Saturday, September 30, 2017

ARC Review: The Wicked Billionaire by Jackie Ashenden

The Wicked Billionaire
Author: Jackie Ashenden
Series: The Tate Brothers (Book 2)
Publication: St. Martin's Paperbacks (October 3, 2017)

Description: The Tate Brothers were once orphans and they have been raised to do one thing only: protect what is theirs.

As a trained sniper and Navy SEAL, Lucas Tate found the courage to distance himself from the wealthy, wicked patriarch who adopted him. Instead, he’s devoted his life to the elite band of brothers from his unit. So when the widow of one of his former comrades finds herself in apparent danger, Lucas makes it his job to protect her against all enemies. . .and not let her out of his sights.

Grace Riley feels overwhelmed by Lucas's presence, but the cold-eyed marksman will do anything to keep her safe. Soon the special attention he pays her becomes a wild romantic distraction―one that troubles Grace, since Lucas was so close to her deceased husband. Still, how can she resist Lucas’s intense, ice-blue stare? All she knows is that a life without strong, passionate Lucas is one not worth living. Can Lucas can find a way to honor his former brother-in-arms by saving Grace. . .and loving her, too?

My Thoughts: This romance was intense but I had some problems with the main characters. Lucas Tate is a Navy SEAL sniper who was adopted as a child by a billionaire. Now his father is dead and, according to a letter left to him by his father, he needs to protect a young widow who has gotten in the way of illegal arms dealers.

Grace Riley is the widow of Lucas's only friend. However, before his death, the friend got involved in the illegal arms trade. He took the money but failed to deliver the goods leaving Grace on the hook for them. Grace is mourning her husband but she is also focused completely on her art career. After a lifetime of being belittled by her father - a failed artist, she has a lot of insecurity both about her ability as an artist and her appearance. She has an obsessive desire to prove herself as an artist and disprove what her now deceased father said about her.

Grace doesn't want to deal with Lucas who is the most beautiful person she has ever met but who is also the coldest. Lucas was taught by his father to suppress all of his emotions and to remain distant from people in order to control his anger issues. This works fine for a sniper but isn't really conducive to a romance.

For the first half of this book I was convinced that both characters needed therapy more than they needed a romance. However, once they were living together and the reasons for Lucas's coldness and dispassion were revealed, I began to feel more sympathy for him.

The suspense part of this story definitely took a back seat to the major relationship issues in this romantic suspense title. Perhaps some of the questions I had about the overall plot relating to the family enemy were answered in the first book in this series, which I have not read.

Fans of the first book or fans who like very tortured heroes will enjoy this romantic suspense title.

Favorite Quote:
Lucas didn't like her. In fact, every single time he met her he found himself thinking about exactly how much he didn't like her. It wasn't anything specific, there was just something about her that rubbed him the wrong way.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

1 comment:

  1. Like the mix of romance and suspense here. Thanks for the review.

    ReplyDelete

I love getting comments. Let me know what you think.

This blog is now officially declared an Award Free zone! I do appreciate your kindness in thinking of me and I am humbled by your generosity.

Your comments are award enough for me. Comment away!