THE BIG, BAD BILLIONAIRE (BILLIONAIRE FAIRY TALE #4) by Jackie Ashenden-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 21, 2017-11-18

An intensely sexy Billionaire Fairy Tales standalone novel by Jackie Ashenden that is billionaire romance meets Little Red Riding Hood with a happily ever after.
Wicked. Ruthless. Obsessed.

Sent away from his family as a boy because he couldn’t be controlled, Rafe DeSantis’s new guardian turned him into a monster. One who wants only two things out of life: To get revenge on the father who destroyed his life. And to possess the woman who was kept from him. Ella Hart has been his obsession for years, and now that he’s her guardian he’s finally in position to black mail her into his bed. And once he has her there? He’s going to eat her up.

Innocent. Alone. Hunted.

Ella has been living with her grandmother since the death of her parents when she was a child. She’s learned to pour her grief and pain into dance, and it’s become her escape. Her passion. Now she’s set her sights on a prestigious dance school in Paris. But there’s one problem. Ella was so young when her parents died, her money was left in the hands of the DeSantis family…and it’s now controlled by Rafe. A man she’s always found compelling and terrifying at the same time. Rafe offers her an ultimatum: Give herself to him, body and soul, and she’ll get the money she needs.

Ella isn’t in a position to refuse, though she tries to resist the sexy billionaire. It feels good, until her heart becomes involved. Does the big bad billionaire want to capture her heart? Or does he only want to own her body?

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REVIEW: THE BIG, BAD BILLIONAIRE is the fourth instalment in Jackie Ashenden’s contemporary adult BILLONAIRE FAIRY TALE erotic, romance series focusing on the DeSantis’s siblings-Xavier, Nero, Raphael, Lorenzo and their sister Olivia. This is thirty two year old CES of DS Corporation Raphael DeSantis, and twenty year old ballerina Ella Hart’s story line. THE BIG, BAD BILLIONAIRE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story line is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Rafe and Ella) THE BIG, BAD BILLIONAIRE focuses on the building by acrimonious relationship between twenty year old ballerina Ella Hart, and her guardian, billionaire CEO Raphael ‘Rafe’ Desantis. Eighteen years earlier, a then two year old Ella, adored the man she has now come to hate- a man whose once violent temper forced his father to send Raphael away to teach the young teen a lesson-a lesson that came back with a vengeance as Raphael took control and possession of DS Corp’s CEO.

Throughout the years, Rafe never forgot about the young girl who would one day grow into the woman that stole his heart but a series of painful losses found our heroine the sole keeper of her elderly grandmother, as she herself struggled between her head and her heart, and the prospect of dancing in Paris France. When our heroine is accepted into the prestigious European ballet school she is forced to confront the man who now controls all of her money. Enter Rafe DeSantis, Ella’s new guardian and financial controller, and the man with whom Ella will fall in love. What ensues are Rafe’s terms (and manipulation) for funding Ella’s European adventure; the building romance between Ella and Rafe; and the potential fall out as Rafe has yet to come to terms with the demons from his past.

THE BIG, BAD BILLIONAIRE is a modern retelling of LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD with all of the fairy tale markings including Ella’ bedridden, elderly grandmother, a ballet production of Red Riding Hood, and a hero who considers himself more wolf-like than human. Raphael DeSantis’s brutal and abusive childhood formed the man who would one day take down the father who all but gave up on our story line hero but childhood memories that now control every aspect of his adult life. Rafe and Ella’s fathers were best friends, and as such Rafe was a part of Ella’s early life but our heroine does not remember the good times with the man she would grow to love.

The relationship between Ella and Rafe is enemies to lovers; a second chance, of sorts, for two people whose earlier years were destroyed by heartbreak and sorrow, abuse and suffering, loss and revenge. We learn of Rafe’s overwhelming need to rekindle his friendship and relationship with the woman who has now become the focus of his fantasies and dreams; and of Ella’s unresolved and indeterminate hatred for the man she once loved and adored. The $ex scenes are erotic, seductive and intense. The sexual attraction is palpable.

THE BIG, BAD BILLIONAIRE is a story of betrayal and trust; redemption and fractured family dynamics; second chances and falling in love. The premise is enchanting and imaginative; the characters are broken and tragic; the romance is dramatic and passionate.

Reading Order and Previous reviews
The Billionaire’s Virgin
The Billionaire Beast
The Billoinaire’s Intern
The Big, Bad Billionaire

Copy supplied by the publisher through Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy