THE BOOBY TRAP by Anne Browning Walker

The Booby Trap by Anne Browning Walker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

NetGalley free read

Bambi is a PhD student at Harvard in Women's Study's. Bambi meets Trip at the sports bar where she works, during his friends bachelor party. He takes out his frustrations from work on her and she decides to be extra nice to him. Once he sobers up, he decides that she would be perfect to play his girlfriend for the next nine moths for a PR stunt that his father's company wants him to be part of. He makes the assumption that because her name is Bambi, which he doesn't believe at first, and she works at The Booby Trap, she is a dumb bimbo.

Bambi needs money to go to conference in London, where she will meen some of the luminaries in her chosen profession and be able to discuss her dissertation with them. Since Trip, offered money in exchange for pretending to be his girlfriend, Bambi takes him up on it, with the added benefit of teaching him a lesson for have presumptions about her based on the way she looks and where she works.

At first Bambi plays into the stereotype, with moment of her real personality coming out, which leads a couple of people, women in particular to pick on her her real self. The PR woman who is handling the public dating events she and Trip go on as well as his best friends new wife. They also believe that Trip needs to be taken down a peg and go along with her plan not to tell him.

Once Trip finds out who Bambi really is, he's upset, but his feelings for her soon allow him to like who she really is. He also realizes that the little slips she had, were what he noticed about her and caused him to continue his interest in her. They agree to not lie to each other and try a real relationship to see where it goes. While out on a pub crawl for St. Patrick's Day, they run into Bambi's mother, who tells Trip that when Bambi was a teen she found Bambi in bed with her husband. She blamed Bambi instead of her husband. Bambi is not only embarrassed by her mother, but appalled that Trip believes what her mother says and runs out.

Trip discovers he's in love with Bambi when he blurts it out to his ex, Connie, after she kisses him and it's caught by the paparazzi who has been following he and Bambi. He confides his feelings as well as the photos with Elizabeth, the PR rep, and asks her to try to get the photos back before Bambi finds out.

Unfortunately after Bambi has discovered her feelings for Trip, she views the photos on an entertainment show and goes to Trip. She understands his reaction to her mother and accepts his apology for his stunned reaction, but she can't accept his lie of omission from telling her about the photos and his run in's with Connie.

Both Bambi's surrogate father figure and boss Joe as well as fellow waitress Lainie, conspire to get she and Trip back together. Trip tells her all his truths about things he's ever lied about with the biggest one that he loves her. He goes with her to London for the conference, where she's been asked to fill in for a presenter who can't make it.

The concept was cute. I like the idea that someone with a terrible name is a PhD student and she's perceived as dumb, when she's really smart. I like how she tries to teach Trip a lesson and that only a few really smart women are able to detect right away that she's not what she seems, while playing the bimbo.

Although his parents treat her badly at first, you kind of understand why, since she's playing the bubblegum chewing bimbo when they do. But once they find out who she really is, they like the idea and give her a chance.

Sweet story, with not a lot of umph to it, but it works enough for a quick read. I read it in one sitting since there wasn't a lot to it. Like my rating implies, it was okay.

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