Pulse is a quick and swoony read from the always charming Adriana Locke. This one is sweet, sexy, and loads of fun.
I love a good body guard romance with Troy and Dahlia- it always amplifies that protective hero aspect, but this one is a bit different since it’s a bodyguard and his assistant, so it has the workplace element as well. But never fear, Landry Security’s assistant Dahlia finds herself in danger from some mystery threat, causing her grumpy mercurial bear of a boss to flit her away to a beach house to keep her safe while the team tries to uncover just who has put her in danger. Add in that these two have already had little crushes on one another, and that forced proximity is going to heat up pretty fast…and not just because of the tropical weather.
This book is on the shorter side, so I anticipated it to be a pretty straight forward, more fast paced developing in the romance, and I think calibrating my expectations that way set me up to really just gobble it up and revel in how quickly it all escalates between them. And given their existing work relationship, I still found the connection to be believable, but it definitely has a little insta love vibes. I wish I’d seen their prior relationship a bit more, but this jumps so quickly into the present, and even if I wanted a bit more meat to their story, I still really adored them together. And I loved the summer vacation vibes, their banter, and all the steamy bits.
In addition to the romance, we have the stalker suspense element that also helps escalate the energy, and the twist was surprising too. I loved that the angst in this was lower. This part gave us some great protector, possessive book boyfriend magic, which I crave in a body guard romance. And even if the romance itself felt a bit fast and I wanted a bit more content in the end, it’s such a sweet and fun and light story. More like a longer novella with LOADS of fun and heat.
🌴bodyguard + heroine in danger
🌴workplace (boss and assistant)
🌴romantic suspense
🌴 grumpy x sunshine
🌴 touch her and I’ll unalive you
🌴 oh no! We only have one bed!
🌴 age gap (11 years)
🌴 no third act break-up/low angst
🌴 shorter book
🌴stalker