He was a billionaire? Really? Who would have guessed?.
924485
Shall we start with the elements that bothered me the most? Lets. First of all I think it is important to point out that there is nothing subtle about the authors obsession with the idea of the hero being a billionaire as she refers to him constantly as a "billionaire" or his "billionaire" family when his name or the family's surname would have worked perfectly well. In fact the references to his financial status became crass and tedious, so much so that I found myself mentally replacing the word "billionaire" with his name.  You get the picture.
Secondly was Ella's age, and status, she is 21 and has apparently been working pretty much full time since she was about 15, she has no time off and very little private time but she has definitely found an opportunity to divest herself of her physical innocence somewhere along the line. So much just didn't work. What person would leave a business like the Inn to a child upon turning 22 with the stipulation that in order to inherit she had to have put in 5 years of dedication to its operation? Why not 25 so she could exhibit some actual authority.
Thirdly, stepmother Dolores is sufficiently evil and conniving to be convincing but somehow I just wasn't buying into her handing over a glowing recommendation on Ella's 22nd birthday because she would never have admitted that Ella had ever been anything more than a maid and not a very good one at that. How Ella could ever have imagined anything different is a question that begs to be answered.
This book is definitely a fantasy but if you are going to set it in current times some small element of reality has to intrude to make it viable.
If Ella gets paid practically nothing for working 60 hour weeks, owns nothing (not even decent underwear) how does she expect to buy the Inn? Better to wait for step mamma to loose it to the IRS and buy it from a .government fire sale for back taxes after a little negotiation. That is what the billionaire would do.

On an individual basis I liked the characters hence the generous 3 stars.
3510014
I liked the way he grew up, Pretty much like you and me, but reading and buying books opened up doors into the lives of the affluent people. He said yes to any opportunity to serve, which led his early life into an affluent person. Cool.
1122816
Well, I never!

Despite being beautiful enough to bring a billionaire with vast sexual experience to his knees, our heroine (who isn't religious or especially shy) has never had sex . . . until she decides to give it up in what is supposed to be one-night-only of bliss with our traveling billionaire.  She's a sociology professor (this one is pretty original -- I think the author was brave to pick such a boring and pointless profession for her main character), which means we also get the added bonus of an incredibly obvious lecture about the madonna/wh*re complex (along with the assertion that this is the first time her student have heard of it -- were they raised underground?).

Despite their intense connection (and she doesn't care about his money, oh no no no, she only cares about the wonderful BDSM-lite delights he introduces her to), he runs off.  Could it be his evil father?  Or some other billionaire problem?  Pay more and find out!
4956765
Maybe he should be a member of predators ball.  Make a lot of money off other people, try to become "liked". The guy may be a sociopath. Win at any cost, humiliate people and hang out with other sociopaths.  Many of the super "successful" are like this.  Next up the warm and fuzzy book from Rupert Murdoch!
4967806
It was amazing to read about his abilities and those that robbed him blind! My view of those people and their business fits! They were and are crooks!
4193167
The very idea that the wealthy are successful because they have more effective habits than the poor is absurd. The author invents points to support this assertion ("85% of all wealth is not inherited" etc).

I recommend you listen to episode 67 to the "Something You Should Know" podcast before spending your money on this.
4324445
I've actually enjoyed several of the Billionaire romance novels.  It shows how human they actually are--well at least that's what we hope!  lol
2682550
Until I opened this book, the only exposure that I had to Prince Harry was courtesy of newspaper headlines and photographs.  Is he as "normal" as the author claims?  If so, it is quite a personal achievement, given his social status , wealth & celebrity.
4090197
Past (real and fantasized) meets present.  Was what they had real or did she just use him to cover her ulterior motives?  And was she there to use him again to cover embezzlement and murder? Is George that much of a sucker?  Could not put this book down. This is a book that could have ended many ways, I guess the way it ended was in fact the only way.
3298499
an interesting look at the wealthy; however not as sensational as expected
887468
Showed how unnecessary aristocrats and so called "great houses" are today. That's what they get for showing off and stealing from Egypt and other countries. 1 million dollars a year to maintain the house and property? Ridiculous! I say, get rid of it. They seriously could build a whole new town on the land Highclere is sitting on. 5000 acres for one house and two people? What a waste. Also, what was up with the Earl's nose hair and general appearance? Why couldn't he get a hair cut, trim and good suit? With all the money that he has. Rich people...
1629366
Story is so close to happenings in the past.  Is this how the wealthy handle their best interests?  Some how I think it's very close to the way things are.  Written in a way that poses the rich using lesser beings for their gain.  A great read.
3100027
The Billionaire's Secret Wife can be roughly described as "rich woman having some first-world problems". While the wounds and obligations are somewhat novel, and some of the twists are good, it wasn't really enough to make the whole thing rise above "okay".

Vanessa Pryce knew the futility of relying on a man for happiness... her own family is a prime example, but she really had hoped for an HEA with Justin Sterling, her BF since their college days. Even though they technically broke up, they still meet for some NSA sex every once in a while... and kept their liaisons secret.  Justin has his family investment firm to manage... and Vanessa is determined to make it as a lawyer. But when Vanessa's world was upended by a hurtful revelation, the only one she could turn for comfort was Justin. A night of drunken sex lead to an unplanned pregnancy... and Justin offered marriage. Vanessa accepted reluctantly and wanted to keep it a secret. But secrets have a tendency to leak... and soon, even more secrets threatened to tear them apart...

It's gotten to be trope-ish that rich people cheat and leave a lot of bastards on the side. Ouch, ouch, ouch. (Yes, it had something to do with Vanessa)  It's appearance above all else, and that's gotten to be really... shallow. How did such nasty rich couples produce such sensitive children?  Why did they break apart in the first place? I guess I don't really get it. It feels like an off-beat soap opera, and not quite up to the standard of normal Nadia Lee novels, IMHO.
3888213
From page 1 I found it hard to believe. What venture capitalist makes a decision to back a company without doing extensive financial and accounting due diligence?I don't believe it for a second that this story is true as described and he was saved from a bad decision by talking to one employee.
3496111
As they say in Texas, "If'n you done it, it ain't braggin."  The author's approach - that of starting each chapter by listing an executive-business skill and then writing down a first-person Mossad exploit that in his opinion features that skill, is an unusual one.  The only teeny weeny part that I find disingenuous is his claim that he's left the Mossad for good and gone back to being a plain-vanilla business tycoon.  Uh huh...
790412
This was fun to read. Not quite the book that you cannot put down, but worth reading. I could believe that a very wealthy man could become an egomaniac. The hero is a bit of a superman. There were some slow pages where I did feel I was being preached to, others have commented the same. I would recommend this easily.
4123093
I've never in a millionaire years able to guess what is this book all about from the blurb or even half way through reading it. Brace yourself for some shocking twist.

Felicity Harper was dragged to attend a sugar party by her roommates where she met the enigmatic CEO of Darcy Entertainment. She captured his attention by a soulful piano piece.

Theodore Darcy is the famed filmed producer and the last thing he wants is a woman who is interested to find a sugar daddy. But Felicity surprised him with her talent in arts and her disinterested in his wealth. Why is she even at the party in the first place?

I enjoyed their whirlwind romance. Everything seems so effortless and Theo is such a nice guy for a billionaire. And that kiss under the rain was so d@mn romantic. However, when things seems so great and dandy I'm anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop. What is the game plan that J. J. McAvoy had in store for us?

D@mn... I never see it coming for miles.

Be prepare to be mindf@ck. I think I suffered some severe whiplash for the twist and turn by the end of the book.

If I were to state the minor issue I had with this book will be the lack of details into Theo's character. I mean this hero is easy to love, but I wish I get more of him, about his past with his ex-fiance and such.

I heard from J. J. that this is pretty much a standalone and a novella coming up later. There seems to be some unresolved issue with Theo's family. I need some closure about that and I'm looking forward to a more definitive HEA with an epilogue for Theo and Felicity.