Review: The Boyfriend Game

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The Boyfriend Game


 Author: Stella Starling
Publisher: Createspace
Pub Date: July 24, 2018
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBT
Rating: 3 stars
Amazon | Goodreads
Summary: Carter Olson never expected he’d get a chance to date his older brother’s best friend, Rip Taylor. 
Wished for it? Yes. 
Fantasized about it? Possibly too much. 
But ever thought it would actually happen? Not in a million years, since Rip is straight. But even if it’s just to try and win a gay game show, having Rip for a boyfriend—even a temporary/pretend one—is still the best thing to happen to Carter in... well, ever. 
Especially because Rip’s so good at it. 
Amazingly good, actually. 
So good that Carter starts to hope that maybe it won’t have to end once the show’s over… 



 Review: 
You know what I super love even though it's really tropey? Fake dating romances. Also friends to lovers. Not so much "in love with brother's best friend" but whatever, I got over that. The Boyfriend Game was super cute, friends.

At times, it was "excuse me while I vomit candy corn into a bucket of sugar floss" cute, which maybe wasn't the best thing, but who cares?
I definitely loved the first half of this book more than the second. The first half was falling in love secretly (one of them was ALREADY in love), and the fake dating, and the sexual tension, AND THE SEX which was really hot.

The second half was lots of angsting, and more than a little cheese. I like cheese. In book and food form. There were parts of this book that made me cringe at the cheese factor, which I didn't think was possible, so... hooray? Maybe?

Pros: super duper hot sex scenes, cute characters who had great chemistry, a gay dating gameshow (adorbs, more plz), Vegas as a setting, which was super fun.

Cons: The main character's name was Ripley (hello, adorable name) but they called him Rip. RIP. Whuuut. Also Rip calls Carter "babe" in almost every single sentence and it drove me nuts. I love pet names and nicknames, but calm down, dude.

If I could break up the parts, I would give the first half 5 stars and the second half 2, but since I can't, I settled for 3 stars overall, mainly do to the unbelievably cheesy dialog towards the end and babe-ageddon. This is a great read for someone who needs a fast, sweet story with a medium amount of (superficial, mostly pining) angst, and a ridiculous HEA.

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