BEAUTY AND THE BILLIONAIRE (Billionaire Boys Club #2) by Jessica Clare-a review

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About the book: Re-release October 2014

Real-estate tycoon Hunter Buchanan has a dark past that’s left him scarred and living as a recluse on his family’s palatial estate. Hunter is ready to give up on love—until he spots an enigmatic red-haired beauty and comes up with an elaborate scheme to meet her.

Gretchen Petty is in need of a paycheck—and a change. So when a job opportunity in an upstate New York mansion pops up she accepts. And while she can overlook the oddities of her new job, she can’t ignore her new boss’s delectable body—or his barely leashed temper.

Hunter’s afraid his plan might be unraveling before it’s truly begun, but Gretchen is about to show him that life can be full of surprises…

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REVIEW: BEAUTY AND THE BILLIONAIRE is the second instalment in Jessica Clare’s adult, contemporary Billionaire Boys Club romance series focusing on six billionaire friends who have vowed success at any cost. This is real-estate tycoon Hunter Buchanan and ghost writer Gretchen Petty’s story-one with a Beauty and the Beast fairy tale premise. Many of Jessica Clare’s Billionaire Boys Club storylines have a definite fairytale or Shakespearean quality.

The focus of the storyline finds reluctant ghost writer Gretchen Petty short on funds and bemoaning her latest story. When an offer from a new publishing firm comes through, Gretchen is curious as to why they want her. Enter reclusive billionaire Hunter Buchanan-a dark and lonely man-whose need for Gretchen sets into motion a relationship that is destined to fail. For all of his success and money, Hunter is a man whose personal life has been damaged by mistrust and betrayal, and a self esteem that has been destroyed by the physical scars upon his face and hand.

Hunter’s attraction to Gretchen was first established in book one STRANDED WITH A BILLIONAIRE when Hunter notices the beautiful red head-from afar. His desire for Gretchen is tempered by his tormented past-a past that has left him disfigured and hiding in the shadows where very few people go. But Gretchen sees something behind the scars-a frightened and lonely man who desires to be loved and accepted for who he is; not what he looks like or the size of his wallet. Hunter is definitely not an alpha male but a man whose personality has been shaped by his scars. The sex scenes are seductive, intimate and revealing; the foreplay and build up finds our couple exploring different opportunities.

The secondary characters include Gretchen’s sisters, her manager and a few friends, as well as some of Hunter’s fellow Billionaire Boys club members. We get a crash course on how NOT to be a butler that allows for a few humorous moments as Gretchen’s sarcastic side makes an appearance.

BEAUTY AND THE BILLIONAIRE is an emotional and passionate storyline of acceptance and love. There is romance and sex; betrayal and heartbreak when the lines of communication become bogged down in hearsay and innuendo. A case of mistaken belief pulls our couple apart but not before words are spoken in anger and emotions control the heart.

READING ORDER
1. Stranded with a Billionaire
2. Beauty and the Billionaire
3. The Wrong Billionaire’s Bed
4. Once Upon a Billionaire
5. Romancing the Billionaire (November 2014)

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

Reviewed by Sandy