Hello everyone!
FINALLY, it's here!
When I started reading Serenity Woods' new series, The Billionaire Kings, that cover the lives (and love) of the King offspring, the very first thing I said as the key players were introduced was that Noah King deserved his own story.
I can now happily say he absolutely gets it!
I can also say that I've been invited to join the Kiwi Birds, the ARC group who occasionally receive Ms Woods' work in advance to review it, and I couldn't be happier.
I know I owe a trilogy conclusion on this blog, but I also have one more romance book from down under waiting to be discussed on here so I think I'm going to do that next week and then finish off Rick Riordan's short story trilogy after that.
Before I do it, however, it's actually time for Noah's story.
It's time for My Lonely Billionaire.
You'll find links to the previous books from this series down at the bottom of the page. And as I've said at the beginning, I received this ARC in return for an honest review; all opinions are my own.
If you've been reading along, however, you'll know that Noah is the adopted son of Matt King, who makes his debut in A Secret Parcel, and who's had a tough life so far; his biological father committed suicide when he was ten/eleven, and he had a difficult time at school where he was acting out for a while. Matt then took him under his wing and he went on to get an art degree, and even married whom he presumed to be the love of his life; they were expecting a baby together.
Unfortunately, however, things don't seem to be all that easy for anyone with the King surname, and the same goes for Noah, who loses both wife and child through complications, first with his stillborn daughter, and then his wife afterwards. This triggers several problems for him, most notably agoraphobia, and he becomes a recluse in his own home, although he does build the Ark and draws all his siblings and cousins there to work together.
This is where our story truly begins.
Three Kings are now in happy relationships (Hal, Leon and Albie) when Noah's housekeeper has to leave her job because her mother has cancer, but she recommends Abby for the job, a young woman who just so happens to also be eight months pregnant.
Noah, who has a heart bigger than Eurasia, wants to help her and so hires her despite the potential for painful memories resurfacing, and the two slowly begin building a rapport together.
Abby's story isn't really happy, either: abused by her father through her youth, she ran away from England with her boyfriend, Tom, and came to New Zealand, where it turned out Tom has a gambling addiction which goes from bad to worse and forces them to move, and not only that but they also have a more-or-less non-consensual sexual encounter which leaves Abby pregnant.
How does this work, you ask? Well in the story, Abby says she doesn't say no because Tom had been having slight issues in bed, and by the time she clues in that he seems too angry for those issues, it's too late, and she doesn't say no, but it's clear she doesn't enjoy it and it wasn't what she would have wanted.
Abby is a baker by trade and had her own budding business, which she plans on rebuilding after the baby's born, and Noah is willing to help in any way he can as the two of them slowly get to know each other through all the time they spend together. Noah tries making sure she's taken care of, and Abby gets Noah to slowly take longer and longer walks outside his house, eventually having him show her around the Ark where she meets the rest of the gang - and said gang is pretty much ready to build her a monument just for what she's achieved with Noah!
But things get a little dicey first.
Tom slips back into gambling and goes through their rent money and all of Abby's savings which she meant to use to kick-start her business, and then proceeds to tell her Noah can cover the debt, which prompts her to quit her job through calling Noah, and leave Tom where he's at while she heads off to the beach to try and figure things out.
Noah, however, is made of sterner stuff than that; hearing her distress, he gets into his car and drives down to find her, taking her back home with him and asking his uncle Brock to come check her out (I am literally SO blonde, because when Noah was talking about there being a GP who comes out whenever he needs him, I agreed with Abby who said it must be nice to have money to cover expenses like that, while somewhere to the side, Brock King was looking on in disbelief with an "Am I a joke to you?" text bubble floating above his head).
Everything seems normal and they get the ball rolling to prepare everything for the baby's arrival, which I have to say is a cute effort spearheaded by Summer who drums up everyone else and they throw an impromptu baby shower with all the cute stuff and such.
The guys, meanwhile, take Noah out to the bar with him, and we get a little blast from the past because they go to Between the Sheets, which is covered in its own series of the same name, and is now run - not by Beck, whose story still needs to be reviewed on here - but by his son, Edward.
Could there be an Edward book in the future? You never know!
Anyway, everyone and their mother knows at this point that Noah and Abby have a thing for each other, but both are understandably hesitant considering Abby's condition, although they do have a sexy little encounter on the couch which I thought was absolutely darling.
Noah is pure gold, let me tell you. PURE GOLD.
He also grabs the rest of his cousins and heads over to Tom's place to get Abby's things, and also to deal with Tom while he's at it. I thought they were going to unleash Stefan the Viking on the dude, but sadly that doesn't happen (Stefan just happens to be connected to some MORE previous characters, since his parents are protagonists from Casanova!). What does happen is Noah giving Tom a black eye, the money to clear his debt, AND Brock's number so he can try to beat his addiction.
Tom and Abby clear the air between them and Tom says he's no use to her or their child right at this moment, but maybe he will be in the future.
That's fine, because things come to a head when Abby goes into labour and it turns out she'd been in actual labour since the previous day, and Noah has to be the one to deliver the baby since the midwife is much too far away to get there in time.
So Noah delivers baby Ethan, and then backs off and doesn't touch either one of them again until one night when Abby's just too exhausted and the baby won't stop crying, and he ends up in Noah's arms with the two German Shepherds tucked in against the two while Abby sleeps.
It's also time for an intervention again during which Summer and the girls give Abby a little pampering routine, and the guys talk to Noah about just what seems to be keeping him back - and Leon admits that the only reason they all went along with the scheme is because EVERYONE wants to see Noah happy.
By everyone I mean probably the entire country of New Zealand at this point.
After the nosy but lovable relatives take off, and Ethan's conked out, Noah and Abby do actually become intimate and admit their feelings for each other, and it's a lovely culmination that builds up throughout the rest of the book where they discuss whether or not Abby's only fallen for Noah because of his money - which isn't true, and both of them come to that conclusion soon enough.
Flash-forward to Hal and Izzy's wedding, and AGAIN with the meddlesome group in residence (that probably includes all three original Kings because, I swear, neither Brock, Charlie nor Matt can help themselves when it comes to showering their offspring with advice, it's beyond adorable), Noah goes down on one knee in front of Abby and asks her to marry him, and she says yes.
YES!
With THAT happily ever after assured, the story draws to a close, and we can all do a happy, happy dance now.
This story was beyond tastefully done because the heroine is heavily pregnant for most of it, so how do you write a love story like that? Well, you do if you're Serenity Woods, and you make it both believable and unbearably sweet at the same time. The main reason I enjoy reading these stories so much isn't so much the endings, but the fact that topics like current male behaviour and female response to that is covered in abundance (along with other issues of course), and these books give me, and probably other readers, hope that there really are good guys out there. Sometimes hidden, but they ARE there.
Noah and the gang prove it. So why not treat yourself and read his story?
xx
*image not mine
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