Demise of a Self-Centered Playboy (The Baileys #5)

**I voluntarily read an early copy of this title in exchange for an honest review** Oh how I love to return to Alaska and to our favorite family the Bailey\’s! It\’s never a dull moment with this crew! While this book can be read as a stand alone, I feel reading the others in the series will make this one that much more enjoyable! Denver Bailey has always been the reckless, daring, commitment phobe Bailey sibling. He\’s a bush pilot and he\’s helped out Chip Dawson with his business, Lifetime Adventures, where Chip has served as a mentor to Denver, but the last thing he wants a relationship and he never plans to settle down. He\’s always been the one to give his siblings a hard time as they\’ve entered into their relationships. Much of that stems from the fact that he lost his parents at such a young age. He\’s not one to attach himself to people or things, but when Chip passes away, he ends up attached to something he never expected. Cleo Dawson is the estranged daughter of Chip Dawson and she\’s come to town for the reading of his will. She had a very unstable upbringing and she only visited her Dad two weeks each summer, so the relationship with him wasn\’t as strong as she would have liked. Cleo is one that has never felt like she has found where she belongs, but that is what she wants most. When she ends up with half the business her father owned, she stays in Lake Starlight to see if maybe she\’s finally where she is supposed to be. Denver and Cleo don\’t see eye to eye on much of anything when they enter into their co-ownership of Lifetime Adventures. They find that the business is struggling and in order to get it back on it\’s feet, they agree to try doing a television show. As the two begin spending more time together, they end up finding that maybe they don\’t think the other is so bad at all. The chemistry is definitely there and these two people who have been floundering for so much of their lives seem to have found something to hold onto within one another. I loved this book and the way that Denver and Cleo brought out the best in one another. Kudos to Piper Rayne for creating another fantastic Bailey adventure for us! I can\’t wait for the next one!

How do you conquer a playboy? And better yet, how does a playboy conquer a woman that has peaked his interest? In all the previous Bailey Books, we have seen Denver be the playboy, the comedian, the one who can take a serious situation and break the ice with laughter, he is your go to guy for some comedic relief. He is also very well versed in the land of the ladies. He is a favorite near and far across towns. Maybe a self proclaimed commitment-phobe. Well then, his story should be fun and entertaining and it should have all of the things we have come to love about Denver. And yet, we get so much more! So much more than I could have ever imagined. Denver has layers…he is like an onion that has so many layers that when you start peeling them back you wonder what the hell you were doing never knowing these new things about him. Denver takes the cake and steals my heart. He makes me feel things that I didn’t think I could for him because he is so beautifully complex. Piper Rayne keeps upping the ante with each new book and each new sibling! Denver is one who will be in my heart forever. There is sadness and there is beauty, there is love and there is passion, there is wit and there is sass. Everything you have come to love about a Piper Rayne book is ever present and then they give us more. SO SO MUCH MORE AND I LOVE IT! Cleo Dawson was introduced in the previous book and all I could say was that woman has an attitude, with a capital A. She gives Denver a run for his money yelling and screaming and putting him in his place. She is strong-willed and passionate and so good at taking care of herself. She is independent and is a woman who makes an impact on arrival. I didn’t know much about Cleo, but after reading this book she is a beautiful soul that I can relate to. She is someone who I want to see fight for herself and those that she loves and she is one who can go toe to toe with Denver and his wit. Her one liners are hilarious. I found myself constantly laughing out loud and getting funny looks from the people around me! I know when I have that that it is a Piper Rayne masterpiece! Denver and Cleo will make your skin crawl with the anxiousness in their banter. And every time they are together you find yourself wanting those tidbits of lust and love, those breadcrumbs of what a love like their could truly be like. It is magical! Read this book! You are going to devour and fall in love with it like I did! It is so so so exceptional! These Bailey’s were the best surprise of the year…..I can’t wait for the rest of their stories!!!

I have read all the books that are out about \’The Baileys\’, and from the little glimpses we have gotten about Denver, he definitely comes off as the \’ultimate player\’ who is all about himself with not a care in the world. Then only to take up his book and meet a more refined and genuine guy, that everyone mistakes for a self centered jerk. But his change came about after the death of his close friend and mentor Chip, as well as being in close proximity to his daughter Cleo, who is bringing out a lot of changes in him. Cleo has been dealing with quite a few UPS and downs after college, in finding what is it she is meant to do, to no avail. But the death of her father Chip, as made her really sit down and assess herself a bit more indept, as well as the help of Denver and his family. While her sister Bridget as always been her confidante in time of her need, lately she finds herself relying and turning more and more to Denver. Now she is having the most titillating and sensual dreams about the two of them together, and no amount of distraction is getting these feelings and thoughts out of her head. So now she is really trying not to jump Denver\’s bones, but she can only abstain so much and no more…. Grandma Dori is still up to her tricks, manipulations, and it is just fund reading about her and the antics she gets up to…. SHE IS DEFINITELY THE BOSS!!! I really feel it for Nancy, worst all the secrets she had to keep, the loss she suffered and then being the one holding a secret that will hurt Cleo….. Definitely between a rock and a hard place.

Denver has been such a funny character that I couldn’t wait to get inside his head and find the woman who was going to put a stop to his playboy ways. Seems Cleo is that woman but things don’t go as smoothly as you would think. First off she hates his guts so its not so good that her late father Chip left his business Lifetime Adventures as a 50/50 share between the both of them in his will. They are about to be business partners with no way of not being around each other. What could possibly go wrong – or maybe right in certain circumstances? Now Cleo really doesn’t come across great to begin with at all with how she acts around Denver, and a few others. She has such a chip on her shoulder with wanting to prove that she can do this on her own that she comes across as a stuck up rich girl just trying to ‘play’ boss. She didn’t have the closest relationship with her father and I think she resents the fact that he was close to Denver. Kind of shoving it in her face with both being left the business. Thing is said business is failing and they need to work together to find a way to save it or that’s it for Lifetime Adventures. Might be time to take a few adventure trips of their own to move the business in a new direction, you never know what revelations might come up to the surface with spending more time together – especially with sleeping in the same tent. That’s not the only thing coming up to the surface with chemistry bubbling away – helps when Denver doesn’t have his shirt on. Now I may not have liked Cleo to begin with but that does change once you get inside her head a little. When she gets off her high horse and starts to act like the ‘real’ her – with a little help from Denver – you can see why he might be starting to fall. He’s not the only one. She\’s just a little lost, not really knowing where she truly fits in and where could feel like home. Perhaps with spending more time with Denver she can get to see that Lake Starlight could be that home – with him added on as a bonus. Love that Dori always has to play a part with getting people together. Even when you don\’t see her you know she is pulling the strings somewhere with getting all her grandchildren happy and paired off. The rest of the clan pops up throughout but this time around they are not telling Denver what to do with his life but making him decide for himself. Time to grow up and take charge, you might end up liking the results. Another great read from a series I really like.

Yet again Piper Rayne have another winner on their hands. Demise of a Self-Centred playboy is the fifth book in the fantastic Bailey series. Denver is so much more than the playboy that we know from previous books. That boy loves hard and I love him! Cleo looks like she led a charmed life, no cares in the world but she is hurting, her dad just died, she isn\’t close to her mum she just wants to be loved. There were tears!!!! As always I loved seeing the rest of the Bailey family! Another amazing story and I can\’t wait to see what happens in the next bailey adventure. You have to get this! I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book.

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