Series Review: Billionaire by Vanessa Waltz

Series Review: Is this series worth your time? Does it get better as the novels progress? Or does it get worse? Find out below:

Synopsis for Break (from Goodreads):

What if a handsome billionaire offered you thousands to pretend to be his girlfriend? And what if you started to believe the lie?

Jessica has never had a boyfriend, and that’s just how she likes it. She’s still trying to rebuild herself from a sexually abusive past, and a guy – no matter how gorgeous – would only mess up the fragile balance of her life.

Almost-billionaire Luke Pardini is gorgeous, that’s for sure. He’s also desperate. His dying father thinks he’s too irresponsible to inherit the family estate, and Luke needs to convince his dad that he’s grown up and ready to settle down with a girl. Any girl.

With five billion dollars at stake, Luke can’t mess this up. But as he pretends to date Jessica, he finds himself drawn to her more than he’d like to admit. He has been hurt too many times to count, but Jessica is the one person who makes him feel safe. It could have been a Cinderella story, but both of them made a promise that their relationship was just for show, and neither of them is going to step over the line.

When Jessica’s secret past emerges on the front page of the tabloids, his dad threatens to disown him if he doesn’t sever ties with her. If their relationship was only a charade, the solution would be easy. But if it’s not…

Series: Billionaire
Author: Vanessa Waltz
# of Books: 2 (Break, Crash)
Book Order: Connected
Complete?: Yes
Genre: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Heat Rating: warm
Point of View: –
Publication Dates: February – April 2014
Source & Format: Own–eBook

**This post was originally posted as a Standalone review of the first book of the series. It has now been updated to reflect my conclusion to DNF this series. It will not be further updated.**

Why I Picked it Up / My Expectations:

For some reason, as soon as I picked up this book on Amazon for free one day, I just had to read it. I didn’t go in expecting a lot but I felt like there was a lot of promise and it was a free, quick read.

The Plot:

While the book was quick to read it greatly suffered from it.

The beginning, as I said, showed a lot of promise despite being extremely stereotypical of the New Adult Contemporary genre. I liked their initial connection and how they meet (it’s a good combo of the current books out there) but it just moves way too fast for me from there.

Throughout reading this novel, I just felt like pieces were missing from the plot. In one moment we were dealing with this plot issue and suddenly another issue is brought up and dealt with quickly. The dialogue was awkward and it was mostly dialogue which made reading the story equally awkward at times. The story overall could have used an editor to just build it up a bit more and make the story stand out on its own.

The Characters:

Now, the characters are another story. Jessica was just plain irritating. Honestly, grow a back bone because as a female myself, I was embarrassed by your lack of self-respect. There is a particular scene near the end that absolutely floored me because she didn’t think twice about her decision when she should have. But she truly has nothing on Luke who was a complete asshole throughout the novel. I admit, I have a huge soft spot for asshat-jerk leads but even I have a limit! He was just a complete tool and not in a loveable way. Frankly, he wasn’t worth the time Jessica spent on him but I guess they deserve each other based on their stupidity alone.

The only positive I felt from this book was their sexual tension. Before I realized what idiots they were, I enjoyed the sexual tension between them but it wasn’t enough to carry the book.