Heroine Camryn McBride is the Chief Financial Officer of McBride Media, a communications company she runs with her sisters (the heroines of the other books in the series) after taking over from their wanker of a father nearly a decade ago. Having been burned by love and let down by men repeatedly, Camryn eats, breathes, and sleeps financial reports and spreadsheets—so she’s great at (and extremely committed to) her job but shies away from personal relationships beyond those she has with her sisters. And even those are changing, with both of them now married to the loves of their lives. Hero Booth Harrison has spent his life trying to step out from under the shadow of his overbearing, arrogant, and way-too-old-school father as the heir apparent to the family’s publishing empire. With both Camryn and Booth working in the same industry, their paths were bound to cross—but Booth’s half-brother Nathan is married to one of Camryn’s sisters (an additional complication from Camryn’s point of view) so Booth has fancied her for months and has finally decided to go full-out after what he wants. Being the hands-on, motivational leader that he is, Booth treats his employees to an exotic locale (Hawaii) for the company’s annual sales conference, and with their keynote speaker cancelling two weeks before the conference, Booth convinces Camryn to take the speaker’s place. Sparks fly in paradise, a business deal falls through, and some shady ethics come to light and threaten to drive a wedge between Booth and Camryn—none of it is particularly novel and the conflict could have been built up and explored more deeply for a stronger emotional punch, but the tropes are well executed and Booth and Camryn are just so darn cute.
I really enjoyed Booth; he takes that romance hero perfection a bit to the extreme and really is too unbelievably good to be true, but I thoroughly enjoyed his attempts to woo Camryn. He sees and respects her for who she is—a gorgeous, intelligent, accomplished businesswoman who needs to let go of her rigid rules and live a little—and goes out of his way to prove to her that he’s not like the other men in her life. He has some family and former-commitmentphobe issues that purport to give him some depth, but given the short length of the book it’s all very straightforward. I liked Camryn as well; the way she has it completely together in her professional life but is a total mess in the personal arena makes her very relatable and likable, even if she’s a pretty cookie-cutter romance heroine. Emotionally unavailable father? Check. Presumed love of her life who put his needs and career ahead of hers at a personally trying time? Check. List of boyfriends who always find something to change or criticize? Check. There’s nothing novel about Camryn, but I liked her smarts and her wit, and that groveling scene at the end was equal parts goofy and aww-inducing. I even liked the “villain”, Booth’s conniving wanker of a father; he’s almost an overblown caricature of the hardnosed businessman willing to do anything for success, but watching him get his comeuppance was good fun.
Overall, THE BILLIONAIRE’S DEMANDS was an enjoyable—if thoroughly predictable—quick read that was a nice change of pace from my usual darker reads. It’s contemporary romance at its most basic, with the ‘plot’ centered exclusively on the development of the relationship between the protagonists and no significant conflict. The characters are enjoyable and the writing is crisp and witty, so I’d recommend it to fans of the previous books or anyone looking for a quick shot of romance with a particular penchant for boardrooms.
**ARC provided by Publisher**
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