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neevabeeva510's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Alcohol, Cancer, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent
Moderate: Mental illness and Pregnancy
albasapri's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.75
It's definitely an easy read but I'm personally left indifferent after finishing it. Smut warning! Explicit scenes are exactly that.
Firstly I must say I picked this book up without knowing much about it other than it concerning an inheritance and what these millionaires must do to secure it. Mistake, it's a romance.
(Now that I think about it there's another popular millionaire inheritance book thar is a thriller. So I might have mixed them up.)
I quickly readjusted my expectations and had several things I didn't personally enjoy but can understand are part of the genre. These features I know are loved by others, think "possessive language", grumpy/sunshine or off balance power dynamics that aren't clearly stated as such, especially when they're obviously taken advantage of. This is a "millionaire romance" after all.
Having said that, I struggled with some of the choices made.
The character archs didn't hit as hard as I would've liked them to.
Yes there was a clear arch for one of our main protagonists, but some of the growth didn't come from their own journey. Realising the flaws in their logic came only because it was what was necessary to achieve something character A wanted in the first place. It was necessary for them to fit in with what other characters wanted from them to achieve something they wanted in the first place. Very much like "oh I like that thing, I need to change my ways to get it? Okay then!"
When there's such a clear advantages to changing your ways, when there's a clear gain to it, in cheapens the characters journey.
It also felt like some of the characters wrong doings were swept under the rug for the sake of moving on with the plot without actually having them be as serious an issue as the characters were pointing out. I'll give a silly expample: "hey you ate the cake I spent 2 months preparing. Oh you're sorry? And you mean it?you'll fuck me into oblivion? oh that's okay then!"
All is forgiven and the character moves on forgetting that this has happened only for it to be brought up when convenient for the eventual misunderstanding before the end of the book. Why hasn't there been a struggle with the situation beforehand? Especially when the characters have stated how troubled they've been by it.
The most succinct way I can put it is I would've liked a bit more "show, don't tell".
Kind of ironic given some statements in the book, I know xd
All in all it was an entertaining read. Just didn't satisfy me as much as I would've liked. Plus I like books where smut feels more incorporated into the story and evenly distributed. Less of a "and now... they fuck" and more of "a and how couldn't they fuck? But wait! This happens... and then we're in bed again and what else has happened? How does that affect our characters and the bond they're creating?"
Firstly I must say I picked this book up without knowing much about it other than it concerning an inheritance and what these millionaires must do to secure it. Mistake, it's a romance.
(Now that I think about it there's another popular millionaire inheritance book thar is a thriller. So I might have mixed them up.)
I quickly readjusted my expectations and had several things I didn't personally enjoy but can understand are part of the genre. These features I know are loved by others, think "
Having said that, I struggled with some of the choices made.
The character archs didn't hit as hard as I would've liked them to.
Yes there was a clear arch for one of our main protagonists, but some of the growth didn't come from their own journey. Realising the flaws in their logic came only because it was what was necessary to achieve something character A wanted in the first place. It was necessary for them to fit in with what other characters wanted from them to achieve something they wanted in the first place. Very much like "oh I like that thing, I need to change my ways to get it? Okay then!"
When there's such a clear advantages to changing your ways, when there's a clear gain to it, in cheapens the characters journey.
It also felt like some of the characters wrong doings were swept under the rug for the sake of moving on with the plot without actually having them be as serious an issue as the characters were pointing out. I'll give a silly expample: "hey you ate the cake I spent 2 months preparing. Oh you're sorry? And you mean it?
All is forgiven and the character moves on forgetting that this has happened only for it to be brought up when convenient for the eventual misunderstanding before the end of the book. Why hasn't there been a struggle with the situation beforehand? Especially when the characters have stated how troubled they've been by it.
The most succinct way I can put it is I would've liked a bit more "show, don't tell".
Kind of ironic given some statements in the book, I know xd
All in all it was an entertaining read. Just didn't satisfy me as much as I would've liked. Plus I like books where smut feels more incorporated into the story and evenly distributed. Less of a "and now... they fuck" and more of "a and how couldn't they fuck? But wait! This happens... and then we're in bed again and what else has happened? How does that affect our characters and the bond they're creating?"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Sexual content
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Cancer
Minor: Fatphobia, Ableism, Medical content, and Pregnancy
edietz22's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Cancer, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Sexual content
Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Gaslighting, Addiction, Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Minor: Vomit, Classism, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness
milasmom's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book just had my heart full of emotions by the end. The way the characters were written made me love them so much. It’s Sunshine and Grumpy, not so much forbidden. It’s just a really good book, full of funny dialogue, loveable characters, cute moments and etc. 100% recommend. It does contain spice, loss of a parent, and the struggle of past depression. I cannot emphasize enough how good this book was. 5/5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
amateur_bookworm's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
My summary: Rowan Kane is grieving his grandfather’s death. Shortly after the funeral, Rowan and his brothers receive letters that his grandfather had written before his accident that detail what each of them must do in order to receive their shares of their family’s Dreamland company. Rowan must tap into his buried childhood aspirations of creating and become the director of the Dreamland theme park and develop a renovation plan addressing the park’s shortcomings. This seems like an impossible task for Rowan; after losing his mom to cancer and surviving his childhood with an abusive and alcoholic father, Rowan’s dreams had died long before his grandfather did. Soon after Rowan arrives at Dreamland, Zahra stumbles right into Rowan’s lap. Just a lowly minimum wage Dreamland employee, the gorgeous and eccentric Zahra once worked on a project with Rowan’s grandfather and hoped to one day become a Dreamland Creator. After drunkenly submitting a critique of an expensive new ride being developed from which her cheating ex-boyfriend stole the idea from her, Zahra is expecting to be fired but instead receives a promotion. Zahra may be just what Rowan needs to nail his renovation plan, but she also may be just what he needs to heal his brokenness too.
My thoughts: I found this to be an unexpectedly sweet love story for a grumpy/sunshine trope that delved into some deeper issues throughout the plot. And who doesn’t love a billionaire romance set in Disne—er, Dreamland?!? Lauren Asher did a great job portraying Rowan’s brokenness at the hands of childhood grief and verbal abuse and how that manifested in adulthood. I enjoyed Zahra’s positive disposition and selfless interest in helping people. The juxtaposition of the natures of each of their characters made for a good romance read. This is a great light-hearted, opposites attract love story that has enough substance to it that makes the story feel fuller than I had expected. This first book of this trilogy did not disappoint and I’ll be moving straight into the next one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Sexual content, and Cursing
Moderate: Mental illness, Cancer, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, and Infidelity
tiffanne11's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I really enjoyed the setting and characters in this book. Zahra is an employee (cast member) at Dreamland, a theme park in Orlando(WDW). Rowan's family owns the entire franchise, and he personally is responsible for some terrible working conditions the employees have. After his grandfather's death, the will reveals a stipulation. Each of the three brothers much complete a task before they will be able to inherit their portion of the company. Rowan must work as a director of Dreamland and come up with an improvement.
The pair meet at an employee meeting and are immediately at odds and also attracted to each other.
The first 70% or so of this book was a 4 or 5 star. The plot outside of the romance was intriguing and kept you interested. The spice was well written but not too vulgar.
However, there were two things that really pulled me out of the story.
First, Rowan is concerningly possessive of Zahra. He "jokes" that she doesn't have a choice when it comes to various things in their relationship. Ironically, her outspokenness is one of the things he initially liked about her. I think it was supposed to be steamy in a dominant kind of way, but it didn't work for me.
Second, there is a third act break up. I expect it, especially with a romance this long, but *damn*. He quite literally didn't learn from his mistake WITH HER in the early part of the book. I was hoping for a weird twist relating to the will but instead we got the bane of my romance existence.
Overall, I would likely still recommend this book, with the above warnings to potential readers.
Spice: 3/5 🌶️ - acts on page with detail
The pair meet at an employee meeting and are immediately at odds and also attracted to each other.
The first 70% or so of this book was a 4 or 5 star. The plot outside of the romance was intriguing and kept you interested. The spice was well written but not too vulgar.
However, there were two things that really pulled me out of the story.
First, Rowan is concerningly possessive of Zahra. He "jokes" that she doesn't have a choice when it comes to various things in their relationship. Ironically, her outspokenness is one of the things he initially liked about her. I think it was supposed to be steamy in a dominant kind of way, but it didn't work for me.
Second, there is a third act break up. I expect it, especially with a romance this long, but *damn*. He quite literally didn't learn from his mistake WITH HER in the early part of the book. I was hoping for a weird twist relating to the will but instead we got the bane of my romance existence.
Overall, I would likely still recommend this book, with the above warnings to potential readers.
Spice: 3/5 🌶️ - acts on page with detail
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Medical content, Pregnancy, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content
hcgambrell's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy
kait_lynne's review against another edition
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mental illness, Cancer, and Death of parent
sierrabowers's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I really liked this book! It is about two people who work at Dreamland aka a knock off of Disney. There is a family secret involving billions of dollars at stake. I really enjoyed the fact that her sister had a disability. I think that people with disabilities aren’t mentioned enough in popular books so it came as a nice surprise, especially at the end when he proposed that Dreamlands character costumes include prosthetics, wheelchairs, and other types of disabilities.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Cancer, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Death, and Gaslighting
ascottishlassreads's review against another edition
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer and Death of parent