[b:An Unforgettable Lady (An Unforgettable Lady, #1)|7758745|An Unforgettable Lady|Jessica Bird|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388794240l/7758745._SY75_.jpg|292592] by [a:Jessica Bird|173783|Jessica Bird|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1250222261p2/173783.jpg]
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Romance, Suspense
3.75 Stars

I enjoyed reading this. It is one of J.R. Ward's 1st books & I was curious to see how much her writing had changed thru time.
She did not disappoint me. Her talent is amazing.
A little mild for me, but it kept me interested.

This is the 1st of 2 books that are somewhat linked.
However, it is NOT (thank God) one of those books that you have to read the 2nd to get to an ending!

This is a full book with a full story of 2 very different people who have to find themselves to be able to find each other. A beautiful romance.

Mr. Smith is hot
&
Grace is a 'True Lady' with strength. ( )

Everyone seemed to rave about this book but I found it just okay. The books started pretty slow. The suspense was not suspenseful. I figured out from his first appearance who the bad guy was. There wasn't much protection going on but then there wasn't much to that part of the plot. Mostly it was a convoluted will they won't they fall into bed story. If it's a bodyguard story I want to see the need for the bodyguard and see him doing his stuff. Seemed like the author would occasionally remember that he was supposed to be working and would throw in a line about him scanning the street but I just didn't feel it. Didn't really buy the romance element either. What is John going to do with his life after he leaves Black Watch?

Pretty middle of the road read for me. ( )

CRAP- I wrote a huge whole review and lost the entire thing...

Grace Hall is a high society socialite, a trendsetter, and a countess. She is also going through a divorce, just lost her father to a heart attack, and trying to work as the head of her fathers company even though many people doubt her capabilities. She becomes terrified when there is a murderer killing women in the city that were recently written about in a news article. This article was about the 6 most wealthy women in New York. This piece was featuring Grace, as she was the biggest and most popular out of the 6. So the idea that someone is going around killing her friends who were in the article with her sort of freaks her out. Who wouldn't be? So she hires John Smith as her personal body guard.

John Smith, no that's not his real name, is dreading working for Grace since by his rules of protection he must always be with her. Yes, that means even live with her. He is very attracted to her, and he likes her personality. She's one of the few people who has ever talked back to him. He isn't convinced that she actually wants him, he think she is only attracted to him because he is from the other side of the tracks. He grew up as juvenile delinquent, and went into the military. He was an Army Ranger, and now is the head of his own security/bodyguard agency, that he works for himself. His qualifications very, such as, weapons expert, sniper, assassin, and other kill or be killed skills. So he can't fathom why a women like Grace would be attracted to him.

I love the writing in this book. It is really good. It is totally a romance. None of this, it's on the romance shelf but it isn't really. No this is a ROCK YOUR SOCKS OFF ROMANCE. HA. I teared up at one point, just getting emotionally attached to the characters I guess. I also managed to laugh a bit too. I was giggling so hard when I pieced together the visual of this high society countess, smacking her forehead into the glass window b/c she was trying to lean forward to watch John Smith do his tai chi. ( )

Although I guessed the "bad guy" early on that didn't mitigate the slow build-up of terror. Grace and John's slowly building relationship ending with the, never certain, HEA was wonderful to read. This early book certainly shows that J. R. Ward is a gifted author with the ability to make characters come alive along with an interesting and riveting plot. ( )

An Unforgettable Lady is another solid story from Jessica Bird aka J. R. Ward. It's kind of a hybrid of a standard contemporary romance and a romantic suspense. I say this because the suspense element is present but somewhat in the background as a group of high society ladies who were all featured in the same newspaper article are picked off by a serial killer one-by-one. The heroine is one of the women from the article, so she rather reluctantly hires the hero to act as her personal bodyguard. However, there are no direct attempts made against her until the end of the story, and I have to admit that it was pretty easy to figure out who the bad guy was. In between the murders, there is a nice romance with the hero and heroine experiencing a strong, immediate attraction that eventually leads to a steamy affair.

Grace was a very strong woman who never backed down from John's caveman act when they first met and she subsequently hired him to protect her. She was controlled most of her life, first by her parents and later her husband, and she's not about to let John waltz in and take over too. She's struggling to find her footing as an independently wealthy woman who has just taken the helm of her father's charitable foundation upon his recent death, while the sexist, old-school boy's club is trying to push her out. I like that she runs the family foundation differently than her father and avoids spending money on frivolous things like any good charitable organization should, even though the men in power disagree with her methods. Outwardly, Grace is very controlled, but inwardly, she's sometimes falling apart as she suffers from anxiety and self-doubt. She has a very complicated and strained relationship with her mother that obviously contributes to her self-esteem issues, which I would have liked to have seen explored in a little more depth. Grace also later discovers that there were things about her father she thought were true, but weren't. It would have been nice to see her feelings on that subject brought out a little more too.

Initially, John seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder where the rich and powerful are concerned. I think this is because, although his job is to protect them, he sees into their personal lives in a way that few others do and generally doesn't like the reality of what most of these types are like. It takes him a little while to figure out that Grace is different. To her, John seems a little too much like her controlling parents and husband, so he has to find the delicate balance between lightening up a little in their personal dealings and still being hard-nosed from the bodyguard angle in order to effectively protect her. John can definitely come off as being quite arrogant at times, but Grace often surprises him and occasionally makes him smile. He possesses an iron grip of self-control and cares enough about Grace to not want to hurt her even though he's caught up in an intense desire for her. Despite his passion though, John is still pretty closed off throughout most of the story. I really would have loved to see him open up a little more. He also has a pretty tortured past that was only briefly touched upon, and I would have liked to have seen explored in more detail.

Grace and John have both been deeply hurt in their pasts, and I think each of them recognizes that hurt in one another as well as the need to be in control. I really enjoyed the opposite sides of the track characterization and how Grace is a poised, society lady while John is a rough around the edges former special ops guy who doesn't put much stock in wealth and prestige. They didn't exactly start off on the right foot, but in spite of their early bickering, the sexual tension was high from the beginning. It was never a question of will they or won't they, but when. And when they finally do give into their attraction, the love scenes were very sensual, though nowhere near as hot as the author writes in her more recent books. The one thing I have noticed in these early books of Ms. Bird's is that her heroes have a tendency to hold out on expressing their feelings until the final pages of the novel which doesn't always lend itself well to building and maintaining an emotional connection, but despite this, it was still a very good story.

Although the author's website doesn't officially connect any of her contemporary books as a series, I've seen An Unforgettable Lady grouped with Heart of Gold and An Irresistible Bachelor as The Walking Papers Trilogy, although I have no idea where that series title came from. Other sites simply have An Unforgettable Lady and An Irresistible Bachelor paired as a duet. In any case, all three books contain common characters. Grace is best friends with Carter, the heroine of Heart of Gold, and was first introduced in that book. Carter and her hero, Nick, appear in the early part of An Unforgettable Lady when Grace goes to visit them, and Nick is instrumental in Grace hiring John as her bodyguard. An Unforgettable Lady also introduces Grace's good friend, Jack, and another young woman, Callie, who become the hero and heroine of An Irresistible Bachelor. At the very least, I would recommend reading these latter two books in order, otherwise, readers will get one fairly significant spoiler.

Overall, I enjoyed reading An Unforgettable Lady. I loved Ms. Bird's little shout out within the narrative to Gaelen Foley, another of my favorite authors. Other than my few minor complaints, this book was very well-written and in my opinion, reflects an earlier version of the style that Jessica Bird has developed in her highly successful J. R. Ward persona. Anyone who has enjoyed her Black Dagger Brotherhood and Fallen Angels books will probably like this one too. ( )