Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔 (I still wanted to know the mains better by the end of the story – I felt like I knew surface stuff)
Tension: ⚡⚡⚡ (It was instalust so it wasn’t super strong tension to me)
Romance: 💞💞💞 (I didn’t find a lot of the hero’s actions romantic….he spoiled her but he said a lot of things that were emotionally distancing instead of romantic)
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (I like my scenes a bit more detailed and more focus in their emotional state)
Intimate Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (ish – know that these scenes are shorter and might not actually feel this hot to others)
Humor: A touch
Perspective: third person from both hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: pretty soon in, 5% or end of chapter 1
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, a few years in the future

Should I read in order?
I believe this stands alone

Basic plot:
Grace and Odysseus meet at a masked ball – only to see each other unexpectedly the next morning when he realizes she works for his grandfather.

Give this a try if you want:
- contemporary romance
- Venice, Paris and private island setting
- Greek / Italian hero
- English heroine (? I think)
- billionaire hero
- size difference
- bit of an age gap – hero is older by 11 years
- cinderella vibes
- class difference
- instalust
- marriage of convenience
- emotionally constipated hero
- celibate hero
- masked ball
- medium to higher steam – 5-6 scenes in a shorter page count but the scenes are a touch on the short side

Ages:
- hero is 34, heroine is 23

My thoughts:
This book had so, so many of my favorite things – a masked ball, a marriage of convenience, and a hero that is ready to spoil the heroine and whisk her away to Paris and remote island destinations.

I even liked how emotionally constipated the hero was – he has a bad past and doesn’t know how to love – and those tend to me my favorite heroes. But I usually love it if they have this emotional breakdown over the heroine, like a gutting all is lost moment. And ultimately, this hero just didn’t quite get there for me so I knocked it a bit.

I thought he took it too far throughout the book with his rigidity. And I wanted him to go further at the end to make up and I felt like while he DID do it, he was still kind of waiting for her to make it easy for him and that annoyed me after how little he gave emotionally throughout the story.

But it did have some emotionally charged scenes I liked, including him being jealous….toxic but I still love it!

As for the narration, this was my first time listening to Alice Carax and I really loved their narration. They did fantastic varying the voices for different characters and I really loved her accents and male character voices. I would be excited to listen to them again.

A Greek billionaire offers a maid a marriage of convenience to save her from his family’s wrath. But their idyllic island wedding hides a cynical heart and a dangerous secret. This novel offers readers the intense, romantic, high-heat experience expected from Harlequin Presents. The audiobook narration was well-done.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

🎧4⭐⭐⭐⭐🎧

Thank you to Harlequin Audio and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to and review this book.

The narration was utterly wonderful. Alice Carax does a phenomenal job giving this story a voice.
From a chance meeting, a one-night stand with a complete stranger that was supposed to stay that way, only to be shocked at their next meeting.

This chance meeting turned into a whirlwind relationship that wasn’t supposed to be romantic, but chemistry and hearts don’t always play by the same rules.
I loved it, and I need more just like this.

SPOILERS!

A modern day Cinderella story set in Venice and Greece.

After a one-night stand without exchanging names, Odysseus and Grace meet each other at the his grandfather's estate—where Grace is the housekeeper. In a whirlwind romance, they agree to enter a marriage of convenience.

I thought the book was fast-paced and entertaining. The narrator was very engaging as well!

I was not a huge fan of the specifics in the marriage of convenience. I felt that his reasons for entering this arrangement were a little misogynIstic. And though at the end we find out his reasoning, I was not sure why Grace would agree. I did like her character growth towards the end.

Thank you Harlequin presents and Sharon Kendrick for the advance audio copy.

Fun novel with just the right amount of spice

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Grace has a harder life, tasked with working a job as a maid for a billionaire who doesn't treat her well so she had the money to pay for her grandmothers nursing home. So when her friends convince her to go to a masquerade ball she tosses her worries to the side and hooks up with Odysseus for a one night stand.

He turns out to be the grandson of her boss. And while he outwardly says he is not one for emotions or long term relationships. Grace is his kryptonite.

Arranged Marriage
Billionaire Romance
She fell first / He fell harder

I received an advance review copy audio version. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio, for the opportunity to listen to this book. Alice Carax did an amazing job narrating this audiobook

I quite enjoyed this book and narration. It is a quick listen where the narrator gives us a sexy accented male voice, a surprised woman's perspective and another voice which feels voyeuristic, but in the best of ways. If you are in need of a shorter romance, this is 4.5 hours well spent.

This book was interesting and fun to read/listen to. An arranged marriage where he falls first but doesn’t realize it and kind of leans into a beauty and the beast trope. The HEA was a long time coming and honestly didn’t feel like it was going to happen at all but love prevails in the end.
The narrator did a great job voicing the characters and the story provided lots of intriguing drama to keep it entertaining.