3 Stars
He’s a billionaire Duke, he owns a good ten per cent
of the UK, and he’s been voted Britain's Sexiest Aristocrat, but Oliver Harding
still doesn’t know what to do about the massive crush he has on his cleaner.
Lottie’s clumsy and really crap at her job, but her laugh is infectious, her
smile lights up the room, she’s insanely good at chess, and he can’t stop
thinking about her.
Aware of the power imbalance, he sets out to make
her his, and he thinks he’s getting somewhere until she seriously betrays his
trust. So now he tells himself he hates her, and he makes sure everyone knows
it. But once Ollie realizes that his privilege and self-absorption have made
him entitled and completely blind, he’s determined to win Lottie back. A fake
engagement might be a bit extreme, but his family had been getting its way for
five hundred years, and the Duke of Buckingham was no different from his
ancestors.
Lottie’s life is a struggle. She’s had to fight for
everything since going into foster care at the age of twelve. The Duke of
Buckingham, wouldn’t understand struggle if it smacked him in the face. He’s
got money and family coming out of his ears; she has twenty quid in her current
account and no family other than her traumatized, selectively mute
eight-year-old little sister, whom Lottie is determined to keep safe.
She doesn’t have time for handsome Dukes with silver
tongues. So she tells herself she’s not heartbroken when he turns on her like
she knew he would, putting everything she worked so hard for in jeopardy. She
needs to concentrate on survival. But Lottie underestimates just how charming
Ollie can be. Or what a formidable opponent his centuries-old, innate arrogance
makes him.
Oliver was a raging asshole throughout this book and
doesn’t really do anything to redeem himself at all. Lottie is just trying to
make ends meet and maybe get a head while raising her sister and he assumes a
lot. He learns the truth and still defaults to she must be after me for money.
He’s so degrading to her and doesn’t change or redeem himself. I’ve loved all
of Ms. Tate’s books and this one just seemed like he was just being cruel. It
was one that I put down several times and I struggled to finish it. Here’s
hoping her next one hits better for me.
