Name: Choose Us
ISBN: 9781497322080

Caylie Marcoe

Riley Logan and Travis Grayson have been best friends for the last fifteen years. When a fractured ankle puts Travis' BMX career on hold he's given more downtime than he knows what to do with. Always, one for excitement, he agrees to become the bachelor on a televised dating show, but only if Riley goes in undercover to help weed through the girls.

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I'm a big fan of friends to lovers stories. We've all had crushes on our closest guy friends from time to time, right? These relationships don't always pan out in real life, so that's part of why I enjoy reading about them so much in books. Not only are Travis and Riley best friends, but Riley is his assistant. There's nothing romantic between them until BMX racer Travis gets injured and agrees to go on a reality show to "find love" while he's healing and unable to race. Travis agrees to do it only if Riley goes on the show as a mole, to support him and help him find the right girl for him. She's reluctant but agrees and it doesn't take too long for their friendship to begin to morph into something more. Of course, there are tons of obstacles, mainly the other girls on the show, Travis' frustrating behavior and Riley's inability to truly stand up for herself and her feelings.

This was a sweet story with not a whole lot of steam. Definitely not nearly as much as you'd find in most new adult romances. Travis and Riley were more about the stolen kisses than they were the night of passion and it totally worked for them. I enjoyed the story and the characters, but I didn't ever find myself all wrapped up in their emotions. I wanted them together, obviously, nearly as much as I wanted Nicki to take a bat (or something else damaging) to the face. Boy she was a jerk. (And the stereotypical troublemaker from a reality show such as the one they were on.) Riley was spunky and sassy, yet I didn't think she stood up for herself enough with Travis. Maybe it was the newness of the feelings or the possibility of ruining the friendship, but I wanted her to be completely honest with him. I wanted her to put her foot down. Yes, they were on a dating reality show, but that didn't mean he had to do the things he was doing with the other contestants. Travis was sweet, mostly, but his actions were often misguided. I don't think he ever meant to hurt Riley, but did despite that.

I thought the reality show aspect of this book was fun. Reality shows like this one used to be one of my greatest guilty pleasures. I don't watch them as much now because the drama often wears me out – as does the "I'm so in love with you" declarations after one or two weeks of knowing each other. The drama was good in the reality show in this book. There were some serious bitches in this book. But I've come to expect that from reality shows. Some of these girls were in it to win it, regardless of how pathetic they looked while they tried. Fortunately we were also introduced to a great character by the name of Taylor, who wound up being a real girl and a good friend to Riley. I liked her. Can she have her own book next? I'd definitely read it. She's the kind of girl I'd be friends with in real life.

This was a good and entertaining read all in all. I had a little bit of trouble connecting to the characters because their actions were frustrating to me at times. Yet, I found myself glued to the edge of my seat seeing how everything would work out in the end. I got a minor case of the feels reading the last few chapters. I can't say the characters were immature, but I definitely thought they were younger than the mid-20s they were supposed to be. They just read younger to me for some reason. But despite these minor issues, I enjoyed this book. I would absolutely read more from Caylie in the future.

I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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