Review: In Review: Baiting the Maid of Honor (Wedding Dare #2) by Tessa Bailey
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 14, 2014
Embarrassing confession time: I'd never read a Tessa Bailey book until now. I feel like such a failure. After reading Baiting the Maid of Honor (which I constantly want to call Biting the Maid of Honor... which also works), I have seen the error of my ways and have the sudden urge to devour her entire backlist stat. I don't think I could have picked a more perfect book to introduce me to Tessa's writing though.I could gush endlessly about this book, but I won't. It was so fun (and SEXY!) to read about what happened when buttoned-up perfectionist Southern girl Julie and sexy, demanding, alpha Reed collided. I really liked Julie. I'm a planner and a people-pleaser so I could totally relate to her. I understand what it's like to be so busy making other people happy that you stop thinking about your own needs and wants. Reed definitely broke her out of her shell. Can we talk for a minute about Reed? Holy. Hell. I read a lot of books with sexy scenes, but I don't think *any* of them can hold a candle to Reed and his dirty talk. Good lord. I thought I was going to have to take a cold shower when I was finished because damn, this guy gives good dirty talk. And he delivers too. Reed's definitely landed a spot on my sexy-steamy book boyfriend list. Unf.Even if you disregard the sexy scenes, though I'm not sure why you'd want to (SO DAMN HOT!), this was a fantastic book. The chemistry between Julie and Reed was fantastic. Neither of them was what the other was looking for – or what they even thought they wanted or needed – but they were a perfect match, even if neither of them wanted to admit it. They challenged each other. They were both strong characters on their own, but even better together. The love/hate dynamic was strong and their banter was fantastic.If you're looking for a great, sexy adult standalone series, I can't recommend this one highly enough. I've read several Brazen titles, but I've never read an entire series yet. I tend to stick with the ones written by authors whose work I'm familiar with. This series has made me see the error of my ways. I'm definitely missing out on something. I thoroughly enjoyed the way all the characters appeared in each novel, giving another perspective to the pairings and the individual characters. These stories all meshed really well together and that's one of the things I enjoyed most about each of the books individually and the series as a whole.