Review: "The Wrong Bachelor" by Alexandra Moody

Beware: I feel myself going into a YA slide ... so if you're not interested in YA, let me apologize now for all the reviews that are coming!

I recently jumped on a deal to get three months of Kindle Unlimited for 99¢ ... and KU has lots of YA books, so get ready!

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Bachelor: A desirable potential boyfriend. AKA not Cole Kingston.

Seventeen-year-old Madison (Madi) Matthews wants nothing to do with the dating competition her school is holding to raise money for charity. She's never been interested in chasing a guy before and she certainly isn't interested in competing for one in front of the whole school.

But, when Madi is voted as one of the ten "lucky" contestants, she's given no choice but to vie for the heart of Lincoln High's most eligible bachelor. The problem is, they've chosen the wrong guy.

Cole Kingston might be good looking, great with a football and practically the king of Lincoln High, but he's also cocky, arrogant, a serial flirt and Madi's sworn enemy.

Will she be able to resist him though when the competition heats up and he turns his charms on her? 

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The Wrong Bachelor is a book I've had my eye on for a while—though it's not my absolute favorite trope, the enemies falling in love plot line is usually pretty enjoyable.

I absolutely loved certain aspects of this book! Madi and Cole have great chemistry, and I really enjoyed their story. The Bachelor-type dates were fun to read about, and I really enjoyed the relationships Madi built with most of the other girls.

However, there are a couple things that bothered me about the book. First of all, I work in a school and have a lot of teacher friends, and there is no way on this earth that a student council president would have so much leeway (with apparently zero oversight) to produce/manipulate a production like this. It just wouldn't happen, and in real life, Angus (the president) would've been suspended. I'm not saying this story was super realistic to begin with, but this aspect was just beyond belief.

There's another aspect of the novel that I found even more worrisome: Madi's boyfriend Jake. At best, he was a manipulative jerk. At worst, he was verbally and emotionally abusive. Madi's friends and family should've been telling her to run from him; while they didn't particularly like him, they didn't grasp the seriousness of the situation. But after he and Madi broke up, he was fine. The ragey, mean guy was just ... gone. And in his place was someone who could be friends with Madi. (Less troublesome but equally unrealistic was the quick turnaround the "mean girl" did once she admitted that she was jealous of Madi.)

So while this is a well-written, largely enjoyable novel, I definitely have mixed feelings about it. 3 stars.

Content note: Besides the aforementioned possibly abusive relationship, there are also a smattering of mild curse words. Also, one of the contestants vying for Cole's heart is a gay guy. It's mostly played for laughs.

Buy the book (or borrow from KU).

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Alexandra Moody is an Australian author who currently resides in Sydney. She studied Law and Commerce in her hometown, Adelaide, before going on to spend several years living abroad in Canada and the UK. She is a serious dog-lover, avid snowboarder and has a love/hate relationship with the gym. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I borrowed this book and chose to review it. The opinions expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I will receive an affiliate commission. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."