4.1 stars

I have a love for how this author creates her dirty talking men. Every time she raises the bar. I loved the characters in the story and the premise of each story being interconnected but written by other authors. I'll be looking into getting those books later.

I did want a few areas fleshed out, such as a resolution concerning Jules's parents or how Logan finally came to them with his baggage. However, still another good book from this author. ( )

Let me start my review by revealing that I am a huge Tessa Bailey fan. Late last year, I came across a romance review blog that teased her novel Asking for Trouble (Line of Duty, #4). They dubbed her the queen of dirty talk and the excerpt singed my eyebrows. I bought the book, read the book, finished it and bought the other books in the series. Just to let you know how much I enjoy the writing style of Ms. Bailey, I also downloaded all of the audio versions of her book and “re-read” them. Even when the plot or the characters fall a little flat, her books still entertain me. Baiting the Maid of Honor did not fail to live up to my hopes.

If you read Ms. Bailey’s books before, recognize that you’re going to encounter many similarities. She loves her burly, muscular, dominant, slightly possessive, law enforcement, tormented alpha male heroes, but they’re not all carbon copies of each other. What makes her heroes, so delectable is that they care as much for their ladies’ fears, problems, and desires as they care about their own. They push boundaries, but know how to take “no” for answer. They’re pussy worshipers, and aren’t misogynistic. They also don’t care for the men who are. *Swoon*

Oh, they also have mouths dirtier than a sailor on leave in a whore house, and they will make you LOVE IT!

Placing her hands on his shoulders, [Julie] danced just close enough that the tips of her breasts swayed in front of his parted mouth with her every sensual movement. Reed’s guttural groan bathed her nipples in heat. Heat that shot straight to her core, making her muscles contract and release. Making her damp and achy. Reed’s hands rose as if to fondle her breasts, but she shook her head in reproach and moved away slightly as punishment.

“Know what I think, baby? You love making my c*ck hard. You’ve been living for it since that first night.” He leaned forward slightly, gaze riveted on her chest. “I’ve been living for it, too. I’ve been stroking myself off to the memory of how you looked at me on that patio. Like you were a little nervous and a lot turned on. Did you go back to your seat in the fancy restaurant and cross your legs tighter than before? Were you planning on going back to your room later that night and imagining the big bad man touching your p*ssy?”

“Yes.” Yearning, dizzyingly potent, rocketed through Julie, so swift she feared her knees might buckle. She turned slowly, so he couldn’t see how much his uncensored speech affected her. Increasing the pace of her hips, she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her skirt and tugged it down just enough that he could see the top of her silky teal-colored thong. The performance, her secret fantasy come to life, emboldened her. Made her want to shock him back. She flicked her hair over her shoulder and looked at him through hooded eyes. “If I had pleasured myself that night, Reed, you wouldn’t have been touching me with your hand. In my fantasy, you would have been deep, deep inside of me. Telling me what a bad thing I’d done.”

“What bad thing did you do, baby?” His voice sounded raw.

“When you showed up at the party, I might have gone to the bathroom and…hiked my skirt up a little higher for you. I knew you’d be watching me.”

“Sweet f*cking hell.”

Baiting the Maid of Honor is the second title in Entangled Publishing's The Wedding Dare series whereas five friends all dare each other to have a no-strings-attached fling with one of the groomsmen, but all doesn’t go as planned for any of the ladies. Type A personality Julie Piper is a person, pleasing sorority girl over compensating for the death of her older sister—the perfect daughter, but deep down she wants to let her guard down for some fun. So she plans to seduce the best man for a night of neat tidy sex. Reed is a rough and tumble SWAT commander who is not neat, tidy, cuddly, nor the best man. When a mix-up sends Julie to Reed’s darkened hotel room, sparks and passion ignite.

Reed is not a fan of sidity, upper class Southern Belles. Julie doesn’t have any experience with or any patience for foul-mouthed bad boys. Yet, despite their mutual dislike for each other, Julie and Reed can’t keep their hands off each other. Soon they seek each other for more than physical, but old habit die hard for Reed and Julie. Will they end up leaving this destination wedding getting together or pushing each other away? Although a happy ending is usually guaranteed in a romance novel, it is the journey to the ending that makes this book worth reading.

One of the only problems with this book is the glut of characters, which is usually the problem with connected books. Each author is forced to introduce all of the characters up front, and plug character Easter eggs in the story. Within the first 5 pages, I'm introduced to five women, their connections and their histories. It's a lot to swallow, but I have infinite patience for Tessa Bailey's stories--super alpha cops with dominant streaks and the bull headed women that brings them literally and figuratively to their knees.
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Full Disclosure: I received a free copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated in any way. ( )

Julie is a Southern belle who is always trying to be perfect. She comes from old money and helps run her family's Whiskey business. Reed is a SWAT team leader tattooed bad boy with a dark past. They both meet at a friends wedding and there is electricity.

Julie is a great heroine and I really connected with her worrying about being perfect and doing something wrong. I loved how Julie let herself be wild and let herself go with Reed. Not letting her fear of being perfect get in the way. Reed was amazing. He may have trouble expressing himself in words but every gesture says it all. I can understand why Reed has trust issues and commitment issues after his past. Reed wanting to get close to Julie but not really have the confidence to do it was very well written. Both these two have a lot of pain in their pasts. Reed more then Julie. His past just makes you want to scream and be angry on his behalf.

The Hot Springs Scene=Holy Hotness. One of my favorite scenes was when Reed was thinking of her and taking care of her after this party. It was so sweet. Their relationship was so hot I was worried my kindle was going to go up in flames. I found it wonderful and it really showed the talent of these authors keeping these books flowing so well together. I loved that epilogue. Is every epilogue in this series going to be swoon worthy perfection. I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a fun sexy read. Can't wait to get on to the next book in the series.

Heat Level: Red Hot

Graphic Sex and Language ( )

3.5 ( )