Cover Story

By: Rachel Lacey

Narrated by: Quinn Riley

Rachel Lacey, author of Stars Collide, serves up a steamy tale of Hollywood fame and subterfuge about a glamorous actress and the sexy bodyguard posing as her girlfriend.

Natalie Keane is one of Hollywood’s top leading ladies, but she’s paid a steep price for her fame. After she was stalked eight years ago, the ensuing media frenzy almost broke her. So when a new threat arises, Natalie agrees to extra security, but she wants to keep it under wraps. The last thing she needs is another tabloid spectacle, especially during awards season.

Taylor Vaughn has made a career as a bodyguard to the stars, but an injury has kept her sidelined for the past three months, jeopardizing her future in the job she loves. When an opportunity arises to work for Natalie Keane, Taylor jumps at the chance—even before knowing the details of the assignment.

From the moment they meet, Natalie knows this could work: Taylor, the bodyguard, masquerading as her girlfriend. The perfect cover story. But as circumstances push the two women closer, the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur.

©2024 Rachel Lacey (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“The steamy sex scenes, Hollywood glamor, and high-stakes intrigue keep the pages turning. Lacey’s fans should snap this up.”—Publishers Weekly

Well written Sapphic novel and a great storyline

Rachel Lacey has delivered another really great novel. The storyline was believable, moves along quickly and the characters are developed very well. I highly recommend this book. The narration performed was spot on and accentuated the characters. Bravo Ms Lacey!

This book was great!

This book was written really well and the voice acting was perfect I definitely recommend it.

Great pace and narration

Loved this story and the narrator did an outstanding job!! Well developed story line. Highly recommend this book.

Amazing!!!

I absolutely loved this book! Quinn always does an amazing job with the narration! I will definitely listen to this again!

Engaging Characters-Smooth Romance

I always love Quinn Riley so I was willing to give this actress/ body guard romance a chance. I was happy it was a fake girlfriend scenario instead of a whiney client pushing the bodyguard to cross her professional boundaries. Both MC had complex and intriguing backgrounds that added to who they are in the present day…. I appreciated the realistic development of their relationship. This story has some extremely troubling events that occur to Nat… a disclaimer may be appropriate. All that said I enjoyed this book very much.

Great

Love it it was a great
Boom I liked the story line that narrator was good soothing voice

WOW! Amazing story, and AMAZING Performance

5 Stars

This book exceeded my expectations. Coming off of Stars Collide I knew the next book would be good, but this is on another level. From the beginning, this book had a very different tone than Stars Collide, which if you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it.

First, let me say that Rachel Lacey blew my mind with this book. I went in expecting a cute, low angst, joyful, fake-dating trope, which it is on its face, but there’s so much more.
From the beginning, this book dealt with heavy emotions, and at the first mention of the word “stalker,” my anxiety spiked. I was also worried about the plot, and where Lacey would take it. In stories where one MC has trauma, the plot can get predictable, and the trauma becomes the catalyst for the relationship.
Lacey didn't do this. She kept her anxiety levels high with the possibility of the stalker returning, but there wasn't a hero vs. the stalker moment. There was legitimate fear, and trust developed in simple moments, like Taylor carrying Natalie to her bed after she fell asleep watching the animals.
The emotions are extremely high throughout the book because Natalie experienced something that no one should ever experience. Avoidance is the only way she knows how to deal with it, and Taylor is so patient while not letting Natalie off the hook. When Natalie finally told Taylor what happened, my heart felt like it was breaking. It felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.
Lacey inserts just enough of reality and the true fears that so many people - especially women - feel walking through the world, that it makes every situation in the book feel more real.
When confronted by a similar situation, Lacey doesn't have Natalie cling to Taylor, she has her draw into herself, and give into her fears. This was a beautifully written, but heartbreaking moment. Once again, taking what could've been another moment for the MCs to end up in each other's arms, to end in both feeling broken.

Quinn Riley made this extremely emotional story even more emotional. Her performance as Natalie sounded so real and raw; I felt everything: fear, anger, shame, joy, but also emptiness. At the same time, her performance as Taylor was just as emotional. Both of the characters were given their own full personalities, in writing and performance.
As a reader, when I physically read books, I tend to minimize extremely emotional moments. Riley’s performance didn’t let me do that, if anything, it took me deeper into the story.
Her transition between the two MCs was seamless, and she was even able to place an emphasis on the “mask” shifts that Natalie used as a coping technique. This is one book that I’ll reread/listen to, because the story and performance is beautiful!

I don’t know where to start.

So much of these characters are so relatable and the slow burn aspect is phenomenal. There is so much representation of consent and safety Cannot recommend enough it was excellent.

Amazing

Have you ever listened to a book and then just wanted to start it immediately over again ? This is that book . And amazing story of overcoming trauma and finding your person .

we good at first but

towards the ending when they finally ya know. everything just got complicated. I don't know, felt like the author dragged the book on way to long. throwing problems in which were so unnecessary. Felt like 2 kids in highschool. it's a good book just got tired after 8hrs in and they're still being hot and cold with each other.