The Bodyguard

The Bodyguard is Katherine Center's 2022 romantic comedy about Hannah Brooks, a security professional assigned to protect actor Jack Stapleton. Netflix Tudum says Guarding Stars is inspired by Center's novel, with Leighton Meester and Jared Padalecki starring in the holiday-set film. St. Martin's Press edition evidence lists the hardcover ISBN 9781250219398.

The hook is clean: Hannah can handle the security job, but Jack's family cannot know she is working as his bodyguard. That means the professional cover becomes fake dating, and the fake dating keeps poking at real loneliness, grief, and self-protection.

Read it before Guarding Stars if you want the quieter emotional mechanics before the movie adds Christmas framing. The book is bright and fast, but it works because Hannah's competence is never treated as a joke.

Hannah Brooks is the bodyguard whose controlled work life hides how little room she has left for her own feelings.

Jack Stapleton is the actor under threat, trying to protect his family from both danger and publicity.

Jack's family turns the assignment into more than a celebrity-security problem.

The protection team keeps the romance tied to a practical job with rules and consequences.

No. 1 - Current Netflix route. Guarding Stars gives the novel a fresh read-before-the-movie window.

No. 2 - Competence romance. Hannah is good at her work, and the plot lets that matter.

No. 3 - Easy entry. The book is a standalone, not a series commitment.

Read this if you are...

• Coming from Netflix's Guarding Stars announcement.
• Looking for a light but emotionally grounded rom-com.
• Interested in fake dating with a workplace-security twist.
• A fan of romance where one character has to learn how to receive care.

Skip it if you are...

• Avoiding celebrity romance or bodyguard premises.
• Wanting high-heat romantic suspense.
• Looking for a dark thriller about stalking.
• Frustrated by family misunderstandings as romance pressure.

• Take Hannah's job seriously. The romance works better if the security rules feel real.
• Watch the cover story. Fake dating is useful here because it exposes both characters' weak spots.
• Separate book and film tone. Netflix's movie leans into a holiday frame; the book has a broader rom-com shape.
• Notice the grief under the charm. Jack's public image is only one layer of his problem.

• Kennedy Ryan - Before I Let Go. For adult romance under grief and family pressure.
• Colleen Hoover - Regretting You. For a popular romance-drama source before the screen version.
• Emily Henry - People We Meet on Vacation. For another screen-bound contemporary romance.
• Sally Thorne - The Hating Game. For workplace tension with sharper banter.
• Jodi Thomas - Ransom Canyon. For a very different romance-to-Netflix route.

1. What does Hannah protect herself from when she is not protecting Jack?
2. Does the fake relationship give either character freedom to be honest?
3. How does Jack's fame change the stakes of an ordinary romance beat?
4. What should Guarding Stars preserve from Hannah's point of view?
5. Does the bodyguard premise feel like danger, comedy, or both?
6. How does the family setting change Jack's public persona?
7. Where does the book use comfort well, and where does it risk becoming too tidy?
8. Would the story work if Hannah and Jack met without the security assignment?