A review by thegreatmanda
How to Belong with a Billionaire by Alexis Hall

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.75

This had somewhat less sex and a lot more exploration of grief, friendship, self-worth, learning to live with chronic illness and/or disability, becoming an adult and figuring out what that means for your dreams, making your own choices, and a variety of other emotion-provoking content than I had expected.

New year’s was awful and frustrating.

Obviously Arden should never have kissed Ellery without her consent and when he knew she would have said fuck off if he’d asked for it. I was also really icked out when he’d declined to do cocaine with her several times and she wouldn’t let it go, which is its own different kind of threatening, boundary-crossing behavior. So just, violations and bad decisions all around, really.

Lancaster Steyne continued to be the worst and bask in his own awfulness, and frankly, Nathaniel continued to be blithely controlling and abusive

, more through ignorance than malice, but he doesn't figure any of that out until he's left several train wrecks' worth of damage in his wake. Idiot

.

I still spent a lot of time frustrated with Caspian and wanting to shake some sense into him, but I ended up caring about him a lot more than I expected, seeing him through Arden's eyes.

I wish we could have gotten a bit more of their beginning together because it felt like a bit of an abrupt ending.

Favorite Quotes:

Thankfully, I'd emerged from the womb serving manic pixie dream queer.

"It will never be anything like you thought it would. But that's okay. And it's also okay if you decide it's not what you want."

And wasn't that a whiskey sour of an emotional cocktail? Being smug and hopeful and bitter and sad all at the same time. Which so wasn't me. I was a strawberry daiquiri boy, through and through.

"Don't worry about it. I thought it might be funny, but it just turned out stupid. Story of my life, really."

"But sometimes I get so fucking claustrophobic, like I'm in prison, except what I'm stuck inside is me."

"And," I went on, "I will always love you—"
Nik, in the fashion of most tragically heterosexual men, wasn't very good at emotions. Even when he needed them. He blushed. "So gay."
"So gay," I agreed, laughing. "Although I heard there's been some new legislation, so now the straights are allowed to have feelings too."

"And I know you say you've changed, and probably you have, but when it comes down to the colours of your dreams, and whatever makes your heart fly, and the things that really matter, you always get to choose."
"Choose what?"
"What you take with you and what you leave behind." I let out a shaky breath. "Because that's all change is."

His teeth scraped my earlobe. "I don't need to spank you to own you, Arden."

"Love isn't earned, Caspian. It's given."