Gold Digger by Susie Tate

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.

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