Tags

Ethan Cooke Security and their bodyguard team return to action in Deceiving Bella – book eleven in Cate Beauman’s Bodyguards of L.A. County series. 
With over 7700 reviews and a 4.4 rating for the entire series, see why the Bodyguards of L.A. County is a multi-award winning series. 
Buy It Now! 
New to the series? No problem! Each book in the “Bodyguards” series is a stand-alone title. Although reading the books in order is preferred, it is not necessary. 
Each title features brand new primary characters and limited
overlapping secondary characters.  Don’t hesitate to jump right in! 
Isabella
Colby has always yearned for normalcy. Now that she’s settled in LA,
she finally has it. Good friends, a pretty home, and her thriving career
as the Palisades’ top skincare specialist are a dream come true. Bella
is content until she meets her hunky new neighbor, but her attraction to
the blue-eyed cutie is the least of her worries when contacting her
long-lost father threatens to destroy her happy life. 
Reed
McKinley is more than ready to forget the past. His seven-year stint as
an NYPD detective nearly got him killed. His wounds have healed and
he’s starting over as Ethan Cooke Security’s latest recruit. With
sixty-hour workweeks and little time to himself, the last thing on his
mind is a relationship. Then he bumps into the gorgeous woman next
door.  
Reed
and Bella become fast friends. Before long, Reed discovers that Bella
is keeping dangerous secrets. Bella may have the answers to decades-old
questions he’s been searching for. Reed will risk it all to uncover the
truth, but he soon realizes that the deeper he digs, the direr the
consequences.  
The Inspiration Behind Deceiving Bella: 
I
must admit that one of my most favorite parts of the writing process is
figuring out who my characters are going to be. Typically, I have vague
ideas but as I start the storytelling process, my heroes and heroines
evolve and grow until I can visualize them as living, breathing people. I
always begin with character sketches, giving each central figure in the
story a life that starts with their birth
and takes them to the present day. It’s vital to know who they are and
how they tick (the experiences that make them exactly who they are when
my readers meet them). For Deceiving Bella,
I thought it would be fun to share an adventure where the hero and
heroine have absolutely nothing in common (or so it seems). Despite Reed
and Bella’s differences, they make a great team. I hope you enjoy their
story.  
Read an excerpt from Deceiving Bella: 
Should we get started?” Bella gestured to the kitchen. 
“After you.” 
She walked in front of Reed, hurrying to the table to pull out a chair. “Does this work?” 
“Yeah, it’s fine.” He sat down.  
She
immediately draped him with the black cover, wanting to get to his hair
while it was still wet. “So, what are we doing here, exactly?” 
“Just a cleanup, especially on my neck.” 
“Sure.” She grabbed the sheers and took her place by his side, sliding her fingers though his short hair and stopped. “Oops.” 
His shoulders tensed. “What?” 
“Just kidding. A little haircutting humor.” 
He tilted his head up, meeting her eyes. “A comedian.” 
She
laughed as he smiled. “I haven’t even started cutting yet.” She gave
him a bump. “Try to relax. I promise you’re in good hands.” 
“Chop away.”  
“Thanks.”
She combed her fingers through his hair once more, using small snips to
freshen up his look. Silent seconds ticked by as she breathed in the
masculine scent that was Reed. He didn’t seem to wear cologne or use any
fancy shampoos, but he smelled good just the same. “So, how was your
day?” 
“Not too shabby.” 
She
worked her way around his head, finding his cut a breeze to clean up.
He easily could have gone another week without any problems. “What did
you do?” 
“Worked a little. Boxed.”  
“Fascinating.”  
“I could make up something about stopping a bank robbery in progress or rescuing a cat from a tree.” 
She smiled. “The truth is fine, thanks.”  
“What about you?” 
“It
was pretty much a normal day at the office—a second-session tattoo
removal, a microdermabrasion, two stretch mark reductions, the usual
stuff.”  
“What’s the tattoo of? The one you’re taking off?” 
“A woman’s name. Genevieve. The relationship didn’t work out.” 
He winced. “Ouch.” 
“Triple ouch. Tattoo removal is not a pain-free procedure, nor is it cheap—and he went pretty ornate with Genevieve. Hopefully next time he’ll pick a woman with a shorter name or abstain from getting himself tatted up altogether.” 
He laughed.  
She
grinned, loving that sound. Did he have any idea how gorgeous he was
when he smiled like that? She picked up the clippers off the table and
let her knees rest against his as she leaned in and gently lifted his
chin, evening out his sideburns. She swallowed, feeling his breath on
her skin and his eyes studying her face. Licking her lips, she met his
gaze. “You better hope I get this part right, or you’ll have to tilt
your head for the next four days.” 
He
sent her another one of his pulse-pounding smiles. “You’ll have to help
me decide if I should lean more to the left or right.” 
Oh,
this cutie had the potential to be trouble. Her eyes darted to his
mouth mere inches from hers as his five o’clock shadow tormented her
sensitized fingers. She took a step back and a steadying breath. It was a
good thing they were just friends—currently the only relationship
status she was interested in. 
Did you enjoy the excerpt?  You can read the first chapter on my website, www.catebeauman.com, or you can finish the whole book with the links below!  
4.5 It’s a small world Stars.

With this series you always get your happily ever after.

What are the odds of moving all the way from NY to LA living next door
to a beautiful woman? What the odds that your pa/ ex-partner from NY
phones you up and lets you know that he has a lead on a former mafia man
and that he needs to check out names in the
LA area? What are the odds that after investigating said names you find
out that your hot and beautiful neighbor is the long lost daughter of
said mafia man? Pretty slim right? Ah not here it isn’t.

Yes I know with all these coincidences there wouldn’t have been an awesome book. But still. Just saying.

Bella Colby has a new neighbor one day her awesome Dane Lucy barges into
his house. Reed McKinley former NYPD has moved to LA to start a new
after a near death incident he has given in his badge and now works for
Ethan Cooke Security.

Although there is a mutual attraction and they appreciate one another I
liked how they both said that they weren’t really attracted to one
another and that they started out as friends it really was refreshing.

They get to know one another and Reed goes behind Bella’s back on a lot
of things. I didn’t want to like Reed but I got his reasoning for doing
it. I just think he didn’t to have deceived Bella as much as he did.  He
knew he was lying, he knew it was a bad
idea and yet he did it anyway.

Both of the experienced tragic events at the age of five. But those
events led them both in different directions. Reed nearly lost his way
and became a coldhearted, cynical, heartless men but Bella managed to
thaw him out. Bella found someone she could rely
on. Bella has my deepest respect when Reed screwed up she didn’t just
take him back no she tried to keep her distance and stuck it out for a
good couple of weeks if not longer.

There is a fantastic plot. Nothing is predictable with twists and turns.
We see previous characters turn up in the book and hopefully new ones
to come. Fingers crossed Skylar gets a book. I would love to see a
strong heroine in law enforcement get a HEA. The
book is just too long. About 50 pages less would have been fine.

Bella constantly cried which irritated me so that is why I docked half a star.

Ms. Beauman sure knows how to write gut-wrenching prologues that pull on
all your heart strings it is really quite annoying. The constant
sappiness of I love you made me want to puke. I’m just not sappy and my
eyes hurt after all of it.

In saying all that this is a series that has improved over time and it is always a pleasure to read.

You don’t have to read the books in order I haven’t and it worked for
me. I’ve read the first three and the last three. I’ll then continue
with book 4.

Can we please have at least one person in the book that is gorgeous, beautiful or totally handsome? 

About the author: 
International bestselling author Cate Beauman is known for her full-length, action-packed romantic suspense series, The Bodyguards of L.A. County.
Her novels have been nominated for the National Excellence in Romance
Fiction Award, National Indie Excellence Award, Golden Quill Award,
Writers Touch Award, and have been named Readers Favorite Five Star
books. In 2015, JUSTICE FOR ABBY was selected as the Readers’ Favorite
International Book Award Gold Medalist, while SAVING SOPHIE took the
Silver Medal. SAVING SOPHIE was also selected as the 2015 Readers Crown
Award winner for Romantic Suspense and FALLING FOR SARAH received the
silver medal for the 2014 Readers’ Favorite Awards. 
Cate makes her home in North Carolina with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack. Currently Cate is working on her twelfth full length romantic suspense novel. 
DO YOU LIKE FREE EBOOKS? 
SIGN UP FOR CATE’S NEWSLETTER TO BE NOTIFIED OF OFFERS 
AND NEW RELEASE INFORMATION 
For a limited time: new subscribers will receive a free copy of Morgan’s Hunter and Falling For Sarah, books one and two in the Bodyguards of L.A. County Series! 
Follow Cate 
Amazon Author Page 
BookBub 
Goodreads 
Social links: 
 
Be The First To Share ....