Book Review: Always Watching by Lynette Eason

by Sandra Ardoin

Lynette Eason is out with another romantic suspense series—Elite Guardians. The first book, Always Watching, hit the shelves the first part of February.

In the story, Wade Savage, a widower and radio psychologist, has a stalker. Though he doesn’t know it, his father hires a special team of former law enforcement officers to watch over him and keep him from the fate of his mother, but he’s not the easiest man to protect.

Someone trying to kill you twice isn’t good enough?”

He sighed. “I hear what you’re saying. I tossed and turned all night as I thought about what to do. I considered not going. But the more I thought about it, the madder I got.” He met her gaze. “I won’t become a hermit,” he said softly. “I won’t live in fear or let Amy see me hiding. I can’t. There’s no telling what that would do to her.”

She stared at him like he had no common sense. “There are too many people, Wade. I won’t be able to effectively protect you and Amy.”

“No offense, but what’s the point in having you around if that’s the case?

Olivia Edwards heads the Elite Guardians, a team of (mostly) women who act as bodyguards for celebrities and other individuals. She’s a tough cookie, an orphan and foster child who doesn’t bond easily, but finds herself becoming personally involved with Wade and his daughter Amy.

The second chapter threw me a little. I was expecting to read about Olivia, but was introduced to Maddy McKay instead. Frankly, I think the suspense at the beginning could have been stronger had the first chapter (really a prologue) been scratched and we weren’t introduced to motive quite so soon. 

I’ve come to expect a great deal of action and suspense from Lynette Eason’s novels, and she’s never failed to provide it. Always Watching is a fast-moving story with a unique twist on the general formula of “he saves her.” 

There are two antagonists (not a spoiler), and she does a fantastic job in providing suspects for one. She kept me guessing. The other was pretty obvious, though motive not so much. Wade could be a bit pigheaded, but he’s a sympathetic character when his past heartaches are brought out and we meet the panic-attack-prone Amy. I would have liked to have seen a little more emotion from Olivia at times, but her past losses provide reason for her distance. 

In my opinion this is not one of her best, but overall, Always Watching is another page-turning winner for both Ms. Eason and lovers of romantic suspense.

BONUS: The first chapter of the next book is included, and the first scene is skin-crawly! Chink, chink, chink! 

What is your favorite Lynette Eason book? (Mine is No One to Trust.)