BOOK REVIEW: Jill Myles - Wicked games

Summary: Abby Lewis never pictured herself on the survival game show, Endurance Island. She’s just not the ‘survival’ type. But when her boss offers her a spot on the show and the opportunity of a lifetime, she packs her bags and heads to the tropics to be a contestant.

Once in the game, it’s clear that Abby’s in over her head. The game itself is full of competitive, aggressive people, and no one’s more aggressive than sexy, delicious – and arrogant – Dean Woodall. Sure he’s clever, strong, good at challenges, and has a body that makes her mouth water. He also hates Abby just as much as she hates him. That’s fine with Abby; she’ll just ignore the jerk.

But the rules of Endurance Island are working against them. Abby and Dean are teamed up – alone – on the beach. It’s either work together, or go home. Stuck with no one else’s company but their own, they learn they do make a good team after all.
And that with just a little bit of kindling, the flames of hate can quickly turn to flames of passion… (from Goodreads)
 
Couple of covers:

 
Genre: Contemporary romance
 
How did I get it: I got it free for the Kindle
 
Favourite cover: The third one, definitely, though I couldn’t quite figure out where this cover was used. Myles shows it on her webpage. The first two covers are really generic; much too generic for my taste. The third one really does something with the story, it shows the survival theme and it seems a bit more playful.
 
Title: The title, however, does a pretty good job of summarizing the story. It doesn’t only hold the game aspect of the reality show, but also how tough the games that people play with each other can be.
 
Characters: I liked Abby as the not-exactly-athletic outsider on the islands. She’s not afraid to be who she is and she’s quite feisty. Dean, the athletic, arrogant guy, got a great deal more of soul because each chapter begins with quoting something he said in the ‘confessions’ of the game show. I liked these flashes of him; it made him more real and the story more entertaining.
 
Setting: The strange thing is, I hate reality shows, but I love it when books are based on the premise of someone entering one of those shows. I really liked it; it was easy to picture the island because of the way Myles described everything.
 
General story: The story was good, if a tad predictable. I actually couldn't stop reading the last couple of chapters, because I was curious to see how Myles would solve the problems she had thrown up around Abby and Dean. I would have liked a more elaborate ending, though; it was a bit rushed.
 
Will I read other books from this author? Yes.
 
Hotness: 4/5
 
Overall rating: 4 stars