Psycho Romeo CoverRating: 4.25 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Geoffrey Ralse made a fortune as a young man for creating Matinee, a top hookup app on the market. Now he has a huge social circle full of friends he met online and with whom he spends lots of time at clubs and bars. When he starts getting messages from a stalker, Geoffrey doesn’t take it too seriously. Not until he wakes up one morning realizing that someone drugged him, brought him home from a club, and had been in the house with him.

Geoffrey turns to Ward Security and the one person who makes him feel safe: Sven Larsen. Geoffrey has been flirting with Sven for months to no avail, but he is also one of the few people Geoffrey trusts with his safety. Sven is a little wary, knowing how aggressively Geoffrey has pursued him, but he also can’t let the man down, especially since Sven returns the attraction.

As Sven settles into Geoffrey’s home, the guys get to know each other better. Geoffrey realizes that in addition to being hot for the huge, sexy, Viking-like Sven, he actually really likes him too. And although Sven starts off not wanting to get involved with a client, especially someone as small and seemingly fragile as Geoffrey, he slowly begins letting him in. Everything that Geoffrey’s past partners have disliked about him, such as his restless energy, Sven finds he enjoys. And once he lets himself accept that Geoffrey is much stronger than he looks, Sven can’t resist acting on their shared attraction.

The stalker is not content to let things be, however. Soon things begin to escalate and the threats get even bigger as the stalker is determined to get to Geoffrey. Now just as the men are finding happiness together, threats to Geoffrey’s life may destroy their hope for a future.

Psycho Romeo is the first book in Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott’s new Ward Security series. It is also a spin off of their Unbreakable Bonds series, though I didn’t realize that when I picked it up for review. The stories are connected in that Geoffrey appears as a side character in that series, and some of the guys from Unbreakable Bonds show up here (several of them are involved with the security company). I have not read that series, although I have a basic familiarity from reading Michelle’s reviews, but I didn’t have any trouble jumping in here. I will say that this book definitely makes an effort to catch us up with the main characters from the previous series and they get reasonable page time, so if you have read it, you will probably enjoy seeing them again. But if not, you should be able to follow along here just fine.

I am a sucker for bodyguard stories so I was really excited about this one. I really liked the set up here with Geoffrey as this party boy with endless social media followers and hangers on, but no real friends who care about him as a person. He lost his parents young and raised his now college-aged brother, so he is very lonely underneath all his superficial connections. As the story develops, we can see how unhappy Geoffrey is in this life he made for himself and how much he craves a real connection and a relationship. While at first he seems a bit like a pushy flirt without much substance, we get to see the real man behind that facade over the course of the book and I found him incredibly endearing. I loved him with Sven, who is more reserved and cautious. At first Sven is wary of getting involved, but he can’t resist the lively and energetic Geoffrey. These guys are a fun pair of opposites attract and I really found them adorable together. But in addition to being fun and sexy, I also really liked how we get to know both men and watch their relationship really develop.

The stalking plot is what kicks off the book and it is a bit backburnered through a lot of the story as the relationship becomes the key focus. At times I wondered about the seemingly lax efforts toward protection going on. There are times Sven starts to feel much more like a boyfriend than a bodyguard. But the suspense portion of the plot kicks back in again and I think it was nicely done. The stalker isn’t immediately obvious and the reveal makes sense for the story. There is a lot of excitement at the end and a nice thriller element to the book. I will note that there is a very short scene where we see Geoffrey assaulted by the stalker. I personally found it very uncomfortable to read, and so be aware if this is a trigger for you.

So overall I found this a great start to a new series. I think the authors segue nicely from Unbreakable Bonds to this new series and start us off with a great suspense story. There are a lot of characters in play here and so I think the potential is great for future books. I really liked Sven and Geoffrey together and found them both sweet and sexy. Both are really likable characters and they make a great pair to kick off the series.

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