THE TAMING OF THE BILLIONAIRE – Jessica Clare
Billionaires and Bridesmaid s, Book 2
Penguin/Intermix (eBook)
ISBN-13:  978-0-698-18694-1
July 2015
Contemporary Romance

New York City – Present Day

Just her luck, Edie has been asked to be a bridesmaid for her friend Gretchen.  Only Gretchen's fiancé's mansion, Buchanan Manor, has steps leading to the front door.  With a bad knee, often just walking is difficult for her, especially when her sister Bianca treats her like an idiot child.  But Gretchen is walking on air and wants a dream of a wedding, and billionaire Hunter Buchanan, her fiancé, is going along with anything she wants.  Bianca asked herself along to “drive” Edie and meet her friend Gretchen's man, even though Edie knows Gretchen really doesn't like her sister.  As Edie's going to the kitchen, she hears three men, who she later finds out are the groom's men, talking about making time with what are probably hot chicks for bridesmaids.  When one deep voiced man says they are probably cat ladies that will kill any romantic feelings, Edie bursts in the room.  Why?  Well, Edie has seven cats and is a cat behaviorist, she helps cats get along with their owners.  A really bad way to meet the hot groomsman, Magnus.

Magnus and his brother Levi make new video games, and when their first game sold for two billion dollars—yes, you heard correct—they started their own company.  After the engagement dinner, his brother Levi has again fallen for a woman, Edie's sister, Bianca.  His life won't be worth living without getting closer to her and dating her, and not only not worth living, he won't work on their next game, due in two months for 550 million dollars.  Magnus does the hard work on the projects, and Levi is the genius for inventing ideas for the game, and Magnus puts them together.  To get his work done, Levi suggests Magnus date Edie so he has time to be with Bianca.  What else can Magnus do but get his assistant to buy the worst behaving and looking rescue cat and ask Edie for help getting “Cujo” used to his new environment.

Magnus convinces Edie to come and help his cat and dates her to free up Levi's time to date Bianca, but he quickly grows to appreciate Edie for herself.  But soon he is worried what will happen and how awful it will be when she finds out the truth, that he was using her.  Edie, after being urged by her sister, decides to date Magnus, and despite acknowledging she is often cranky, Magnus soon has her falling for him.  Soon, though, Magnus's brother Levi is having trouble with Bianca and refuses to do any work on their game.  It is only Edie's influence on him that enables him to overcome this huge problem.

Jessica Clare has written several “billionaire” stories, and each one has its own special magic.  Magnus has immersed himself in work and all the money it is bringing in, but working with his brother is dreadful.  Edie doesn't try to be what she isn't; she usually has cat hair all over and wears her hair in short braids to keep it out of the way.  She can't believe the good-looking Magnus is interested in her, and finding out why breaks her heart.

This group of secondary characters has been in several other of Jessica Clare's stories, and we are getting to know them; Gretchen and Hunter, Hunter's friends Asher and Logan, Levi, Magnus's brother, and Edie's sister Bianca, whose secret involving Edie devastates her to her soul.

THE TAMING OF THE BILLIONAIRE is another delightful story about a group of billionaire friends as they are each finding their mates.  Despite Edie's faith in Magnus being broken, Magnus doesn't give up and finally convinces her he is the only man for her; he finds out some things about himself because Edie believes in him.  If you like Jessica Clare's books, the first story in THE BILLIONAIRES AND BRIDESMAIDS series was THE BILLIONAIRE AND THE VIRGIN (February 2015).  If you dream of finding a billionaire of your own, THE TAMING OF THE BILLIONAIRE will whet your appetite.

Carolyn Crisher