The Dating Game - Sandy Barker

 

Once upon a time, twelve women joined the hottest reality TV show looking for love. Except one had a secret identity . . .

Abby Jones is a serious writer. Or at least she will be, one day. Right now, she spends her time writing recaps of reality television under a secret identity.

When a recap for The Stag – the must-watch dating show – goes viral, her editor thinks she should be on set, writing the drama as it happens. The good news: the next season will be filmed in Sydney. Sun, sea and a glamorous trip abroad, this could be Abby’s big break.

The bad news: the producers don’t just want Abby to write the recaps, they want her to be on the show. Abby can’t think of anything worse than being undercover and followed around by cameras. But her career depends on it, and when she meets gorgeous producer Jack, Abby begins to wonder if this job might not be so bad after all . . .

Blurb taken from Goodreads.

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I was provided with a copy of this book via Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved the description of the story. I'm a sucker for a love story AND reality TV, so I was expecting this to be right up my street. As soon as I started reading, I loved how fun and quirky it was; the narration was sassy but light, and I was so ready to get invested in the characters. I did find that as the story went on, it lost me a little, as the story became a little predictable. However, it was a fun idea and a very easy read that I enjoyed a lot. 

Rating: ✫✫✫

My Thoughts

As soon as the story started, I thought it was set up really well. The idea of a journalist going undercover on a reality dating show was such a fun idea, and I could see immediately that the plot had a lot of potential for drama and a lot of humour. There were also a lot of scenes that were fun to read about, with the commentary of Anastasia giving some sharp relief to some of the more bittersweet moments. What I really wanted was just a bit more. All the ingredients were there, but it all felt a little anti-climatic and the book felt like it ended to abruptly for me. As the story went on I felt it getting a little more rushed to fit everything in, but I really would have loved to have seen longer scenes, more focus on the implications for Abby being part of the contest, The Stag, and maybe even more of a reckoning at the very end.

The characters were, again, fun. Abby was an easy protagonist to follow, and the other characters were nice enough too. I just wish we had got to see more of them. Lisa, Abby's friend back home, as well as her mum, don't really get any character development beyond the surface level, and the competitors, the Does, were also a little flat. It felt a little like everyone was there because they had to be for the story rather than because they really added value. Daniel in particular, the Stag himself, was a little one dimensional. I understood the way his character was painted, but I think it would have been so interesting if there had been a bit more to him. 

The Verdict

This book isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. The idea was fun, I found it humorous, and it was a lovely easy read. It just felt like it wasn't quite there. The ending didn't really have the impact it needed, loose ends weren't quite tied up well enough, and the characters could have benefitted from more depth. An enjoyable read, but one that needed a bit *more*.