Hi all!
My name is Chiara and I am a Bookworm.
Today I want to talk about a book that finished a few weeks ago but I have been too unproductive to review it since I’ve been back at work. I was given it for free in exchange for an honest review.
Highest Bid by Mel Teshco
Published by: Tule Publishing (26th august 2019)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 152
Format: eARC
Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blurb: An unapologetic player and a reserved wallflower… one night would never be enough
Galan Black carries a burden he can’t share with anyone, least of all his two brothers. Not even after the blood, sweat, and tears, it took for them to open and make the Black Pearl Nightclub a raging success. He’s just glad his secret doesn’t haunt him half as much in the arms of the eager women he takes to bed.
Yet he can’t stop thinking about the plain Jane bartender and waitress, who he impulsively hired against his better judgment. Then she steps half-naked onto the stage for the club’s once-yearly charity auction, and he can’t keep his bidding paddle down, or his eyes off her. He’ll have her for the night, and get her out of his system once and for all.
Layla doesn’t trust men, yet her infatuation with the eldest Black brother is getting beyond a joke. She needs to experience a night in his bedroom, and get over her silly fixation. But then one night becomes two, with the heat between them showing no signs of cooling. Until Layla’s trust is put to the ultimate test and dirty little secrets are exposed.
I love commemorative romance books. I find them to be really relaxing quick reads the sort of thing I can read in no time at all. A pallet cleanser, if you will, between bigger heavier books.
They also tend to reaffirm my faith in the world and hope that one day I could find that sort of romance.
This book was all those things but it was. Missing something … or something wasn’t right about it.
To begin with Layla goes into the relationship hoping that he’ll change and the she’ll be his forever girl. She bates him with the auction and has his brothers guarantee that if anyone but Galan bids on her they’ll outbid them. To me this sounds an awful lot like Gold-digging, trying to trap him.
But it turns out that he likes her as much as she likes him … which is brilliant. Once you get past the initial set up and background the story gets better but for me I couldn’t get past the beginning of their relationship.
The rest of the story is brilliant if not incredibly cliched and full of tropes. The rest of it is sweet and there are plenty of obstacles for the couple to work their way around.
I’m not convinced that I would say I have a favourite character. None of them stood out enough to be added to any top 10 or top 5 lists.
It was definitely worth a read but I wouldn’t crow from the rooftops about it.
Bookworms Anonymous 