His Heart’s Revenge by Jenny Holiday – a Review

His Heart’s Revenge by Jenny Holiday – a Review

 

His Heart's RevengeAmazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / BAM / The Book Depository

Description:
Twenty years ago, I was too smart and too poor to be cool. Now I’m laughing my way to the bank-the bank I’m CEO of. Nothing can touch me. Except maybe him. We met at summer camp. We made out under the stars. Then he stabbed me in the back. They say revenge is a dish best served cold. But I’m gonna go with hot. Alexander Evangelista is a millionaire with all the trappings: houses all over the world and hot guys lined up whenever he’s in need of some no-strings-attached company. He’s on his way to world domination. A CEO in his own right, Cary Bell is competing for a major client with his boyhood crush. He’s never forgiven himself for betraying Alex. But with his professional reputation on the line, he’s going to have to find his inner cutthroat if he wants his new company to succeed. Alex isn’t about to let his nemesis steal a client out from under him. It’s time to break Cary’s company-and his heart.”

Review:

While M/M is not my customary genre…of course I’ll read His Heart’s Revenge, it’s Jenny Holiday, duh.  I loved her regency work.  It was only when I read, and re-read, the synopsis that I realized the lead was Alexander and not Alexan-dra.  Cary, our co-lead, will have his hands full with this one! 😉  While not my customary genre, the foundation is romance and I don’t draw lines.  Jenny Holiday wrote about love and revenge and its unexpected aftermath.  I enjoyed it very much!

15 year olds crushing at summer camp.  It’s either folly/experimental or possibly the one that got away.  When Alex and Cary reunite 20 years later in the same business circle (although one clearly gained more notoriety), they become adversaries when vying to land a wealthy tycoon new to their area.  One-upping the other suddenly escalates!  For Cary, four months after launching Bell Capital would catapult him into success.  Alex is no slouch, however, as proven by industry accolades and tabloids who salivate after his every date.  When Alex detects encroachment upon his livelihood, he goes “utterly unsentimental”, transforming into a great white shark sniffing blood in the water.

     But if that fuc#ing upstart thought he was going to steal clients out from under Dominion?  If he thought he was going to use that honeyed mouth of his to sweet
talk the twentieth-richest man in the world out from under Alexander?
Alexander rolled his wrists like he was warming up for a sparring sessions with his jujitsu master.
Bring it.

To quote a cheerleader from a wildly popular movie:  It’s already been broughten!  So war it is.  Alex may ruminate over his teenage infatuation with Cary, but the impact of winning the huge account drives his determination to the point of inflexibility.  Leaving little room for “strolling down that particular fuc#ed-up memory lane.” 

Adversaries become rivals become nemeses.  But a bond lingers; one forged of a brief, but profound past.  An innate connection that dismisses insecurity, status and disparity.  Is it enough to forgive insensitivity?  Is money more important?

Jenny Holiday makes you fall in love with her characters.  This is her gift.  His Heart’s Revenge is no different.  She surprised me with the detailed intimacy, but you’ve got to go into this prepared.  I was certainly enlightened — new to those “mechanics” she sought out for research.  But in the end, like I expected, she tells a timeless romantic story that deserves to be read. 

Reviewed by Carmen

Copy provided by Publisher

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The Engagement Game by Jenny Holiday – a Review

The Engagement Game by Jenny Holiday – a Review

 

The Engagement GameAmazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / BAM

Description:
What’s a little blackmail between friends…

The black sheep of the old-money Rosemanns, advertising executive Marcus has made his own way in the world—and done extremely well for himself—but his family is still pressuring him to join their investment firm and settle down with a quiet, unobjectionable girl.

Which is why the sexy Rose Verma is the perfect date for his family’s charity ball. A bleeding-heart lefty from the wrong side of the tracks, Rose has never met a stray dog she didn’t love or a polka-dotted mini-dress she couldn’t rock. Marcus has enough dirt on Rose to “convince” her to play along. And if he lets it slip that they’re engaged, all the better.

But all’s fair in love and blackmail, and Rose is ready to play a few cards of her own…


Review:

Loved It!!!! I’ve never read a novel by Jenny Holiday before, but I can plainly see I’ve been missing out. The Engagement Game is book 3 of her 49th Floor series and even though I haven’t read the previous two books, this one was no problem to get into. They can all be read as stand alones. The Engagement Game was a fun and flirty read, that had me chuckling out loud a couple of times thanks to our would be couple Rose and Marcus. These two couldn’t have been more opposite to one another, but as they say, opposites attract, and boy oh boy did these two have an attraction to one another.

Rose is a larger then life kind of character that you can’t help but be charmed by from your first encounter with her in this story. She’s the type of woman who can put any colour combo or pattern combo together in her clothing and be able to pull it off. She’s like these women I see out and about and wish that I could pull off that look that they have going on. You know the one’s I mean ladies, the one’s we are envious of. Anyways, I digress, Rose’s witty, quirky, and fun personality just drew me in, and I somehow knew that our straight arrow, no nonsense millionaire was going to have his hands full with her, in more ways then one if you catch my drift. 😉 Even though they butted heads upon their first meeting, that quickly gave way to a fun, flirty, and sexy chemistry that just kept on building throughout the story. I really liked that Ms. Holiday took the slow route with Rose and Marcus’ romance; a) because we got to explore both characters at a leisurely pace and learn what makes them tick, and b) the slow pace only heightened the chemistry between our couple causing a combustible moment when they finally do the deed.

Speaking of getting to know our couple at a leisurely pace, we quickly learn that Marcus has two sides to his personality. The no nonsense millionaire businessman, and a fun flirty side that Rose manages to draw out of him, and make him realize all the fun he’s been missing out on. It’s nice to watch Marcus develop this more relaxed easygoing side with Rose. It makes him all the more charming and appealing, and allows us to see how he suppressed this side of himself thanks to his disaster of a family. Being complete opposites of one another and having grown up on opposite sides of the tracks so to speak, Rose and Marcus are perfect for each other because they bring a nice balance to each other and their lives. Both are so much more because of the other and they really do click from their first meeting. I couldn’t have asked for a better pairing between our hero and heroine in this one. Rose and Marcus are the stars in this book and do they ever shine in their roles.

The Engagement Game by Jenny Holiday is a fast paced, fun and easy read. It’s the perfect type of story for a lazy afternoon, or rainy day where you can just curl up in a cozy blanket with a glass of wine and your book. I loved every minute, and Rose and Marcus were a wonderful, well written couple that had no trouble carrying the story, bringing it to life and keeping me interested right to the very end.

Until next time, happy reading everyone

Reviewed by Marcie

Copy provided by Publisher

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