3.5 Star
Renee Lockhart has her eye on a lofty goal…to fill the open position of morning radio show host on a nearby secular station. When her co-workers sign her up for a local TV version of “the Bachelor,” Renee goes along with it in order to raise her profile. Ben McConnell, one of the most eligible bachelors in town, insists that Renee be placed on the show, despite her bumbling audition. Ben gets much more than he expected in Renee. He gets a girl who doesn’t bow to his every whim…and a girl who opens his eyes to true, unexpected love. Enjoy a local version of the popular "Bachelor" TV show...where nothing can go right for Renee!
3.5 Star - Kaley
First off, you should know that I love watching The Bachelor. It's my one guilty pleasure and my girlfriends and I get together every week to watch it. We make fun of it but we're also invested in the twisted "romantic" journey the man or woman in question is going on. So, of course I was so excited to read Brooke Williams' Accept This Dandelion, a novel that put its own spin on the popular show.
I did struggle with how the novel was written...and that's why I couldn't quite give it four stars. It's a short novel, which I think worked really well with the story, but it also made it quite noticeable when certain words or phrases were used (I lost count of the number of times "shuddered" came up). There were also a few scenes at the start of the book that I found to be pretty much the exact same. For example, the first couple of scenes featuring Ben had him thinking about Renee and how she intrigued him. One of the scenes, at least, needed to be cut because it was so repetitive. I also found, especially at the beginning, that there was a lot of telling. There were a lot of internal thoughts and, for the most part, the only dialogue really comes from Renee and Ben when they're are on the show together. This all meant that I was bored at the start and just wanted to show to get going.
But, even having said all of that, I was totally invested in Renee and Ben's story. I liked them both, they were layered and interesting characters. I was rooting for them and hoped that whatever struggle or misunderstanding popped up near the end of the book wouldn't derail them completely.
I really appreciated that Renee was focused on her career as well. It wasn't just about the love story, which made the novel more interesting. But my big question is: where the heck did Claudia go? She was who Renee wanted to replace on the morning show and Williams never mentioned, at least that I noticed, what happened to Claudia!
I also liked how Williams portrayed her version of The Bachelor. It was just as cheesy as you'd expect but it was nice to be able to see the real side of the bachelor and bachelorettes (to a certain extent anyway, you really only get to know Renee and Eva). The dates were fun and I liked that Ben broke the rules a little bit (isn't it always more exciting when they do that?).
Accept This Dandelion, as an overall story, did not disappoint. It was exactly what I expected and I really enjoyed reading about Renee and Ben. I feel that it needs some more editing tweaks but I still liked it and do not regret the time I spent reading it. If you're looking for a fun romance, pick up Brooke Williams' novel and enjoy!
Thank you to Rock Star Lit for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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