Book Review: Daring the Bad Boy by Heidi Rice

What happens on Valentine’s Night, stays on Valentine’s Night… That’s the rule.

After a trip home to bury his father, US photographer in London Caleb Landry finds himself stranded in a Soho bar full of boozy women brooding his way through his least favourite night of the year.

But when college art teacher Rosie Smith tries out the cheesiest pick-up line ever on him, Cal becomes captivated by this good girl with a filthy mind – especially when he discovers she has a V-Day allergy of her own. So he dares her to one smokin’ hot Valentine’s night hook-up with no questions asked, satisfaction guaranteed…

But when Valentine’s Night turns into the morning after, suddenly Rosie’s asking questions she shouldn’t, and putting Cal in danger of breaking his number one rule.

 

Daring the Bad Boy ... this is a good one ... a short one, but good! I have been on this "bad boy hero" romance novel kick. I like the bad boy who gets reformed stories or even the bad boy who turns worse stories. I'm not too picky and when I saw that this one was NAMED Daring the Bad Boy I thought that I couldn't go wrong with it. 

All in all, it's a good book. I didn't realize that it would be written with such British (is that rude?!?) lingo, though. There were a few words that I didn't have any damn clue what the hell they meant but I'm lucky enough to have a wonderfully sweet, Scottish friend whom lives in England and she is my English to English translator! She translates everything for me, including her FB statuses ... one time she was talking about the "rubber on her desk" ... a rubber in the US is a condom but over there in that not-so-foreign land, it's an eraser. Anyway ... sorry about the minor derailment ... I think what I was trying to say is that there were a couple of words in this book that I didn't have any clue what they meant. That's okay, it kept things interesting. 

I enjoyed getting to know the Cal and Rosie. Rosie was this sweet (almost virginal) girl-next-door type who was looking to break her Valentine's Day curse by bringing out her inner slut (as she put it). And Caleb was running from his past. Caleb wasn't what I would consider a "bad boy" ... he's this hotshot photographer who doesn't stay in one place for long because he's always traveling for work. Due to this, he isn't interested in keeping a lady at his side. I don't see this as a bad boy ... I see this as a man who is invested and committed to his work ... nothing wrong with that! After I got to know Caleb, I just didn't think that this title was fitting for the book. At all. I mean, you can describe a character to have "bad boy" characteristics but really, are there honestly set characteristics that ONLY a typical bad boy would have? I don't think so. A dude can have a nonchalant attitude, leather jacket, a criminal record and a shitty attitude and that doesn't make him a bad boy. He could just be an asshole! Let's not sell out our bad boys, people! 

The story was short and sweet. I'm not totally for sure how many pages this book is but it did feel like something that was 150 pages or so. Nothing wrong with that! I like the short ones. When you have two kiddos who have ADHD, I have to pick up and put down books numerous times a day. Sometimes a short book is exactly what's needed. The flow of the book was nice, I enjoyed how nothing slowed down and dragged the story (and my patience) with it. Plus, the chemistry between Cal and Rosie was pretty awesome! Their love story was hot and desperate and loving and spectacular. I really enjoyed everything that was within these pages and I'm interested to see what else this author has to offer! I'm hoping that her other books are just as enjoyable.

* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *

Available: February 4th, 2016

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