The Bastard Billionaire by Jessica Lemmon Published by Forever Publication Date: February 28th 2017
Pages: 384
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A BILLIONAIRE BAD BOYS NOVEL
Beauty and the Beastly Billionaire . . . Eli Crane is one tough bastard. After an explosion left him injured and honorably discharged from the Marines, all he wants is to be left alone. Yet his brothers insist he take a greater role in the family business. They've hired him ten personal assistants-and Eli sent each one packing as fast as possible. But when beautiful number eleven walks through the door, Eli will do anything to make her stay. Isabella Sawyer's employment agency can't afford to lose Eli Crane's business. Her plan: to personally take on the role of his PA, and secure her reputation with the wealthy elite in Chicago. But this beauty and her hot billionaire bad boy soon find themselves mixing business with pleasure in the most delicious ways. And passionate, stubborn Isabella won't rest until she tames this wicked beast . . .
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
This is the third book in the Billionaire Bad Boy series and each book is a stand-alone. It is the first book I have read by Jessica Lemmon and I enjoyed it so much I now want to read the first two books in the series.
This story is about Elijah Crane, a man devastated by war and trying to come to terms with his new life after being in the military. Now that he is no longer in the Marines, Elijah’s family insists he work for Crane hotels, the family business. Elijah grudgingly takes the job and vents his frustrations on his personal assistants.
Isabella is trying to establish her personal assistant company, Sable Concierge, but Elijah keeps scaring off everyone she sends to work for him. Isabella can’t fail and lose the Crane account, so she decides to become Elijah’s personal assistant. Elijah tries to run Isabella off but his surly attitude doesn’t bother her. Isabella is gutsy and self assured and even though Elijah continually tries to fire her, she does not let him intimidate her. Elijah has met his match when he meets Isabella.
Underneath all Elijah’s gruffness, there is a sensitive and likable guy. All he wants is to be left alone but his meddling family is constantly interfering and bothering him. Elijah is attracted to Isabella but he is dealing with so many issues, he is afraid to take a chance with her. He is no longer the self assured playboy he was before he fought in the Middle East. I liked Elijah once I got to know him. He has a bad attitude but it is easy to feel sorry for him and understand his feelings. Elijah has a closed heart and it isn’t easy for him to open up and let isabella in. He is afraid of commitment and uncommunicative and Isabella has to decide if she is willing to wait around for him to decide what he wants. Elijah and Isabella have a lot of chemistry and are good for each other and I was rooting for them to work things out.
Not only did I enjoy the two main characters, this story also has some entertaining secondary characters. The Cranes have a good time together and there is a lot of good natured bantering between them. They are funny and love to give Elijah a hard time but they are also there when he needs them. THE BASTARD BILLIONAIRE is smoothly written with funny lines and interesting characters.
