Reviews

The Billionaire's Secret by Ravina Hilliard

the_horror_maven's review

5.0

Quick Take

The Billionaire's Secret is a high stakes, intense romance that provides the reader with lust, intrigue, and one powerful heroine. You won't be able to put this one down!

Tell Me More

The Billionaire's Secret is an intriguing suspense romance that follows power woman Serena Aisling as she is forced to team up with Matias Mäkelä, the tech guru of a company that her corporation has chosen to team up with on a new project. As often happens, Serena isn't fond of Matias to begin with due to his arrogant attitude; but she soon finds herself attracted to him. As the stakes get higher and Serena works with Matias to shut down a traitor who is divulging company secrets, sparks fly and Serena finds herself in a hot and steamy relationship with a man she once despised.

One thing that I loved about The Billionaire's Secret is that while it included hot and steamy romance, the intrigue and suspense kept me turning the pages. Ravina Hilliard created a multi-faceted story with complex characters while providing the reader with erotic moments that were drool worthy. I found myself becoming invested in each of the characters, and they soon consumed my thoughts. Hilliard has the ability to construct realistic characters that come alive with each word that she writes, and that is a talent not all authors possess. Reading Hilliard's work is a delight, and she has become one of my new favorite romance authors.

If you are looking for a romance full of suspense and intrigue, look no further than The Billionaire's Secret. Ravina Hilliard is a master storyteller, and she knows how to incorporate lust with suspense and adventure in the most beautiful way. You are in for a treat.

ameserole's review

4.0

I have received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Billionaire's Secret got me intrigued in Finland. Not for their salmon soup though. Sorry folks, I only like my salmon in my sushi nowadays. Not sure when I started to despise cooked salmon but I think I'm living my best life now.

Other than that side note, which was probably way too much information for all of you guys, I did like this book. I always though Serena was pretty interesting because she didn't want her "dad" to help her in any way. I mean, he kind of had no right since he walked away from her when she was a baby. So, yeah, I could see her being stubborn and fighting her own way throughout the business world. Or any world really.

Which is why I think Matias really liked her. She was completely different and driven. They somehow had sparks and so much sexual tension between them. Yes, they had the most amazing banters ever but that was to be expected. That being said, I definitely enjoyed these two together. I know that I'm not a big fan of insta-lovey-dovey stuff but I did really like this one!

In the end, the epilogue was completely adorable and I'm really happy that they got their HEA.

maddie_lewis28's review

3.0

This book was pretty good. It wasn’t anything outstanding but it was a nice quick read which was what I needed after the intense read that was Addie Larue. This book had its flaws, but it was still enjoyable. One thing I’ve learned is that I’m not the biggest fan of the Insta-love trope, so that kind of annoyed me at the beginning. Also I was afraid that Serena was going to sacrifice who she was to be with Matias but it wasn’t too bad. One thing that I liked was how near the end Matias actually communicated with Serena and don’t let her push him away (which happened at the beginning). Although at the end I felt like they still didn’t really know each other super well I think that they at least got better communication wise. Would I recommend this to people? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good book. It just wasn’t for me. This is after the fact, but I don’t typically recommend/talk about romance books with my friends so that could also be why I wouldn’t recommend it. So take what I said with a grain of salt (I more so just really wanted to include a rhetorical question lol).

Also I forgot to say this but the publisher was kind enough to send me an online copy of this book so that I could honestly review it.

justjessreading's review

3.0

3.5 stars for this workplace romance.

The was a quick and easy read. Simplistically written but with an engaging enough story to keep you interested. The plot was well fleshed out, however the characters could have used a little more developing. I could have breezed through this book in a day, but I had to keep putting it down because of the back and forth. She loves him, she hates him. This is usually a trope I can tolerate easy, especially since enemies to lovers is a fav of mine. It was just how quickly they would jump between love and hate. I felt like it contradicted Serena's "strong and confident" personality. Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend to anyone who likes the workplace romance style.

Thank you Dawn Hill Publications for a copy of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

slewis0819's review

5.0

I received this book from Dawn Hill Publishing, and was honestly so thrilled with it! I wasn't sure what to expect, but this book gave off amazing 365 days vibes (if you haven't watched you should!) I expected a traditional romance timeline of a book- boy meets girl, girl hates boy, girl falls in love the end. But this book had me on a rollercoaster of ups and downs and I read it in one day!

lkmreads's review

4.0

I got a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Billionaire’s Secret is a romance novel by Ravina Hilliard. I’d already read one of her books before and was pleasantly surprised by it - I am a bit picky with my MF romances, after all - and I expected no different from this one.

I’m happy to say, it didn’t disappoint!

This time around we follow Serena Aisling. She has a bit of an odd relationship with her billionaire father, Byron, who left her and her mother at birth. Although he is attempting to make amends, she keeps refusing most of his approaches, and thus, when he requests she helps him find an industrial spy who is threatening to steal some new product designs from their new partner company in Helsinki, she refuses also.
But later on her own company is hired to take care of the product design process for the same Finnish company his father wanted her to check out, and she is sent to deal with things in Helsinki, where she meets handsome CEO Matias Mäkelä, and ends up trying to find the corporate spy while juggling her feelings for Matias.

I really enjoyed the entirety of the book, it felt like a breath of fresh air compared to the usual romances I’ve read so far.

Serena is a complex character- not quite strong but not the typical entire bumbling mess either most heroines in romances are. She does make some questionable choices on her own weird assumptions on whether Matias will believe her or not, but they are all things that can be forgiven easily as part of her personality. I also really liked the fact that she could defend herself, and that this played a part in the story.

Matias is an amazing love interest. He can get a bit annoying with the way he likes to toss around implications about Serena, but the rest of the time I found him very pleasant to read, and whenever he jumped to his POV I really enjoyed his internal monologues.

The chemistry between the two characters was believable and very pleasing all throughout and I really enjoyed the interactions between them, which had me rooting for them to get together until the end.

Storywise, it was good.

When her father first asks her to look into the industrial spy, she already knows she won’t accept regardless, but she still asks him for information, which seems a bit of a pointless lead on, particularly since her father says he will send her the information anyway.

Anyway, it’s all rendered moot since she ends up in Helsinki through her own company afterwards.Her first meeting with Matias is a bit weird n him flinging baseless accusations, but I really liked that she put him in his place for them quickly enough.

There is, of course, insta-attraction between the two characters, but it didn’t feel off like in other books, perhaps because their chemistry was really good from the start. Although at first Matias does seem to deal with it the way men in all romance books do: by being a rude jerk.

I also really like that, although they are both attracted to one another throughout, the one who seems to pin the most is him - and that for once, to have more control during the “almost but not quite” intimate scenes this time was the female protagonist. It was a nice change of pace.

I felt like the first kiss came in a bit quick, but it was kind of a cute scene and I liked both their reactions in it.

Their flirting through some scenes also felt very realistic and nice and I really enjoyed those little moments. I also enjoyed that Matias seemed fairly open about his attraction for her, and that he was the first to realize his feelings.

When Serena gets wind of who might be the spy, she calls her current boss for advice because she refuses to tell Matias, and his advice is a bit weird (basically suggesting she finds out more information, which is sound advice, but also that she looks for the physical key where the design is hidden herself, which is a bit… eh, questionable advice at best.)

Although I admit I was rather apprehensive of them moving away from the main company setting, I really enjoyed most the interactions they had through their time at his weekend house.

Spoiler

And I found it rather funny when Matias was basically trying to get her to meet his family without her knowing

Some things didn’t quite add up…

Spoiler

It’s never really explained WHY Matias’ ex wanted to steal the physical key, I mean, we can presume it was just for money, and I suppose it wasn’t overly important, but it seemed a bit weird that an ex-model would just up and want to steal technological designs without a specific reason.

At one point Reeta, Matias’ secretary, warns Serena off trying an office affair because Matias’ isn’t into that, and yet in the next paragraph she seems to be encouraging her to seek it out.

Also, at one point they have this misunderstanding in which Matias seems to perceive them to be somehow feuding each other and punishing each other through their attraction/behavior, and one of the ‘punishments’ he comes up with is saying she needs to come to his weekend house to act as maid, and he ‘blackmails’ her into it which I felt was unnecessary for it really played with bringing down Matias in the reader’s eyes. The chapter after is from his POV and though he mentions this as a mistake I don’t feel it’s addressed enough for me to really ‘forgive’ the idea of the blackmail. I still ended up liking him after, but it was a moment I wasn’t overly fond of and I felt like it came a bit out of nowhere.

There’s a moment later in the book when a police officer (of all people! And we’re never really told his relationship with Matias, so it seems even weirder that he would say this) feels necessary to remark that in Finland people aren’t invited to meet the family unless they’re good friends or already in a relationship. Like… I think that’s anywhere, not just Finland. But okay…

It really felt a little like the little parts Reeta and that cop played was just like a stand in for the author/reader going *hint hint, nudge nudge* to the main character.

Despite those little points, it was a delightful read.

Spoiler

There is again a very quick marriage proposal at the end, and while time wise it would normally still be too fast for me, I actually feel in this book it flowed a lot better, and I think this had a lot to do with the character’s chemistry. He’s also pretty open to just leaving the proposal hanging for her to know he wants this and let her take her time to decide, rather than expecting an answer right away. And they do marry towards the end at a reasonably-ish amount of time later and not at the same moment

The book still suffers a bit from people constantly telling other people how someone is (handsome, smart, intelligent, etc) instead of outright showing it, but otherwise, I as usual loved the writing style and the pacing was perfect.

Really recommend it for a sweet romance.

ashleynestlermsw's review

5.0

Quick Take

The Billionaire's Secret is a high stakes, intense romance that provides the reader with lust, intrigue, and one powerful heroine. You won't be able to put this one down!

Tell Me More

The Billionaire's Secret is an intriguing suspense romance that follows power woman Serena Aisling as she is forced to team up with Matias Mäkelä, the tech guru of a company that her corporation has chosen to team up with on a new project. As often happens, Serena isn't fond of Matias to begin with due to his arrogant attitude; but she soon finds herself attracted to him. As the stakes get higher and Serena works with Matias to shut down a traitor who is divulging company secrets, sparks fly and Serena finds herself in a hot and steamy relationship with a man she once despised.

One thing that I loved about The Billionaire's Secret is that while it included hot and steamy romance, the intrigue and suspense kept me turning the pages. Ravina Hilliard created a multi-faceted story with complex characters while providing the reader with erotic moments that were drool worthy. I found myself becoming invested in each of the characters, and they soon consumed my thoughts. Hilliard has the ability to construct realistic characters that come alive with each word that she writes, and that is a talent not all authors possess. Reading Hilliard's work is a delight, and she has become one of my new favorite romance authors.

If you are looking for a romance full of suspense and intrigue, look no further than The Billionaire's Secret. Ravina Hilliard is a master storyteller, and she knows how to incorporate lust with suspense and adventure in the most beautiful way. You are in for a treat.

bdzimmerman15's review

5.0

This was such an interesting, but fun read. I really enjoy Ravina’s writing style. It’s very unique in the sense that she can weave a romance in the smallest utterances and phrases. Following Serena’s journey with Matias, who constantly doubts her, prove him wrong. While working with him, she finds someone is giving away all of Matias’s secrets of his company, she investigates. But, when she realized the person who is stealing all these secrets in someone very close to Matias, she hides it. Fearing for the worst, knowing her feelings for Matias and her fear for the secret she holds, she leaves Finland, determined to save Matias’s without his help despite him thinking it was her, she goes back to London. Secretly working with the Finnish police, they set up a secretive meeting. But will Matias find out? Will he forgive her if he finds out she helped? Will they end up together? This is a book you can’t miss!

peachykeenreviews's review

5.0

Quick Take

The Billionaire's Secret is a high stakes, intense romance that provides the reader with lust, intrigue, and one powerful heroine. You won't be able to put this one down!

Tell Me More

The Billionaire's Secret is an intriguing suspense romance that follows power woman Serena Aisling as she is forced to team up with Matias Mäkelä, the tech guru of a company that her corporation has chosen to team up with on a new project. As often happens, Serena isn't fond of Matias to begin with due to his arrogant attitude; but she soon finds herself attracted to him. As the stakes get higher and Serena works with Matias to shut down a traitor who is divulging company secrets, sparks fly and Serena finds herself in a hot and steamy relationship with a man she once despised.

One thing that I loved about The Billionaire's Secret is that while it included hot and steamy romance, the intrigue and suspense kept me turning the pages. Ravina Hilliard created a multi-faceted story with complex characters while providing the reader with erotic moments that were drool worthy. I found myself becoming invested in each of the characters, and they soon consumed my thoughts. Hilliard has the ability to construct realistic characters that come alive with each word that she writes, and that is a talent not all authors possess. Reading Hilliard's work is a delight, and she has become one of my new favorite romance authors.

If you are looking for a romance full of suspense and intrigue, look no further than The Billionaire's Secret. Ravina Hilliard is a master storyteller, and she knows how to incorporate lust with suspense and adventure in the most beautiful way. You are in for a treat.

mreadsbooksnfics's review

4.0

Ravina Hilliard writes interesting romances. That’s the least I can say. The most I can say is that all of her books have rich dudes and women who fall in love with them. It’s not a bad trope, and I do like business romances. But I think she could write normal people romances and they would be good as well.

This book can be dark. All of these romances seem to have a little bit of the intense element. But still, they are still very enjoyable. This book I was able to finish within a day, and I enjoyed it as lot. Serena and matias have good chemisty. There were a lot of tropes and cliches in the story, and I was a little annoyed by those. Romance can be more than just those. But still, they have some good chemistry and they fit well together. Overall. This was a good romance and I would suggest this to romance thriller fans.