Blackmail Boyfriend by Chris Cannon

Title: Blackmail Boyfriend

Author: Chris Cannon

Publisher: Entangled Crush

Release Date: August 11, 2015

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Indigo

Sometimes, blackmail is the only weapon a girl has…

Haley Patterson has had a crush on golden boy Bryce Colton for ages. But when she hears a rumour that he hooked up with her she gives him a choice: be her boyfriend for a month to show other guys that she’s dateable—despite her overprotective and very intimidating brothers—or deal with the angry-cage-fighting boyfriend of the girl he actually did hook up with.

Bryce didn’t know the other Haley even had a boyfriend. He was just trying to get his ex off his back. And now, not only is he being blackmailed, he’s being blackmailed by an honor student. His new “girlfriend” has two three-legged dogs, her father meows grass at the country club, and she’s…well, difficult. And different.

Can something so fake turn into something real?

There are times when I read the synopsis of a book and though I’m curious about finding out more and the story sounds like something that would be totally up my alley, I’m still completely unsure about what I’m going to get. Most recently, that happened with Chris Cannon’s Blackmail Boyfriend, but it all worked out for the best. 

When Haley Patterson shows up at school and hears that she hooked up with golden boy Bryce Colton, she’s surprised considering she has no memory of that happening. Because it didn’t happen. But Haley is ready to make the best of this situation. If she can get Bryce to pretend to be her boyfriend for a few weeks it might prove to everyone else that she’s dateable despite her overprotective older brothers. Bryce never thought that hooking up with a girl at a party would lead to blackmail. But now he’s stuck. Either he pretenders to be Haley’s boyfriend or he gets beat up by the other Haley’s, the one he actually hooked up with, boyfriend. Now Haley and Bryce need to make the best of a difficult situation. And maybe the feelings floating around aren’t as fake as they seemed.

I’m not going to lie, when I first read the description of Chris Cannon’s Blackmail Boyfriend I was somewhat confused. I mean, I kind of understood what the story was going to be but at the same time I didn’t really know. But I was curious about the story all the same. It sounded like it had the potential to be a lot of fun. I mean, who doesn’t love a good story about blackmail. As it turned out, Blackmail Boyfriend was a lot of fun. It was a story that had more to it than I thought it would. Honestly, I was expecting cheesy fake romance that turns into cheesy real romance. And yes, the story absolutely was this. But there was more to it than that. I loved seeing the friendships between Haley and Jane and between Bryce and Nathan. I loved seeing the different family dynamics that were at play. At the end of it all, Blackmail Boyfriend was just a fun story to read. It allowed me to escape while I was reading and made me smile a whole lot.

I liked Haley right from the start. I loved that she wasn’t afraid to go for what she waned and there wasn’t a whole lot that she let get her down. I mean, in her shoes, I don’t think I would have been able to turn a hook up rumour into a blackmail scenario. So I gotta give her some respect for that. But generally speaking, Haley wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, often much to Bryce’s confusion and surprise. And Bryce wasn’t exactly who I thought he was going to be (kind of a recurring theme with this book, it seems). I’ll be honest and say that I may have had some pre-conceived notions about who I thought he was going to be, but he proved me wrong and that made me like him all the more. As much as I loved Haley and Bryce, I have to also mention Jenna and Nathan, their respective best friends. Though they weren’t the main focus of the story, I really liked seeing their friendship and relationship develop right alongside Bryce and Haley’s. 

Chris Cannon’s Blackmail Boyfriend was a pleasant surprise. This was a fun story with a little more depth than I thought I was going to get. If you’re looking for a light and fun read, this is it.