A HUMAN’S CAPACITY FOR PAIN WAS LIMITLESS.

Brant and Nikki once had everything they could ever need with each other. After several tragic events, Brant walks away and Nikki lets him. Four years later, the two are unknowingly thrown back into each other’s lives. Several encounters later, and the two have found their chance at a HEA. But will either one be able to forgive themselves in order to give their “storybook” romance a second chance.

This is the best kind of second chance romance from such an amazing author. Rachel van Dyken knocks it out of the park with all of the feels that are present in this book. With the involvement of Grandma Nadine, you never know what to expect. Brant and Nikki have so many obstacles to overcome, yet you find yourself getting lost in their journey.

There are some unanswered questions regarding their past, but the story still reads well. The author also gives us several new characters - Annie, Carol, Cole and George - who I’m anticipating reading more about in future books.

All in all, this was a great read. I just felt like I was missing a vital part of Brant and Nikki’s past.

I finished reading The Bachelor Contract by Rachel Van Dyken at 2 A.M because it was even more than I had hoped it could be and then some. I had a soft spot for Brant after reading both The Bachelor Auction and The Playboy Bachelor and knowing that there had to be something big that happened in the past to make him the way that he was now. I didn't know how much their story would hurt, or how much I would love both Nikki and Brant by the end of the book.

The Bachelor Contract isn't a Rom-Com, although there are moments of levity brought forth by the ever-present Grandma Nadine. This second-chance romance is filled with so much feeling and depth, sweetness, love, and heartfelt moments. Yes, there is some humor because honestly would it be an RVD book without it? She knows how to get you right to your emotional breaking point and bring you back, only to keep you hooked and hanging on to read the next scene.

The Bachelor Contract is my favorite book in the series, with Brant and Nikki becoming my favorite couple. I have to tell you who I want to see get their own book though - Cole. Nikki's best friend deserves happiness, love, and I totally see him as RVD's next swoon-worthy hero.

Brant and Nikki were married until a series of tragic events tore the two apart. Four years passes and when their paths cross again they have to come to terms with the past and find the closure that neither of them received upon their divorce.

I loved how strong Nikki was despite the hand she was dealt and I love that Brant wasn’t willing to give up on her. Their story was heartbreaking, but seeing the love that still existed between the two made me want to root for them from the very beginning. I liked the dual point of view, especially Nikki, “seeing” things through her eyes. The story was engaging and one that I didn’t want to put down.

I wish there had been a little more development of Nikki and Brant’s past, it may have made me connect a little more and feel a little more empathetic to their story. I did like the family dynamic, the three brothers were a lot of fun and the addition of Cole as a surrogate frenemy brother made for some lol-worthy moments.

I haven’t read the first two books in the series however I don’t feel as though I missed too much, but I will definitely go back and read the others. The Wellington family is nuts and I loved every minute of it!

This book is another reminder why Rachel Van Dyken is one of my favorite authors. This book made my feel so much. It made me laugh, cry and get angry with the characters. This one is my favorite in this series. Brant and Nikki were so broken, I needed a lot of tissues to read this book. I loved the comic relief of Grandma Nadine, she is always one of my favorite characters. I'm glad to see her in so many books. Rachel Van Dyken is one of my go to authors, can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

I cried. I laughed. I swooned. I cried some more.
This book was beautiful, heart-breaking, and hopeful. I LOVED it so much. This entire series was phenomenal, and Brant and Nik finished it perfectly.

This book was amazing. Rachel is amazing at making you fall in love with her characters. Youh will have such a great love hate relationship with Brant. Loved it.

Wow, the way this one starts had me completely intrigued and then my heart was hurting and I hadn't even gotten to know the characters yet! Brant and Nikki have a very painful past, their failed marriage, their lack of a happily ever after. Oh my God, the angst, the sadness, the heartbreak...it was killing me how much these two were hurting. I so very badly wanted to see them get their second chance, but between Brant being a jerk and all the unanswered questions about their haunting past, I was worried it wouldn't happen. Nikki's strength was inspiring and I just wanted her to get her HEA, dammit! Some of the characters in this book are amazingly quirky and hilarious (and the comedic relief was very much appreciated). I went from heartbroken and sad to giggle fits picturing some of these scenes. This book would make a great movie...hint hint!

I used to LOVE this author but lately her books have been hit or miss. I did read the previous book in the series about Brandt's brother and I really enjoyed it so I gave this a whirl. I usually LOVE ex wives/made a mistake husband stories. But this story had some aspects I did not love and it made it a more complicated story. What I did not love is that it is not explored more in the story and so I ended the story with more questions.

I did LOVE Cole. He stole this book IMHO. Nikki and him were really terrific in my opinion and well I did not love Brandt. He had the love of his life and he threw it away with one night stands and not being there for his wife. He finally gets a clue in this book and it was like FINALLY. At times he was a total idiot and I wanted to tell him to wise up.

Anyways the two issues I had no clue to before reading this story was Nikki is blind. It had never been alluded to before and its kinda a big thing. How and why, what it meant was not really explored in this story and I felt that was a big gap. The second issue is Nikki had a horrendous miscarriage, and thats when Brandt leaves her. I HATED him for that. HATED!! After that I could not see him as a romantic hero for Nikki.

This story was well written as all RVD stories are. But her earlier work had more depth and really explorered the characters. This story really just was a little too I love you and let's work it out, rather than how Brandt betrayed Nikki by abandoning her at such a painful period in time.

I've been waiting for Brant's story and I knew that it would be choked full of drama considering what a hot mess in the last book.

Brant is all sorts of broody, he's a time bomb and is literally on the road to destruction in this book.
Nikki dear gawd she has gone through so much I couldn't even imagine how she manages each day.
Watching these two reunite was hilarious at times, gut wrenching at others and literally had me wrapped up in them.

There is a lot of pain with Brant and his ex-wife Nikki. So much heartache and tragedy I wasn't sure how these two would be able to deal with each other. A lot of hurt existed between the two of them.
There are a few funny moments in this book which helps offset a lot of the heavy we get with their story.

The side characters in this book were just the best and never failed to pipe up and have their say which entertained me to no end whether it was one of the brothers, Nadine Titan and her meddling ways, even Cole had me smiling from ear to ear. I really do hope we get a story about Cole by the way.

Overall this was a great read, it was full of pain, loss, hurt, anger as well as forgiveness and maybe even a bit of redemption.

I've enjoyed this series more than I expected. I was a bit concerned with the first book but with each installment I have liked it more and more. I think this one is my favorite out of all of them. That's probably because it was a bit heavier than the rest and even though some are complaining about that I liked it a lot.

Rachel does humor wonderfully and she does deeper and heavier stuff wonderfully. I love that she kinda combined both in this book. The story line took a bit of a turn I wasn't expecting but over all the whole thing flowed amazingly and I loved it all. The sexy times were hot and the push and pull between Brant and Nikki was some of my favorite parts of this book. Was I made at some of the things they did? Sure but none of it bothered me a whole lot.

I know this may not be for everyone but I truly enjoyed this book and Rachel did outstanding on it.

A little slow at the beginning, but then the story picked up and it was definitely worth the read

3 stars

I love a second chance romance book. And usually I love RVD, but this book went in a whole other direction that what I was mentally picturing. The other 3 books in this series had such a high bud up for this book, and I was so looking forward to it. Just wasn't what I was hoping for. But, still decent read.

Once upon a time Brandt found the kind of love that most people only dream about finding, and it lead to a marriage, but then life got in the way, feelings got hurt, hearts bruised and then he lost that love. And it has haunted him everyday since, if only he had done things differently, tried a little harder to hold onto it, then maybe he wouldn't be so miserable now. He has tried to move on from what he had with his wife, but no matter how many nameless/faceless women have followed him home and into his bed, she still manages to find a way to mess with his head and his heart. His family sees how he is struggling to move on, and tries to help, but forcing him to face his past isn't what he has in mind... nor does going on the date with the ex-wife that still holds his heart!

Nikki has never stopped loving her ex-husband, there is a part of her that still belongs to him, but admitting that outright isn't something you will see her do. She knows what they had is the forever kind of love that most people are never lucky enough to find, but what good is love when the person you have those feelings for leaves your heart in ruins, and doesn't return those feelings. She has tried to move on from what they had and find it with someone else, but no matter how hard she tries to let go of him and those feelings, they always seem to find a way to creep back in, and continue to hold her heart hostage. She knows they belong together, if only they had a second chance to fix what they broke...

The Bachelor Contract is a poignant story that inspires, makes you believe in the possibility of second chances, and reminds you that when you have love, you have it all! Settling down to read this one I thought I knew what I was in for, judging by the previous installments that I had read, but honestly I don't think I was prepared for what I found at all, this was such a moving read! I think for more than half of it my heart was in my throat, the tears were welling in my eyes, and my heart felt like it was in a vise, but every now and then there was a smile too... fair warning this one packs a serious emotional punch!! It was such a joy to watch these two re-discover what they lost, and I'll admit at times I wasn't real impressed with Brandt's behavior, but little by little he found a way to redeem himself, and by the end the man had stolen my heart! Of the three installments I have to say I favored this one the most, it had an emotional depth I wasn't expecting, and I feel like I took so much more away from it... but with that being said I really loved meeting all the bachelors from Arizona! Highly recommend this series, Ms. Van Dyken's bachelors are sure to win your heart and have you swooning throughout!!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this title.

We've wanted to read Brant's story since book one!! Since he's always seemed so guarded and harsh...at least he did to me - I wanted to jump right in. He's a complicated guy! I have a thing for books that show glimpses of the past. I inherently like them and I'm almost embarrassed to say that it's an automatic like for me when books have this in it. It all starts when Brant won't fulfil his bachelor contract and goes on from there. Nikki, who I really liked in this book, was totally alone after she and Brant broke up.

I kind of thought this would be an angsty, drama-filled book, but it had some really funny parts and it held true to the author because had you just handed me the book and told me to read it...I would have guessed who wrote it correctly. It's got the Rachel Van Dyken feel to it. The fact that all their friends and family try and get them together in the "funniest" of ways is kind of cute to me. All of that being said, this was kind of the heaviest book that I've come to read from this author and that's saying a lot!! Yes, it's a heartwarming story, but it's also kind of heartwrenching. Just know that it's gonna getcha either way you look at it!!

I was given an ARC copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect anyone else’s.

I try not to let it happen to often, but sometimes a book just peaks my interest enough that I dive in without readings it's predecessors. The Bachelor Contract is independent enough of the other books that that did not matter, however The Bachelor Contract was just ok for me. I loved the second chance romance part, and the meddling family (always a favorite) but I wasn't a fan of how we learned about their past (a lot of bits and pieces) and that SPOILER ALERT I'm still not sure what happened that caused Nikki to go blind, but not get burned in this fire? It's a little confusing and I don't like being confused. Also through events you learn that she can read braille, but earlier in the book she can't navigate the elevator because of her blindness. I also had a hard time clicking with Brant. He was a brat and that's not an attractive quality for me. I'm still curious enough about his brothers to check out there stories.

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about The Bachelor Contract to be honest. I was a little nervous because I didn't like The Playboy Bachelor as much as I normally like all of Rachel's books. I also wasn't the biggest fan of Brant in the other 2 books so I didn't know what to expect from him. I am happy to say that I ended up enjoying The Bachelor Contract more than I thought I would. The book is filled with loads of emotion, mainly sadness and anger, but it's a story about overcoming those emotions and realizing that happiness can be found when you let go of the past. Brant isn't always the most likable guy, he's often angry, drunk, or both, but once he gets out of that funk he can be a really great and sweet guy. Both Nikki and Brant have been through unbelievably sad things in life that I wish people didn't have to experience. They lost so much and basically turned into shells of their former selves. Nikki is a kind and caring person who is trying to move on from her tragic past, but just can't. She's often sad and reminded of what she doesn't have anymore. Both Brant and Nikki deserve to be happy again, and that happiness is found with each other. Their relationship is far from typical. They have had so many ups and downs and that continues to be seen now. It was hard to read at times with all the anger and sadness. There were definitely times that I didn't like what characters were doing and/or saying, especially in the first half of the book. It was hard to connect with some of them when I couldn't understand why they were acting a certain way, and basically just being mean. I really liked the second half much better. A lot of that anger is lost and now it becomes more about moving on and focusing on the present and future. One thing that I would have liked is more explanation about the past, especially about Nikki and the fire. It felt breezed over in a way. I still don't fully understand what happened with all of that besides that it was super sad and scary. Overall it was a good read and I'm happy with the way it ended.

DNF at 51%.

Okay, my bad, I've realised that I don't get on with Rachel Van Dyken's novels so it's on me for requesting a book by her. The trouble is she changes genre and the 'look' of her books so I don't instantly recall that I don't like her writing and then it's too late.

Anyway, I liked the look of the cover and the blurb sounded good so I requested an ARC.

All that aside, or taking that into account, this was just one big hot mess for me. Brant and Nikki were married, they were young and poor and they married in the face of his wealthy family's disapproval. They were blissfully happy until she lost their baby, he wasn't there to support her (because he too was devastated) and then something happened (I'm pretty sure I know what happened but it is clearly something the reader is supposed to discover slowly).

In the present Nikki is practically blind and she is a masseur in a very up-market resort which Brant's family has just acquired. Brant is blackmailed into taking his aunt's place to spend a week at the resort reviewing the staff and facilities. Ever since whatever happened, Brant has been a broken man, spending his days drunk and whoring around he is full of hate and self-loathing. At first he thinks he is hallucinating about Nikki, Nikki's boss tells him the masseur is deaf and he tells Nikki that her client is dumb (or vice versa) so it takes them both a while to realise that it is each other.

Nikki goes around crying at the drop of a hat, Brant spends his days drinking whisky, they kiss and have sex and then leave each other, rinse and repeat. At over half way through there didn't seem to be any plot, there was no progression and I disliked both of them.

My apologies Rachel, I promise I won't request any more of your books.

Absolutely fantastic I have loved this series and I think this was my favourite one so far

I enjoyed the characters and the story - as usual from Rachel Dyken. Her writing is wonderful and very enjoyable

Another fun book by Rachel Van Dyken. Devastated by a miscarriage Brant and Nikki's marriage falls apart but that doesn't stop a family friend from playing matchmaker with them. This story was cute, funny, and endearing. I definitely recommend it.