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Wow! Liam & Briar’s Fake Engagement Romance Has It All – Humor, Steam, Romance, Mystery ...
Commenté aux États-Unis le 5 décembre 2021
Great Banter, & Tragedy. The Series Keeps Getting Better. Don’t Forget To Download The Free Bonus Epilogue Via The Link At The Back Of The Book!
ABOUT THE PIERCE FAMILY:
This is the second book about the Pierce siblings, and the series keeps getting better. The first book, Broken Beast, is Adam and Danielle’s Beauty and the Beast-inspired billionaire romance. This is Liam and Briar’s fake engagement story.
The Pierces may live like royalty, but their fortunes haven’t insulated them from the heartbreak associated with grief. They have been beset by a series of losses, and it never gets easier. This series shows the family as they grieve and stumble upon the inspiration to find happiness once again. They grow from their pain, and although changed, they find strength and beauty in moving on with life.
Simon, thirty-two, and Adam, twenty-nine, are the serious-minded brothers. Liam, twenty-seven, is fun-loving and incorrigible much like Sebastian had been. Adam and Bash had been close despite their opposite personalities. Simon and Liam, however, always seem to be at odds. They all work at Pierce Industries, a tech company, in NYC. One of their specialties is cyber security.
A few years ago, the brothers learned that they had a younger half-sister. Opal had lost her own mother and learned that she had four brothers – and a large inheritance that would one day be hers – when she turned sixteen. She moved in with Simon and became the Park Avenue Princess almost overnight. Having just graduated from high school and turned eighteen, she wants desperately to be all grown up, but Simon’s overprotective leanings have her rather frustrated. Personality-wise, Opal is bold and obnoxious, much like Liam, and like Bash had been as well.
The Pierce mansion, with its fairy tale aura, sits about three hours outside of NYC, far removed from society. The Pierce brothers were raised there in a life of privilege, but their wealth did nothing to insulate them from pain. Simon, Adam, Liam, and Sebastian didn’t have their mother around growing up, and they later lost their father as well. That was fifteen years ago. Patricia, who runs the house, did her best to manage the boys growing up and has a deep affection for them still. She is the closest they have to a mother figure. After their father’s death, Preston Charles, a family friend, had become a father figure. Since the loss of Sebastian a year ago, however, nothing has been the same.
IN THIS BOOK:
As the story opens, it is May in NYC.
Liam Pierce, twenty-seven, is the CFO of Pierce Industries. Numbers always made sense to him, so he leaves the tech side of the business to his brothers. Liam is fiercely independent and insists on doing things his own way. He is excellent at reading people, a skill that he puts to good use with his penchant for obnoxious lines that push the bounds of decency and test the patience of those around him. He is naturally charming but impossibly difficult. He always wears a smile, but it is often used as a shield to mask his vulnerability.
Liam knew since he was fifteen that freedom was a priority for him. He has had a few casual relationships with women, but he learned years ago that women inevitably want more. He might value his freedom, but he hates hurting people, so he eventually moved on to casual hookups instead. At work, he is called the Playboy Prince, but there are certain lines he won’t cross, and sleeping with someone from the office is at the top of that list.
Briar West, twenty-four, has worked at Pierce Industries for two years as the CFO’s assistant. She had graduated with an English degree and a focus in Russian literature, which didn’t leave her with a lot of choices in terms of employment. Liam Pierce, however, gave her a chance. More than that, he lets her be herself. She is a punk rock princess – she rocks purple hair, combat boots, and a cynical attitude.
Working up the corporate ladder is not Briar’s life goal. She hopes to launch a mental illness support app in the next six months. As someone that has struggled with depression, she knows from personal experience just how valuable that app could be and how much it could impact the lives of those that suffer from depression – people like her mother.
Her mother’s depression had a big impact on Briar growing up, and she never wants to be like that. She also doesn’t want to be stuck in a miserable marriage. Her father’s cheating ways wreaked havoc on her mother’s mental health, and Briar doesn’t ever want to be in a relationship like that. She wants honesty and open dialogue. She wants it all – minus the marriage certificate.
Liam and Harrison Charles, Preston’s son, had gone to school together and spent a lot of time together growing up, so Liam is particularly close to Preston, his father figure. When Preston asks Liam to keep a secret, it puts him between a rock and a hard place. Harrison’s wedding is in two weeks, and Preston wants it to go off without a hitch, but he needs help. Liam doesn’t want the burden of keeping a secret, and he isn’t entirely convinced keeping it is the right thing to do. But Preston is dying, and he cannot deny a dying man his last wish.
Liam agrees to help keep Harrison distracted from Preston’s deteriorating condition, but it is one of the hardest things he has ever had to do. He is secretly mourning the inevitable loss of Preston while putting up a ruse. Yet it gets even more complicated when Preston mistakes Briar’s fake engagement ring for something real. Preston is so happy to see that his most difficult son is finally settling down that Liam doesn’t have the heart to correct him.
Liam enlists Briar’s help in pulling off their fake engagement, but she is no pushover. He offers to help get her app launched, and she negotiates like the pro he taught her to be. Since people have been convinced that the pair have been sleeping together for months, pulling off a fake engagement isn’t too hard. But as the couple is forced to spend more time together, the feelings that have been building for the past two years become hard to deny. They each bring a tremendous amount of baggage to their budding relationship, but they eventually find a happy ending. Don’t forget to download the free bonus epilogue via the link at the back of the book!
Ruthless Rival follows. It is Simon and Vanessa’s second chance romance.
Wow! Liam and Briar’s story is beautiful. It is complex and real and will have you transfixed. It is hard to see more tragedy visit the Pierce family, and the burden that Liam carries is unimaginable. This family really grows on you and I cannot wait to read more.
Briar is full of spunk and personality. She is the perfect complement to Liam, who is truly obnoxious. She is uniquely qualified to put up with him, and he is certainly a handful. She knows how to throw it back to him, and their banter is a lot of fun. It explains why so many already considered them a couple. Briar comes to the relationship with a lot of baggage. She is not good with feelings, and her views on marriage are a real problem. Liam has baggage, too, but his aversion to relationships and marriage is a personal choice more so than a reaction. He values his freedom. Although his engagement is fake, the charade forces him to evaluate the situation and reconsider his position as it relates to Briar.
Fans will be thrilled to discover that Ian Hunt from Dirty Desires appears in this story in a small crossover between this series and the Dirty Rich series.
Liam and Briar’s fake engagement romance has it all. There is humor, romance, steam, mystery, great banter, and tragedy. Circumstance forces Liam and Briar into closer quarters, and they finally confront their feelings for one another as a result. Neither is interested in marriage, and both are afraid of what they feel for the other. They would rather keep their heads in the sand, but that becomes impossible once Briar moves in temporarily. Danielle, Opal, and Simon add to the story, and a few new characters are introduced here as well. Despite the drama, there continues to be a strong sense of family amongst the Pierces.
Liam and Briar’s steamy billionaire romance has fabulous banter and characters with depth. Liam is seemingly obnoxious and shallow, but there is so much more to him beneath the surface. Briar is feisty and strong, but she is also stuck in her childhood, haunted by her parents’ disastrous marriage. The story is wonderfully written. The plot is somewhat simple. The characters are multi-dimensional and complex. The banter is fantastic, but the dialogue is occasionally confusing. The speakers are sometimes hard to follow. The story is written in first person. The POV alternates between Liam and Briar. I rate this book 4.5 stars.
I received an advance copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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