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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Please I hate everything about this set up. Billionaire romances are not for me.
Liked how it started out strong and fast. It kept you guessing which each of them taking the lead with unexpected turns. The beginning relationship building was better than the movie ending The secondary characters like Sofia, Roman, William and even Tonya less one dimensional than often seen.
I could not put down this book and I could hardly handle the heat. This steamy romance has it all, a beautiful love story, royalty, sketchy corner lurkers and a few twists to keep you on the edge of every single page. Loved this debut novel from Angelina M. Lopez. I cannot wait to read the next!
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I started with #3 in this series, so it was fun to see where it all started. I’m turning into a pretty big Lopez fan, I think. Gorgeous women, tortured dudes, and hot sex scenes. What’s not to like?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment
Minor: Child abuse, Incest, Sexual assault
I have mixed feeling about this book. I think it’s a strong but inconsistent debut. In many ways, it resembles a reversed-gender harlequin presents novel. High-handed billionaire, impoverished love interest forced into marriage to save their country, tragic backstories, etc. I didn’t love the coercion and dehumanizing of Mateo in the first few chapters but I did like how Mateo stands up for himself. I liked a lot, but not everything about this story.
Edit 10/25/19: I had a conversation with a twitter friend that helped me articulate what didn’t work for me about this. Ultimately, I felt that the toxic nature of the tropes weren’t successfully subverted. Gender-flipping toxic behavior still leaves you with toxic behavior.
Edit 10/25/19: I had a conversation with a twitter friend that helped me articulate what didn’t work for me about this. Ultimately, I felt that the toxic nature of the tropes weren’t successfully subverted. Gender-flipping toxic behavior still leaves you with toxic behavior.
*4.5 stars*
I received a free copy in exchange for a fair review.
Roxanne Medina, self-made billionaire, gets what she wants in business and in life. And she wants Príncipe Mateo Ferdinand Juan Carlos de Esperanza y Santos. In her bed, three nights a month for one year. She'll have his heir, romance not required.
What follows is an absolutely delicious, soapy, and over the top clash of the titans romance for the ages, and the start of what will sure be a stunning career for debut novelist Angelina M. Lopez.
I adore when a romance novel starts with a bang and Lush Money will have you racing to keep up with the twists and turns of a plot *just* this side of ridiculous, but made utterly believable by the passion and strength of the character development. I cannot wait for more!
CW for cis-gendered language throughout, Roxanne wants a daughter, Mateo wants a son, and they talk about their potential child as such.
I received a free copy in exchange for a fair review.
Roxanne Medina, self-made billionaire, gets what she wants in business and in life. And she wants Príncipe Mateo Ferdinand Juan Carlos de Esperanza y Santos. In her bed, three nights a month for one year. She'll have his heir, romance not required.
What follows is an absolutely delicious, soapy, and over the top clash of the titans romance for the ages, and the start of what will sure be a stunning career for debut novelist Angelina M. Lopez.
I adore when a romance novel starts with a bang and Lush Money will have you racing to keep up with the twists and turns of a plot *just* this side of ridiculous, but made utterly believable by the passion and strength of the character development. I cannot wait for more!
CW for cis-gendered language throughout, Roxanne wants a daughter, Mateo wants a son, and they talk about their potential child as such.
Oh. My. God.
Let me just bask in this moment. That moment when you read a book that is just so perfect, every word from the very first to the very last, that you just want to hold on to that book, that moment, that feeling of utter contentment for just a while longer.
Every romance reader needs to read this book. Here are just a few reasons why:
1. So, I’m wholly over alphahole billionaire heroes who rush in to save the day and shy, doormat, damsel in distress heroines. However, what I didn’t realize I needed until I started reading it...a alphahole billionaire HEROINE. Yes, that’s right.
Roxanne Medina, self-made billionaire, wants a baby. She specifically wants a baby with Mateo Santos, the crown prince of Monte del Vino Real, a tiny Spanish principality on the brink of financial ruin. In exchange for marrying her and 3 nights of sex a month, she will provide him with the necessary funds to help rebuild the economy of his beloved principality, now in ruins due to mismanagement and overspending by his selfish, egotistical, narcissistic father, the king. Once she has her baby, they will go their separate ways. Due to her horrendous upbringing, it’s important to her that her baby’s father not be some anonymous sperm donor. She has targeted Mateo for a very specific reason.
2. As much as I dislike alphahole heroes, I also dislike helpless and hapless heroines. Mateo, while in a most precarious financial position, is anything but hapless OR helpless. He’s a prince with a Ph.D, grows vines in his own lab at UC Davis (as an aside, I live in Davis and I find it utterly charming when romance novels randomly name check my hometown), and is determined to be the polar opposite of his father. He has made some very unfortunate choices in an effort to distance himself from his father and ultimately, in an effort to save the people and place he loves most, he sells himself to Roxanne.
3. And what ensues is one of the most unique, brilliant, bold romance novels I’ve ever read. I adored every last bit of this book, was so sad to see it end and yet so excited to scream about to all of Romancelandia. A book that subverts the alphahole billionaire hero trope and makes us examine our own misogynistic biases, a book that dares question why we accept it without complaint when a man wants what he wants and goes after it with tenacity but when a woman dares to do it, she’s labeled “domineering” and “pushy” and a “bitch”.
4. Both Roxanne and Mateo are products of their upbringing in that Roxanne has been brought up believing she is unworthy of love and Mateo has been constantly embarrassed by his parents excesses and hurt by their careless neglect. Their behavior and the choices they make in the course of getting what each wants is not always on the up and up - they make a lot of questionable choices. But it’s those flaws, those human vulnerabilities, those moments when they let their guard down for each other that makes this story so beautiful and depthful and so full of heart. They start off as antagonistic adversaries fighting with each other and slowly evolve into a true partnership where they are fighting FOR each other. Also, let me just add, the sex scenes are SCORCHING HOT. And quite frankly, they do further the story - I think every single scene in this book furthers the plot or helps to develop the characters.
5. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the supporting characters - they each have terrible parents but they also have people in their corners who obviously love and care for them and these characters are drawn just as vividly and I hope some of them get their own books.
All in all, I adored this book so so much and I cannot wait to share my love for this book.
Arc received in exchange for honest review.
5 stars
Let me just bask in this moment. That moment when you read a book that is just so perfect, every word from the very first to the very last, that you just want to hold on to that book, that moment, that feeling of utter contentment for just a while longer.
Every romance reader needs to read this book. Here are just a few reasons why:
1. So, I’m wholly over alphahole billionaire heroes who rush in to save the day and shy, doormat, damsel in distress heroines. However, what I didn’t realize I needed until I started reading it...a alphahole billionaire HEROINE. Yes, that’s right.
Roxanne Medina, self-made billionaire, wants a baby. She specifically wants a baby with Mateo Santos, the crown prince of Monte del Vino Real, a tiny Spanish principality on the brink of financial ruin. In exchange for marrying her and 3 nights of sex a month, she will provide him with the necessary funds to help rebuild the economy of his beloved principality, now in ruins due to mismanagement and overspending by his selfish, egotistical, narcissistic father, the king. Once she has her baby, they will go their separate ways. Due to her horrendous upbringing, it’s important to her that her baby’s father not be some anonymous sperm donor. She has targeted Mateo for a very specific reason.
2. As much as I dislike alphahole heroes, I also dislike helpless and hapless heroines. Mateo, while in a most precarious financial position, is anything but hapless OR helpless. He’s a prince with a Ph.D, grows vines in his own lab at UC Davis (as an aside, I live in Davis and I find it utterly charming when romance novels randomly name check my hometown), and is determined to be the polar opposite of his father. He has made some very unfortunate choices in an effort to distance himself from his father and ultimately, in an effort to save the people and place he loves most, he sells himself to Roxanne.
3. And what ensues is one of the most unique, brilliant, bold romance novels I’ve ever read. I adored every last bit of this book, was so sad to see it end and yet so excited to scream about to all of Romancelandia. A book that subverts the alphahole billionaire hero trope and makes us examine our own misogynistic biases, a book that dares question why we accept it without complaint when a man wants what he wants and goes after it with tenacity but when a woman dares to do it, she’s labeled “domineering” and “pushy” and a “bitch”.
4. Both Roxanne and Mateo are products of their upbringing in that Roxanne has been brought up believing she is unworthy of love and Mateo has been constantly embarrassed by his parents excesses and hurt by their careless neglect. Their behavior and the choices they make in the course of getting what each wants is not always on the up and up - they make a lot of questionable choices. But it’s those flaws, those human vulnerabilities, those moments when they let their guard down for each other that makes this story so beautiful and depthful and so full of heart. They start off as antagonistic adversaries fighting with each other and slowly evolve into a true partnership where they are fighting FOR each other. Also, let me just add, the sex scenes are SCORCHING HOT. And quite frankly, they do further the story - I think every single scene in this book furthers the plot or helps to develop the characters.
5. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the supporting characters - they each have terrible parents but they also have people in their corners who obviously love and care for them and these characters are drawn just as vividly and I hope some of them get their own books.
All in all, I adored this book so so much and I cannot wait to share my love for this book.
Arc received in exchange for honest review.
5 stars
emotional
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
Great romance with sexy sex scenes; pages of them.
put this down, kinda meh to hatred on all characters (hatred for background folks), and just... did not want to pick it back up.