ARC Review: Bachelor Games by Daire St. Denis

Title: Bachelor Games

          (Tropical Temptation 3)

Author: Daire St. Denis

Release Date: October 9, 2017 (ARC)

Publisher: Entangled Publishing ~ Brazen

Category: Contemporary Erotic Romance

Type: Digital

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Daire St. Denis Website

Blurb:

Brilliant, but plain scientist Becca Evans has always done everything she could to make her beautiful sister, Grace, happy. So, when Grace started entering beauty contests, Becca did everything she could to make sure her sister won.

Now, she’s looking at another pageant—at a resort in the Caribbean. The prize? A date with America’s most eligible bachelor, Calum Price. For Grace, it would be the ultimate coup—landing a billionaire. Unfortunately, Calum seems to like Becca better...

Still, she’s determined to help her sister win. Calum doesn’t have to know that she’s the brains behind the beauty, the voice behind the veil, the finger behind the sexting...

But when things go too far, Becca must decide where her loyalty lies—with her sister...or the man she’s falling in love with.

Let the games begin.

Each book in the Tropical Temptation series is a standalone story that can be enjoyed out of order.
Series Order:
Book #1 Bonding Games
Book #2 Secret Games
Book #3 Bachelor Games

Favorite Line(s):

“…This is my most desperate hour. Help me, Becca. You’re my only hope.”  ~  Grace

“Did you just quote Princess Leia to me?”  ~  Becca

“Maybe.”  ~  Grace

 

Dialogue Highlight:

“I’m sorry I barged into first class, ”Grace Evans said when he joined her by the oyster bar.

She was a very attractive woman, blond hair, wearing a retro, polka-dotted dress with a snug waist and full skirt. A bright-red flower pulled back one side of her hair, lending to that illusion of being from another era.

“No worries,” he said.

“I didn’t know where Becca had gone and—”Suddenly she put a hand to her head and cringed.

“Are you okay?”

She shook her head, blond curls bobbing. “Yeah…I just—”She covered her ear, in obvious pain, just as Kevyn Kahn walked by with his entourage of camera and mic people. He was introducing himself and the show. Twice he stopped, demanding they start recording over again. Always because someone else had screwed up.

Kevyn paused when he saw Cal and then glanced at Grace. His head tilted to one side.

“Hey. Do I know you?”

Still holding a hand to the side of her head, she shook her head.

“You sure? We never dated?”

“Nope. Not me. No. Never.”

Cal glanced at Grace. She was lying. Why? Did she know Kevyn?

“My mistake. I’ve dated a lot of women.” He flashed a grin and then punched Cal on the shoulder as he moved past. It was probably meant to be a friendly tap, but there was more force behind it than necessary.

Cal growled.

Grace sneezed. Three times. She turned away and something dropped to the floor. Before he had a chance to see what it was, she scooped it up and tucked whatever it was into her handbag.

“Bless you.”

“Thank you.” She smiled.

Though there was very little resemblance between the sisters, Cal caught something in Grace’s smile that seemed familiar. “What’s Becca up to tonight?”

Her expression went from expectant to confused. “My sister?”

“Yes.”

She shrugged. “God. Who knows. Probably working.” She snorted. It was the same sort of sound that Becca had made on the plane. “I’ll tell you what she’s not doing.”

“What’s that?”

She stepped closer, smiling in a mischievous way. “Meeting someone. Even though she needs to. This is her vacation, too, right?”

“I suppose so.”

Grace leaned close. “I love my sister,” she said. “But she really needs to get laid.”

For the first time that night, Cal laughed. Not because what Grace said was necessarily funny, but because it was so unexpected. “Oh, she does, does she?”

Grace rolled her eyes. “Yes. Badly. She’s too serious. Works too hard. She’s all…tightly wound, you know what I mean? But…”She rested her hand on Cal’s forearm. Grace’s touch wasn’t like the other women’s. It was natural.

“Nothing a good orgasm wouldn’t take care of.”

Excerpt:

By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age.

If you are under the age of 18, please exit this site.

Just as she unlocked the door, she found Calum standing right outside. “It’s all yours,” she said as she tried to squeeze past him, but he was simply too big for the small space. They did a little side-step dance to make room for one another, when the plane dipped so rapidly, Becca was thrown back inside the cubicle. She cried out in terror only to find Calum had been tossed into the tiny space with her.

As they both scrambled to find footing, the door closed and the pilot’s voice came on over the loudspeaker—for what seemed like the millionth time—instructing passengers to return to their seats.

“Open the door,” Becca cried. “Please. Open the door.”

Calum tried the door, sliding and un-sliding the locking mechanism. “I can’t. It won’t open.”

“Don’t play around. Please. Get that fucking door open.”

He turned around. His expression was not playful, but then, it wasn’t dark and brooding, either. It was something else. “Becca, you need to calm down. The door is jammed. But we’ll figure it out, okay?”

No. It was not okay. This was not fucking okay. While logically, she knew there was ample oxygen in the tiny space, the cramped confines shared with a man who was simply too big for anyone’s good made it seem otherwise, and she gasped for breath, like a fish out of water, mouth opening and closing without any relief.

Gentle hands on her shoulders eased her onto the toilet seat, where she automatically dropped her head into her hands. “Just breathe, honey. Nice and slow.”

He soothed her bare arms by gently running his hands up and down their length. “In…”He breathed with her. “And out…”His voice was so calm, his tone so deep and consoling that soon Becca found herself listening and following his orders, as if he’d hypnotized her.

Finally, she was able to lift her head, the pinpricks of darkness that had blurred her vision moments ago were gone. Crouching on his haunches, Calum Price gazed at her with genuine compassion. It was that expression that was her undoing.

So, when he leaned forward, whether to find his footing to stand or for some other reason, she leaned forward, too, placed her palm on his stubbled cheek—yes, very sexy after all—and kissed him.

Review:

Becca Evans has always been labeled the plain sister. Her half-sister, Grace, has continually been the one in the spotlight; her trusting nature having landed her in a lot of trouble – mostly bad relationships with nasty guys. Consequently, Becca has morphed into protector and goes everywhere with Grace, always looking out for her. But Becca needs Grace to win the reality show they are on so she can get the prize money. Becca has an offer at a University and she doesn’t want to miss the opportunity at her dream job. When she ends up sitting next to Mr. Bachelor himself, she has to find out if he’s good enough for her sister. Additional recon won’t hurt her cause in helping her sister win the competition either. What blind-sides her is the crazy attraction she feels toward him.

Callum Price is not much of a willing participant in this farce of a reality show. His only reason for going along with the plan, is because he wants to take over the majority stock and buy up the island as an investment. When Becca lands in the seat next to him, he is annoyed by her questions, but ends up loosening up toward her – just as she too starts to loosen up after each mimosa she drinks. Before too long, he’s finding himself intrigued with the highly intelligent woman. She doesn’t take his crap and insults him right back. He’s used to people groveling – comes with the territory as a Billionaire – but Becca doesn’t seem to give a crap about his money. She challenges him and sparks his interest. Before too long, Callum is having some pretty scandalous thoughts regarding Ms. Evans. This reality show just might be fun after all.

Holy Moly! This is quite a descriptive book with crazy hot, sinfully stimulating scenes. The attraction between Callum and Becca is undeniable. I love when two people, who normally wouldn’t get together, end up in an unexpected relationship simply because fate stepped in and pushed them together. Sappy. Love it! I enjoyed learning about Callum and his background. He’s not all you’d expect from a Billionaire Playboy – he still remembers where he came from and while his drive to succeed is fierce, he doesn’t let his status change who he is. Becca is similar in the respect that she’s a freaking genius. While she could show off her talent, she keeps to herself and always lets her sister shine, but staying in the background also doubles as a protection mechanism. Before too long, her past comes back to threaten her future and Callum has to decide if the risk of her reputation being slung through the mud is worth their relationship. Not ready to label what it could be, they both struggle to come to terms with their feelings. Both Callum and Becca were a joy to spend time with. And that crazy hot sex? It was exactly that with little bits of light BDSM thrown in.

I didn’t really care for any of the secondary characters except Grace and another, later revealed as familial. He seems like he might have had an interesting story to explore. Grace, however, was a lot of fun. She is the ditzy, blonde sister, but is gifted with some great lines. If I had a half-sister, I’d want it to be Grace; exasperating qualities and all. I often wondered if we would discover that Grace was just as brilliant as Becca, but let her looks do the talking. Instead because she loves the attention. Sadly, that was not the case, but her character was just as entertaining. My only criticism was that, when a big jerk finally gets what he deserves, I felt like it was over too quick and could have been raked over the coals much longer. This is a first read by Ms. St. Denis and if this book is an adequate representation of her common writing style, it definitely won’t be my last. I found this book a quick read, entertaining, and erotic. But then, I’ve always had a soft spot for the genius wallflower who gets the guy. 😊

Kindle version provided by NetGalley/Entangled in exchange for an honest review.