The Bachelor's Bed

by Jill Shalvis

Lani Mills had a secret crush on gorgeous diehard bachelor Colin West, along with half the women in town. But she was just his cleaning lady, so she'd have to content herself with dusting and dreaming...or would she? Colin needed a fictional fiancée to end his mother's matchmaking attempts. Lovely, loyal Lani was his first choice, and, to his relief, she agreed to pretend they were madly in love. But his relief turned to dismay when she kept forgetting the "pretend" part...

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Harlequin, Harlequin Romance, Chick Lit

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2000

About the author

Jill Shalvis is a NYT, USA Today, and Amazon Top 100 bestselling author of small-town romance and romcoms, known for big feels, found family, and plenty of shenanigans.

If you love small-town chaos, meddling friends and neighbors, sizzling chemistry, and heroes who fall hard for the one woman they absolutely did not plan on, you’re in the right place. Jill’s books blend laugh-out-loud moments with emotional gut punches, slow-burn tension, and deeply earned happily ever afters.

She writes the stories she loves to read: small-town romance and romantic comedies packed with heart, heat, second chances, grumpy/sunshine sparks, and the kind of found-family vibes that make you want to move right into the pages. Many of her series are perfect for binge-reading, and a number of her books are available in Kindle Unlimited and at major retailers.

When she’s not writing, she’s probably plotting new ways to torture her characters, avoiding laundry, or daydreaming about fictional men and the strong, complicated women who bring them to their knees—and then making them work for it.

You can follow Jill here on Goodreads to keep up with new releases, add her books to your shelves, and discover which small town you want to get lost in next.

Reviews

[Kayla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usually really like Jill Shalvis but this book was a let down. Couldn't careless about the either character. I normally have little or to no trouble suspending belief or ignoring the silly set ups but this one was just a bit to much for me.

[(✿◠‿◠) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. If you suspend reality for a bit, you'll enjoy this book more. Loads of UST, cute characters and a fun storyline.

[Audel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Harlequin lance une nouvelle collection E-Lit regroupant des titres appartenant à différends sous genre de la romance au prix de 2€99. Parmi les premiers titre se trouve un mariage pour de vrai de Jill Shalvis.
Ce roman court nous raconte l'histoire de Lila et de West. Lila est à la tête de sa propre société de nettoyage, cependant par manque de personnel, elle se vot obligé de réaliser elle-même certain ménage comme celui du riche inventeur West, chez qui elle travaille depuis maintenant un an.
De son côté, West est sur le point de finaliser un grand projet et n'a pas de temps à perdre en distraction, surtout celles de ses tantes déterminées à le caser coûte que coûte. il lui vient alors l'idée de demander à Lila son aide pour monter un subterfuge.
Si en apparence l'histoire est d'un classique redoutable, l'auteur a su la renforcer en approfondissant le passé de ses personnages. Ainsi, l'héroïne se révèle être une femme déterminée, posée qui ne s'est jamais vraiment remise de la mort accidentelle de ses parents. De son côté, West se méfie de tout le monde et en particulier des femmes qui l'approchent en raison de l'issue de sa dernière relation sentimentale.
Le lecteur s'attache vite à Lila et West, n'attendant qu'une chose que West ouvre enfin les yeux et déclare sa flamme à Lila.
Le format court de l'histoire impose un rythme assez rapide dans l'évolution des sentiments entre les deux protagonistes donnant à certain l'impression d'un début et d'une fin trop accélérée.
Une romance drôle et mignonne, idéale pour l'été !

[Ptiteaurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

J'ai passé un assez bon moment mais pour ma part , les choses vont bien trop vite dans ce roman. Les personnages deviennent malheureusement des caricatures et j'aurais aimé que Lila ait par exemple plus de poigne et de répondant. Quant à Colin , il est trop égoïste et fermé pour avoir su me toucher

Chronique complète à venir...

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I usually love Jill Shalvis's work but this book was a real letdown. I don't know if it's because it's several years old and her style has evolved but I wasn't as invested in the characters and just felt sort of meh about the whole thing.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lani agrees to play house with Colin to keep his mom & aunts from setting him up on blind dates. He had been hurt so didn't do feelings. She does get under his skin but fights it. It's a quick read & if you like Jill's writing you will like this story.

[Moey17 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don’t bother. I enjoy Shalvis, but not a fan at all of this early work.

[Klynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like Jill Shalvis but I just found this book boring as heck.

[Romance Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. If you suspend reality for a bit, you'll enjoy this book more. Loads of UST, cute characters and a fun storyline.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started because in an anthology but couldn’t get into, skimmed a bit. DNF.

[K D · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a reprint of a old story, this is a little dated, trite and saccharine. But I liked it anyway.

[Lyndi W. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oi. 1.5 stars for this one. You're killing me, Shalvis. I really liked the last book, but this one was hard to not put down.

This was basically 200 pages of Lani (look up 'desperate' in the dictionary and you'll find Lani) deluding herself into believing that her pretend engagement has very real feelings behind it. Of course, those feelings do eventually form and they love each other fo'realz and live happily ever after or whatever. But seriously? I almost shut this book down like 4 or 5 times because I felt so bad for Lani and her inability to just accept it. It was like reading about a romanticized stalker. I know she wasn't stalking him, but Lani still reminded me of a stalker that just couldn't grasp reality.

And if you're going to mention a dozen different times that you never go back on your word, never break a promise, always hold up your end of a deal... breaking said promise deserves at least an apology on your part, you bitch. Oh, you didn't run as far as you initially intended, but you still ran.

I felt like there were some gaping plot holes. I'll hide it as a spoiler, but I seriously doubt you could 'spoil' the story by knowing anything I'm about to say. That's not a compliment.
1. What happened with the laser? Lani breaks the very thing that Colin has slaved over night and day for months and it's never mentioned again. Seriously?
2. Did the engagement party happen? Did everyone approve of Lani? Was 'their love for each other visible in their eyes' or whatever? After all that shit about the fucking party, we don't even get to read about it? A small epilogue would have easily wrapped up both of these situations.
3. Did Lani's crazy Aunt Jennie ever accept Colin? Did she start hanging out with Colin's mom & aunts? That would have been an epically hilarious scene that I have no doubt Jill Shalvis could have written beautifully. But nope.
4. Colin told his assistant Claudia that the engagement was a sham, so what happens when the engagement becomes real? Again, Shalvis misses out on a scene. Colin, shameful and abashed, explaining to Claudia that he was a moron and fell in love.


I don't like how it just ends, though public groveling is always a plus. An epilogue of the engagement party and even just a few sentences about the other plot holes would have bumped this up to 2-2.5 stars for me. As it is, I can only give it 1.5 stars. But at least it's not all because the female lead's desperation made me want to chew nails. This time, part of the blame falls on the plot.

I wouldn't recommend this book. Especially not to anyone experiencing unrequited love, as I don't want to encourage their insanity.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have always been a little weary of harlequin novels. I think it's because my grandma used to read them when she would babysit me and I kind of threw that into a certain genre itself. Grandma word porn, if you will. I always pictured a half nakey woman clutching Fabio's manly chest as both of their long silky hair blew lightly in the breeze as the stood on a mountain top declaring their undying sexual need for each other. Being quite honest, I never thought I would fall into the realm of romance novels. But alas, here I am.

I have a great friend on Goodreads and Twitter who is a big Jill Shalvis pusher. She has never steered me wrong in the reading department, so I went into this book with an open mind.

We meet Lani, a cleaning business owner, who is the cleaning lady for the super sexy bachelor, Colin. You learn that Lani has the biggest crush on him and you also feel that he has a bit of thingie for her. Colin is an inventor working on one of the biggest projects of his life and just needs his meddling mother and aunts to get off his back about settling down. Enter the drama... he devises a plan to faux court Lani as his fiance just so he can concentrate on his work and as soon as it's completed, they can go back to cleaning lady and client. Ummm, no. We all know that's not how this would pan out. Between Lani's open sexual attraction to him and Colin's brooding denial, you get fierce sexual tension and some yummy sexy times. With this being such a quick read, it doesn't get that in depth to the characters as much as I would have liked. The story is a bit rushed and it seems a little contrived in parts, but it's effective for some swoons.

All in all, I give this a 3.5 for good UST and sexiness. I look forward to more of Shalvis' work.

[Kezermezer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Housekeeper Lani Mills is about to receive the proposition of a lifetime. Pretend to be Colin West's fiance so his loving but meddlesome family will stop pestering him to marry and he can finally devote all of his concentration on his work. Since Lani's secretly head over heels for Colin, this could either be the best thing that's ever happened to her - or the worst.

Ah, Jill Shalvis. She's one of my favorite authors. Her books are quirky, funny, heartfelt, emotional, and hot - usually. For me, this book was none of those things. It COULD have been. It had potential. The storyline is an overplayed and ridiculous one - man asks woman to pose as lady friend, realizes she's all he ever wanted - but has been done successfully many a time. I would have pegged Shalvis as an author to do so. But The Bachelor's Bed had none of her usual charm and was just a rather unbelievable, silly romp from beginning to end.

I could never quite get behind Lani. We're told how hardworking and strong she is, building up and running her own business, but I could never see her as a strong person. She also made an idiotic assumption at the beginning, and at the end came *this close* to doing something she swore she'd never do, but then backed down, and was like "Oh, I could never do that!". Pft, you were just about to.

As for Colin, as sexy and magnificent as Lani may think he is, Shalvis didn't do much to make ME think that. He was an unimpressive hero, short-sighted and self-centered.

Added insult to injury - the sex scenes were abbreviated and lukewarm.

[Jacqueline J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was 2 novels in one. Both of them by some pretty competent authors. These were not however, their best work. They each in my opinion deserved 2 stars - they were okay.

The Bachelor's Bed by Jill Shalvis
The hero, Colin, askes the heroine, Lani, to pretend to be engaged to him to get his mom to stop trying to fix him up so he can work on an invention without distractions. She keeps forgetting it's pretend. Worst part is she lets him know it. I was embarrassed for her for most of the book. Writing competent but not great. Characterizations pretty light. On the whole, not as amusing as some of her later books. If you're a fan you might read it but otherwise pretty forgettable.

Accidental Wife by Day Leclaire
The heroine has created problems for herself by lieing about being married in order to keep her boss from pestering her. So she goes to a Cinderella Ball to find a guy to marry. She ends up with the boss's brother who of course is trying to keep the other two apart, not knowing that she doesn't want the boss. Okay so even though this is a romance novel, what the devil is she doing marrying a total stranger and going back to his hotel with him? He could be a wife beater or an axe murder. The story was just too unbelievable. The writing was okay but not up to DL's standard. Of course the story was written 14 years ago. Again if you're a fan of the author not a total waste but otherwise not so great.

[Cheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel strange giving a Jill Shalvis book a 3 star rating, but the first half of this one was really clunky for me. This was one of her earlier works that was republished later, so I'm sure she was still working the kinks out in some ways.

Throughout the whole book the heroine, Lanie, came across as very immature. Not in a spoiled brat way, but in a head in the clouds way. From what I gathered, Lanie is in her mid to late 20's and, although not super experienced in relationships, not a virgin. So some of the thoughts and assumptions she has kind of annoyed me. I've said before I understand and don't have a problem with insta-love in a romance because of the necessity to move the story forward. In Lanie's case, it's a bit too insta.

As for our hero, Colin...he's a tough nut to crack. I didn't dislike him, but I don't think I got enough of his inner dialogue to really get to know him enough. When we did see the story unfold from his POV it was usually him worrying about Lanie's reactions.

The second half of the story was much better and the characters started to come into their own finally. Lanie still bothered me sometimes, but not as bad as the first half.

All in all, this was an easy read for a lazy summer day.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in a state of disbelief and enjoyment. For some reason, I've been reading a lot of romance novels where the hero is ridiculously clueless of the consequences of actions.

Colin just wants peace from his busybody family, which makes him come up with a ridiculous plan of pretending to get married. His plan backfired and his family is more in his hair than ever.

Lani on the other hand is kinda a victim of circumstance. She's in the right place at the right time and she has a major crush on Colin. What I enjoyed about Lani is that she leaped into playing house with Colin like it was real because for her it was an opportunity to move past her fears to living life.

I wasn't a fan of Colin as a character because he can't see past himself to the feelings of Lani or his family and I found that a wee bit obnoxious. Lani also has a ridiculous level of loyalty and keeping her word even when Colin is an ass. While I understood the author's reason for Lani being so loyal (Colin is used to people leaving or not following through), I still felt like it was not believable that she would.

All in all, it was a fun read.

[Lisa Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lani Mills had a secret crush on gorgeous diehard bachelor Colin West, along with half the women in town. But she was just his cleaning lady, so she'd have to content herself with dusting and dreaming...or would she?

Colin needed a fictional fiancée to end his mother's matchmaking attempts. Lovely, loyal Lani was his first choice, and, to his relief, she agreed to pretend they were madly in love. But his relief turned to dismay when she kept forgetting the "pretend" part...

The problem with this book is the lack of true chemistry between Lani and Colin. Lani is supposed to be a hardworking woman, owning her own cleaning business, but she comes of "wishy-washy." Meanwhile, Colin is too self-centered to be someone the reader would admire.

[Becky MoJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost a Cinderella story but with a modern twist. Lani owns her own cleaning business but she's not rolling in it and has to go out and work just like everybody else. One client in particular, the steamy bachelor Colin, whom Lani fantasizes about. Colin is an inventor and is working on his biggest project, but his mother and aunts are driving him mad with trying to marry him off. Enter plot here. Colin decides to find a pretend fiance so he can get some privacy and finish his project. You see where this is going? Ya, I thought you would. .
A good read for the hopeless romantic, with the fairytale happily ever after.

[Deanna Drake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say, this book was so simple in its storyline, HOWEVER I loved it. Lani was adorable and knew what she wanted from minute 1. Colin, the man who keeps feelings locked up deep inside, pushing love away from him, confused at how he can be drawn to someone like Lani.....nice. I have to give props where they are due...the women in Colin's life (his mom and aunts) were immediate loves of mine. I like when a writer can introduce secondary characters and make you just giggle in joy at their presence. The Bachelor's Bed was one of the faves in my Shalvis library.

[Beate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me very, very happy. It's a quick read, unless you have a billion interruptions like I've had, it's sweet, and it's bound to pick your mood up if you're feeling down. A bit sad towards the end, before the girl gets her man in the end.

Ms Shalvis is sliding up on my fave author list rather quickly with each book I read by her. I think I might need to go and find me some more books to download to my Kindle. :)

[Daniell Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lani was a cleaning lady for bachelor Colin West. There was just one problem she had a crush on him as did about half the women in town. Colin wasn't interested in a relationship but he also had a problem, his mother thought he worked to much and should find a wife and if he wouldn't look she would just help him out with that. He needed a fictional fiancée fast . Lani was his first choice but now he had another problem .. she kept forgetting it was fictional.

[Marran · Rating 5 out of 5]

aaaaaw This book made me happy and warm inside..such cute and sweet story.

Lani's adorable and Colin's a real sweetheart and the mother and aunts adorable to

it' a quick read and it's bound to lift your spirit.

[Peggy Jaeger · Rating 4 out of 5]

An oldie but a goodie

An oldie but a goodie from the one and only Jill Shalvis. you"ll be drawn into the world of Lani and Colin and their "fake engagement" So quickly, you'll be rooting for the real thing in no time.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old backlist ebook from a favorite author of mine. I'm glad I didn't see this cover because it might have made me think the story was cheesier. It is a little repetitive and contrived but I enjoyed it.

[ThePerpetualBookJunkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a very funny and romantic story. Although, the hero was absolutely daft at first but in the end realized the folly of his foolhardiness!

[Sashana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expect a certain caliber of writing from Jill Shalvis which I didn't get in this book. Definitely skip it, she has done better.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short weekend read. Great Characters. You'll definitely fall in love with them!

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick, one-day read for me. It was a cute story, and I liked the characters. Definitely something light and easy. Would be a good beach read.

[Trish · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typical harlequin romance. Plot went by way too fast and left me feeling in a whirlwind of "what just happened?".