Speed Dating the Boss

<b>3.5 Stars</b><br /><br />Dan is a working-class bartender who has been pining for his presumably straight boss for 5 years. He has been working his ass off around the clock at Cowboys and Angels, while spending all his spare time completing a business degree in hopes that one day he’ll be able to run his own bar. He’s exhausted and fed up most of the time, and he certainly doesn’t have the inclination to attempt dating in his already hectic schedule. <br /><br />Gideon, Dan’s employer and crush, is a brooding cowboy type. Mourning the loss of his wife and son half a decade prior, Gideon throws himself into his work, all while spoiling his college-aged daughter, Ariel, rotten, letting her have run of the bar where she frequently causes trouble and incites bar fights, making more work for Dan and his co-workers, and even on occasion putting them in harm’s way of the destructive patrons she’s riled up.<br /><br />Dynamics between Dan and Gideon begin to change when Dan speaks up about Ariel’s behaviour, prompting Gideon to put Dan in charge of the bar as official manager. Dan is awestruck by the job opportunity and accepts on the condition that Gideon reins Ariel in, at least where the bar-related shenanigans are concerned. <br /><br />Dan soon gets a bit of a shock when Ariel organises a gay speed dating event at the bar, in Dan’s honour, in order to find him a date to an upcoming wedding he’s attending – the shock mostly being that Gideon shows up to the event as one of the speed dating participants, revealing his bisexuality and expressing a keen interest in being Dan’s wedding date. <br /><br />Dan and Gideon were likeable characters and I enjoyed the nature of their slow burn romance. Gideon was actually pretty swoon-y – I went a bit gooey whenever he called Dan darlin’ in his sexy Texas drawl. Dan's obliviousness over Gideon's intentions was a bit silly, but I still liked their dynamic and the way their relationship unfolded.<br /><br />On the downside, I did have some issues where the behaviour of college senior Ariel was concerned. She was way too old to be behaving the way she was. Suffering from past loss is one thing, and taking advantage of daddy’s love is another, but she came across as immature and outrageously entitled for a woman her age. Inciting the pointless bar fights was ridiculously juvenile, and I can’t even discuss some of the other inexcusable things she did later in the book without providing spoilers. Her presence definitely annoyed me, but thankfully she was my only major problem with this story.<br /><br />I feel that lovers of Mary Calmes, and maybe even R.J. Scott, will enjoy this one. That is to say, it was an engaging and moreish read, but with perhaps a few OTT moments of character frustration and excessive plot dramatics. Still, I liked it more than I didn’t and my rating reflects that.<br />

<b>3.5 Stars</b><br /><br />At times absurd and incongruous, this was still easy breezy despite a few inconsistencies.<br /><br />Poor Dan is a workaholic, but that hasn’t stopped him from crushing on his seemingly straight boss Gideon, a widower who might be more available than previously thought. When Dan’s best friend is about to get married, he's pressured into finding a date. Somehow Dan finds himself wrangled into being the star player at a speed dating event with the grand prize being Gideon. Surely he’s being punked right?<br /><br />Beware a spoiled rotten brat of a daughter, nonsensical obliviousness, an annoying horny stalker, and smexy that's more light than heavy.<br /><br />Regardless, sweet clueless Dan and dreamy growly, gentle giant Gideon, both elevate this story to make it quite the enjoyable romance.<br /><br />So, if the mood strikes for a mostly laid back love connection with dashes of OTT, then this will surely appeal to most!

This was an enjoyable read. I think it was named speed dating because the length they were a couple or dating was the length of a speed round. The build up to the relationship was most of the book.

Missed the mark. <br />Yeah, it sure did. I couldn’t get into this one. I couldn’t click with the characters. I couldn’t find my groove with the writing. I found it mediocre at best. <br />Simply put, it didn’t work for me. <br />I think this is my second (failed) attempt with this author. Looks fairly well received…could just be me?!

This one starts off with a scene that sets the tone for too much of this book. We start with some pretty terrible bar owner policies and a truly hideously spoiled girl that is really hard to get past for the rest of the book. <br /><br />Additionally, sadly, Gideon and Dan are not just slow burn...they are NO burn. They pseudo date and hang out throughout the book and yet, there is no tender moments, no seething underlying passion, no real connection that I could grab onto and go with. They don't actually have their first kiss until somewhere around the 80% mark and I think they do "I love you's" before they ever have sex. It was all just...awkward. <br /><br />Dan also spends the entire book basically apologizing for being gay, trying to make everyone else comfortable around him because he's gay by sublimating anything that he might do that would show any customers, friends, family, etc that he is gay and trying to talk Gideon out of doing or being seen as gay as well. <br /><br />I just felt uncomfortable throughout this whole book with almost everyone except the best friend getting married and his fiance. <br /><br />SB is a good author. She tells good stories and I could see what the author wanted to do with this story but it was a big miss, unfortunately.

On the surface, and surely based on the blurb, it sounds like this book is a fun romp. And it is, no doubt about it.<br /><br />But there's a depth to it that's not automatically clear if you were to only look at the blurb. <br /><br />Dan is a bartender in a almost-a-dive bar - mostly working-class, with regular fights breaking out and glass flying. But Dan likes the job, likes the bar, likes his small apartment, his cat, and his life. If only he weren't lusting after his totally straight boss, bar owner Gideon, who's quite a bit older than Dan. And yeah, Dan is a bit lonely when he goes home. <br /><br />Gideon's daughter Ariel (yep, like the mermaid) is at once cause for many of the fights that break out in the bar and catalyst for Dan finding out that Gideon maybe isn't quite as straight as he assumed, when Ariel organizes a gay speed dating event at the bar to find a date for Dan to take to a wedding he's attending. <br /><br />Gideon has had to overcome immense heartbreak, and for a long time his life revolved solely around raising his daughter and running the bar, but he's finally ready to get back into the proverbial saddle. And Gideon has his eye on Dan. <br /><br />Dan cannot believe that Gideon is actually not entirely straight, interested in him, and thus determines that he's only going to fake-date just so he has someone to bring to the wedding. <br /><br />I absolutely loved the part of the story where Gideon shows Dan that he's wrong about the fake part, and I may have swooned a time or five. <br /><br />There's a little bit of angst in this book, but it's not actually within the romance itself. It's caused by jealousy, and a young woman who still has a lot of growing up and learning to do, a young woman whose father has indulged and spoiled her maybe a little bit too much, and who needs to learn to find her own way. <br /><br />I really enjoyed reading this, and no matter how late I am with my review, because life laughs when you make plans, I think you should give this book a shot. The sequel comes out soon. I have plans to read it! <br /><br /><br />** I received a free copy of this book from its publisher in exchange for an honest review. **

<i>A <a href="http:joyfullyjay.com" rel="nofollow noopener">Joyfully Jay</a> review. <br /><br /><b>5 stars</b></i><br /><br />By title alone, I grabbed up this book. I love boss/employee stories and if one of the men happen to be older than the other, that’s even better. I gave the blurb a precursory skim, but mostly, I was interested in the words speed dating. I can honestly say, this is the first time I’ve ever seen a book with that plot device, so I wanted to see where it went. I expected a fun, fluffy story, but what I got was so much better. Speed Dating the Boss had a surprising amount of depth and emotion, and I was thrilled with it.<br /><br /><b>Read Kenna’s review in its entirety <a href="http://joyfullyjay.com/2018/06/review-speed-dating-the-boss-cowboys-and-angels-book-1-by-sue-brown/" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>.</b><br /><br /><br />

Unrequited love in work place romance, what's not to like? <br /><br />Dan had been secretly yearning for his straight boss for years. Needing a date to bring to a friend's wedding, his boss' adult daughter arrange a speed dating event. With such a great setup I expected this story to sparkle with chemistry and sizzle with UST. It didn't. <br /><br />Gideon, ten years older than Dan, comes across almost like a parent reminding Dan constantly to eat/sleep/get dressed. Too much focus on listing the mundane details compared to dialogue interactions between the MCs. And gah, I hated the side characters intrusion into every single scene. If they weren't present in the location, the phone would ring to interrupt things. I believe I counted two instances where the MCs were actually alone together in a scene until the resolution in the final chapters. <br /><br />To summarise, great story idea where the execution of the plot to large parts didn't work for me.

It was okay until. it's not. IMO, Gideon is a weak Dad. Not that he need to be 'hard' for his daughter, but I don't like a spoiled brats taking for granted of their parents. And at 21, Ariel is too spoiled and Gideon let her. That's my main concern of this book, not Dan and gideon's slow burn relationship. Their chemistry is lacking, they're boss and employee until 60%, not enough time to explore the romance. Both Dan and Gideon were busy with Ariel. This is their book or not?<br />I liked it that they're finally got their happy ending, but I think this story is too preoccupied with Gideon's daughter, that I don't care much.

<b>2.75 Stars</b><br />This was my first book by this author, but I liked the blurb and thought I’d give it a go. I think $6.99 is high for an e-book especially one that is only 200 pages, but this book sounded like the perfect fit for my mood. It wasn’t bad, but it was cheesy as hell and it felt like insta-love even with the couple having known each other for years, I love you’d were dropped before kisses were shared. All in all I guess it was of the dreaded meh variety, I won’t be remembering a thing about it in a week or two.