Review: All the Right Reasons by Bethany Mangle

 

All the Right Reasons

by Bethany Mangle

February 15, 2022

Goodreads Summary:

The Bachelor meets Gilmore Girls in this laugh-out-loud young adult romance about a girl who joins her mother on a reality dating show for single parents—only to fall for a contestant’s son.

Cara Hawn’s life fell apart after her father cheated on her mother and got remarried to a woman Cara can’t stand. When Cara accidentally posts a rant about her father online, it goes viral—and catches the attention of the TV producers behind a new reality dating show for single parent families.

The next thing Cara and her mother know, they’ve been cast as leads on the show and are whisked away to sunny Key West where they’re asked to narrow a field of suitors and their kids down to one winning pair. All of this is outside of Cara’s comfort zone, from the meddling producers to the camera-hungry contestants, especially as Cara and her mother begin to clash on which suitors are worth keeping around. And then comes Connor.

As the son of a contestant, Connor is decidedly off-limits. Except that he doesn’t fit in with the cutthroat atmosphere in all the same ways as Cara, and she can’t get him out of her head. Now Cara must juggle her growing feelings while dodging the cameras and helping her mom pick a bachelor they both love, or else risk fracturing their family even more for the sake of ratings. Maybe there’s a reason most people don’t date on TV.

Review

I'm not a fan of the cover of All the Right Reasons but the synopsis had potential. While I didn't love the start of the book but once I got settled into the story I ended up liking it quite a lot.

I almost didn't finish reading All the Right Reasons. The beginning didn't capture my attention, however, I'm glad I stuck to it. With a truly entertaining plot, there was no shortage of drama. I found the twist on the reality dating show really refreshing. Instead of simply romance there was a good emphasis on family. A decent amount of heartwarming moments saved the show from being a joke.

Cara is a really good person/daughter. She always looked out and stood up for her mom. I loved that. Despite her less than ideal life situation, Cara had a wonderful sense of humour. It was impossible not to laugh with/at her.

The camaraderie Cara and Connor formed behind the scenes felt really genuine. They were able to have some honest and meaningful conversations with each other. I sort of wish Cara's crush on Connor took a bit more time to develop. It felt too insta-like for me. Albeit their romance wasn't as big a part of All the Right Reasons as I expected it to be.

I've never hated a character as much as I HATE Cara's father. He doesn't deserve good things because he's the worst husband and lousiest father ever. I have so many choice words for him but I don't want to give him any more attention so I'll just stop there.

Even though All the Right Reasons didn't start off great, it had a powerful finish. I was very entertained by all the drama and satisfied with how the show wrapped up. I could use some more twisty reality shows.

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not affected in any way. Any quotes included in my review were taken from the copy I received.