Review: No Place Left to Run by Zarah Detand
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Publish Date: March 25, 2015
Reviewed by: Heller
How I got this book: E-Arc from Publisher
After a lengthy world tour, pop star Samuel Gibbs is looking forward to a nice, quiet break—sleep in, write a bit of music, do his own cooking for a change. He doesn’t want his time spoiled by the constant presence of bodyguards, and he is certainly not willing to have someone tail him each time he so much as goes to the shops. No way, no how. It’s a good thing, then, that his head of security relents on the matter—or so he leads Samuel to believe.
The break is starting to look even better when Samuel runs into his new neighbor. Ryan Halston is smart and hot and, quite possibly, everything Samuel wants. However, he doesn’t know that Ryan is part of the rejected security detail, tasked with protecting him from the dangerous attentions of an unknown stalker.
I’ve read other Detand books that worked much better for me than this one. This one won’t stop me from reading her next one because I have liked her previous two quite a bit. Right at the start I wasn’t impressed with Gary, the head of security, hiding important issues from his client. Don’t be surprised when your client is pulling at the bit for a some freedom when he doesn’t know the extent of the danger surrounding him. Protecting someone from the truth for their own good doesn’t sit right with me. You treat him like a child and then get upset when he pushes back because you’re hiding things from him. Give the man the courtesy of treating him like an adult and be responsible and aware for his own safety.
This whole Gary debacle just colored this story for me and it just felt like there was a cloud hanging over the events ready to burst into the massive thunderstorm when all the truths were revealed.
I didn’t mind the secret bodyguard action that went on here and the build of the romance between Ryan and Samuel was slow burn and quite sweet and sexy. Where the story lost me was when Ryan crossed the line. Ryan should have revealed his occupation to Samuel when they slept together. That he didn’t was a huge breach of trust that I don’t know that I could have forgiven.
Moving beyond that, I enjoyed the characters and the writing. They were well developed and I found the writing smooth but the stalker reveal was sad. It actually upset me to see who it turned to be. The ending was quite nice and I like that I left the story feeling lighter.
I’m giving No Place Left to Run a C-