A review by lauriereadsrom1
Playing Dirty in Alaska by Samanthe Beck

emotional lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Alaskan bush pilot Bridget Shanahan is working on being more responsible so that she can help her brother Trace with the management of their family business, Captivity Air and Freight. He's heading off on his honeymoon and leaving her in charge of the airfield, and Bridget wants Trace to know that he can trust her to handle things while he's gone. The last thing she needs is her college ex-boyfriend, Archer Ellison III, showing up four years after their breakup, determined to win her back. Bridget wants nothing to do with Archer after the way he unceremoniously dumped her in college, though it's tough to fight the chemistry that is as strong as ever between them. When a silly dare leads to Bridget being injured, she can't afford to refuse Archer's offer of help in Trace's absence. Will it be the opening Archer needs to convince Bridget to give him another chance?

For the most part, I enjoyed Archer and Bridget's second chance romance. Their banter was fun and they certainly had plenty of chemistry. However, I was sometimes a bit uncomfortable with Archer's behavior towards Bridget because it felt manipulative. She was really vulnerable after losing her twin brother, Shay, in a plane crash a few months earlier. In the previous book of the series, Archer tried to take advantage of that to purchase Trace's interest in Captivity Air and Freight so that he could force Bridget to work with him. When that failed, he decided to move to Alaska and pursue her anyway. Despite Archer's behavior, I truly believed that he loved Bridget, and nothing he did was intended maliciously; it just didn't always feel honest. He wasn't very good at communicating with her, either. Bottom line, Archer wanted Bridget to trust him but wasn't willing to fully trust her, and that was a real problem right up until the end of the book.

Overall, I did enjoy and would recommend "Playing Dirty in Alaska," though "Wild in Captivity" remains my favorite of the series so far. I look forward to the next book.

 

*Review copy provided by the author/publisher via Grey's Promotions. All opinions expressed are my own.