Review: The Bachelor Contract Rachel Van Dyken

Print Length: 336 pages

Publisher: Forever (November 28, 2017)

From Goodreads.com: She's everywhere.

Ex-wife.

Love of his life.

The last person in the world he wanted to see...ever.

And now that he's working beside her every day, he can't escape her. Her scent, glimpses of her smile, even the tension in the air that makes his body hum with the kind of need he'd only experienced with one person-all of it is driving him over the edge.

Brant Wellington was certain of three things: 

Alcohol wasn't going to solve this. 

He really was losing his F-ing mind. 

And his gorgeous ex-wife was going to be the death of him.

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My Rating: 3 stars out of 5

This review has been giving me some trouble for awhile now. There were some aspects of this story that I really enjoyed, some that had me shaking my head, and others that just simply made me mad. But before I get into the reasons why, let my start off by saying that yes this is book three in a series, yes characters from those books do appear in this one as well, but no, you do not have to have read the others in order for this one to make sense. I read the first one, but not the second, and still had no trouble putting things together. 

One of the biggest problems I had with this story is that it seems as though a lot of authors, Rachel included, have as of late fallen into the trap of making their lead male characters complete and utter jerks. I seriously spent half of this story wanting to smack him in the head with the nearest blunt object, and the other half wishing Niki would just wash her hands of him and be done with it. I understand that they were young when they married, and that they went through some traumatic things together, but after four years of being separated the way Brant treats her is abhorrent. He is prone to bouts of irrational, and often misplaced anger, usually directed at Niki. I've honestly lost count of the number of times he made her cry, or otherwise acted like the lowest of scum towards her.

Speaking of Niki, as far as I'm concerned, she is weak and deserves to be fired from her job. No, she doesn't deserve to lose her job because she allows Brant to treat her horribly, but because during one session with Brant (during which the lights were off) this supposedly professional masseuse not only allowed her client (whom at the time she not only did NOT know it was Brant, but also thought he was a married man) to kiss her, but also engaged in other completely unprofessional and inappropriate behavior. It wasn't cute, or funny. 

And while I am on the subject of completely unprofessional behavior, after Brant once again treats Niki in the worst of ways, probably the worst way of all, the staff of the resort starts treating him poorly. While it was much deserved, the fact that they did so in front of the OWNER's of the resort reflects badly on them and not Brant. If I were the owner, I would have been tempted to fire the lot of them. Regardless of how much someone deserves what happens to them, when you are in a professional setting, you need to act professional. What happens the next time an employee gets their heart broken? 

And because I like to end things whenever possible on a positive note, let me end this review by saying two words. GRANDMA NADINE. Yes, everyone's favorite wine drinking, matchmaking, take-no-prisoners Grandma is not only back, but up to her old tricks! She will forever be one of my favorite Rachel characters.

Overall, I do believe this story will still appeal to those who enjoy romantic comedies. I would read more from this author! 

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

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                           The Bachelor Contract is available from Amazon.com