Review: The Bad Boy Billionaire: What A Girl Wants by Maya Rodale
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 19, 2014
The third engrossing novella in the entertaining and very enjoyable Bad Boys series by Maya Rodale, a fresh and sassy voice in romance.This has been a fabulous and fun series. The characters, the flow of dialogue and narrative, and just the turn-the-pages anticipation have been truly enjoyable. The Bad Boy Billionaire series runs concurrently with Rodale’s wonderful historical Wallflowers series. Different time periods but women and men still interact in the same ways, with the same devastating consequences. This book follows the plot and action of What a Wallflower Wants, Prudence’s story.Jane Sparks, a librarian, has lost her fake engagement ring and, with it, her streak of good luck. After two successful historical romances based on her actual life, she has writer’s block. Her favorite sweater has gone missing at the dry cleaners, her train line is under construction, and she has a noisy neighbor. But Duke Austen, her hot billionaire boyfriend, is having phenomenal luck: his company is on the upswing.Jane’s ex boyfriend, Sam, is going through hard times. I thought it was funny when Jane picks out an outfit that says “FRIEND ZONE”—Rodale’s fun trademark capital letters for dramatic emphasis—when she agrees to meet Sam for a quick drink. He was the man of her dreams who broke her heart and, to her surprise (and relief) she finds she no longer has warm feelings toward him.“I could be at home, writing. Or I could be at Duke’s, having orgasms.” (p18)Sam takes advantage of Jane’s kindness and, in a terrifying scene, tries to rape her. Jane is frightened and confused and feels bad he is going through a rough time in his life. But he dumped her, after all.“Tonight I realized I didn’t want Sam to touch me anymore.” (p19)When Sam disparages Jane’s romance novel success, Rodale inserts her usual enlightening defense and justification of romance novels.“‘Sam, all kinds of women read romance novels. Red states, blue states. Happily married, or single. Young, old. Lots of education. Or a little.” (p20)Hurricane Geoffrey triggers a massive power outage in New York City and mirrors everyday life in Regency England. Duke misses the Internet and Jane misses her iPhone. She has to write her story in long hand while Duke reads on his Kindle until its power dies. There are no subways, no running water to Duke’s high apartment floor, and no electricity.But they’re also enjoying the closeness that Jane’s terrifying experience, candlelight, and deep conversation can bring. Their little note exchange is adorable and sweet and I love that Duke doesn’t press Jane for sexual intimacy after her traumatic experience. In fact, one night, all he does is kiss and hold her. Duke is very kind and thoughtful. He gets her a hotel room so she can enjoy a hot shower and even includes a room for her best friend, the hard-as-nails Roxanna. Jane realizes that he truly loves her and would never, ever hurt her.“But Duke…he’d been down, he’d been up and he’d been walking the razor’s edge of complete disaster or unfathomable success. And he did it all with a bone deep confidence and certainty in himself. He didn’t need to bring anyone down to raise himself up. That is what made him so damn sexy.” (p41)I love the Jane Austen references, especially when they fly right over Duke’s head. And yet he’s willing to let Jane tell him about them. Jane calls him her “rogue.”“Like a charming, devil-may-care, up-to-no-good-and-he-liked-it rogue.” (p79)The ending is fantastic; very romantic and sexy. Especially after her small-minded, small town reunion. Jane realizes she’s so much more than where she grew up. And we learn the mystery of the missing fake engagement ring.There is one little blooper. In chapter five, we learn that Duke has no candles in his apartment yet, in chapter six, still in his apartment, they are surrounded by them. Even if they had bought them, they had used up all their cash at the bar and, without electricity, they could not use an ATM. But no matter, a minor detail. And though there were several typos in my version, they didn’t detract too much from the story. It’s a nuisance sometimes to be the grammar police. I just itch to let the author know so they can be fixed.This novella, the last in the series (sob!), is much darker in tone than the first two, bringing out Jane’s vulnerabilities and Duke’s maturity. It’s thoughtful, sexy, and smart. I loved it. Highly recommended!