Jenna Bailey-Burke always entertains me with her stories. But, Megan and Brandon’s story took a while to grow on me.

Megan, her attitude and refusal to listen to anyone is what had me a little taken-aback with this book. I truly didn’t like her at all until about 90% into the story. Granted, she felt like ¬she was betrayed. But, there is only so much of the “woe is me” that can be written into a story before you want to slap her upside the head. She was one stubborn woman that really had no interest in learning the truth. She actually became really nasty before finally understanding exactly what happened with Brandon, her family and her life.

I gave Brandon a lot of credit for putting up with Megan. She used him, didn’t believe him, refused to hear anything that he had to say and he just kept pushing through, loving her, keeping a secret for a friend and trying to get her to see reason. He really didn’t do anything wrong, didn’t betray her … just played by her rules. Rules that ended up biting him in the ass. He tried to support her, help her and all he got was slapped in the face. Then, in the end, he wimps out and apologizes for playing the game.

So, I was a little disappointed with the way this story played out. I started feeling like Megan was acting out just to extend the story. I would have loved for her to have understood what was happening a little earlier in the story and, maybe, work with Brandon to get to the bottom of everything. I’m glad that Jenna Bailey-Burke finally got them on the same page and gave them an HEA but, I was really frustrated while she was getting them there.

Megan and Brandon had an ongoing secret monogamous affair that Megan thought would keep Brandon interested long term. But when her family loses all their money, their hotel, and her parent leave her and her sibling out to dry the person she runs to is Brandon. Only to witness him kissing another woman! Feeling betrayed by her parents and the man she put her trust in, she runs away to restart her life. When Brandon fines the woman he’s in love with working in a coffee shop, he is confused as to why she ran in the first place and will do anything in his powers to get her back. Brandon must convince her that everything she thinks she knows is false and that he bought her family legacy for her/for them. The job isn’t easy because how do you convince someone that what they saw and believe to be true is completely false. I would give this novel 4 stars.

Megan Carlton has hit rock bottom. The life of a socialite is over due to her father's less than savvy busy acumen. She has given up her partying, late nights with friends, to serve coffee and work in a bar. Brandon has been looking everywhere for Megan since he bought out her family's hotel empire. For two months he has felt the loss of the one person he has loved for the past seven years. Megan is not so willing to forgive the one person she blames, her jealousy consumes her over a misunderstanding, and she is struggling to survive. Can Brandon make her realize that he has always acted with her best interests at heart?

I quite liked this book it had a very interesting plot that held me interest all the way through my only issue with it was i just did not see them together the just lacked a little chemistry for me and no way would Megan ever look at Brandon again and not see him kissing another woman he excuse for not pushing her away was lame other than that i enjoyed it.

It is a very well written story with a bit different plot than usual.
Both main characters has a lot to struggle with in their past, present and with their family and business. Megan is a bit naive at some points but she handles it anyway. She did lose my respect at some point and she was driving me crazy with all her immature behavior and she was also not always reasonable.
Brandon is business allover and gets what comes to him. But when you cheat you deserve to loose what you want. So they have to find out how to bind the loose ends. There is a big lack of communication between the pair and that irritated me sometimes. But it is a part of the story.
Let us just say with that I am not into cheating. It pi*ses me off. It is not fair against the other part of the relationship. There is no excuses for it.
A man should also defend his girlfriend and not the one his cheated with.
A book I will recommend.

Received an ARC for my fair review from Netgalley.

This is too much sex for me! TMSFM! I think Megan is a spoiled brat, and Brandon is way too good for her! You know, I understand what happens in a bedroom, I don't need a detailed description! Megan needs to grow up! I don't like her at all! If you like lighteweight Contemporary Romance, you will love it
carolintallahassee 👒

If you are in the market for a second chance love story, this is the perfect read for you. Megan and Brandon have been together for seven years; however, no one knows about their relationship. Megan thought it would keep their relationship fresh, but all it truly did was keep them from having something truly special. When Megan lost her money she thought she would at least have Brandon, but sometimes life has a funny way of throwing you a curve ball.

Brandon wants nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with Megan. His whole world revolves around her, including his recent business acquisition. The last thing he expected was for her to drop out of his world and not hear from her for several months. When he finally sees her again, he is determined to prove to her that she is all that matters to him and he will stop at nothing to claim her.

This was a sweet, quick read where I fell for Brandon instantly. He truly was looking out for Megan, but like most men, is clueless as to what she really wants. I loved this second chance love story and was so happy with the ending. The author did a wonderful job of creating characters you fell for and keeping the story flowing. Great job Jenna, I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next!

Let me tell you, that these to should not be together. He is a stalker, and she did have a little growing up to do, to get her life in order, but she was working towards that. However, that said, I did not think that Megan was wrong in leaving Brandon in the dust, first off even if the world did not know that they were together, he did,so him kissing someone else, was not o.k., and his lame excuse, whatever, aaaaand then for him to defend that person over the one he supposedly loves, hell to the no. He would have been left.

Megan Carlton thought her affair with Brandon Knight meant something until he performed a hostile takeover of her family’s hotels, leaving her destitute. Brandon has been looking for Megan since she disappeared from his life and once he finds her in a coffee shop, he doesn’t want to let her go again. Megan doesn’t want his help though and doesn’t trust him with her heart.

I enjoy angst in my romance so was pretty excited to read this once I read the description. There was certainly a large amount of that,though most of it seems to have been brought about by the lack of true communication between Brandon and Megan. Pride is a constant: Brandon seems to proud to simply ask Megan why she left him and Megan is too proud to tell him or let him help her.

I wanted to like Megan more than I did; she often seems to cut off her nose to spite her face. While she has a genuine reason to not trust Brandon, she also gives him so many mixed signals that it is no wonder he is confused. Brandon, on the other hand, spends a lot of time trying to figure out what is going on with Megan without actually asking her. There is a lot of hot and cold action between the two, which got a little old by the end. However, I did enjoy the self-reflection by both characters in the end and it became apparent that both needed to change if they wanted a happy ending.

While there were definitely aspects of this that annoyed me, it was, overall a good read.

4 stars.

3.5 stars. This was a nice little reunion romance between Megan Carlton, former hotel heiress of the Paris Hilton type, and Financier Brandon Knight.

A couple of months ago, Brandon took over Megan's family business in a rush of scandal when her father absconded with investors money and Megan and her sisters' trust accounts.

Megan went to Brandon for help and found him liplocked with his BFF. So she left without a word. First thought...TSTL. But we find out that Megan's dad was also the kind of guy to dip his wick into more than other people's bank accounts. Megan even took advice from him on how to keep her man. Which sounds like a bad idea right from the start.

Brandon is a sweetheart and apart from the whole takeover thing, he doesn't get why Megan is so angry with him. Not finding the whole liplocking episode to be memorable without Megan showing her face at the time.

So, we have Megan being all independent and snarly working in below living standard jobs. Brandon is being all, thank god I found you but aren't you over reacting a teensy bit.

Fortunately there is a doggy child of the relationship or we would never see Megan even talking to Brandon.

Overall this was a nice reunion of the type I like. I did start to agree with Brandon that Megan tended to overreact, even with our inside knowledge of why she thought he was untrustworthy and just like her scumbag dad. Yes Megan, we did get that. All men are jerks like your dad and granddad and apparently Brandon.

There was also this "meeting" thing near the end which seemed like a roll call of every other hero the author had presumably written about. I found it very distracting and as I hadn't read all the books (this series may have been on Samhain originally) the names of the heroes and their partners were so much meaningless hot air.

Megan Carlton has lost everything. She goes from being a rich socialite heiress to a hotel fortune to being destitute. On top of everything, the guy she’s been having a secret affair with for seven years (seven!) is the guy who has bought out her father’s company and exposed her father’s embezzlement. On top of all that, on the same day that her world crashes around her she sees him kissing his socialite best friend. So she fled and then has tried to make it on her own working two jobs and living in a rough part of town. Brandon Knight (get the symbolism of his name?), her hidden boyfriend has been looking for her for months and then encounters her working in a coffee shop.

Thus proceeds the back and forth as he tries to win her back and she tries to maintain her independence and self respect. In between, they have some hot sex and then she remembers that she doesn’t trust him and they rinse and repeat.

At times I just wanted to smack both of them and tell them to sit down and talk things out. So many romance novels seem to build a whole plot around people not communicating with each other and it gets annoying after a while. Megan gets annoying since she is so determined to make it on her own even if she has to literally starve while doing it and snap at anyone, particularly Brandon, who tries to help her.

Brandon and Megan are in love, and have been together for seven years. However, nobody but them knows this as they kept their relationship a secret from everyone. Then a few months ago, Megan's world horrendously came crashing down, breaking her heart and ruining her trust in Brandon at the same time.

Brandon has no idea why Megan left so abruptly, cutting off all contact with him. He's looked for her non-stop ever since, never expecting to find her working as a barista when arriving for a business meeting.

Megan blames Brandon for all the hurt she's endured. He knew her Dad was involved in shady business dealings, knew Megan's family would lose everything because of it, and yet, he never warned her. Instead she was blindsided by all of it, and when she went to ask him about it, on her birthday no less, she's devastated to see him kissing another woman, Gemma, one he's always assured her was just a friend.

Brandon doesn't know what happened between him and Megan, but he does know she's the one for him and he wants, needs, her back. Unfortunately, she refuses to talk to him or let him explain his actions regarding her family's business. He was trying to help her, to protect her, but, when he truly listens to how it appeared to Megan, he sees where he messed up.

These two cannot be together without their intense chemistry sparking, nor the love they feel for one another coming through. When Megan informs Brandon she saw him with Gemma, after numerous thinly veiled, and some not, insults aimed at her, Brandon tries to explain she misunderstood the situation completely, that there never has been, nor ever will be, anything between him and Gemma, let alone any other woman. Gemma was in a bind, and, unfortunately, tried to solve it the wrong way, with the help of a man, a brother-like friend, that she trusts, not knowing of Brandon and Megan's relationship.

Can Brandon and Megan work through all the misunderstandings and find their way back yo each other? Will Megan believe Brandon when he explains what truly happened regarding what she saw? Will Brandon realize the damage he unintentionally did with his actions, not just now, but over their years together? Is there a HEA for these two?

One-click now and follow along as two people, in love with one another for years, must work through the issues keeping them apart.

On a purely personal note, while I know it played into the premise of why Megan left, heartbroken, but I really wish it could've been done without another woman, one that's a close friend and a part of his life, kissing him. Regardless of the situation, that is an image a woman will never be able to stop seeing in regards to the man she loves touching lips with another woman, one she'll see consistently during their lives together. Also, Brandon states that he didn't push her away because of the awkwardness of the kiss, and knowing that there was no passion behind it, nor a future to it. Umm, that's not a reason to not stop another woman from kissing you. The reason to do so is because it's not the woman you supposedly love doing the kissing, and you don't want anyone doing so that isn't her. Lastly, I didn't like how Brandon defended Gemma to Megan, getting upset when she called her names, etc. No, your woman is hurt, and understandably so, because she saw another woman, a "friend only," kissing you, on the same day she learned about her Dad's wrongdoing, that you knew about it, oh, and it's her birthday. Oh, and let's not forget that her Dad regularly cheated on her Mom. Screw defending Gemma, understand where Megan is coming from, don't the two of you gang up on her instead, treating her like she's the one in the wrong, not the friend that kissed you, and proposed to you, because she needs to be married by a certain deadline. Why isn't he mad at her? If it wasn't for her actions, the months long separation between him and Megan might not have happened, saving them both pain and wasted time.

**I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.**

A big Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Publishing for the ARC for my honest review. This is my first time reading this author.
I found it interesting but confusing...how could he not get that what he did to her father affects her-why did he not ask questions earlier? There was alot that didn't make sense to me-but maybe others will enjoy this book and can explain it to me.

This was my first book by this author, but the description sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try. I have to agree with a few other reviewers that the problems between Brandon and Megan could have easily been overcome by a civil conversation, but I could also understand why Megan was too angry and felt too betrayed to have one. I did sometimes get frustrated with Megan's attitude, but Brandon made up for it. I admired his loyalty and determination to win her back and get to the root of their problems. These two fought like enemies, but were still constantly overwhelmed by their chemistry. They'd fight then two seconds later find themselves all tangled up together. Obviously there was a lot of back and forth and emotional drama, but I had to follow it till the end to see if Brandon was going to finally get his happily ever after. He was a really great character.

Net Galley provided an ARC for honest review.

This was another case of me liking the male lead, Brandon, WAY more than the female lead (Megan). As you can tell from the synopsis, she has reason to break things off with him, but severing a 7 year relationship without talking to the person is not only harsh, it's foolish (especially considering she did not have all of the necessary information to make a good decision). Brandon is so loving and so willing to do whatever it takes to get Megan back, despite her inability to make a decision about them one way or the other. The back and forth drove me crazy, but it lead to a thick layer of drama and angst that made the book enjoyable. If you like your beach reads quick and angsty, this is a great pick for you. I give The Billionaire's Private Scandal 3 out of 5 wine glasses.

Brandon stopped at the coffee shop there was Meagan and he couldn’t believe it. Megan was a socialite with a trust fund deep enough to buy this shop one hundred times over. Megan was suppose to be on a beach while her father avoided extradition for embezzlement. Yet Megan was here in front of Brandon- a smaller angrier version of the hotel heiress Brandon loved. Megan had not made Brandon’s drink she refused to and quit her job. Brandon begged Megan to talk to him even said that Megan owed him some kind of an explanation. Megan said she owed Brandon nothing that he was a liar and a cheat and she never wanted to see him again. Megan was intensely private and no one had known Megan and Brandon had been together for the last seven years. Megan was great at putting on a show and making the world think she had it all together even when things were falling apart. Megan shot the cup of coffee at Brandon before she quit. But Brandon followed her to her apartment. Brandon couldn’t believe the way Megan was living. Megan remembered back when she had went to a party with her older sister Ava at Brandon’s house and Megan had set her sights on Brandon. Brandon was fresh out of military school and wanted to have some fun. Every time Brandon turned Megan down she wanted him more. Megan even lost all interest in boys at school. Megan’s heart squeezed when she thought of how naive she had been to think she could change the world without it changing her. Megan seriously slept an hour at a time and usually jolted awake by a sound that terrified her. Soon Megan would have enough money to take some computer classes. She had already earned her GED in the last year. While at Brandon’s house the dog her had bought her - Cash- a cockapoo comes running to her and all Megan’s walls crumbled. Then Megan thought maybe she should take a page out of her sister Ava’s book. Brandon had said he wanted to put a ring on Megan’s finger but never bought one and he said he wanted them to become public with their relationship but never asked her out. The hope is what devastated her when she was going to Brandon for some answers and help on her birthday and saw him kissing Gemma then they went into his apartment. She had given Brandon her virginity - her first love, and first and only lover.
I loved most of this story. But I didn’t particularly liked the way the ending was written I felt it was just rushed. I like what it entailed just not how it was written. Otherwise I loved the story and the plot. I loved how much Brandon had truly loved Megan and never gave up on finding her and being back with her. I also loved how Megan loved him right back but was so lost and hurt. I felt bad for everything she had went through with no one to really turn to. I felt bad how hurt and confused and how she hadn’t felt safe in a long time. I loved the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend.

I'm going to start my review off a bit different and tell you why I didn't like this book. Well, why I didn't WANT to like it anyway...

Miscommunication trope: Yep, the entire plot is a miscommunication. A simple, straightforward conversation could have cleared it all up. By the time they actually have that conversation though, the trust is ruined.
Dysfunctional/toxic relationship: What Brandon and Megan have is toxic. She is insecure and isn't honest with him because she is so sure every man will behave exactly like her father. And he does things he things are for her, but really he never bothers to find out anything REAL about her to know if its what she would want. Combine that with the stalking and demanding behavior, and I was left thinking that these two would be better off apart.
Ok, those 2 problems plagued me while I read. But you know what? I read the whole book in 1 sitting because it was like a train wreck. I couldn't NOT see it through. My heart went out to Megan. She was a rich girl with self esteem issues and is now a VERY poor girl, working 2 jobs and barely surviving. Her dad's betrayal stung, and it happened at the same time she caught her boyfriend kissing another girl. I didn't think I would enjoy the 'poor little rich girl' trope, but Megan is genuinely likable. She doesn't hide the fact that she was narcissistic and self centered when she had money. She didn't even graduate high school! So, when the book starts out with her broke, she doesn't sugar coat her previous life. She turns this event into a wake up call for herself on how ill prepared she was. It was actually really empowering.

They eventually get the misunderstanding thing out in the open. But these two have to be the most stubborn, immature characters ever. How Brandon became a billionaire is a mystery to me because he never seems that bright or thoughtful! I understood why Brandon made the decisions he made, and I understand why Megan felt the way she felt. But, I never quite warmed up to Brandon because he seemed to think that because he did what he did for a reason, he should be forgiven now that that reason turns out to be bad. It was frustrating. So, for Megan, the book was 4 stars. For Brandon, the book was 1 star. For the fact I devoured it like pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, the book gets 5 stars. So, I am averaging it: 5 + 4 +1=10/3=3.3 stars! (ok, so 3.5!)

I know, I just read another story by Ms. Bayley-Burke and it was just okay for me. Not this one. I really loved this story about a second chance/childhood lovers romance. Plus, it is Indulgence, which is catnip to me.

What really got me going was that Brandon really is a good guy. He’s not an **shole at all. In fact, the person that had to the groveling/growing up is Megan. She is the best-spoiled princess that I have read in a long time. Sure, after everything that happened, she pulled her boot straps up and did what she had to do but her treatment of Brandon at times was really unwarranted. She just DIDN’T want to hear Brandon. Which leads me to the why Brandon would put up with her treatment? He already knew everything but still kept coming back for more from her.

Megan really needed to grow up in the book. She eventually did but her journey is still far off. Her treatment of Gemma and Danny is completely off the charts and if they never speak to her again, I would understand. Lashing out is one thing but what she said isn’t cool. I did, however, loved her interactions with her sisters, Briana and Ava. I can’t wait to read their stories, hopefully. The plot thread that is set up in this book about her dad, mom (wow, that was a doozy at the end) and the embezzled money is just awesome.

Brandon and Megan had a lot to overcome in this story. Megan had the most to lose and that much more to gain. Brandon is a great hero and Megan is an awesome spoiled little rich girl that I wanted to see grow up and move on. I felt like she did but she still has ways to go.

I enjoyed this book a lot ! I know once I finished this book it's going on my to be re-read list. Once I started it I did not want to put it down. Had great chemistry and even greater characters. Was very well written and couldn't ask for a better book to read it's that brilliant. Well done Jenna. Would recommend to everyone.