The Billionaire's Private Scandal

Invested in Love #3

By Jenna Bayley-Burke

Releasing July 10th, 2017

Entangled Publishing

In The Bilionaire's Private Scandal by Jenna Bayley-Burke, Megan Carlton and Brandon Knight were happy and in love until he betrayed her. The hostile takeover he pulled off of her family's hotel empire cost her everything and now Megan is barely staying afloat serving coffee and surviving on the tips she earns. When Brandon walks into the coffee shop where she's working, Megan does her best to ignore him. But she should know by now that he doesn't give up when he wants something. Will Megan be able to forgive him for what he did or has he hurt her too much to be given a second shot at forever after?

What a captivating enemy to lovers story Ms. Burke has penned in this story, encompassing a heroine hurt due to the betrayal by the man she loved; and a hero determined to make things right and prove what the heroine believes he did is all a misunderstanding. The way this story started had me sympathizing with the heroine, as she's surviving the best she can and coming face-to-face with Brandon again brings everything she's tried so hard to forget to the surface. Will Brandon be able to win back Megan?

As for the main characters, both the hero and heroine were entertaining due to their history and the dialogue was intense due to how the heroine believes the hero betrayed her in more ways than one and the harsh name calling the heroine hurls at someone she believes is the 'other woman'. However, there were a couple of really good light-hearted moments that had me believing there was hope for this couple, even though Megan doesn't make it easy for Brandon to convince her of his side of the story. That he thought what he was doing was a good thing, and hoped she'd see it that way too, because of how much she loved her family's hotel empire.

Moreover, the heroine was strong and brave in how she managed to keep going after Brandon's betrayal. Certainly, she didn't give up on getting her life back on track, even though she lost everything such as her home, her money and any friends she had. I also liked that she stands up to Brandon when he gets bossy and makes her feel like a prisoner. While Brandon, I liked how confident and determined he was to win the heroine back, even though Megan puts up quite a challenge because of what she believes the hero did. I also liked that the hero knew when to back off, instead of forcing her to face the truth and realize that what he did was the right thing to do.

Overall, Ms. Burke has penned a fascinating read in this story where the couple being at odds delivers really strong chemistry, and ups the sexual tension until it spills over onto the pages in hot sex scenes that illustrated how good these two are together. Furthermore, the way this story ended left me a tad frustrated. I felt like the story wasn't wrapped up enough to leave me completely satisfied. Why wasn't there an epilogue to show how far this couple have come since Megan made the right decision when it came to their relationship? However, I did like Brandon's decision when it came to the Carlton family empire, how the heroine was with her sisters towards the end and what Megan is going to do for the woman she believed Brandon betrayed her with. I would recommend The Billionaire's Private Scandal by Jenna Bayley-Burke, if you enjoy the enemy to lovers trope or books by authors Sonya Weiss, Lexxie Couper, Diana Alberts or Amy Ayers.

SYNOPSIS:

Megan Carlton’s secret affair with financier Brandon Knight ended when he pulled off a hostile takeover of her family’s hotel empire and then kissed another woman. Broke and alone, Megan starts a new life and learns to stand on her own, then Brandon finds her serving coffee and surviving on tips and tries to pull her back into her old life and his arms. She thought she was over him, and she certainly can’t ever trust him again. But what her head knows and her heart feels are two different things.

Brandon was used to always getting what he wanted, then the woman he loves disappeared without a word. When he finds her months later working as a barista, he wonders if she’s suffering from amnesia. Getting a scalding Americano to the chest proves she recognizes him, but she’s got the situation—and him—all wrong. Now all he has to do is prove it.

BUY:

Amazon AU

“You want so badly to paint me the villain in this, but I didn’t do anything wrong.”

She froze, anger boiling up from deep within her. It took her a few breaths before she could speak without wanting to spear him with a fork. Lucky for her, she’d had months to think about what she’d say to him.

“Spare me your guilt-induced back pedaling. If you don’t like yourself very much right now, it’s because of what you did, not how I reacted to it. It’s one thing to play me as hard and as rough as you did, it’s quite another to try and wrap it up in a pretty package and call it altruistic. Millionaires quake when you start buying into their companies because they know you plan on restructuring them right out of their income bracket, not because you are known for being soft and cuddly.”

“I’m talking about this deal, Meg.” He tapped his finger on the table for emphasis.

“This deal, not all the ones I did before or have done since. He was destroying something you were proud of.”

“I’m sorry, but my father isn’t at this table. I’m talking about you, Brandon. If you really were trying to save Carlton Hotels for me, you would have told me before it all went down.”

“If I’d have told you, you would have run straight to him.”

“You do see where your selfless logic gets fuzzy here, right?”

Brandon’s chest rose and fell as he huffed a deep breath. “You are exasperating. How hard is it to see that I was trying to do this for you, as a gift.”

“La Perla is a gift, Brandon.” She tamped down the images of just how much of the pricey lingerie he’d given her over the years. “Taking my family’s business for your own isn’t something you do to say happy birthday.”

ABOUT JENNA BAYLEY-BURKE

By day, Jenna is faster than a speeding toddler, stronger than a stubborn husband, able to leap tall Lego structures in a single bound…but by night, while the family sleeps she writes romance novels where no one ever has to scoop up after the dog, change diapers, clip coupons, drive carpool, do laundry, mop floors, get silly putty out of hair, vacuum, empty the vacuum bag (gross!), exercise, count calories, apply bandaids, clean up puke…wait where was this going? Oh, Jenna writes romance because it is glamorous. Just ask the dog.