The Wicked Billionaire by Jackie Ashenden Release Date: October 3, 2017 Publisher: St. Martin’s Book #2 in the Tate Brothers series Number of Pages: 352 Kindle Edition Source: MCL Contemporary Romance/Military M/F Rating: XXX Read 1/16/18 to 1/18/18
Another winner from Jackie Ashenden. Man, am I glad I finally decided to check out her books a few months back. She is wonderful at writing sexy, touching, intriguing stories.
If you read the first book in this series, The Dangerous Billionaire, you may have figured this book would have a bit of an overlap. From what I can gather the stories of the three Tate brothers are happening pretty much simultaneously. But since Lucas and Wolf only briefly popped into Van’s story there isn’t really any repetition.
As the reader, you know the feelings Lucas and Grace are having are due to their chemistry. It’s almost amusing to watch the two of them put on total blinders to that fact as they keep lying to even themselves about disliking each other. There is quite a lead up to their realization of what those feelings in their guts are and then to the culmination of those feelings being pulled taut until their sexual chemistry pretty much explodes. This author sure knows how to write hot sex scenes. Whoo!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I very much appreciate the author doing her homework and having her characters use the correct military terminology for their jobs. If only all authors would remember that SEALs are sailors and not soldiers.
The emotional baggage both Grace and Lucas carry around with them is terrible. Not to play down what Grace went through growing up, but Lucas has some especially difficult things in his past. Both had terrible fathers and would maybe be more well-adjusted if they had parents that were there for them instead of idiots that only thought of themselves. I really enjoyed the way the couple slowly let their stories out to each other. The way Grace blamed herself for some things in her marriage but came to realize that, basically, it takes two to tango was great. I’m still curious why her deceased husband, Griffin, did what he did, I’m also glad the author made it clear the marriage issues were totally separate from that.
If I wasn’t already eager to read the next installment of this series by the end, the epilogue sure would have done the job. I am anxiously awaiting Wolf’s story, also with the hope that some stray issues from the first two books will also be resolved in the next book.
All In Good Time 