Book Review: The Perfect Bargain by Jessa McAdams

The Perfect Bargain is a contemporary highland romance by Jessa McAdams. As if being newly single isn't brutal enough, Sloane Chatfield's friends are constantly setting her up. When Sloane insists she's waiting for a certain sexy fictional Highlander to come along, her friends surprise her with a trip to Scotland to find her a new boyfriend. If she can find a Highland hunk to "break her heart" before her friends arrive she might be able to have some peace. Galen Buchanan is struggling to keep the family pub afloat. He is running out of money, and now there's an opinionated American lass parked at his best table, driving him mad. When Sloane asks Galen to be her pretend Highland boyfriend, and offers him enough money to save the pub. It's only for a few days, he figures. What's the worst that could happen?

The Perfect Bargain is a fun romance that take a woman that is more than a little disappointed in her former fiancee, and looking to run from her problems, and her interfering friends for awhile. She has a plan, but when it goes astray her back up plan includes the hunky bar owner with some serious financial issues. Nothing could go wrong, right? I liked that Galen and Sloane bantered back and forth, I love a couple that is comfortable enough with themselves and each other that they can bicker. I also liked that while Sloane is wealthy, she works hard and does not look down on those that do not have things as good as she does, in fact her work is all about charities and helping others. Galen might love the bar, but his reason for running it is more about family and doing what he thinks is right rather than the bar itself. The inclusion of the tiny village, Galen's family, and Sloane's group adds some fun characters and interesting conflicts that occasionally had me cringing or looking away in sympathy for the characters. I think the characters really made the book.

The Perfect Bargain is a fun and entertaining read. I enjoyed the characters and their interaction. It was a great weekend read, one that I pretty much inhaled in a day.