Bedroom Games by Jessica Clare: Book Review

Jessica Clare has truly captured the essence of reality tv in this book. Not only has she given it justice, she put something more—a heap of scheming that develops into something substantial. Well, the bedscenes have become the cake. Bedroom Games bags a swoon-worthy 5 stars for coming up with avant-garde Challenges and icing the cake with the ever-delicious naughty boy Brodie Short.

Genre: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Author: Jessica Clare
Series: Games #4
Date Published: November 4, 2013
Edition: Smashwords Edition

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Kandis Thornton isn’t afraid to lie, scheme, and sneak her way to the grand prize money on the Reality TV show, House Guests. That prize money is the only thing keeping her mother from losing her house (and thus moving in with Kandis). She needs that money, and if she has to step on a few people to do so? She’ll do it. House Guests is a show all about outplaying your house-mates, after all, and she’s not there to make friends.

But Kandis didn’t count on the fact that someone else was going to be playing just as hard as her. And she didn’t plan on teaming up with her nemesis, or scheming their way to the top.

Nor did she plan on sleeping with him.

But these things just happen when you’re stuck in a ridiculous house with nothing but time on your hands and a hot guy sharing your bedroom…

Review:

Fans of reality tv shows would enjoy and be thrilled with this romantic book as it is Big Brother House in print. The only difference is that instead of a big brother, you got a House Mother just like in the dormitories. Of course, there would be a variety of people in the house with different stories. And it would be interesting on how they would deal with each other. There's the usual confessions at the confessional room where each house guest is asked with a series of questions after every eviction or incidents that got the staffs of the tv show curious and fascinated.

The two main characters or would-be lovers in this book are Kandis and Brodie. The story is told in the perspective of Kandis (Isn't it interesting how her name sounds like Katniss of The Hunger Games?). Kandis joined the game so she may take care of the finances of her gambling-addict mother. Her mother had two mortgages that she couldn't keep up that now her mother lives with her. Not only does her mother cleaned up all their funds and is badly in debt, she's also throwing away Kandis' money. And so, off to the game she goes to straighten all her financial problems and to send her mother to rehab and be able to take care of herself later.

We get three kinds of people on these shows. Superfans, Mactors, and broke-ass bitches. Superfans are the people that live and breathe the game and quote you trivia non-stop. The fact that you’re not asking me if I’ve met Jordache from last year tells me that you’re not a Superfan. So that either leaves you as a Mactor or a broke-ass bitch who needs the money so bad you’re willing to go on TV and make a fool of yourself.

I like how the contestants of the game is being stereotyped into three categories right at the first chapter by a staff of the show. Mactor is short for Model-slash-actor people who only want to flaunt their beauty to sell. Kandis was mistaken for a Mactor as she has such a hot body since she's working as a Zumba instructor, teaching eight sessions of dancing a day. While others want to have lots of contracts as a model after the show, Brodie, Kandis' love interest was clawing his way into Hollywood.

Aside from horror-themed Victorian house, part of the season's twist for House Guests is that the top 3 contestants (who are now famous celebrities) of a different reality tv show will be joining. Brodie was already infamous as a horndog villain at that other reality tv show who sold his sister early in the game and hooked up with a hot vocalist who sucked at challenges that got him hated by most tv viewers. He is joined again in this new game with his sister, Katy and the male winner of that other show, Liam who has become his sister's boyfriend.

A snoop at Brodie Short's confessional as opening for every chapter was such a brilliant idea. In the first chapter, it got me curious and at the next ones, entertained. Somehow, Brodie isn't just about winning that million dollars nor about flaunting his beauty for the next big thing— Hollywood, but winning Kandis whom he set his eyes on.

You would be reeling with entertainment as you get to read how the characters scheme their way up to get to the finals. That inadvertently has Kandis' heart hooked along.

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For the first four weeks of the game, I was thinking that Kandis has become a leech to Brodie's machinisms. I was greatly disappointed in her then. I expected that she would be an opportunist as she promised to lie and flirt her way up to the finals of the game. While she was being opportunistic with Brodie, I didn't like her just being a dependent bitch.

Meanwhile, Brodie proved to be really smart with all his strategies. He has such a character (not just a flirt and a braggart) that any reader would love. I didn't find any lapse with his character. Not a single one. Never had I been disappointed with any of his actions nor was I heart-broken despite him flirting with all the hot babes in the house. I didn't find a weak spot that somehow his perfection for a story is disconcerting.

When in doubt, flatter the ego.

And suddenly, I was amazed at Kandis' scheming after being interrogated at the confessional room. She got a wakeup call when asked who takes control in the Brodie-Katniss partnership that she didn't even get Brodie involved until she had her plots well set. When Becky the House Mother used to be described as bland couldn't hide her fascination with Kandis dancing in triumph at the confessional room shortly after a house guest got evicted, I could sense that the Brodie-Kandis tandem has become the producers' favorite. And if I were to watch the show in real life, I would do so.

Recommendations:
Fans of reality tv show would get easily hooked with this one as all elements are present in the book. And even if you complain on House Guests being too similar with Big Brother, the challenges are impossibly all original. Either the author has such a creative mind or there are just so many reality tv shows around the world that she watched that I didn't. Moreover, the grandeur of the challenges is comparable to Fear Factor and the scheming and alliances to Survivor.Those who have NEVER watched any reality tv show would be the ones who would REALLY ENJOY the book as relatively, the experience would be new. And everything, including the mechanisms of the show and the challenges of the game will be explained.

Trivia:

In real life, there's a thing called UNDER THE BLANKET incident in the Big Brother house. It's that event where two housemates couldn't contain their primal selves when it comes to their baser needs. They would both hide under a huge blanket, oblivious of the time of the day and do some deeds only the two of them know while under the scrutiny of the cameras (and some housemates). Judging by the creak and bouncing of the bed and the positioning of their feet, homeviewers would know what's really going on. And the author of this book must have taken cue on that for Katniss and Brodie. Furthermore, a model has been accused of rape after doing that deed with a 23-yr-old student in Big Brother Brazil 2012.