“Maybe things are meant to be broken, so we learn how to fix them.”

Coming May 13, 2025- the next installment in Ava Rani’s Biotech Billionaires series!

My first Ava Rani book, and definitely not my last. I fell in love with Xander Sutton and Penelope Chen-Astor aka Poppy in this book. He’s in the tech space and she’s a lawyer and they are in the same circle of friends. Poppy and Xander are getting ready to join everyone at the beach to begin pre-wedding celebrations for her best friend’s wedding, but at the same time, Poppy is trying to dodge her familial obligation to follow her deceased grandfather’s wishes. If she doesn’t, she risks putting her family members in financial ruin- talk about pressure! Poppy is a strong, successful level-headed woman who is repulsed by the arranged marriage her family is pushing on her.

Xander (sweet Xander!) happens to appear at the right place at the right time, and before they know it, they have entered into a fake relationship that is heading right towards marriage- but just for a year so she can check her grandfather’s boxes and take care of herself and her family. Xander has always secretly had a thing for Poppy, but in recent years, he’s only been able to focus on recovering from the death of his parents while avoiding forming new connections that could eventually end in heartbreak. Best-laid plans, buddy, best laid-plans!

“But fair warning, I’m a little broken.”
“No. Just a little bent.”

As far as book boyfriends go, Xander is tops. He’s wealthy, intelligent, funny, deeply feeling and I have a feeling acts of service and gift giving may be his main love languages. This book has the exterior of a fluffy romance but at its core, it’s so much deeper.

Themes
-Marriage of Convenience
-Fake Dating/Fake Marriage
-Strong FMC
-Found Family


Genre: Contemporary Romance
Spice: Spicy!
Rating: 4
Series or Stand-Alone: Biotech Billionaires #3
Thanks to @authoravarani, @avonbooks, @netgalley for the ARC copy!
This is my honest review.

An interesting story but I couldn't get past the writing style. It really bothered me how the author used commas but then her tenses didn't match between the parts of the sentence.

Thanks to NetGalley & Avon & Harper Voyager for the arc!

**3.5 stars** I loved this! This is my first book I read by Ava Rani but now I want to read more of her books. If you’re looking for a feel-good, romance book with GREAT writing, look no further.

Part of an interconnected standalone series, “Biotech Billionaires”, we follow our badass female protagonist, Penelope Astor-Chen–a big shot lawyer make her own way in the big apple, escaping her familial obligations to return to Singapore to marry the match that has been made for her since forever to claim her inheritance. In hopes to be more independent and to escape the marriage clause, we meet our billionaire, Xander Sutton–cofounder of an investment capital firm and reformed player. After Penelope’s awkward encounter with her betrothed, she finds herself claiming she is engaged to Xander Sutton, much to his surprise. What starts as the typical fake-dating trope, leads to deeper feelings and undeniable attraction.

I’m genuinely surprised this author is not talked about enough in the book space! Her work has GREAT writing and is the perfect embodiment of a giggly, butterflies-in-the-tummy feeling romance readers would absolutely love. And there’s spice in this. This book is the third installment of an interconnected series though not necessary to read the first two, there are many cameos from the previous books so enjoy the first two then read this one!

Though I did enjoy this book, there were a couple of moments where I felt it dragged and the sibling rivalry felt short-lived. There wasn’t a good enough or concrete reason for there to be such a years-long rivalry. I can appreciate when the author takes the time to describe the clothing but the amount of backless dresses Penelope wears to social functions is comedic. Regardless, it made me laugh and it didn’t take away from the story.
This is a book I feel should be trending in the book space. Please read this (after reading the first two)! You will not regret it!

This was an interesting premise with both main characters being billionaires. It’s a marriage of convenience friends to lovers story in a corporate setting. The MMC gave golden retriever vibes and I wished there was a little more angst involved. I’m not a huge fan of miscommunication tropes and saw the third act break up coming from a mile away. Aside from those points, this was a breezy read.

Unfortunately I was unable to read this book. I was able to access it via a Read Now promo, but I did not realize it was part of a series and unfortunately my local libraries do not have the first two books available to access. The author noted on Instagram that you can read the books out of order, but when I started trying to read this book, there was no real backstory given, and it felt like I was thrust into the middle of an already on-going conversation.

This book has everything needed to be a 5 star read for me. I love billionaires, marriage of convenience, a golden retriever MMC. However, this book was frustrating at times. I really enjoyed the world and the premise of the story, but I wish the main characters had a little more depth. I also wish there was more angst between the main characters. I tend to prefer marriage of convenience, when they don’t give in to the tension early. It seemed like the third act breakup could’ve been completely avoided, if the characters communicated with each other at all. It also felt like the conflict was resolved super quickly, and I think it could’ve been drug out a little longer. Personally, I don’t see them making it much further together after the end of the book.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

The Charmer is Book 3 in the Biotech Billionaires series about a group of friends and coworkers who despite their millions and billions, still deal with things like meddling parents, psycho ex's, personal insecurity that drives every decision in life, and trying to NOT fall for your coworker. The Charmer being the last in the series wraps everything up nicely. The Charmer is a marriage of convenience, associates to lovers, he falls first romance. It hits all the best boxes of each trope and doesn't fall flat in the romance or spice department either. The author even plays with the miscommunication trope throughout the story and resolves it in a way I didn't quite expect but loved. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wouldn't be upset if there was a novella in the future about what the crew has been up to in the meantime. I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't put it down except to sleep!

4.5 ugh Xander has my heart. His relationship with Penelope is everything. The fact that he has his own nickname for her because he knows she hates Penny, even when her ex fiancé didn’t even know that, talk about swoon. The found family aspect is perfection, they adopted Penelope quickly into their circle, she just had a hard time accepting it. The banter was amazing and the circumstances that lead to Xander and Penelope faking an engagement and marriage was hilarious and perfect for them. Thank you Netgalley for the arc! I can’t wait to have a physical copy for my shelves

I knew I was going to love Xander’s story based on *gestures at everything* and when I realized it was going to be Penelope!!! Even better.

The two are SUCH good friends to their chosen people, and each of them have just the right defense mechanisms to be broke down only by each other. Xander makes Penelope feel important and cared for and special as a person even before there’s anything real between them. Penelope allows him to be open and vulnerable without pulling back or pushing him too far.

I literally cannot fathom any of the dollar amounts in these books. If a real life person had this much money I would loathe them on principal but thankfully they are fake and so we are allowed to love them.

I binged this whole series just so I could read this ARC.

A fun, easy read and my favorite book of the series.
This book serves the perfect opposites attract, "he falls first", and marriage of convenience tropes. The pacing of the plot was just right, and I loved Xander and Penelope’s banter throughout. I was extremely happy that there was no third act breakup, and they were able to resolve their issues together with maturity and grace.

My favorite book of the Biotech Billionaires series! Even throughout the other books Xander has always been my favorite character and I'm so happy he got his own book.

This was such a fast read and a perfect weekend escape. We meet Xander and Penelope, mutual friends in a chose family, who have had a mild flirtation over the years but are both sort of unclear on if one really likes the other or this is just how the other is. Some interesting circumstances align and they find themselves in the midst of a one year marriage of convenience. Both characters are strong and endearing and finding out more about themselves over the year. The romance is spicy and the drama is low grade. Their friends are hilarious and supportive. Love that there are so many diverse characters too! You will enjoy this book!

Thank you Avon, Harper Voyage and NetGalley for this ARC!

A sincere thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the review copy of this book.

Attorney Penelope needs to find a husband to save her inheritance and maintain her wealthy mother’s luxe lifestyle. Enter Xander - prankster tech billionaire who has been secretly nursing feeling for her for some time. The pair marry. The rest of the story unfolds with the new couple tackling Penelope’s unfortunate family life, Xander’s business ventures, and their budding feelings for each other.

Oh man. I wanted to like this one… but it just lacked that zip for me, that spark that makes you grin while reading a great book.

I have not read the first two books in this series and maybe they provide a little more backstory, but Penelope fell flat for me. I wanted little interesting pieces of her to hold onto, like Xander’s photographic memory. There just wasn’t much that made her stand out to me. If she’s supposed to be the foil to charming, goofy Xander, I wanted her to start out even more stiff, more poised, more restrained. I wanted to see her slowly melt into her true self under his consistent acceptance and care.

The storyline also fell a little flat for me. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much that gripped me and made me want to turn the page. I felt like we needed higher stakes - Xander had basically nothing to lose in this fake marriage other than maybe Penelope finding out his feelings for her were real. No one from her family seemed to be actually watching Penelope to make sure the marriage wasn’t a scam (I would’ve expected way more interference from them if she was truly the East/West capitalism unicorn they made her out to be). I felt like I was missing those classic tropes and obstacles that come with a marriage of convenience troupe.

I did enjoy the couple’s time in Singapore - the food, the parties, the culture. The most memorable seem for me was Penelope showing Xander around the night market.

Overall, this was not a bad book at all, just not one that made a big impression on me. If you enjoy billionaire romances, romances with international affairs, fake marriage romances, you may want to give this one a shot!

Y’all I have to admit I had never heard of this author or this series until I saw this as a “read now” on NetGalley. I 100% grabbed it on a whim because I saw that it was billionaire romance. If you’ve been with me for a while you know I’m a sucker for a good billionaire romance. However, the Biotech Billionaire series is so much more than that. This incredible series is written by a Biopic author and the series is filled with an amazing group of diverse characters and locations.

Y’all when I say I devoured this series it is not a figure of speech. I started book 1 on Sunday and just finished my arc copy of book 3 on Friday night. I have zero regrets on the chokehold this series had on my week. I 100% wish I had known about this earlier and on a personal level I wish I lived closer to Deerfield. Ava is going to a signing at the Steamy Lit bookstore and I wish I could attend, how dare I be 4 hours away and have to work.

But I digress back to “The Charmer” actual review. This was definitely my favorite of the series. Xander has been my favorite character from the beginning and I was waiting to see him get his love story. And Ava Rani did not disappoint.

“The Charmer” follows Penelope who is trying to get out of arranged company merge marriage. Then we have Xander our billionaire prankster who has been secretly crushing on Penelope. Xander sees an opportunity to become Penelope’s fake fiancée. When word gets out and the two enter a marriage of convenience in order to help Penelope get away from her families forced obligations.

This story was so much fun from beginning to end. I think my only gripe was the business acquisition/tech plot of the book got to be a smidge too much. But overall I do understand its importance. I loved our characters. Penelope is a strong, smart & savvy FMC. Xander is literally the glue holding the family together and I love him dearly for it. The slow burn romance between Penelope and Xander was also incredible. I loved watching their relationship blossom and strengthen throughout the entire book. Lastly I loved seeing all the past characters making an appearance. Being able to catch up and tie everything together was truly the icing on the cake.

Overall, I not only highly recommend “The Charmer”. I recommend the entire Biotech Billionaires series. I cannot wait to pick up my trophy copy of “The Charmer” when it releases later this May. Lastly big thank you to Avon and NetGalley for an arc of this book.

3.75 / 5 Stars

What a fun book! In “The Charmer,” Penelope is a badass, high power lawyer living in New York. She comes from two wealthy and powerful families and when her grandfather passed away, his will dictates that she must be married for a year to claim her inheritance (and her mom’s money is also tied in). The fiancé that has been arranged for her just isn’t it, so in a rash decision, she recruits Xander to be her fiancé. Xander is charming, wealthy, and has always had a soft spot for Penelope. How will their year-long marriage go? And how will it end?

I really enjoyed the main characters! Penelope is so smart and powerful and it was really cool to read a billionaire romance where both main characters were equals. I also related to her sense of duty to her family even when her family is not ideal (cough grandpa’s insane inheritance clause and her mother’s distance cough). Xander is a great male protagonist and it was fun to read a billionaire romance where the billionaire isn’t grumpy. At the very beginning, I was having a hard time connecting with their chemistry because it felt like it hinged on an event that happened in the past and that can be tough to connect with. But once, I was in, I was excited to keep reading!

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for providing this eARC! All opinions are my own!

This is a cute book. I had not read the previous installments which left me
just a bit confused, but in the end it did not really matter. I always love a
good story with a way to capture a man not likely to be domesticated
and this certainly delivered. It’s not to be over analyzed, simply enjoy the
lives we read about, and smile as Poppy and Xander truly fall in love~
with serious bonus points for the taming of Xander! Some R-rated
scenes, but they really are important to the evolution of the story.
My thanks to Aron Publishing for the download copy of this book for
review purposes.

3 stars

I love aspirational lifestyle stories. Reading about billionaires falling in love and throwing money around to live in luxury? Yes, please. So I was excited and primed to love The Charmer. Unfortunately, though, this book was largely a miss for me. The plotting felt rushed, and there were no real stakes. Penelope is estranged from her family which is a source of major strife throughout the novel, but every problem is resolved too easily and without any tension to build the storyline. The thing I love most about stories about billionaires is getting to read about the opulence and grandeur of a life I can only imagine (like Crazy Rich Asians or the Paradise Problem). The Charmer is light on any of those details, too, though, which felt like a real miss.

What Readers Can Expect:
-FMC of color
-Billionaires falling in love
-Fake marriage trope
-Family drama
-Found family
-3.5/5 spice

I love a fake marriage story, so I enjoyed the overall plot of this novel. Beyond that, though, this book didn't really deliver for me. So much of the chemistry between the FMC and MMC is told through allusion to events that happened in the past or through brief flashbacks so I never really felt like we got to witness it developing between them in real time. I also can't believe I'm saying this as a lover of all things smut, but there are so many back to back scenes of smut that do absolutely nothing for the story and feel like they're shoehorned in.

I liked the family drama and business intrigue elements of the story but they weren't super well developed which I think impacted the rest of the book. The characters felt very two dimensional, and every side character felt like a device not an actually developed character.

4.5 stars ⭐️ This is the third book of the Biotech Billionaires series. It’s romantic, cute and spicy!

What to expect:
- Marriage of convenience
- Both MCs are billionaires
- Friends to lovers
- Open door spice

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed The Charmer, even though I hadn’t read the first two books in the series—which I immediately downloaded on KU as soon as I finished. This one stands perfectly well on its own, but it hooked me enough that I want to go back and see what I missed.

The story follows a Singaporean-English woman caught in a complicated family situation. To secure her mother’s inheritance, she agrees to a marriage of convenience with a billionaire “charmer” who has a reputation for good-natured, serial monogamy and a genuinely good heart. What starts as an "oopsie" misunderstanding quickly turns into something much deeper, and watching their relationship shift was so satisfying. Their dynamic is built on great banter, real emotional connection, and chemistry that sneaks up on her (I do love it when he falls first.).

I like when a romance gives me strong character development, and this one delivers. The heroine is smart, determined, and deeply loyal, while the hero—who could have been just another rich playboy—is layered, kind, and absolutely the kind of character you root for. The writing is sharp, the pacing is great, and the scenes-especially in Singapore and the Hamptons-act as character as well as plot development. If you like marriage-of-convenience stories with actual emotional stakes, The Charmer is definitely worth picking up. 4.5/5

Ava Rani’s “The Charmer,” the third installment in the Biotech Billionaire series, centers around Penelope and Xander’s relationship. Even though I haven’t read the previous books, I was able to follow the story and get to know the characters well. It gives a glimpse into the lavish lifestyles of the wealthy and famous, from their exclusive social clubs to their private jets and fancy clothes.

This was a fun marriage of convenience contemporary romance with a lot of rich people. With dual POV, I loved being in each characters heads to see not only their own growth but also how hard they each fell for the other. Xander is swoony. All he wanted to do was given Penelope the tools to use them however she pleased. He truly would say "how high" if she asked him to jump. Xander grew equally as much throughout the story. They each learned to rely on the other to seek calmness and I truly loved that. Ultimately, I wasn't sure how the espionage plot was going to come into play, but I thought it helped push the plot forward in a way that felt satisfying. My first from the author and certainly won't be my last.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy!