bachelors and betrayals
Georgia Rose wants to be a full-time music journalist. But her editor is insisting she do one more investigative piece under her pseudonym, Gracie Hart. And this one is going to be big. She is going to go undercover to take down the producer of the dating show Love Shack, where a houseful of women vie for the affections of one single bachelor. Her editor insists that Georgia will be perfect for the cast, so she sends in her application and packs her bags.
Before Georgia left for the Love Shack, she did her homework. She binged all the previous seasons and read Shacking Up: The Definitive, Unauthorized Guide to Winning Love Shack. The bachelor is Roland Marchetti, a professional tennis player just getting over an injury. Georgia’s competition includes Jess, a children’s book author; Addison, a cosmetics influencer; Teddy, an opera singer; Brooklyn, an account executive; Olie, a cheese entrepreneur; and Monica, a professional tennis player; among others.
Georgia wasn’t planning on falling in love. She’s there for a story. She’s just pretending to be interested in Roland. But when she meets him and gets to talk to him away from the initial strangeness of being the last in the line of 20 women to pull up in a limousine to a beautiful mansion, surrounded by cameras and producers, Georgia does feel a frizzle of attraction for him. But she is completely floored by the newly appointed host, the bachelor of a previous season, country music star Rhett Auburn.
There was a night in LA. where she met Rhett in a bar. They danced, they drank, and they went back to Georgia’s place. He was gone when she woke up, but she felt a connection that night that she had never known before. And now he’s standing in front of her, hosting the show where she’s supposed to be falling in love with another man. Things just got complicated.
As the days and dates go by, the women get sent home one by one, and Georgia is left in the house trying to figure out how to write her expose on the show. She is keeping secrets left and right, but she’s determined to stick around and get the article that is her ticket to the job she wants. Even if that means losing the man she really wants.
Most Eligible is a funny and charming rom com from a new voice, Isabelle Engel. Fans of The Bachelor will certainly enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at the show, but those who have never watched the reality dating show will also find a solid story of ambition and romance. I am not a huge fan of the show, but I did watch one or two of the earlier seasons. I have a lot of doubts about the show as a road to a successful marriage, but I love to read about others giving it a shot anyway, and this book was a fantastic funhouse of a story. I genuinely loved it and had trouble putting it aside for longer than a trip to the kitchen for some fresh tea and a snack.
I listened to Most Eligible on audio, narrated by Amanda Leigh Cobb. I thought the narration was perfect, capturing Georgia’s voice with intelligence and snark. I thought she did an amazing job of pulling me into the story, from the snippets of Shacking Up to the shenanigans in the Love Shack mansion to the flashbacks of the night Georgia met Rhett. I loved this audio book, and it’s one I would love to revisit many times in the future for yet another laugh.
Egalleys for Most Eligible were provided by St. Martins Griffin, and a copy of the audio book was provided by Macmillan Audio, both through NetGalley, with many thanks, but the opinions are mine.
