Hello everyone!
Book reviews are a thing again on this blog, though I do hope, as I hoped on Tuesday, that you've enjoyed my Booktober activity which I did last month. That does mean, however, that I'm a little bit behind on my reviews.
And by 'a little behind' I mean 'a lot behind', because I've already got a new ARC waiting for me to read it from this series, yet I haven't managed to get a proper review up for the fifth book!
Shame on me. Shame, shame, shame.
Anyway.
Considering that Serenity Woods is probably my favourite contemporary romance author (at least at the moment, but I don't see it changing any time soon) it should be a surprise to absolutely no one that I'm kicking off book reviews with another one of her books.
This time, we're headed back to the Ark, and to the King family.
Let's take a look at My Wounded Billionaire.
After all, there's a few of these Kings to go around!
My Wounded Billionaire is the story of Poppy King, Albie's sister and Charlie's daughter, and if you recall Albie and Charlie's stories, you'll also remember they're on the high-functioning end of the spectrum, which kind of means Poppy is, too.
The thing in this book, though, is that you don't quite see it as much as with the two men in her family. Maybe because she's a woman, and not as direct as a brash, male King would be?
I'm not entirely sure, but had I not known that Poppy was also diagnosed, I don't think I'd have noticed anything different about her, which just means that, as a person, Poppy would have done a FANTASTIC job at making everyone believe nothing about her was different.
Of course, considering the beginning of the book, there's something WILDLY different.
See, Poppy wants a child.
Only, she doesn't want the emotional baggage that comes along from having a relationship, or even a partner. She can raise a child all by herself, thank you very much.
Why the jaded outlook, do you ask?
Well Poppy WAS in a relationship. She was a school teacher before she came to the Ark to run the petting zoo there, but the relationship she had went very south, very fast. The guy was married, and he did initially promise to leave his wife for her, but the thing was, he treated Poppy abysmally and told her she was a menace to society, among other things.
Yeah. How have the Kings not formed a posse yet?
Anyway.
So she doesn't want a repeat of that. Also, there's no way a woman always reaches climax during intercourse. That only happens in movies.
Enter one Fitz.
His real name is Marc, but only Poppy actually gets to call him that (obviously), and everyone just calls him Fitz. He's Izzy's brother (if you remember Izzy from My Best Friend, the Billionaire), an army veteran who was discharged because of a back injury after an explosive went kaboom too close to him. He also has a bit of baggage - he was previously engaged, but his fiancée left him after he was injured, saying he wasn't letting her in, never had, and she wanted more.
Talk about harsh, huh?
So this is Poppy's candidate for a baby daddy. But he doesn't want to play by her rules.
Oh, he'll do it, alright. But the old-fashioned way.
He also has to protect male reputation everywhere from the idiots too selfish to give women pleasure in bed. That, too.
They come to a bit of a stalemate while neither one of them wants to give ground, but of course this is the King family we're speaking of - if one of them isn't scheming, then all of them are, though in this case I think it was only Noah gleefully shaking out some extra money for a "work trip" when he saw the sparks flying.
(I'm not trying to be mean or sarcastic or anything here, by the way; I genuinely adore how tightly-knit this group is and how they help each other out, and Noah taking care of Fitz as part of the family is one of the sweetest things ever. I teared up. I'm bloody tearing up right now! LOL)
The work trip in question is for Fitz and Poppy to fly to the Bay of Islands (I think I have it right; there's so many locations, gorgeous locations, in New Zealand, and so naturally these books, that I always feel like I'm getting them mixed up!), where they'll check out the new Ark-in-the-making, but what they don't count on is Fitz running into his ex while he's there.
And it's not the most pleasant encounter, either.
In another slight departure from what is generally the norm for Ms Woods, this doesn't conclude happily for the ex-s, because Fitz's ex is just a piece of work, honestly. Reading through their interactions, I thought SHE might want HIM to apologise!
Uh, no, honey. Nu-uh.
Poppy also gets a glimpse of said ex, and learns, from the new Ark team, that, despite being married and with kids to one of their friends, she's high maintenance and not exactly on the favourites list, no matter that they're trying.
Wow, right?
This is a blip on the radar in the grand scheme of Fitz and Poppy coming together, however, and in the most gorgeous location too, a sort of airbnb that's in a lighthouse, of all places, and they definitely make good work of trying to get Poppy pregnant, like she wants to be.
They also try not to fall in love, but that one doesn't quite work out to plan.
And then fate intervenes.
Through Poppy's eyes, readers learn a few other things about Fitz - like the fact that his and Izzy's mother is an alcoholic and hasn't ever really been able to get clean, managed to be pretty good while with a current partner, but once he leaves she relapses, and ends up in rehab; unfortunately, that's where she passes away in her sleep, which thoroughly shakes Fitz up.
Thankfully, Poppy's there to take care of things, get him on a plane, and get him home, but also where she's unsure how close to him she should remain or be, considering their unusual relationship (me in the background: GO WITH HIM GIRL! GO!!!).
Naturally, Fitz, being the guy in the equation, doesn't really think along the details of 'should I or should I not ask Poppy to come along with me' because ... well, he's a dude. LOL. I say it with all the love women usually have for men, but they don't overthink things as much as we women do, shooting pretty straight-forward into the problem, and then trying to figure it out along the way.
So of course Poppy ends up leaving the funeral wake they're having, going home to cry, and we get a lovely little guest appearance by Charlie King, who I maintain is the only guy to get away with "Mascara explosion" when saying it directly to a girl's face.
He also points out to Poppy that, no matter that she took one pregnancy test and it turned out negative ... all the signs kind of point to pregnancy for her. So he asks her to take one again.
And at this point Fitz pops up.
Charlie promises not to sing to keep him distracted (thank you, Charlie, we love you, not so much your singing), and Fitz explains he wants to ask Poppy to marry him, which Charlie is on board with. Poppy comes to tell Fitz she's pregnant, and they clear out the air about what's been going on.
And yes, Fitz does propose. And she says yes.
The book ends with their wedding and a little foreshadowing for the remaining Kings who have yet to find their happily ever after, but mostly it ends on the high note of hope and love and expectation as Poppy and Fitz look into the future together.
And THAT, my friends, is why we all love these books so much.
xx
*image not mine, and I'll grab a better one soon
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