Review: The Proposition

The Proposition by Elizabeth Hayley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a series about three bet friends: Jace; Gabe and Ben. Each star athletes in their own fields, they have also been best friends since college. In the first book they are invited to join an exclusive sportsmens club - think more teen boy heaven than anything sinister - which serves as their go-to place to discuss man stuff and play pool/ darts without being bothered by fans and groupies.

This book centres on Ben Williamson, one of the few black men in hockey and certainly the most successful, yet to the rest of his family he is somewhat of a disappointment because they wanted him to be a lawyer or a doctor. His mother has just guilted him into being best man at his elder brother David's wedding, to Ben's childhood sweetheart - yep, his brother and his girlfriend cheated behind his back and now (admittedly six years later) they want him to be the best man? His friend Gabe, who admitted appears to be playing with only half a deck of cards sometimes, suggests Ben hires an escort to go to the wedding with him - that way he doesn't look like he is still pining over Natasha AND he avoids his mother setting him up with some worthy but unattractive daughter of a friend.

Showing a surprising lack of common sense they guys go to Daisy's, a fairly low rent strip club, looking for a high end escort and are naturally disappointed, but when Ben steps outside he literally bumps into a woman who might very well fit the bill. Ryan Cruz is a woman barely scraping by, alone since she was 16 years old she has held a series of low-paid jobs, the latest one as a waitress at Daisy's ends when she smacks a customer for getting handsy and the manager refuses to take her side. As she is leaving the building the door slams back into her face and she sees the most attractive guy she has ever seen, when he thinks she is an escort she sees a way to make some much needed cash, after all she is sleeping on a friend's couch, and agrees to accompany Ben to his brother's wedding.

Things really spiral from there, Ben soon realises the enormity of pretending to be a couple in front of his friends and family, who will all want to interrogate Ryan about everything so he suggests a series of intense 'getting to know you' sessions over several days, then he suggests she moves in with him temporarily. And mostly it's because they need to know more about each other for the wedding, mostly. But of course the real fun begins at the wedding!

This kind of reminds me of the film Pretty Woman, especially the shopping scene. But Ben is nothing like Richard Gere's character, in fact he is the kindest, sweetest guy ever.

My only criticism would be that Ben's family was portrayed one way at the start of the book and another way at the end of the book, maybe the first impression was coloured by Ben's feelings rather than reality and the the later impression was more reflective of the way things really were. Also, I got really irritated that all of Ben's family thought HE ought to apologise to his older brother/ make the peace when his brother had NEVER once apologised for stealing his girlfriend and yet still seemed to get himself cast as the victim.

Nevertheless, I stayed up until 3am to finish this book so a great sports romance with a sexy, caring hero and a sassy, funny heroine. I can't wait to read Gabe's story - I bet it's a doozy.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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