Review: In Review: Body Games (Games #5) by Jessica Clare
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 13, 2014
Body Games, the fifth book in Jessica Clare's reality-TV inspired series, takes us back to the beginning and to another season of Endurance Island (cough, Survivor, cough). But this time there's one HUGE twist... everyone is playing naked. All the time. Shoes only... they don't even get sunscreen. Which, you know, leads to some pretty painful burns, a decent amount of awkwardness and some seriously sexy times.So, the premise of a naked reality show might be a hard one to swallow at first, but Jessica does a great job of building this world and writing so that it doesn't become the focus of the story, but a mere detail. The real story here was that of Annabelle and Jendan. Both of these characters were played in previous shows (Annabelle on an earlier season of Endurance Island and Jendan in the last season of House Guests) and made to look a little silly (or in Annabelle's case, slutty) on national TV. They're both in it to redeem themselves and hopefully win a whole bunch of money, too. Annabelle's nemesis and the jerk who made a fool out of her on EI before is on the show again and it makes for some pretty tense times. She's determined to play the game, screw him over and UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES get involved with someone romantically this season. Well, two out of three ain't bad.I was intrigued by Jendan during Bedroom Games, but I felt like I didn't know enough about him to get a true feel for him. I thought he was a genuinely good guy and I'm pleased to say I was right. I really liked the friendship that he and Annabelle built. They may not have been an official team on the show, but they were powerful when they paired up. Oh, and the sexual tension between them was off the charts.I just can't get enough of this series. Body Games was every bit as good as the other novels in the series. (Bedroom Games is totally still my favorite, but they're all great in their own way.) There's something in this series for everyone. The characters are great and complicated, but not overly so. The writing is good and the story engaging. Between the competition and the romance, there's no chance of setting the book down once you start. They're fairly short reads, too, so they're easy to devour in a few hours. I hope there are more books planned in this series, because it's one of my favorite guilty pleasures.I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.