(Billionaires and Bridesmaids Series, Book 5)
By Jessica Clare
Narrated by Jillian Macie
Blurb:
Taylor is a genius when it comes to computers, but understanding the opposite sex is beyond her. Because she always fumbles her flirtations, she needs help in finding her Prince Charming. So when her friend, Gretchen, sets her up as a tour guide for a new guy in town, she says yes despite her misgivings. She just doesn't expect Mr. Charming to actually be royalty.
A faction in his country wants him to be king, but Loch has no intention of taking the crown. To keep from being named as the next successor, he hatches a scheme to marry a totally unacceptable American woman. Quirky Taylor seems like the perfect person for the job, until Loch realizes he likes more about her than her ability to keep him off the throne.
When Loch's secret schemes come out, his chance of happiness with Taylor are blown - unless he can find a way to get the nerdy object of his affection to believe she's truly the queen of his heart.
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Viviana's Review:
I had been looking forward to release and as soon as the book started I feared this may become a DNF or a low rated.
Taylor, the heroine who is a total nerd and computer geek. From being a tech specialist to role playing in computer games. There is this arch within the story with a manipulative "friend" which is more like a stalker than anything else. She feels this huge level of guilt vs. seeing the manipulation and stalking behavior that it is. Then there are moments where she acknowledges the "obsession" vs. them being friends and "needed". I mean COME ON! How many times does the reader need to see how CRAZY this 'friend' is when he tells her he's going to hurt himself because she didn't answer an email, text, pin on the game or on social media. This is after Taylor telling him several time she is NOT interested in him "in that way". This line of communication between Taylor & the "online friend" occurs over and over throughout the book. She blames this situation and the guild (gaming) for her "lack of time" and "accepting the promotion" and just about everything else for not going "outside and living". Sigh.
Jessica usually writes stronger heroine and though it seems that there was an effort to make Taylor either into or seem as if she was "strong" because she's has a dominant streak in the bedroom and seems to be 'herself' (i.e. nerdy/geeky, klutzy, lack of filter with her thoughts, etc.). However, this fell flat as there are several times when her friends speak to her harshly and down to her and Taylor doesn't stop that or defends herself. Then there was an incident where she felt the need to change shirts due to how others were looking at her. I get having insecurities, but this didn't stand true to what the readers were asked to believe.
Loch may be "next in line" for the throne in Bellissime but it's obvious he is no where near ready to run a country. He's hot (trust me, we get told how hot he is over and over and over and over and over, by Taylor) but is oblivious to how things truly are and comes across as ...naive and a tad absent minded... an example is when he wants to go running and asks "where the running clothes are".... mind you, he just slept over someone else's house (thus he doesn't have his own clothes there) and he seems to EXPECT that there would be stuff he can use.... when he's asked how things are "usual" for him, he flat out says that he opens the closet and the clothes are there. Basically, he comes across as a bit of a spoil brat who can't seem to make himself breakfast.
Let's talk about the "conflict" between the Heroine and the Hero.... SO OVER DONE it's not funny really. I would expect more from Jessica.
So there were several times where I rolled my eyes.... felt like smacking the heroine for several reasons from accepting to help the Hero because he was "bored senseless" and she would be a distraction from the boredom to the point where she enables the "friend" and his stalker behavior.
Narrator's Review:
Jillian Macie is overall good/okay. Her British accents are good and she does a few different voices/tones for the female characters, however, the males all sound too similar and not a difference enough in the tones to have readers believe it's a guy. If you can look over that, then its all good.
Overall, this felt like a filler book and not one that "needed" to be part of the series. I could have totally been okay with THIS storyline being the "novella" and the one that is a "novella" the "Beauty and the Billionaire: The Wedding (Billionaire Boys Club #6.5)" be a full length book. Love the idea of this series, but unfortunately, this one just didn't work for me.
Rating: 1 Star - I didn't like it.
Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from InterMix via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.
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