Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Tools of Engagement

Now THIS was the book for me. I absolutely loved Bethany and Wes’ relationship! How they grew and changed as people and partners was beautiful. Their relationship was sexy and plentiful.

I also loved being inside Beth’s head half of the time. To hear how critical “miss perfect” was of herself humanized her in a big way for me. And hearing her realize that being less than perfect was OKAY was beautiful.

Wes was simply adorable. Tessa Bailey didn’t give him a macho attitude like you’d expect from a cowboy but he was just the right amount of cocky and annoying to be endearing. He also didn’t call Beth a cringy pet name like “baby girl”. Darling (most commonly used) suited me just fine.

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emilyfrenchie's review

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emotional funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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mayson_michele's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bookcasey's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Another Hallmark Channel special from Tessa Bailey featuring a blonde woman with head-turning good looks and a rugged man who does manual labor. This one is particularly aggressive in his overtures and supposedly softened by his love for a child.

I’m not entirely sure why I keep reading these painfully cisheteronormative eroticas (yes, explicit sexual descriptions) from Bailey. The Bailey formula is

Spoiler

a blonde woman who’s apparently more gorgeous than every other woman ever but humanized by anxiety of some kind meets a aggressively protective man who is very big and manly. They resist their mind-blowing sexual tension for not as long as you’d expect before having the greatest sex of their lives. Then they do something emotionally immature. But don’t worry, by the end, he’s cured her of whatever anxieties she had, and she’s a low-makeup domestic goddess with a husband and babies

. They are very white, very hetero, and include basically all the gender stereotypes in bed except that (dispute otherwise using the classic list of words for genitals used in such books) Bailey for some reason seems to prefer “bottom” to “ass.”

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