CLAIMING THE BILLIONAIRE (Seattle Bachelors #4) by J.M. Stewart-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date January 10, 2017

Staff Sergeant Tyler Benson is a survivor. He doesn’t give up on what he wants, and right now, he wants Cassandra Stephanopolous. He thought about her every single day he was gone. Now that he’s back, nothing will stop him from making her his. Plan of Action: Crash Seattle’s biggest billionaire-bachelorette auction and make sure he comes out the highest bidder. If he wins a date with Cassie, she’ll have to talk to him.

Three years. It’s been three years since Cassie said goodbye to Tyler, and she’s been trying to pick up the pieces ever since. Just as she’s starting to feel ready to move on, he walks in, all cocky smiles and blue-collar charm. She’s determined to keep her focus where it should be: on her thriving jewelry business. But as he lays siege to her heart, she wonders just how long her defenses will last .

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REVIEW: CLAIMING THE BILLIONAIRE is the fourth and final installment in J. M. Stewart’s contemporary, adult SEATTLE BACHELORS erotic, romance series. This is jewelry designer Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Stephanopolous, and US Army Staff Sergeant Tyler Benson’s story line. CLAIMING THE BILLIONAIRE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary. We were first introduced to Cassie in the earlier stories, as well as Bargaining for the Billionaire #3.

Told from dual third person points of view (Cassie and Tyler) CLAIMING THE BILLIONAIRE is a second chance story line; a rekindling romance between jewelry designer Cassie Stephanopolous, and Army Staff Sargeant Tyler Benson. Three years earlier Tyler walked out of Cassie’s life, and headed to war in the Middle East. News would come home that Tyler was missing and presumed dead, and for three years our heroine grieved for the man who had stolen her heart. Fast forward to present day wherein Tyler Benson returns home, a broken man held prisoner by the Afghanistan army, but a man who is hoping for a second chance with the woman he loves. What ensues is Cassie’s struggle to accept that Tyler isn’t ready to settle down; and Tyler’s ongoing battles with PTSD and the demons that follow.

The relationship between Cassie and Tyler is one of second chances. Tyler’s return brings with it relief, anger, and betrayal for a woman who thought she had moved forward with the loss of the man that she loved. Cassie has a difficult time accepting Tyler’s reentry into her life, and struggles to come to terms with his need to rekindle what they once had. From the outside looking in Cassie’s handling of Tyler’s return is nothing short of self-centered and immature, and I struggled with my perception of the story line heroine but saying that each person handles grief differently and Tyler’s return from the ‘dead’ is shocking. Tyler is a man desperate to hold onto the one thing that kept him alive throughout his ordeal in an Afghan prison-his memories of Cassie. But his nightly terrors and PTSD dreams threaten the tenuous hold our hero has on his sanity and his love. The $ex scenes are intimate and intense; provocative and passionate.

All of the previous story line couples play secondary and supporting roles. It was nice to revisit with all of the couples as well as a look into what the future has in store.

The world building looks at the emotional impact on those left behind, and the PTSD that the men and women suffer when the world becomes overwhelming and the lines of reality begin to blur.

CLAIMING THE BILLIONAIRE is an emotional and heartbreaking story line of survival, second chances, and love. The premise is profound and timely; the characters are broken, passionate and inspiring; the romance is intoxicating and intense. J. M. Stewart’s SEATTLE BACHELORS series is an enjoyable and impassioned look at four couples, four friendships and four happily ever afters.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy