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Saturday, May 13, 2017

ARC Review: The Playboy Bachelor by Rachel Van Dyken


I really thought I would like this book a lot more but I just didn't. I'm giving this 3 stars because I get it. I get how you romance readers out there who love all the feels might really get into this book. For me, the amount of angst emanating from both of these characters was just too much. The book wound up being more depressing than anything else.

Margot and Bentley were best friends in high school. Margot gets into a really bad car accident and Bentley disappears. 9 or 10 years later, Margot's grandmother (who was my favorite character in this book) "buys" Bentley from a charity auction and sends him to cheer up her granddaughter for the weekend. Bentley, during the 9 or so years that he ignored Margot, has become a complete male whore.  Bentley has been sleeping his way through the population in an effort to battle his demons. So here's the beginning of my issues.

I didn't get Bentley. Other than just having a fragile mental state, why was Bentley such a wreck? His reaction to Margot's accident was just...ridiculous? And the fact that he left his best friend alone for years after she was catastrophically injured and orphaned just didn't score him any book boyfriend points. And then, when Bentley shows up on Margot's doorstep, he's an idiot. He isn't aware of the extent of her injuries and he doesn't have the self control not to say mean things to her that make her feel even worse.

As for Margot...Maybe anyone in her situation would react to life the way she has but dear Lord, it made me want to get drunk. Margot stays shut in a room in her gated mansion. She gets mad when Bentley attempts to open the curtains. That's how closed off she is from the world. Margot isn't even 30 and she is bitter and and angry without much apparent hope for a happy future. Margot just isn't pleasant to read about. She is justified in being the way she is based on the things that happened in her life but, ugh, who wants to read about two super miserable characters.  

The other problem I have with this book is the amount of internal monologues. There is far to much repetitive introspection where both characters beat themselves up repeatedly about the very issues that they won't change in the future. It just isn't my idea of a good time to be stuck inside the head of two miserable people.  Lastly, I didn't understand how or why Bentley just got to move into Margot's house.  I understood how Bentley's grandfather was pulling his strings but what was the hook that got Margot to agree to letting someone she seemed to hate stay in her house? I just didn't get it. Oh well. All you angst lovers, knock yourselves out on this one but it wasn't the right book for me.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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