The Billionaire’s Bet by Victoria Davies – a Review

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Description:
Hailey Mitchel wants one thing. Her boss. The only problem is he’s never looked at her as more than a loyal employee. At least, not until his charming business rival, Caleb, drops into her life with an offer she can’t refuse. He’s willing to bet he can make her fall in love with him in a month, and if he’s wrong, he’ll help her find the keys to her boss’s heart.

Caleb Langston wants one thing. Revenge. Hailey is his ticket to finally evening the score with his old adversary. There’s just one problem. The more time he spends with her, the less he cares about his grand plans for payback. But love is always a gamble, and soon he’ll have to choose between his past and his future. And pray Hailey never discovers the secret he’s been hiding from her.

Review;

I quite enjoyed The Billionaire’s Bet by Victoria Davies.  It’s a fast paced read as the story pretty much takes place over the span of a month.  This being the case, I never felt the story or characters suffered, or were rushed in anyway to get the story told.  I thought Ms. Davies did an excellent job of laying the groundwork and allowing us to learn about the players involved, and why events were playing out the way they did.  Ms. Davies also gives us plenty of swooning time in this one as we have two handsome billionaires vying for the same girl, but it’s not for reasons one would assume.  No, our heroes aren’t in it for love at the beginning because they have ulterior motives that stem back to a misunderstanding in their early days.  I will admit I did feel bad for our would be heroine Hailey at times, but also thought she was a tad silly to go along with Caleb’s bet in the first place.  Hailey is so besotted with her boss Alec that she doesn’t see through Caleb’s charade/plot for revenge.  There were many times throughout the story that I thought come on Hailey can’t you see he’s playing you, but Caleb is a very suave, charming and charismatic individual.  She gets swept along Caleb’s plot for revenge against Alec and before she knows it she’s fallen for the ‘devil’ in the Armani suit as she calls him various times throughout the book. 

Ah yes the ‘devil’ in the Armani suit is just that.  He knows he’s got it all, good looks, money, charm, everything a girl could ever ask for and he knows how to use it.  At first glance I thought Hailey was right in called him the ‘devil’ since he did set his sights on her for one reason, revenge against Alec.  Once he got his revenge, then Hailey wouldn’t be of any use to him anymore and he’d cut her loose.  One word came to mind for me regarding Caleb, scumbag!!  However, Caleb quickly had me singing a different tune by the middle of the book.  Once we break through his outer layer of defense there’s a vulnerable side to him that he’s been protecting all these years thanks to what his so called best friend Alec did to him.  It’s at this point I fully  understood why his need for revenge was so strong, but thanks to Hailey his plan quickly starts to crumble as he develops feelings for her that only get stronger the more time he spends with her.  Caleb goes through a transformation that turns him from scumbag to Mr. Right by books end.  By books end Caleb is so in love with Hailey that he’s even willing to let bygones be bygones and drop his revenge plot against Alec and try to mend fences because that’s what Hailey would want him to do if she ever discovered the truth.  Caleb wants to be a better person because of Hailey, she’s given him purpose and reason to really want to live life instead of drifting through life like he was.  Hailey and Caleb actually bring a good balance to each others lives. 

Even though there is drama and a big blow up between our trio in the last portion of the story all does end well for everyone.  Caleb and Hailey get their HEA that neither thought they’d ever find and Caleb and Alec mend fences and want to get their friendship back on track.  I really like how Alec was the one to form the plan to allow Caleb to try one last time to explain everything to Hailey.  I really enjoyed reading The Billionaire’s  Bet by Victoria Davies and found it to be a fast and fun read, filled with revenge plots, feuds between friends, leftover anger, a longing to try and get back to the way things were between friends and with a sexy romance between an ‘angel’ and a ‘devil’ tossed in for good measure. 

Until next time, happy reading!! 

Reviewed by Marcie

Copy provided by Publisher