Just a Little Chase (Dare Crossover #4)

Carly Phillips, Erika Wilde

Blurb:

She’s in need of a fake, friendly boyfriend to charm her family.

He’s the last bachelor up for auction and a grumpy, last-minute stand-in.

Neither satisfies the other’s requirements but they might just be what each of them needs.

With Lauren Connelly’s ex marrying her sister, the last thing she wants is to show up at the wedding without a date. Which means finding a fake boyfriend ASAP. The charity bachelor auction provides a solution to her problem, except the man she bids on turns out to be a gorgeous but grumpy executive who scowls more than he smiles.

Chase Gossard wants nothing to do with Lauren’s plan to make him her plus-one at a destination wedding and pretend that he’s in love. He doesn’t do relationships, fake or otherwise—but she paid a lot of money for the privilege. So why does their touching, kissing, and sharing one bed feel all too real?

Lauren is smart and witty and sexy as hell. A down to earth combination that somehow softens his hard edges, and somewhere along the way, he’s falling hard for his fake date. But when the truth comes out and it’s time to part ways, can the confirmed bachelor convince his pretend girlfriend to make things real?

Themes: Contemporary

Rating: 4.5 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

We have been waiting this story for a long time, when we first met Lauren and learned that she needed this auction as a way to protect herself as she embarked on her latest family obligation—attending her sister’s wedding to her own ex-fiancé. When Carly Phillips and Erika Wilde you can always guarantee that the results will be emotional, passionate, and dramatic, but Chase and Lauren’s story truly took the (wedding) cake (sorry couldn’t stop myself). This story takes readers on an adventure through the pasts of two people both battered by love in the past, but we get to experience their healing as they learn that their hearts are not forever broken when they meet the right person. I loved every moment of this story and, though I believe this story wraps up the Dare Crossover series (mostly because Chase was the last bachelor to be auctioned), I understand Carly and Erika will be teaming up for another connected series soon, so I won’t cry too much for this ending. I am looking forward to the next release for these authors—both individually and together—and know that whatever it is will be incredible.

Lauren Connelly is determined to arrive at her sister’s wedding with a date that will amaze her family and finally convince her family that she is over the betrayal of her ex—who is the groom incidentally. To that goal, she is determined to win a nice bachelor in the charity auction she has been helping plan for work, but her plan goes awry when a last-minute substitution leaves her with a grumpy but gorgeous bad boy that leaves her sweaty in all the worst (and best) ways. Chase Gossard agrees to be auctioned for charity in order to help out his little sister who is one of the organization’s executives, but he won’t be happy about it, and he certainly doesn’t plan to actually follow through with spending and entire weekend with the woman that wins him. But Lauren refuses to let him out of his promise and the more time he spends in her presence the more he craves being around her, but he has no time for a woman like her and doesn’t trust himself not to break her heart. When they are together for the weekend of the wedding their chemistry soon explodes into something much too close to feelings and they have to decide if they can let go of their pasts or will be able to walk away from the miraculous relationship and future they could have together, if they can find the courage to get past their fears.

This couple is one that I wasn’t sure I would be able to connect with, mainly because there wasn’t a connection to them through other characters, or so I thought. Turns out that Chase is the older brother to Billie, Aurora Dare’s assistant at Future Fast Track, so I was able to feel how his past and his connection to Billie wove well in with the rest of the series. Lauren of course was the best friend to Skye who we met in a previous novel, but overall, I didn’t connect with her until I got to know her and understood why this date was so important. Lauren is a smart, brave, and loving woman that was betrayed not just by her fiancé but her sister and to some extent the rest of her family and friends when they didn’t side with her after her sister did what she did. However, it seems like the break allowed her to find her true place in the world and grow into the woman she was always meant to be, so no great loss in the end. I loved how connected she was to her grandfather and how she shared that connection when Chase when she took him home. She really was a sweet and sassy heroine that refused to be steamrolled, instead standing up for herself and her place in the world now that she’s found it. Chase was an ass more than once in this story and I loved seeing the women in his life putting him in his place, be it Billie or Lauren, but I would have loved for him to pull it together on his own faster. He was an alpha male for sure but come on there comes a point where you have to grow up dude. I liked him when he forgot his pain and anger, just letting himself feel and enjoy his emotions with Lauren and when he was with Billie, he was obviously trying his best to be a good brother. He could have used one of the Dare guys in his corner to teach him how to truly open his heart to a woman, but he finally got there in the end, and I suppose that is all that matters.

This story truly is the story of two people learning that sometimes love can lead you on Just a Little Chase. I enjoyed the story even when I was crying right along with the characters and feeling their feels, but in the end, I loved that their found their way into an HEA. Lauren was a woman that had given up on finding love and decided that settling for some fun and just getting through the tough family times was more than enough, but Chase throws her life and emotions for a loop, reminding her that we all need love. Chase believes that he doesn’t need love and that his life is perfectly fine the way it is, women are available when he needs them, but he doesn’t want anything permanent, until Lauren begins to show him just what he is missing if he is willing to let go of his past and pain and reach for what he wants. These two are so obviously in need of one another and their sparks fly from the beginning, but their passionate chemistry is sometimes hidden behind apprehension until its just no longer able to be fought. Once they unleash their desires nothing will hide the need Lauren and Chase have for one another, until it becomes an out-of-control wildfire, and they have to find a way to fight to control themselves. I loved every word of their story –especially the epilogue one year into the future! —and am sorry to see the series ending, but I am looking forward to the next series planned for Carly and Erika (Sterling Crossover Series)and hope readers will continue to enjoy that and Carly’s Sterling Family series as well. Nothing beats two well teamed authors and the magic they can create together, and they’d proven it again.

*eARC provided by author(s) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.