{ arc } review || THE CONSEQUENCES OF REVENGE

The Consequences of Revenge by Rachel Van Dyken

Publisher: Skyscape (6/9/2015)
Series: Consequences, book 2
Genre: New Adult
Source: NetGalley
Purchase links || amazon || add to goodreads

Rating: ★★★★★





After losing his best friend to another guy, the notoriously too-confident Max Emory suddenly feels lost. He may have devastatingly good looks, an abundance of charm, and a claim to one of the biggest hotel empires around, but he has no ambition anymore. So when his fed-up friends decide they’ve had enough of his moping, they sign him up to be the next bachelor on the reality series Love Island. And between his pride and his forged signature on an ironclad contract, Max just can’t say no.


Now he’s stranded in paradise with twenty-four women, one terrifying goat, and Becca, the breathtaking barista who already turned him down back home. The closer Max gets to Becca, the more determined he becomes to win her over. As she gets to know him better, things start heating up. But is Becca really after Max’s heart—or is she after the cash prize she could claim once the cameras stop rolling?

{ review } .

This series...

Oh my goodness, this series.

I don't know how Rachel comes up with the things she does, but the laughs were nonstop in this second CONSEQUENCES book. I mean, I laughed a lot in COLTON, but REVENGE? Well, let's be honest... With as many Max and Reid theatrics in COLTON, one should only assume they'd be laughing out loud every other page in Max's story.

I have to be honest -- as much as I found Max funny in the previous book, he wasn't necessarily my favorite person. I found him to be too eccentric and quite honestly, he came off way too metro for me.

...but I absolutely, positively adored him in THE CONSEQUENCES OF REVENGE.

First off, he is slyly put on a game show by his best friend's brother. Secondly, he has a pretty comical (in retrospect for him, of course) doctor's appointment. Next, he ends up on a plane with a bunch of girls who want to date him, or just want the prize money; a) a bunch of girls he and his friends have given nicknames too, and b) his favorite Starbucks barista who wouldn't give him the time of day just, well... the other day.

The barista's eyebrows shot up and then a scowl I assume she reserved for rapists, terrorists, and people named Max appeared...

He was off to a great start, yes?

Never did he think that he'd become closest allies with Starbucks girl, aka Becca.

I have to say, I love that this book in particular is very much Max talking to you, the reader. His thoughts are directed to you, in little items such as:

I interrupt your regular programming in order to tell you some vital information. I'm not that guy...

I was probably laughing at least every other page in this book.

So many scenes left me wondering how, just how, Rachel comes up with this stuff in one breath, and then mafia things in another.

...Jason's whines had turned into some sort of hoarse moaning that made it sound as if he were a mating pig rather than an adult male in pain.

Rachel has one complex mind and I love it. Seriously, if these little tidbits of humor aren't making you smile, your and my idea of humor are completely different (and let me point out, I hate high-school-boy-comedy, like Napoleon Dynamite and The Hangover, and rarely do I read a book marked 'comedy' and find it funny, but dayummm, this was hysterical).

The "painfully, excruciatingly [slow]" budding friendship between Jason and Max that resulted in Max becoming a bachelor-esque contestant on his own game show was a hoot. The slow part was in Milo and Colton's book, sure, but the antics that go on between these two... A laugh a minute, I tell you; a laugh a minute.

When the show part of the book begins, truly begins, there are even more laughs. Whodathunk that so much could go wrong on a seemingly isolate island? And whodathunk the girl who couldn't stand his cheesy pick up lines would be his saving grace -- on much, much more than one occasion (such as that one time, in that one hut, when that one person shows up; or that other time, in the water... You know what I'm talking about, right?).

However, I would like to point out that Max is more than just laughs. The man-child can have his serious moments, and he manages to ace those as well.

So... while I understand we have to allow the fire and ashes to cool down before Jason can find his true happily ever after (I have no doubts that Max will wreck havoc on him), I cannot wait until his story is told. Cannot wait. But next up is that other sometimes-too-metro-for-me but equally-funny-and-awesome Emory brother, Reid!

{ previous reviews of series }

The Consequences of Loving Colton { review here }