I received this book for free from Entangled Publishing, Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Even The Score by Kate Meader Series: , ,
Published by Entangled: Brazen on July 21st 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 253
Format: eARC
Source: Entangled Publishing, Netgalley
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A sexy category romance from Entangled's Brazen imprint...He'll make her an offer she can't refuse...Actress Tess McKenzie is performing in the Tenth Circle of Showbiz Hell-dinner theater. All she really wants is to start a theater of her own. Then Tess receives an offer she can't refuse. She'll get her funding...if she pretends to be the fiancée to her nemesis, Texan property tycoon Hunter Dade. If she's going to pull this off, she'll need all the luck she can get. Break a leg, indeed.On the verge of a big business deal, Hunter needs to hire a fiancée. He hasn't quite forgiven Tess for ruining his wedding, but when their chemistry goes from combative to straight-up lust, the "no sex" clause in their mutually beneficial arrangement is tested. Which is a serious problem, because if Tess isn't careful, she'll go from breaking a leg to breaking her heart...
Tess McKenzie is performing at a terrible dinner theater in Chicago, doing whatever she needs to raise money to start her own theater with a couple of her friends. Hunter Dade needs a fake fiancee to close a business deal. He offers Tess one hundred thousand dollars to pose as his fiancee for a weekend to help him close the deal. Plenty to get her theater open and keep it running long enough to become self-sufficient. All they have to do is convince Hunter’s potential client that they’re madly in love, while ignoring their problematic history. No problem.
I loved, loved, loved this book. Hunter blames Tess for ruining his wedding a year ago. He thinks she convinced his fiancee that Hunter wasn’t good enough for her ten minutes before the ceremony. That’s not exactly how it went down, but Hunter and Tess haven’t see each other at all in the year since then, so he never got her side of the story. He always thought and still thinks that Tess is a stuck-up princess, and she thought he was an upjumped, chauvinistic Texas hick. None of that meant there wasn’t a strong attraction from the minute they met. They’re both wrong, they’re both right, and the connection between them was scorching from the minute they shared a page. Before I was halfway through this book, I was on Kate Meader’s website looking for the next in the series, which doesn’t appear to be forthcoming soon enough for me. I will be stalking her website looking for those updates.
Revenge was a dish best served in bed – and Tess McKenzie was about to get a five-course meal.
Both Hunter and Tess are outspoken, unwilling to let the other get the best of them. The banter between these two was a delight to read. I love good banter in a romance. At under 300 pages, this wasn’t as long as some romances, but Meader manages to completely flesh out these characters. I understood where both of them were coming from, and what had happened in their pasts to shape them into the people they were. Even the side characters were more than one-dimensional place holders. Flynn and Brody are clearly sequel bait, and I can’t wait to read their stories.
I like a good enemies-to-lovers story, especially when the author manages to get the banter and the frenemies vibe right, and Kate Meader certainly did that. I can’t wait to read more by her. I highly recommend this one.
About Kate Meader
Originally from Ireland, Kate cut her romance reader teeth on Maeve Binchy and Jilly Cooper novels, with some Mills & Boon thrown in for variety. Give her tales about brooding mill owners, oversexed equestrians, and men who can rock an apron or a fire hose, and she’s there. Now based in Chicago, she writes sexy contemporary romance with alpha heroes and strong heroines who can match their men quip for quip.
