ROYAL MEET CUTE ON HER DOORSTEP!
While navigating a high-profile divorce, ex-princess Cassie is lying low at a friend’s Paris apartment. She doesn’t expect to become intimately acquainted with new neighbour Hugo, who’s locked out—and naked! Despite their… unusual encounter, Cassie and the billionaire form an unlikely connection, both struggling under the weight of predetermined destinies. When a leaked photo creates a media frenzy Hugo suggests faking a captivating romance, giving Cassie the cover to rebuild her life. But what started as a charade only draws them closer, blurring the lines between fact and fiction…
Title: | Fake Fling with the Billionaire |
Author: | Rachael Stewart |
Series: | / |
Pages: | 186 |
Category / Genre(s): | Harlequin / Mills & Boon True Love |
Trope(s): | Forced / Close Proximity Neighbours to Lovers Opposites Attract |
Point of View: | Third Person, Past Tense, Dual Viewpoint (H & h) |
Location: | Paris, France |
HEA: | ✔️ |
Release Date: | 26th September, 2024 |
Warm and uplifting romance
I make no secret of the fact that I’m a huge fan of Rachael Stewart and always love it when she comes out with a new story of any kind. In this case it’s the story of ex-princess Cassie and her new neighbour and billionaire, Hugo Chevalier – who meet under rather, erm, unusual circumstances.
I’ve read a lot of romances in my time but I’ve never, ever come across such a hilarious and extraordinary meet cute. Locked out his apartment, naked and confused – is it any wonder that Cassie takes notice of this delicious man in a place she thought of as her sanctuary? It was the perfect meeting for our pairing – two people struggling under the weight of expectation who wouldn’t have met if not for this chance encounter that shocked them into getting to know each other.
Cassie has had the kind of life that little girls dream of. But her fairytale marriage to Prince Charming has left her adrift, alone and the victim of malicious press. I have absolutely nothing in common with this woman and yet I liked her from the first. She was still licking her wounds but not once did she come across as weak, whiney or entitled. Instead she was strong, feisty – a definite kitten with claws – and I really rooted for her. Even more when Hugo helped her, probably for the first time in her life, feel free and alive.
Frenchman, Hugo, was a delight. A teddy bear made of steel, Cassie called him and it’s very apt. He may come across as a hard businessman but we see from the first that he’s all soft and cuddly – and not just because when we see him the first time he’s buck naked! He has demons in his past from a youthful incident as well as from an overbearing father. He probably lets his issues dictate his life more than Cassie does, but by helping her, she in turn helps him – and he is so deserving of his happily ever after.
Cassie and Hugo work so well together as a couple. Yes, there was initial attraction but they really got to know each other as their fake relationship progressed – until they just couldn’t bear to keep it platonic any longer. The bedroom door was kept firmly closed for us in this book but that worked perfectly. I don’t think I would have liked raunchy sex scenes when the romance felt so deep and emotional.
We have the meet cute and then a coffee date between our pair that reveals a lot but went on a little too long for me. But then the story picks right back up and just gets better and better until by the end I was reading, perched on the edge of the couch, trying to read faster and faster to get to the happily ever after. And if it wasn’t delightful enough, the epilogue made my little heart sing. It was perfection.
It’s Racheal Stewart so of course the writing is top class. For the duration of this book you’re living in Paris, getting to know Hugo and Cassie, going on adventures with them and eating delicious ice-cream. This is a heartfelt, warm and uplifting romance that you won’t want to miss out on.
*I received this book in exchange for my honest review.*
Rachael Stewart adores conjuring up stories for the readers of Harlequin Mills & Boon and Deep Desires Press, with tales varying from the heartwarmingly romantic to the wildly erotic.
She’s been writing since she could put pen to paper as the stacks of scrawled on A4 sheets in her loft will attest to, and the lovingly bound short stories that her father would run off at work and proudly share out with his colleagues. Thinking it was a pipe dream to be published one day, she pursued a sensible career in business but she was really play-acting, achieving the appropriate degree and spending many years in the corporate world where she never truly belonged. Always happiest when she was sat at her laptop in the quiet hours tapping out a story or two. And so here she is, a published author, her full-time pleasure, a dream come true.
A Welsh lass at heart, she now lives in Yorkshire with her husband and three children, and if she’s not glued to her laptop, she’s wrapped up in them or enjoying the great outdoors seeking out inspiration.
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