Book Summary: 

Andi Zeigler lives a double life. By day, she’s the no-nonsense, steadfast personal assistant to the Prime Minister of Canada’s wife. By night, she slips out of her heels and writes romance novels under a top-secret pen name. But when her steamiest book, The Prime Minister & Me, unexpectedly becomes a bestseller, rumors of a real-life affair between her and the PM start swirling out of control. 

Enter Nolan Crosby, the PM’s new close protection officer (aka bodyguard) – and Andi’s failed one-night stand from three years ago. Nolan’s in town very temporarily to care for his mother, who’s battling early-onset Alzheimer’s. But when the scandal erupts, Andi ropes him into a fake-dating plan.

As loyal employees, they’ll pretend to date for the summer, just long enough to put the scandal to bed and save their boss’s reputation. In an unexpected plot twist, Andi and Nolan discover that keeping their romance strictly fictional might be easier said than done.

My Review:

I became a fan of Amy Lea when I first discovered Exes and O’s. I devoured the entire Influencer Series and couldn’t wait to see what she wrote next. While I haven’t picked up her YA book yet, I was beyond ecstatic when I learned about The Bodyguard Affair. To my surprise, the back-cover summary barely scratches the surface of a much deeper story – one about redemption, forgiveness, and learning to be confident enough to discover not only what makes you happy, but to take a risk on what you truly want out of life.

Three years after starting her job with Gretchen, the Prime Minister’s wife, Andi still isn’t entirely sure how she ended up here. She once had her boyfriend, Hunter; her best friend, Laine; and her sights set on a permanent communications role. Instead, Hunter got the job over her – and three months after their breakup, he and Laine started dating. At least she still had her writing. Self-publishing contemporary romances under a pen name became the one thing no one could take away from her, including her latest book, The Prime Minister and Me – a scorching romance that gave her creative freedom… until it didn’t.

Everything unravels the night she tries to comfort Eric, the Prime Minister, at a dinner he arranged for Gretchen – who refused to attend. He’s up for re-election, and when someone snaps a photo of Andi consoling him, it’s twisted into the perfect “intimate dinner” scandal. The opposition leaps on it, and in the chaos, Andi’s secret identity is exposed. Suddenly, The Prime Minister and Me is being treated like a thinly veiled memoir of their supposed affair, and Andi’s professional and personal lives collide in the worst possible way.

As if that weren’t enough, the man from her failed one-night-stand attempt – the same night she found out about Hunter and Laine – walks back into her life. Nolan is now Eric’s new close-protection officer. When Gretchen catches Andi and Nolan slipping out of a closet after a private conversation meant to clear the air, she jumps to the obvious conclusion. Desperate to stop the rumors about her and Eric from spiraling any further, Andi blurts out that she and Nolan are dating. Nolan is planning to leave Ottawa, Andi has zero interest in pursuing anything real after her heartbreak, and all they need to do is survive the summer pretending everything is fine. Too bad life has other plans.

What surprised me most was how different the story felt from what I had expected. Based on the synopsis, I assumed Andi and the scandal would be at the center of everything. Instead, a lot of the emotional weight belongs to Nolan – his past, his guilt, and his complicated relationship with home. His mother’s diagnosis, his resentment toward Ottawa, his struggle to reconcile who she was with who she is now, his self-loathing over leaving his sister and family behind – it all builds into a really powerful, layered storyline. His emotional growth, especially in his interactions and attachment to Cody (a dog he meets at a rescue), was genuinely tear-worthy.

Andi’s character still shines, but Nolan often steals the emotional spotlight. Andi becomes the uplifting force who helps him stop running and find his way back home – literally and emotionally. In return, Nolan is the one who truly sees Andi for exactly who she is. He helps her rebuild her confidence, own her talent as an author, and actually celebrate her accomplishments instead of shrinking from them. She teaches him how to live; he reminds her she deserves to take up space. Their growth feels intertwined in a really satisfying way. Honestly, this could have been written entirely from Nolan’s POV and it still would have worked.

Gretchen’s character, on the other hand, left me conflicted. She pushed Eric toward his political career, but then grew to resent the reality that came with it. Whether she underestimated what being married to the Prime Minister would actually entail or clung to an idealized version of their life, her expectations sometimes felt unfair. She puts Eric in a no-win situation more than once, even when he’s genuinely trying. That said, her storyline fits neatly with one of Amy’s core messages: love is messy, imperfect, and not always what we expect it to be.

Amy doesn’t hold back on the spice, either – she delivers exactly what her readers have come to expect, especially with that phone scene. What really stood out to me, though, was the honesty of the epilogue. Andi admits that things aren’t always as hot and heavy as they were at the beginning because life happens. It reminded me of the ten-year jump in Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey, where we get a realistic snapshot of a relationship over time. Amy’s three-year jump does the same – showing that they had fights, ups and downs, and challenges, but still chose each other through it all.

I also loved Andi’s passionate defense of steamy contemporary romances. With the genre under fire more than ever, her reminder that the heart of romance is “love and all its intricacies” felt like Amy speaking directly to her critics. Romance isn’t about unrealistic perfection – it’s about reflection, growth, and examining our own lives through stories that resonate. Even Gretchen admits that reading Andi’s book was a wake-up call. It reminded her of what her relationship with Eric used to be, how far they’d drifted, and how many compromises she’d made without noticing.

I don’t know if Amy plans to use this as a jumping-off point for another multi-book series or if we’re simply meant to hope the best for Gretchen. Either way, I can’t wait to see what she does next. As a reader, I felt so much love and appreciation pouring through this book – especially in the way Andi speaks about romance and readers. So to Amy: thank you for continuing to share your wisdom, your heart, and your magic with us. As long as you keep writing, we’ll keep reading.