A review by charkinzie
Boyfriend With Benefits by Allison Temple

4.0

I love a good fake boyfriend setup but I like it to be clever and well-written. Fortunately, Allison Temple never disappoints. This is a great summer read. It's not too long, has great characters and it's funny!

So this is a new take on the fake boyfriend trope. Bailey has been working hard at his job... trying to work his way up. Then one day he shows up to discover that the new hire, someone he's going to have to work with directly is JAke  Kenyon aka Jake The Jerk. He bullied Bailey for years when they were young. And things get worse because there's a retreat coming up... and Jake The Jerk has an emu rescuing, handsome boyfriend and Bailey has no one but his roommate Gordo. In a moment of weakness, Bailey lets slip the Gordo is his boyfriend and commits them to attend the retreat.

The thing that makes this story a lot of fun are the characters. Bailey is wound tight, but he still finds time to be quirky and funny. Some of his remarks are hilarious and I really enjoyed his banter with people. Gordo is an enigma for much of the story and I'm not giving anything away. He's a big, burly, laid back bearded guy. He's a great roommate... often taking care of Bailey when he doesn't even know he needs it.

Maybe there's more between them? Of course, there is! But don't despair there are quite a few awkwardly adorable moments and some confusion and even some pretty heavy emotion before they work out what they could potentially be to one another.

This is a kind of a prince Charming tale... only Baily doesn't even really know that he needs to be rescued. He's caught up in the rat race like most people are and can't really see that there might be a way out of it. But then... Bailey hasn't been seeing a lot of things that are right under his nose! Yes, I'm teasing! If you like M/M romance, I think you'll enjoy this one!