The Soldier and the Bodyguard was originally a free serial for RJ Scott’s newsletter subscribers but I didn’t read it then because I knew that I wanted to read the complete story all in one go after she released it. This is such a wonderful story and I’m not sorry I waited to read it. It’s told in first person POV, alternating between Adrian and JC.

Adrian and JC have been friends since they were very young and for years Adrian knew that he loved JC as more than a friend. While both of them were deployed JC suffered a traumatic injury in the same ambush that left Adrian with hearing loss in one ear.

After threats were made against JC, his grandmother sends him hideaway at the Ellery Veterans Center, where JC can stay out of the limelight and receive the therapy he needs to get better. She knows that Adrian won’t leave JC and puts him in charge of keeping him safe.

Oh my, this story just about ripped my heart out in places but RJ Scott is so good at writing books that make me feel things deeply and this one was no exception. There were twists and turns in the story that I didn’t see coming and I was glued to my e-reader from start to finish.

I loved how RJ had characters from her Sanctuary series helping JC and Adrian. Even though it’s been quite some time since I read those books, I still remembered the characters that she wove into this story. Epilogues are often my favorite part of the book and the one for Adrian and JC took place one year later. I loved knowing where they ended up after the main story ended.

Reviews for RJ Scott

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The lie in the mirror was that I couldn’t see the bullet fragments in my head. Only machines could see the damage, but I knew what was in there, and I scratched near the scar, which itched like fuck.

“Hey, don’t do that,” Adrian murmured and laced our fingers together so he could tug me away from worrying at the skin. He’d have been horrified if I’d told him I had this idea that, if I scratched hard enough and then tilted my head, the fragments would fall out.

I did that in my dreams, but I’d also discussed it in my chats with my therapist, who told me it was understandable to feel as if I could reach into my brain and pick out the metal.

Understandable. Reasonable.

“Sorry.”

Adrian squeezed my hand. “It’s okay; I’m just jealous that you have a wicked scar for the ladies.”

I glanced at him. “And the men.”

He nodded and I wish I knew what he was thinking, but Adrian had this inscrutable way about him. Or maybe it was that my brain wasn’t working enough to try to read his thoughts the way I’d always been able to do before. My doctor likened this challenging part of my recovery to face-blindness, saying that the part of my brain that understood expressions was damaged.

“Yep, all the men, too,” Adrian corrected himself in his usual upbeat breezy fashion, then pulled me away from the mirror and sat me in the chair. I couldn’t tie my hair back on my own, but he knew that, and already had the thin leather he twined in my damp curls to tame them. “Ready for a shave?” He picked up the shaver, but I shook my head. “You’re gonna grow a beard, JC? For real?” He was teasing me because that was what Adrian did. He pulled me out of the dark times, and he laughed with me, and at me, and he made me remember I was still alive.

I wish I weren’t alive. I would give anything for Taylor or Asti to be here instead of me.

“It hurts,” I admitted, and as soon as I said it, I wanted to take back the words because Adrian dropped to a crouch in front of me.

“What hurts?” he asked with urgency.

“The… thing,” I patted my cheek, but my hand was shaking, and I dropped it immediately.

“Your head hurts?”

“No.” Yes.

Ellery Mountin Series

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