Samantha Matthews turned her back on her wealthy family to focus on social work. Those who know her think she’s the heart of kindness. Those who know her really well know she’s in a never-ending battle to make up for the harm her family’s companies inflict on the world. Which is how she finds herself at a charity bachelor auction of all places.
But oops, she was supposed to bid on her bff’s brother as a favor and accidentally bid on the wrong guy. Sue her for not being able to tell one stick-in-the-mud CEO from another.
Backstage, she goes to tell him not to worry about having to go through with a date or anything, but the oafish billionaire cuts her off dismissively. Looks her up and down, hands her a card with his assistant’s contact details, and reminds her that sex is definitely off the table.
Oh, she’ll call the assistant all right and have her make sure he wears jeans and comfortable shoes and to pick her up at seven a.m. The only “hammering” this guy is going to be doing is at Habitat for Humanity.
Too bad he turns out to be nothing like she expected.
| Title: | An Accidental Date with a Billionaire |
| Author: | Diane Alberts |
| Series: | n/a |
| Pages: | 139 |
| Category / Genre(s): | Contemporary |
| Trope(s): | Billionaire Romance |
| Point of View: | |
| Location: | US |
| HEA: | ✔️ |
| Release Date: | 1st April, 2019 |
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A bit middling
The premise of this book sounded like the perfect romance novel concept – girl bids on wrong billionaire at bachelor auction and confusion and irritation soon turns to love and romance. Every part of me swooned.
So we have our heroine – Sam – and she bids on our hero – Taylor – as promised in the blurb, and we’re off to a great start. And then he’s slightly rude to her. And I mean slightly. There’s no arrogant, alpha billionaire thing going on here. He’s just a bit rude. Not saying it’s right – but he didn’t run over her puppy or anything.
And so Sam spends the first 1/3 of the book being an absolute cow to him. She’s judging him for his minor rudeness, her preconceived feelings about him because he’s rich and little else. Oh, and because of his job of doing the same thing Richard Gere did in Pretty Woman. And because she – somehow (I didn’t really care to try and figure it out) is on the opposing side of his business. Yet Taylor is such a sweetheart to her. He’s quiet, kind and seemingly desperate for her to like him for some inexplicable reason.
So at this stage I’m not very fond of Sam and Taylor is hardly ringing my sexy, take-charge, arrogant, billionaire alpha bells. Hmmmm.
“The premise of this book sounded like the perfect romance novel concept…”
The pair go on their date that they manage to keep extending as she doesn’t do second dates and he doesn’t do relationships. Sigh. But the concept of ‘the date only ends when I take you home’ – so I’m not taking you home – was adorable. If someone said that to me I’d be putty in their hands.
The story meandered along nicely. The writing was good and I was engrossed in the book and never left it sitting for long. Yet, there were so many, I don’t want to say ‘clichés’ (probably because I love a good cliché), but, let’s call them plot points, that were used with a distinct lack of subtly. We had the moment our couple were in a restaurant and the heroine decides to anonymously buy a hard-up family dessert just so our hero could marvel at her caring side. And then when he ordered a background report on the heroine and then decided not to read it. Can you guess at what happened next? More sighs. And when Taylor decides to reject the practices that made him a billionaire – and instead comes around to Sam’s way of thinking by going into business with the failing company. And of course this allowed Sam to see he really was a good guy. There were just too many of these instances for my liking – too many tried and tested things just stuck into the story that ended up sticking out like a sore thumb and making me grumpy!
Overall I feel like I’ve been a little too harsh on a story that was ultimately quite readable and very non-offensive. It’s unlikely to set your world – or anything else – on fire, but it’s a decent enough read to while away a few hours. Just 3 stars from me.
Diane Alberts is a USA TODAY bestselling Contemporary Romance author with Entangled Publishing. Under the name Jen McLaughlin, she also writes New York Times, USA TODAY, and Wall Street Journal bestselling books with Penguin RandomHouse. She was mentioned in Forbes alongside E. L. James as one of the breakout independent authors to dominate the bestselling lists. Diane is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.
Diane has always been a dreamer with a vivid imagination, but it wasn’t until 2011 that she put her pen where her brain was, and became a published author. Since receiving her first contract offer, she has yet to stop writing. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, a schnauzer mutt, and three cats. Her goal is to write so many fantastic stories that even a non-romance reader will know her name.
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