My instructions were simple: scour the city for a fake fiancée who’s not my type at all. Have her on my jet Monday morning, dressed appropriately for a yacht vacation.

I need a woman believable enough to convince a certain client that I’ve changed my playboy ways…yet nothing like the supermodels and socialites I usually have on my arm.

Somebody too annoying to tempt me—no emotional entanglements, thank you very much. This is business only.

If she’s unfazed by my looks and wealth, all the better.

Should be easy. Right?

Apparently not, because my people go and hire Tabitha. My hairdresser.

What were they thinking? Yes, I said annoying, but I didn’t mean her, the most frustrating woman in the world.

Tabitha is sunshiny. She has a pet hamster. She loves Hello Kitty, and she gets under my skin like nobody else.

As if that’s not bad enough, the minute we step on deck, she thinks that certain people on the yacht are up to something shady—based completely on her soap opera knowledge. 

She won’t listen when I tell her she’s being ridiculous.  

But as the days go by, I find that we’re actually having fun. And our fake kisses are heating up. And suddenly her wild theories aren’t sounding so strange after all…

Title: The Billionaire's Fake Fiancée
Author: Annika Martin
Series: Billionaires of Manhattan (Book 4)
Pages: 360
Genre(s): Contemporary, US, Billionaire Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romcom
Hot Buttons: Tabitha has an upsetting childhood with a father who ignored her and a mother with a severe mental illness/drug addiction<-- highlight to reveal (may contain spoilers)


Release Date: 28th April, 2020


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I’ve never read Annika Martin before but since finishing this book I’ve already gone on a backlist blitz, grabbing up everything she’s written before I became aware of her and her writing.

This book is written in first person, present tense with chapters written from the viewpoint of both Tabitha and Rex. This works really well as we find out more about the characters - especially Rex - and the way the chapters are divvied up, I was often chomping at the bit to find out what the other one thought of certain situations and scenarios. As such, I absolutely rattled through this book in no time at all.

I always think it takes a very skilled author to bring a quirky character to life in a story without making them a parody, or so wholly irritating that they make your teeth hurt. Tabitha was neither of these things. She liked sparkles, Hello Kitty, soap operas and froufrou pink drinks - and she owned that fact with no apologies. Next level basic. I love it! But if you think that’s all she is - you (and Rex) would be so wrong. She’s got hidden depth and she’s hella smart to boot. And not forgetting that she’s so funny. The way she deliberately rubbed Rex the wrong way whenever she could just killed me. It gave me a delicious little evil thrill to watch him squirm!

As much as I loved Tabitha, I loved Rex just as much. Again, it’s a real skill to make a grumpy, broody, asshole like Rex come across as a decent guy. Even better than that, was to know how Rex was feeling and to watch him come to the realisation that everything he thought he hated were actually all the things he loved most about Tabitha. It’s not about changing her; it’s not about loving her despite her quirks, it’s about realising she’s everything - just the way she is.  I’m not doing justice to how wonderful it was to watch his slow descent into love - without ever losing his own brand of grumpy grumpiness! And let me tell you that taunting and teasing a grumpy man to lose control and throw his girl up against the wall and take her - is everything you need to read to get your very own kicks.

As well as the love story, we have the added bonus of the strange goings on aboard the yacht. Is Marvin a fake long-lost nephew? Who is following Rex and Tabitha? Who is trying to sabotage whom? Back in the day, I used to watch Days of Our Lives and this reminded me of all the ridiculous situations that you can’t help but love. It’s super fun and I laughed out loud on more than one occasion and yet it never gets to that slapstick stage where it becomes ridiculous. Even non-soap opera fans will enjoy the fun!

Honestly this book was everything that I didn’t know I needed. It’s hugely entertaining, crazy funny and deserves way more than the 5 stars I can give it. I loved Tabitha and Rex - so much so that I’m still thinking of them and want to read about what they’re up after they get their happily ever after. Finding out that one, maybe two, maybe even three, of Tabitha’s friends have their own books (Most Eligible Billionaire, The Billionaire’s Wake-Up-Call Girl and Breaking the Billionaire's Rules) gives me happy chills - and I’m seriously hoping that Noelle and Malcolm Blackberg (who are only in this book for barely a hot second!) get their own book, too (Woop - they do - it’s called Return Billionaire to Sender!). Seriously, this book is everything and Ms Martin, you’ve got yourself a new fan!








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AUTHOR BIO!

Annika Martin loves fun, dirty stories, hot heroes, and wild, dramatic everything. She enjoys hanging out in Minneapolis coffee shops with her writer husband, and also likes birdwatching at her bird feeder alongside her two stunningly photogenic cats, especially when she should be writing. She’s heavy into running, music, saving the planet, taking long baths, and consuming chocolate suckers. 

She’s worked a surprisingly large number of waitressing jobs, and has also worked in a plastics factory and the advertising trenches; her garden is total bee-friendly madness and her most unfavorite word is nosh or possibly fob. A NYT bestselling author, she has also written as RITA award-winning author Carolyn Crane.

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Sought-after social media influencer Sara Vance, in recovery from an eating disorder, is coming into her own, with a potential career expansion on the horizon. Despite the good news, her successful siblings (and their perfect spouses) have a way of making her feel like the odd one out. So, when her unreliable boyfriend is a no-show for a Florida family vacation, Sara recruits Luis Navarro—a firefighter paramedic and dive captain willing to play the part of her smitten fiancé . . .

Luis’s big Cuban familia has been in Key West for generations, and his quiet strength feeds off the island’s laidback style. Though guarded after a deep betrayal, he’ll always help someone in need—especially a spunky beauty with a surprising knowledge of Spanish curse words. Soon, he and Sara have memorized their “how we met” story and are immersed in family dinners, bike tours, private snorkeling trips . . . sharing secrets, and slow, melting kisses. But when it’s time for Sara to return home, will their island romance last or fade with the stunning sunset?

Title: Island Affair
Author: Priscilla Oliveras
Series: Keys to Love (Book 1)
Pages: 352
Genre(s): Contemporary, US
Hot Buttons: eating disorder, death of a former partner (before the events in the book), parent with cancer <-- highlight to reveal (may contain spoilers)

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With such a gorgeous cover comes the promise of a sultry, fun, fake romance that turns all too real under the sun soaked backdrop of the Florida Keys. And what I had hoped for is exactly what I got with this really enjoyable tale.

We start with our hunky hero - Luis Navarro - who has suddenly found himself facing a very unwelcome 7 days off firefighter duty due to complications with a rescue. Luis is my absolute jam when it comes to a hero. He’s the strong, silent, brooding type but he’s also got a serious Prince Charming complex where he feels he needs to save everyone around him. And that’s why the meet-cute and subsequent crazy plan of playing fake boyfriend to Sara and Sara’s family, makes perfect sense!

As much as I had my swoon on for Luis, I really, really loved Sara. She had issues - don’t we all - but she was doing her best to overcome them and I loved that she was a bad boss b!tch but also a very real, and at times vulnerable girl. She was just someone you could like and also relate to.

The best part was definitely the way that Sara and Luis played off each other. From the start, they balanced each other out and could bring each other back around when they got too bogged down in their issues. But don’t worry - this book isn’t angsty at all. There are serious topics covered but while the book has depth, it doesn’t drown you with the seriousness of things. There’s a fresh and fun vibe that sits perfectly with the setting of the book. Key West - and the Florida Keys - is almost a character all itself. I definitely want to visit for more than just the weather!

There was a build up of the relationship between Sara and Luis but while we get some foreplay, as soon as it gets to the real deal, the door closes. While I normally prefer something more explicit when it comes to sex scenes, it doesn’t take anything away from Sara and Luis’s relationship.

The Vance family were fun to get to know but it’s the Navarro family that really stole my heart. Well, maybe I’m reserving judgement on Enrique for the moment. They were exactly what I imagine when I think of a tight, loving Cuban-American family and it was great to see them interact with each other. I cannot wait to read Anamaría’s story (hopefully with Alejandro) and okay, fine, Enrique’s too.

I really loved Priscilla Oliveras’ writing style. It was interesting, fun and eminently readable. There are smatterings of Spanish dotted throughout the book, in keeping with the culture of the Keys and the Navarro clan. This helped me realise that my Kindle has a translation feature - who knew? - but you don’t really need it. Ms Oliveras cleverly words it so you know what’s happening even if you don’t understand or translate the Spanish. But I still looked everything up (because my Spanish is pretty poor and I need to know all the things!) and I was so smug by the end of the book that I was catching onto some phrases!

This is the first Priscilla Oliveras book that I’ve read and I loved her storytelling, her style and her characters. I will definitely be looking out for more of her books and especially the next books in this series. She packed romance, love, family and humour into this book - it’s exactly the pick me up I needed. 5 stars.

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AUTHOR BIO!

PRISCILLA OLIVERAS is a USA Today bestselling author and 2018 RWA® RITA® double finalist who writes contemporary romance with a Latinx flavor. Proud of her Puerto Rican-Mexican heritage, she strives to bring authenticity to her novels by sharing her Latinx culture with readers. She and her work have earned praise from the Washington Post, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Redbook, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, among others. Priscilla earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University and currently serves as adjunct faculty in the program and teaches the online class “Romance Writing” for ed2go. While she’s a romance genre junkie, Priscilla also considers herself a sports fan, beach lover, and Zumba aficionado, who often practices the art of napping in her backyard hammock.

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After three years in Credence trying to fade into the background, Della Munroe is sick of being invisible. She’s ready to take back control. To live a little. Hell, she’s ready to see what this dating fuss is all about. And if that means she has to download Tinder and date every guy in Colorado, then she’s up for it.

After her first disastrous attempt, she decides navigating online dating would be better with a wingman, and there’s no better person for it than Tucker Daniels. After all, he is a man. And he owns a bar, which practically makes him a relationship expert. He’s also her older brother’s best friend. Yes, she may have the teeniest tiny inconvenient crush on him, but he’s always had her back.

Tucker Daniels would rather eat broken glass than watch Della go out with a bunch of douchebag dudes only out for one thing. Unfortunately, he’s never been able to say no to her, and before he knows it, Tucker’s not only vetting her dates—he’s teaching her to drive, helping her move out, and buying her a puppy!

But when Della wants him to tutor her in more intimate arts, he freaks out. Because this little sister is strictly off-limits, and saying yes to Della is asking for a whole lot of trouble.

Title: Asking for Trouble
Author: Amy Andrews
Series: Credence Colorado (Book 3)
Pages: 400
Genre(s): Contemporary, US
Hot Buttons: our heroine suffered an abusive marriage including sexual, physical and mental abuse (happens before the start of the book but may be triggering to some) <-- highlight to reveal (may contain spoilers)

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Gah! How does Amy Andrews do it? She writes such complex, compelling characters that are so worthy of finding their happily ever afters, that you fall in love with them as they fall in love with each other.

This is the third book in the Credence Colorado series although it completely stands alone. In fact, while the couples from the first 2 books (Nothing But Trouble and The Trouble with Christmas) are name-checked, they don’t appear in this book. Although many other characters - and many new ones - from the quirky town do feature. But fear not if you, like me, hate a name dump of characters - it’s not like that. And the people of Credence are ‘real’ people with quirks - not ridiculous parodies of irritating schmucks that sometimes appear in novels as the meddling townsfolk.

But our book isn’t about them - it’s about Della and Tucker.

Della has had a hard life; Harrowing in many respects. While there’s never any truly gory detail - and the book happens 4 years after her rescue from her abusive situation - I can imagine that this detail may be triggering to some. For me, it just made me like Della all the more. Seeing how far she’d come and how strong she was - even if she didn’t know it herself. She was such an inspiration and I was her biggest cheerleader from the first page to the last. She put me to shame with her bravery and I admired her big time!

Tucker. *Sighs* What can I say - I’m a sucker for a Tucker. I can imagine all the girls sighing as he strides by in his checked shirt, boots and cowboy hat, looking like a deliciously dirty lumberjack. But he’s got a heart of gold. And how he loves and cares for Della… If it wasn’t so beautiful - I might cry. I probably did cry, if I’m honest.

Della and Tucker are just perfect together - and more than just sexually. But sexually they are hotter than the red spot on Jupiter. There was definitely some pearl clutching and face-fanning going on as I read the steamy scenes. It might take a while for the pair to take the plunge - but by God they more than make up for it when they finally do get going.

There’s definitely a build-up to the full-on sex scenes but there’s also no scrimping on the hot moments even before that. I’m trying to forget about dirty Rosemary, the saucy 80-year old, but the trip to the sex shop was both hilarious and really interesting. I’m thinking I need to up my game some. But maybe not to full-on Tinder. While that was also illuminating and hilarious - it was also down-right terrifying!

Other things to love about this book - apart from the awesomely swoony love story - the triple bromance of Arlo, Drew and Tucker. Who doesn’t love some boy banter? Betty the Cavalier King Charles - my own ovaries nearly exploded when Tuck arrived at the door with her tucked under his arm; I’m getting overheated just remembering it. But best of all is the humour. No, best of all is Ms Andrews’ writing in general. How she manages to make me feel like I’m not reading, but sitting down to catch-up with my bestest friend while she tells me a love story - is something I’m not quite sure how she manages. And as with hanging out with your girls, you’ll laugh, cry and tell each other all the juicy, dirty details. It’s utter perfection.

Whether you’re new to Credence, Colorado, or you’re like me and planning to move there - you will fall in love with this book and more importantly, Della and Tucker. Please give it a go - you will not be disappointed. 5 swoony stars.

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AUTHOR BIO!

Amy is an Aussie author of hot contemporary romance who believes in multiple orgasms, mighty wangs and happily ever afters. She’s been penning them for over twenty years and has 70+ books to her name.

As well as unforgettable characters and great sex you’ll also be treated to some laughs and a dollop of quirk because Amy doesn’t seem to know how to write a book without a bit of both. You might also cry a little because there’s nothing she loves more than a laughy-criey book!

She also loves sunsets and rainbows, unicorns and mermaids, booze and travel. And her home that overlooks the ocean. She may also happen to believe she was a Roman goddess in her past life because it's the only thing that explains her adoration for all things Italy.

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