Settle Down Now by Leenna Naidoo

I have never been a huge fan of reality TV. Mainly because there is no sense of reality in any of it. However, the dating show presented in this book takes things to a whole new level of “say what now?!”

What’s it About? 

Billionaire Charmaine Donnet’s search for Mr Right has gone public in the most humiliating way. Her dating coach, and trusted friend Joss, has decided to turn introvert Charmaine’s quest into a hit reality TV show. Charmaine finds herself interviewing potential Mr Rights live on air, and being wooed on the Indian Ocean while on board the beautiful yacht, The Sunflower. But it’s not all plain sailing. There’s Captain Robert Hart, the one man who truly hates Charmaine and whom, she suspects, would do anything to hurt her again. There’s Joss who’s behaving more like an enemy; and there’s the six potential Mr Rights–some of whom will do anything to win. Events take a dark turn when one of the potential Mr Rights goes missing at sea. Will Charmaine survive this desperate Hart’s cruise?

First Impressions

Charmaine might have all the money in the world, but she still wants a man to share it with. So, she hires a life/dating coach to help her out in that area. Although we find out how she made all of her money, we never really find out what drove Charmaine to hire Joss in the first place. Considering this is the underlying drive of the plot of the novel, I wanted a little more back story on why Charmaine felt she couldn’t find a man on her own. To say that things quickly get out of hand once Joss gets a hand on Charmaine’s love life is a bit of an understatement. Here’s why.

Manipulation

To put it bluntly, Joss is a manipulative bitch who is only looking out for her own interests. The fact that Charmaine never realized this is quite bothersome, and seriously made me question her intelligence level. Or lack thereof. Charmaine repeatedly tells Joss that she’s not interested in doing a dating show, and isn’t interested in any of the guys that Joss tries to set her up with. For some inexplicable reason, she continues to put up with her. I honestly wanted to slap some sense into both of these chicas within the first 50 pages or so. How Charmaine was able to reign in her hostility towards Joss for so long was a huge mystery.

Speaking of Mystery

So Charmaine gets sucked into starring in what just might be the most ridiculous dating show I’ve ever heard of. I don’t know what kind of people would’ve found the shenanigans presented in this show to be entertaining, but it gets so out of hand it makes The Bachelorette seem Emmy worthy.

There is definitely some mystery towards the end of the book as sabotage occurs on the love boat dating show. But when one of Charmaine’s suitors goes missing during a storm, and they determine he perished at sea, yet they still continue to air the show? I’m sorry, but come on! Even considering how ridiculous reality TV is, there is no chance this would ever happen in real life! That show would be cancelled faster than you can say falafel.

Speaking of Missing at Sea

It turns out that Charmaine and the captain of the love ship, Rob, have some history. When Rob first heard about this dating show premise, he thought the billionaire lady looked familiar. Turns out they were work rivals 10 years ago, dated for a while, and he had actually considered marrying her. The fact that he almost proposed to her years beforehand, yet had a tough time recognizing her earned some major eye roll.

The two definitely have some unresolved tension and animosity, and they slowly start to resolve some of that at sea. However, when all was said and done I really wasn’t convinced that the two were in love. They sort of warmed up to each other, but they still argued about their past, which had a lot of missing holes story-wise. I personally felt that sense of chemistry and true love was missing from the plot.

*A copy of this book was provided for an honest review*

Series: Nope

Should you read it? There were too many unrealistic aspects for my taste. That being said, if you love reality TV, this might be right up your alley.

Smut Level: Our couple shares just one chaste kiss.