| Series: | The Protector #1 |
| Pub. Date: | Jan. 2, 2018 |
| Publisher: | Swerve |
| Length: | 255 pgs |
| Source: | 3M Cloud Library |
I've been a Megan Hart fan since the way back, loving the incredibly emotional erotic romances that she published. It seems she is branching out over the last few years and crossing genres into the realms of suspense and thrillers. With The Protector series, Megan offers a futuristic romance with an enhanced heroine and billionaire hero struggling through a contentious relationship.
Nina Bronson is a soldier that died in a futuristic war and was brought back as one of fifteen "Enhanced," stronger, faster and more resilient than average humans. The Enhanced are now working as protectors (body guards) for those who are able to afford their services. But the enhancements are starting to fail and Nina faces a bleak future and early death if the tech is not upgraded. It seems one of the side effects of Nina's enhancements were emotional, and she is unable to process or feel certain emotions. This had the unfortunate effect of Nina coming across as an automaton. I could not connect to her character at all, and often Nina's thoughts, reactions and the emotional aspect in general didn't make sense to me
Ewan Donahue is a billionaire genius who created the tech implanted in Nina's brain. Ewan has also become the strongest lobbyist against use of the tech and has blocked the updates for the Enhanced. His issues with the tech are wrapped up in morality and past tragedy, and he never thought to hire one of the Enhanced for his protector. But with ever-increasing threats on his life, he had to get the best - Nina Bronson. Unfortunately, I needed more character development with Ewan (and Nina as well). I felt like I didn't know much about him and even when we learned his past, it wasn't enough to connect me to his character.
This story is heavily dialogue-driven, which often felt stilted and choppy. I'm so used to Megan's intensely emotional stories that I felt like I was floundering with this one. When there was a lot of action and danger, it took the focus off the contentious relationship somewhat. But for about half the book, our couple is off in a remote location with only the dialogue and intimacy to drive the story. I got fairly bored during this part of the story and I just didn't understand these two as a couple.
Probably the most interesting aspect of the story were the futuristic parts. The snippets of world building that were included had my attention - I only wish there were more of them. I wanted to know more about the war, more about Gray Tuesday, and how the "North American United States" has changed. Are there United States now besides in North America? Are Canada and Mexico still in existence? I just had a lot of questions that could have been answered with some additional world building.
Finally, there was a rather large plot hole that drove me absolutely bonkers. I'm going to hide that discussion behind a spoiler tab, so only click it if you want to read on.
Yeesh. This is the part of the story that made me the most ranty.
Yeesh. This is the part of the story that made me the most ranty.
I accepted the third book in this series for review (not knowing it was part of a series), so I feel like I have to continue on so I can at least give that book a shot. I'm not really looking forward to the next one at this point though.
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