mechanism for Jude and Nikolai meeting. The book is really about how these two men go from enemies (Jude does not want a bodyguard and the first time he lays eyes on Nikolai, the man is pointing a gun at him) to lovers (the chemistry between the MCs is potent - sex is what Kennedy writes best).

There is also a secondary plot involving Nikolai's sick nephew, whose mysterious, unnamed illness had me rolling my eyes. But whatever.

Nik's family is very sweet. I just wish the author had moved beyond stereotypes when painting Nik's parents as not speaking a word of English. My parents were in their 30s when we immigrated to the States and speak English just fine, thanks. Most immigrants do.

The tenderness between Nikolai and Jude, once both stop making assumptions about the other, is beautiful. Their first times are raw and electric. Throw in the cute, heartfelt HEA, and you have a very enjoyable, sexy story.

[nark · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars.

☁️ this was kinda painful.
☁️ all the assumptions the mcs kept making about each other without any actual facts, the constant back and forth, the lack of communication... it all drove me nuts.
☁️ way too much inner monologue that goes on forever, but barely says anything of importance.
☁️ idk how or why i even finished this book. should have probably dnf'ed.
☁️ and don't even get me started on the stalker storyline. it was so badly done. truly pathetic. the way that whole thing basically got ignored for the most part, then got solved at the very end in approximately 5 seconds… just what.
☁️ Jude's career and that whole billion dollar business deal made absolutely no fucking sense lmao.
☁️ i'm not giving this 1 star, because while i didn't enjoy this overall, it was written in a way that made it very easy to keep reading.
☁️ i’ll probably forget this whole ass book exists in a couple of hours, since this really wasn’t memorable in any way.

[Leslie]

DNF. Time of death....58% 🤷🏻‍♀️

Just call me the DNF Queen this week. 😭

I had tried two things by this author previously and had come to the conclusion that she wasn’t for me. But then this one called out to me with the promise of a hot Russian.

And now here we are.

I’m not rating this as there was nothing wrong with the book. It’s more a matter of me not connecting with her writing. I don’t connect with her stories and find her sexy times not so sexy. The characters were very sweet but I felt blah.

And that’s ok! To each their own. Moving on.

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the words of Cardi B this book was WAP (Weak Assed Plot).

I had so many issues. The whole Jude needing protection - weak and frankly pointless as nothing happened till the last chapter. The constant inner monologue got old after the first chapter and, despite all this relentless IM, so much needed fleshing out it was ridiculous. And don't even get me started on Jude's insecurities which were just way too OTT given he's such a successful businessman.

Sorry to say this one definitely didn't work for me.

[Papie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a mess. There is no way around that. 🤷‍♀️

Good things:
- Nik and Jude were really cute. I liked the big strong Russian bodyguard with the sweet insecure hurt guy pairing.
- The sex. Sloan Kennedy has a thing for dirty sex and it really works for me.
- Nik’s family, and I liked the sick kid part of the story. Although I wish she would have given us a real disease name to go with it.

Bad things:
- The whole story made no freaking sense. Nikolai acting like an idiot when he started the job. The threats. The random stalker was just ridiculous and it got resolved in 2 seconds in the last chapter. WTF.
- Jude’s career. I wish he would have been a rockstar or some tortured artist. Business just didn’t fit with his personality.
- Everything about Jude’s work. He is supposed to be working on important deals but he never interacts with clients. He has no team. He has no boss. He is sitting alone on his computer 15 hours a day. WTF is he even doing. That’s NOT how this works. And they talked about multi billion dollar deals, but then he is just buying land?
- The deal that almost derailed because of an anonymous fake email offer. What? That’s not how any of this works! (The business professor in me is getting very agitated at that point)
- Mike conveniently being there at the right second to save the day
- Cliff. He is supposed to be super important to Jude, yet we never see him. He also seems to never be at work. Also why wouldn’t Jude tell Nik the truth about Cliff from the start?
- And finally the cringey “but I was going to propose to YOU” ending. No. Just no.

I’m sure I’m forgetting some. So 3 ⭐️ for the cute sexy romance minus 1 ⭐️ for all the nonsense. And that feels generous.

[Ariana (mostly offline) · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s been quite a while since I read a book with the bodyguard trope, and this started out pretty promising with a strong enemies-to-lovers vibe.

However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Sloane Kennedy’s writing style is not quite for me. While I enjoyed the crackling UST, the plot left me with quite a few mumbles of ‘What?’ and ‘Not really!’
It was things like this, I found hard to wrap my mind round:


.) Nikolai keeps harping on about professionalism and the first thing he does on his new job a protective detail to Jude is pull a gun on the latter. And then gets arrested for it. WTH? The following time they meet he throws the (probably highly expensive) computer off Jude’s desk. Really? There are quite a few more example in that vein I could quote.

.) Nikolai is described as highly protective, and yet their first time going all the way happens when Jude is highly vulnerable. For me it was totally the wrong time.

.) Why was the guy who threatened Jude shot dead? The guy was deluded, but in the scene I got the impression he was actually calming down, just before he was killed. It just felt weird that this happened.

The other thing that’s always bothered me about SK’s writing is that every feeling gets blown out of proportion. The sex scenes are intense in an OTT way and the way each man describes the other is too idealised and unrealistic. For me, there’s too much ‘amazing’, ‘beautiful’ etc. and (worst of all) ‘perfect’.

I know that this is on me and that many readers will thoroughly enjoy this book.
And I was entertained to some extent, as long as I didn’t attempt to take the plot and the characters too seriously.

[Renae Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first ever bodyguard romance and I can tell you that I will continue reading within this trope. It was amazing to read the organic progression between both main characters. It was fun to read and both of the two main characters had amazing chemistry. Loved this story from beginning to end!!!

[Maisha Farzana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading a book by Sloane Kennedy, after so damn long, was an absolute pleasure. The story is simple and low in angst compared to her other works. And I loved it soo much. I guess I like Sloanne Kennedy's less dark books than the extreme ones. Unpopular opinion but works for me.

[Cadiva · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Sloane's best imho

Oh there wasn't a single thing I didn't love about this book.

Sloane writes these kind of tension-filled suspense element romances with an ease that makes them a wild ride.

This one was just the ticket, hot Russian bodyguard, vulnerable but stubborn protectee, issues to be overcome, found family to make, a couple of cute kids and a personal challenge to conquer.

Loved it.

[Layla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok...
4 stars for the story
2 stars for the narration.. and that's me being generous

The story is classic Sloane... angst, instalove, some suspense, breakup and an HEA. Hot sex thrown in and it's a good book. Sloane is my catnip and I'm #proud. You know what you expect with her books and this is oddly comforting, at least when you have an idea of what you want to read.

Nikolai and Jude are lovable, relatable and hot together. Nikoli and his family are genuinely nice people, who have been dealt a bad hand in life.
Jude hasn't had the best life either and it shows in his adult life. He's desperate to prove himself and works himself to the bone.

All in all, it was a good book. Not her best, but good.

Now the audiobook....
It was BAD. Dude... I may have finished this book sooner if it weren't for the narration. I've tried several, audiobooks by Mr. Dean... and he is not for me. This will be the last audiobook I'll try by him, and it's really sad because alot of my favorite authors use him exclusively. Bummer...
You know a good narrator has to at least use the basics...
- different tones
- holding an accent
- pausing at a period 🤦‍♀️
You know.... the basics😅

Anyway imma finish my rant now.

[♡ cal ♡]

DNF @ 74%

this book is one big meh. i don't hate it and obviously i didn't liked it either. it's nothing.

[BevS · Rating 3 out of 5]

My last 5 star Sloane Kennedy read was Sanctuary Found back in 2018. Has something happened to the Author in the meantime? Not sure, but I thought this one was fairly mediocre I have to say. She is very much a hit and miss author for me anyhoo, I tend to either love or leave her reads. This one was a miss I'm afraid...I was bored, I skipped and there was too much sex and not enough story to keep me interested.

[ML · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was expecting

I normally love Sloane and her characters. This book just did not work for me. It was a bit boring and the push and pull between Nik and Jude got a bit tedious. It was a frustrating read. AND the main reason Nik was even in Jude’s life was a stretch and did not have that satisfying of a conclusion but was a bit of an afterthought.
Clearly from now on, I’ll stick to the series and not read the stand-alones.

[Shelba · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF @ 8%

This rubbed me the wrong way instantly.

First, regardless of sexuality, I would think a self declared ass man would be able to tell if a woman had an “epic ass” even if they were gay. Hell, I’m ace and can still recognize an “epic ass” when I see one.

Second, a bodyguard who aims his gun at the man he is hired to protect sounds like a real idiot to me… you don’t aim at something you don’t intend to shoot

[Santy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Sloane Kennedy and she's written some of my favourite series including the 14-book The Protectors series and the 4-book Barretti Security series which I loved and read from end to end(some even more than once).

As a result, I know that sometimes to really enjoy a book by her, one needs to suspend some belief and I easily did same here because I was more than ready for some goodness. I don't know whether it was my mood or the story but aside the writing, nothing went right for me in this book.

Usually during these bodyguard-turned-lover stories, I expect some level of rule breaking simply because as a bodyguard, you are not supposed to cross that boundary and fall in love with your charge. So, as I indicated earlier I was ready for that. What I wasn't ready for was the level of unbelievably unprofessional antics of the bodyguard Nikolai. It blew my mind and not in the best way.

Also, the incessant push and pull that went on throughout the book took away from the story in my opinion. It was obvious to both of them, and the reader, that they liked each other so the "being intimate and then pretending all was fine but isn't really fine" got to me and truth be told, I never settled down into the story. This led to me not enjoying the story.

Here's to hoping the next book by this author goes much better for me than this

[Claude · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Sloane's Kennedy book: HOT guys + big HEARTS + HARD backgrounds +/- few kids running around.


I just love it and read it in one time!
Nikolai, the bodyguard (he's so much more) is an incredible character.
Jude is so LOVABLE.
Watching them slowly fall in love with each other was so cuuuuuuute. I mean Nikolai incredible.

« I bent my head enough that my lips were close to his ear. "You are worth fighting for," I said softly. As soon as I said the words, Jude flinched. He also nodded, but he continued to refuse to make eye contact with me. »

Read this!
The epilogue put a BIG smile on my face. Cute as hell.

[oshiiy]

Well, sadly this book didn't work for me.

[Kaity · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread: September 2022

3-3.5 stars

Pretty good, I do wish that, like in my original review that the stalker was brought up more than at the beginning/end. It would have been better if more happened with him.

But other than that, it was a solid Sloane Kennedy dramatic read haha but i still enjoyed it

3 solid stars

Kept me entertained but I felt like things were missing, I can't pin point what.

I also feel like the reason that Nikolia was hired aka the stalker/bad guy was rarely brought up and was an after thought... I wish it was a little more in the forefront so it didn't feel like a random thing at the end.

[Rosabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, well, well... Dear Sloane, you're writing style is usually not for me, but I'm IN LOVE with this one! ❤😍 God, my heart.

I loved it, at 6% I thought I was gonna DNF but I was sooooo wrong! *whispers* so wrong. The story was beautiful, it had amazing main characters with depth! You get to know them, their story, history, family, pains, quirks, everything!! And they were kind with one another, so fucking kind it pained my heart in a delicious way.

I did roll my eyes when the doubts appeared, every books has the same ones, but everything else was handled so perfectly that I didn't care. I'm gonna check more from her, because jesus I'm still swooning!! I want more, I already read the little side story but I want more!!!

So pleasantly surprised, still swooning. LOVE IT!!! 😫❤😍

[Esra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first read by Sloane Kennedy but it won't be the last.
I thoroughly enjoyed and loved Nikolai and Jude, but I think the plot was weak.
The bodyguarding thing and the threat towards Jude was the whole basis of the story but it wasn’t even handled with the depth it deserved and it was solved in just a few pharagraphs.
So this one didn't work much for me.

[I~❤️~Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

✮4 Stars✮

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh..

I read better from SK. This one was good but not very memorable.
Also... Can these authors please stop with the "old" for all the 35+ characters... I mean seriously... That is just ridiculous and annoying.

[Myriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Romance with a capital R. They could have been a baker and a mechanic for how much the threat to Jude actually mattered in the grand scheme of things. This was allllll about Feeelings. How they feel about each other, how long it takes for them to get over their hang-ups and how they feel when they finally get together. Basically no other speaking roles. Inoffensive and a little overwritten but better than The Protectors series.

[Francisca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book a lot. Less angsty than Sloane Kennedy's usual stuff. Very good chemistry between the main characters. Hot and intense love making.

[~BookNeeds~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far one of best romances I’ve read ever!! I love Sloane’s books, LOVE! But I can’t help to have a bit of trepidation from time to time when it comes to her stories, they always involve some type of abuse. Well this book was NOTHING like The Protectors series which I’ve read most of. Nik and Jude were beautifully flawed and perfect for each other. I HIGHLY recommend this beauty of a story. I hope it turns out to be a series.

[Elsbeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

*3.5 stars*

[AvidReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended.

[Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again we have Sloane Kennedy doing what she does best, creating characters that are flawed and complex and have really been through the mill. These guys have to work and fight for their redemption before we get any kind of HEA. I really enjoyed the slow burn here and I'm glad they didn't get together too soon in the story, it's the angst and the dancing around each other that made the story for me before that chemistry explodes. Really enjoyed this one.

[DeAnna · Rating 4 out of 5]

So close to 5 stars, but not quite. I thoroughly enjoyed Nikolai and Jude, and I felt like Ms. Kennedy did a good job explaining Jude's disabilities and his need for order and control. The expected fight at the end was a little much -- did Jude really have to flee to Cliff's house to understand what Nikolai had done??

The mystery, however, was a total bust. When I'm reading a mystery (like who is stalking Jude), I expect to be given information that allows me to guess who the stalker is. I may be wrong because of the red herrings, but I should at least have an idea. This one was completely out of the blue; we hadn't been introduced to the character on page, and we knew nothing about him.

Recommended, but be aware that you'll be unhappy with the stalking subplot, especially if you're a regular reader of mysteries.