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A review by halffast
Breaking the Billionaire's Rules by Annika Martin
4.0
Life is unfair for struggling actress Mia. Her high school summer fling, Max, got rich building his playboy empire. Meanwhile, she has to deliver sandwiches to him dressed as a cat. But Mia has some tricks up her sleeve, courtesy of Max's "playbook" guide to picking up women. Will he recognize his own chauvinistic tactics being used against him, or is Mia going to fall into her own trap?
I wasn't 100% on board with the plot of this book based on the synopsis. I thought it was going to be too cringey to witness Mia trying to use these cheesy pickup tricks on a rich, handsome CEO whom she also has history with. I imagined she'd come across as sort of desperate and deluded. Fortunately, the story does a great job navigating this minefield with humor and sincerity. Mia fully knows what she's doing is ridiculous, but she leans into her acting background to sell her performance despite having moments where her self-confidence is in the gutter. Max is also a great match for her, often channeling his famous playboy energy to keep Mia on her toes, but secretly she drives him wild in all the best ways. So ultimately the story was really cute and totally worked for me. I also appreciated how the author worked in descriptions of their high school history without resorting to flashbacks.
I listened to the audiobook and I think I enjoyed the story much more than I would have compared to reading it. The voice actors did a fantastic job. It's clear they're getting better as the series progresses. Neva Nevarre really sells Mia's dramatic reactions and performances. Jason Clarke is wonderfully growly as usual and also has a great range for performing voices for other characters.
I wasn't 100% on board with the plot of this book based on the synopsis. I thought it was going to be too cringey to witness Mia trying to use these cheesy pickup tricks on a rich, handsome CEO whom she also has history with. I imagined she'd come across as sort of desperate and deluded. Fortunately, the story does a great job navigating this minefield with humor and sincerity. Mia fully knows what she's doing is ridiculous, but she leans into her acting background to sell her performance despite having moments where her self-confidence is in the gutter. Max is also a great match for her, often channeling his famous playboy energy to keep Mia on her toes, but secretly she drives him wild in all the best ways. So ultimately the story was really cute and totally worked for me. I also appreciated how the author worked in descriptions of their high school history without resorting to flashbacks.
I listened to the audiobook and I think I enjoyed the story much more than I would have compared to reading it. The voice actors did a fantastic job. It's clear they're getting better as the series progresses. Neva Nevarre really sells Mia's dramatic reactions and performances. Jason Clarke is wonderfully growly as usual and also has a great range for performing voices for other characters.