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Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Review by Diane ♥ A Quick Christmas/Holiday Novella by Lila Monroe

Review by Diane




3.5 Stars

An advanced reader copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Christmas with the Billionaire by Lila Monroe is a short and "quick to read" novella.  (I had it read in under an hour.)

Of course it's Christmas time, but our heroine, Jill, is desperately trying to land a role in a new Broadway musical of Serendipity so she is skipping going home for the holidays.  She's really relieved she's made it to callbacks, because that means she can't go home for Christmas.  She doesn't quite have the support of her family for her chosen career path of becoming an actress,  and by not being able to go home for Christmas it also means she doesn't have to listen to her parents lecture her about trying another career that's more "down to earth".  But time is also clicking for Jill.  God forbid, she's almost thirty, and that's ancient in actress time so she's determined to make this callback count and give it all she's got.  The problem is, when it's her turn to dazzle the producer and director as to her talents they are busy discussing other things or texting on their cell phones and not paying attention to our Jill.  Something snaps within her and she calls them out on their rude behavior during her audition.  I bet in real life there are a lot of wanna be actresses who would love to do just what our Jill did.  

Well after that major "foot in the mouth moment," Jill is convinced she's done her career in....like killed it.....dead, so she heads to an evening waitress job for a holiday event and who does she run into????.....Oliver Gage, our handsome, sexy billionaire producer she had just finished chewing out for rude behavior during her audition.  

Through some comical twists and turns our couple ends up spending several nights at Oliver's parents' home with his parents and family just before Christmas, and because of Jill's big mouth again, they have to pretend to be a real couple for Oliver's family.

Jill is spunky and driven and outspoken.  I guess you have to be that way if you keep trying for your dream and constantly get shot down.  She shows a lot of back bone.  Oliver was a little harder sale for me.  We don't know a lot about him and what we do know came together very quickly.  

Anyway, the story was cute and sweet but wrapped up way too fast for me to really "buy into" the ending.  But then, it's a novella.....not a lot of time for depth as a standalone story.  I've read several of Ms. Monroe's books and have really enjoyed her story premise and character development in her other books.  Christmas with the Billionaire  was okay for a quick read with a holiday theme, but I like more detail and character development in the books I read, so maybe like Oliver Gage who swore off dating actresses, I think I'll swear off reading novellas.  Just not enough in the story for me.  
  


Combining her love of writing, sex and well-fitted suits, Lila Monroe wrote The Billionaire Bargain. Lila enjoys writing, as it gives her a flexible schedule to spend time with her kids and a wonderful excuse to avoid them. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, who strips out of his well-fitted suits nightly.


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