Bachelor Island

Corie Benton’s job is a dream - or at least, it should be.  What could be better than being a producer on a reality show featuring handsome eligible bachelors against the steamy backdrop of Hawaii?  Truth be told, almost anything. The show is in trouble.  It’s most eligible bachelor of the season has dropped out at the last minute and Corie is trying to find a suitable replacement for the season finale.

Enter Wyatt Hardy, a sexy Texas cattleman with the looks to take the country by storm.  Corie tries to fight her attraction to Wyatt and loses; especially once she learns that there is more to this cowboy than his looks.  However, the ugliness of network politics threatens the couple’s love and confronts them with difficult choices.

This book is a fun read.  Light-hearted and steamy, the reader can’t help but root for Corie and Wyatt as they are faced with one obstacle after another.  However, the plot devices that threaten them are stale and clichéd and there is little surprise for the reader at the end of the book. What saves “Bachelor Island” from becoming a snooze-fest is the heat and passion between Corie and Wyatt.  Most noteworthy is that the relationship between them is allowed to grow and develop naturally through the story arc.  Their sexual heat is not only a product of physical desire but emotional intimacy – something often missed in the Contemporary Romance Genre.  Nicely done.

Gwenellen Tarbet