Jackie Ashenden

The Billionaire’s Virgin by Jackie Ashenden
A Billionaire Fairytale

This story, for some reason, reminded me a bit of The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson. That said, I much prefer this modern version with a happy ending.

Mia has lived on the streets since she was thirteen. She is a survivor and very skittish. She has dreams but roadblocks continue to thwart her as winter sets in. When she walks into the shelter for a meal one evening she catches the eye of Xavier who is doing show more public service as penance for his last bad behavior. Their interactions are few in the shelter before one cold night he saves her from the fate of the match girl in the fairytale. And, as time goes on they share, become closer to one another and deal with their own demons as they forge a relationship that means “home” to each of them.

This is a deeper story than I was expecting and one that grabbed me a bit more with each page I read. I enjoy a book that makes me think and feel and this story did just that. I came away thankful for what I have and not willing to take any of it for granted.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4.5 Stars show less

The June 2023 #TBRChallenge is "Love is Love." I originally thought my pick would be ODAO for this month, but as it turns out, this story features two rather unique protagonists, each of whom doubts their ability to love and/or their worthiness of another's love.

Rose is a young woman with no identity. Abducted as a child and sold into servitude, she doesn't know anything about her past or even her real name. (She was named 'Rose' by a fellow abductee.) She was given a very basic education - show more literacy and basic math skills - before being set to work as a house servant, cleaning rooms in a Black Sea resort owned by a Russian oligarch.

Rose has heard through the grapevine that she's about to be sold, however, and basically takes her last chance to escape from the oligarch's clutches. She approaches a man, a guest who arrives once a year and stays only a short while, and basically the only one who doesn't treat her like a servant or a sex object. She takes a chance and asks this man to help her escape. She's willing to do whatever it takes to avoid being sold on, up to and including using her body.

Luckily for her, the man she approaches doesn't care to transact business and sex. Ares Aristiades is a widower, the former son-in-law of the oligarch who basically pays an annual visit out of some sense of obligation to his deceased wife. He takes an interest in Rose because she is forward enough to request his help, and he sees a fighting spirit in her that appeals to him. He wasn't aware that his father-in-law trafficked in people, but gets straight to the point and buys Rose's freedom that same day. The two leave shortly thereafter, taking off in Ares's helicopter and leaving the Black Sea compound for good.

Rose has only known transaction in her life; she feels like she is in debt to this man (she doesn't even know his name at this point) because he bought her freedom. Ares tries to tell her she isn't, but when she insists on paying it, he tells her that what he wants in a wife, to give him heirs for his fortune. Rose quickly agrees to marry him and give him children as payment for buying her freedom, but Ares gives her conditions: they will marry, but they will spend two weeks together for every season of the year getting to know each other before they consummate the marriage. If, at the end of the year, Rose doesn't want to stay married to him, they will annul the marriage and go their separate ways.

True to his word, they fly to Istanbul, get married, and part ways. Rose learns his name when he gives her a copy of their marriage certificate as part of her identity documentation. Rose goes to Paris, gets a job and an apartment, and sets out to find out about her past - as well as her mysterious, horribly disfigured husband.

This being HP, this is of course the escapist fantasy world of ridiculous wealth. Ares is a self-made billionaire with a high tech security company. He owns villas and mansions and even freaking castles. But there is an intrusion of reality into this world: Russian oligarchy and human trafficking, both of which play pretty big roles in this story. Rose struggles a lot with adjusting to the world outside of servitude. She marvels in being able to open a bank account, dye her hair outrageous colors, watch movies and read books. Finding out who she was before she was abducted is a major goal of hers.

Ares has built up walls around his own heart, and banished every emotion he ever felt in the wake of his wife's death. He was burned in the fire that killed her, and carries the scars over literally half of his body. The pain from the burns is gone, but he blames himself for her death; everything he does after that, including his mysterious billion-dollar empire, is built in her name and trying to live a life she would approve of. He's given up on the idea of romantic love, and only now that he's getting older (I pegged him somewhere around 40) does he start thinking about fulfilling his promise to his wife (and his father) to continue the family name. He's attracted to Rose, both physically and cerebrally, and enjoys matching wills with her, but deep down he believes she could never really love him.

Rose grows to trust Ares as they have their two-week meetings every three months, and quickly grows infatuated with him. She has never looked at his disfigurement with pity or dismay; once she understands what she's feeling is sexual desire, she is all about quenching that particular thirst, LOL. She has agency and makes choices and pushes him to tell her things about himself, out of curiosity and gratitude but also because he rescued her and she loves him for that, more than anything else.

Ares learns of Rose's past identity and that brings matters to a head between them. Rose demands to know more about him than he's comfortable telling, because why should he know everything about her when she can't say the same? It ultimately drives them apart and forces them to really look at themselves and what they want - from their relationship, but also from the world in general.

I really loved this story because it is purely character driven. The "action" takes place off page, which may be off-putting to others, but it felt right to me because it allowed us to concentrate on the characters and their growing emotional entanglement. They have sexual chemistry in scads from the off, and the buildup to their first sexual encounter is delicious. What makes it better is that they appreciate each others' fighting spirit, agency, and will. The push-pull between them is really, really great.

Ares isn't an asshole, and Rose isn't an idiot. They both kinda want to save each other from themselves. Ares realizes he loves Rose and tries to exit the relationship because he doesn't feel worthy of her, but she doesn't give up and basically brings the battle to him. It's a refreshing change of pace for the typical romance beats in an HP.

I loved this and am adding this author to my auto-read and auto-buy lists. This is the second in a duology and hopefully I can still find the first one fairly easily! I have another of her books on my shelf (not related to this) which I will definitely move up Mount TBR as well. show less

The Big, Bad Billionaire by Jackie Ashenden
Billionaire Fairy Tales #4

A book you will love or hate…and so say the reviews.

At first I felt that Rafe was a manipulative jerk that wanted what he wanted and would do anything to get it…no matter what. Setting his eyes on Ella and pushing her into spending time with him seemed wrong in many ways BUT as I got to know Rafe and how he had been raised his behavior did make more sense.

There was an age gap between Rafe and Ella of about twelve show more years. I don’t find that so great except that Ella at twenty was rather naïve, sheltered and anxious so a stronger more dominant older male might not have been the best partner for her…though the book does work and the two do bring peace to one another once they get things worked out.

I felt so sorry for both Rafe and Ella. There were traumas in their lives neither really deserved. There are no doubt people who live such lives but reading about them is not always easy. The issues that might bother some are not easily shared without giving away a significant portion of at least one backstory so…just be warned this is dark and there might be issues for some of you considering reading this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press-Swerve for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars show less

Jackie Ashenden’s Make it Hurt is aptly titled. It hurt so much, I actually stopped reading right in the middle and didn’t come back to it for a few months. But I’m glad I did.

Nora Sutcliffe is a bounty hunter bad ass. Unfortunately, her next target brings her up close and personal to Smith, current MC president and former boyfriend/lover. Smith has never forgiven Nora for the wrong she did him back in the day and now that he’s got something Nora wants, he’s going to get his show more revenge-- the sexy way, of course.

So Smith has a huge chip on his shoulder, a burning grudge he’s been holding for years and years. And he doesn’t hold back from confronting Nora with all of his anger and grief. It’s hard and mean and rough. So rough, I walked away from the book, thinking there was no way the two characters could get to a happy ending.

But something about the book called me back. Maybe it was Nora’s mix of vulnerability and hardness. Maybe it was the passion and need underneath Smith’s anger. They had chemistry and it was delightful to read about. Ashenden injected a lot of angst into the story, but it never felt overwrought or contrived. Even though there was a lot of shit to work through, and a lot of anger and denial for both characters, I enjoyed reading as they fought against each other and for each other. show less