Synopsis
Riley Logan and Travis Grayson have been best friends for the last fifteen years. She would do anything for him, go anywhere for him…and she has, countless times. Except now. Now he’s asking for too much. Their friendship has reached a breaking point and she doesn’t know how to go back. But as Travis’ personal assistant, Riley spends her every waking moment by his side.
When a fractured ankle puts Travis’ BMX career on hold he’s given more downtime than he knows what to do with. Always one for excitement, he agrees to become the bachelor on a televised dating show, but only if Riley goes in undercover to help weed through the girls.
What was supposed to be eight weeks of freedom has turned into eight weeks of hell surrounded by desperate girls all vying for Travis’ attention. He promised her the show would be smooth sailing. He promised he would listen to her advice on which girls should be eliminated. But now he’s breaking those promises and getting way too close to the girl Riley despises the most.
She shouldn’t care. Except she does. Much to her surprise there is one girl she wants Travis to choose…
Her.
Will she get what she wants, or will Riley lose her best friend along with getting her heart broken on national television?
4.5 out of 5 stars
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My Review
I stumbled across Choose Us whilst browsing Amazon for new books to download. Spotting the hand holding cover, I had to know what the book was about. A famous BMX’er, his best friend as his PA, a Bachelor type reality dating show and a lot of confusion, jealousy and love mixed all together. Yupp, I had to get this book into my life asap.
It’s safe to say I literally devoured this book, from front to back. I started it on my journey to work and by the time night fell, I was crying, smiling and in love with everything Travis and Riley. Caylie has a writing style that wins you over. You cant stop reading no matter what (I was on edge all throughout work wanting to get back to Travis and Riley) and I had so many emotions, feeling what Riley was feeling, my heart twinging and breaking and sighing at every page.
You will hang on to every page, especially when there are girls competing and fighting for Travis’ attention, none of them knowing that Riley is undercover and reporting back to Travis about them. Friends to lover stories are always my favourite, mainly because of the deep connection they characters have and Travis and Riley are no different.
Choose Us is about Travis and Riley. They have been best friends r 15 years and spend every day together – Riley being Travis’ PA. When an injury forces Travis to rest for 8 weeks, he gets a proposition for be on a dating show. He has one condition to agreeing though, that Riley is one of the girls and reports back to him on the girls. Riley is pissed but she agrees after some hard work.
But as the show goes on and the girls are dwindling, there is one girl who is just out to get Travis for his status and that doesnt go down well at all with Riley. Travis isn’t listening to her and her feelings for him are coming on strong. Now she wants him to pick her but what does Travis do?
Will this cause 15 years of friendship down the drain along with a broken heart of national TV or will Travis pick Riley after all?
I truly loved Riley. She is the type of girl who doesnt have many girl friends but that doesnt seem to bother her. She has Travis and that is enough for her. She’s not the girly type either, but as long as she has her coffee in the morning she can deal with anything. Riley can banter, she can keep up with Travis and she always there for him throughout everything. Not just as his PA but his best friend too. So when he’s injured and his only condition for going on the dating show is if Riley gets to be one of the girls, I could understand her fear, her anguish over being surround by girls wanting Travis’ attention. In one way, she doesnt have any girl friends and isn’t good being friends with girls and secondly, deep down, unconsciously, she was afraid that A) she might loose him to a girl from the show and B) Fall in love with him and C) the girls would find out who she really was.
I enjoyed watching all these feelings rush over Riley though. From actually seeing herself as a ‘girl’ for the first time, feeling like she actually is a beautiful girl and dressing like one too. I liked her friendship with Taylor, one of the girls on the dating show and I liked how close they became. It wasn’t like a competition for them. It didn’t matter who ‘got’ Travis, they actually formed a fully-fledge friendship and I love that Riley had a girlfriend like Taylor. But most of all, seeing Riley’s feelings for Travis creep up on her. Really seeing him for the first time gave her confused feelings for him and I know just how she feels feeling her for best friend. But mix in the other girls, the confusion over what was happening between them and jealousy she felt when he went on one-on-one dates, its enough to push anyone over the edge especially after her birthday in the house and what came after that.
You slowly saw Riley fall for Travis, watched her actually begin to fight in the dating show, fight for Travis even through the pain of carrying on the show and him going off on ‘dates’ still. I felt the uneasiness, the pain of witnessing and hearing about the dates, the fear of losing and loving her best friend and then the heartbreak – god that sucked me right up. How she came undone and the pain shot through my heart whilst I was reading about her walking away. God, I even felt the awkwardness and the heartbreak at the end too, but yano what, I also felt the lightness and the love and the cage being ripped from Riley (and my heart) and I felt the radiating love that both Travis and Riley have for one another.
I told Caylie on Twitter that I want my own Travis. I really really do. There is just something about him that draws you right in and he wont let you go. Travis is sweet and caring and is boisterous – well he is a BMX’er, and he adores his best friend Riley, whom he will do whatever for. When an injury stops him for a few weeks, he becomes the main focus on a reality TV show, along with the help of Riley. He wants her to wig out the bad nuts so he gets the best girl in the end. You know everyone will end up loving him, he’s cheeky and flirty and smirky all wrapped into one and you know you will love him too.
He’s considerate and you know that, like Riley, deep down he has got to have thought about them as more than friends, so to me, it was no surprise when something happened. You watch their relationship change, you see Travis start to confuse himself over Riley, despite her being the one for him and then you watch their banter slow down, watch the drama unfold between them and it hurts to see Travis still go on dates. But fair play to him, he never backs out of contracts and although I wanted him to, I understood why he didn’t, even if it did end up hurting Riley and him and breaking both their hearts.
At times you will want to wring his bloody neck. You will shake your head at him for not listening to Riley, to not believing her when she told him about a certain young lady and shout at him for how he handled everything. But you will cry at the ending, at how much you want them to be together, at how much you need Travis to explain his action and you know, know you will forgive him because what he tells Riley? I wanted to jump into the book and hug him tight and make him say the words to me.
I truly loved reading Choose Us. It’s so refreshing from other books I have read recently. It sucked me in, had me feeling every emotion and I felt connected to Riley and her growing feelings for her best friend but most of all? This is a book I need to buy in paperback and have it on my bookshelf.
Z. Elizabeth 