BOOK REVIEW: In Bed with the Bachelor (Bachelor Auction #5) by Megan Crane

TITLE: In Bed with the Bachelor

AUTHOR: Megan Crane

SERIES: Bachelor Auction #5

PUBLISHER: Tule Publishing

PUBLICATION DATE: March 20, 2015

Our latest bachelor has enough family in Marietta to qualify as an honorary native, but hails instead from Seattle, WA, which is where he’ll fly you for a glamorous weekend on the shores of the sparkling Puget Sound. Jesse Grey will treat you the way a local boy turned construction tycoon should: five star accommodations, gourmet dinners, and celebrated Washington wines. We just can’t promise he’ll smile much. Or at all.

Sold to the highest bidder!

Jesse Grey, notorious bachelor and one of Seattle’s foremost construction tycoons, has been roped into participating in the Marietta Bachelor Auction thanks to an expertly executed guilt trip laid out by his family.

Michaela Townsend already has a fiancé and certainly doesn’t need another man in her life. So when her family buys her surly, sexy Jesse at the auction and wrangles him into driving her from Montana to Seattle, she’s appalled yet disturbingly attracted.

As far as Jesse is concerned, Michaela is forbidden fruit. Even though he knows her fiancé isn’t all he seems, Jesse would never take what didn’t belong to him. But how long can he resist the one woman he shouldn’t touch?

I loved every book of this series and have been drawn by all the characters in each book. So I don’t really know what went wrong with this one. I had a hard time getting into the story and relating to the characters. To give the author a credit though, the story had potential but it didn’t really flourish into a fully-developed story.

Jesse Grey made her feel… mushy. Like a really good romance novel, in fact.

Jesse Grey was one of Seattle’s best construction tycoons. When he visited his family in Marietta and ended up in a bachelor auction, Jesse stood in dangerous grounds for desiring the engaged woman whose family purchased him for. In all honesty, there wasn’t really anything wrong with Jesse but I must say that for me, his “heroness” appeared to be just passable compared to the other bachelors. His charm didn’t come easily but I did like his rationality and his romantic, old-fashioned beliefs in relationships.

She tasted like light. She tasted like sex and sugar and he was a goner.

Michaela Townsend’s original visit plans to Marietta didn’t include a hot (although a bit annoyed) and successful bachelor from the town’s charity auction. What made matters worse was the physical attraction she felt and the dirty thoughts his presence brought to her. They were all inappropriate...especially for a woman who was engaged to someone else. It was sooo hard for me to connect to Michaela’s character. She wasn’t an empowered woman, stuck in an “open relationship” with a guy who was obviously manipulating her. It says a lot about her character and it was kind of off. I didn’t understand her reasons but I did love how she managed to decide for herself in the end and chose Jesse (and rationality).

“You’re in deep, Michaela. Better start swimming.”

The book started out slow and quite dragging but the story took a good turn towards the end. However, I felt like the characters (especially the heroine) weren’t given much depth and the chance to grow. Their connection was weak even if the sensual scenes were nice. The writing prose was a bit hard to get on with. It was hard for me to really go deep in the story when at times I stop and feel like the thought or the feelings were suddenly cut off.

I really wanted to love this book. I thought maybe I was just having a bad day and it was affecting my reading mood so I re-read it a couple of days later and the effect was still the same. But hey, it’s probably just me. I liked how the story ended, though, and still finished the book with a smile.