Hello everyone!
Now, realistically, this one doesn't hit the shelves for another week or so BUT.
But.
I was super duper lucky to be sent an ARC of it - I'm a part of Ms Woods' ARC readers' group, and I still have no idea just HOW I got this lucky, because she's my absolute favourite contemporary romance author - so I got early access.
And man oh man, am I telling you that you NEED to read it.
I know I'm putting up a lot of captions and whatnot in this intro, but it's all for a good cause, I promise you this.
Because these billionaires ... they literally take your breath away.
Aroha and the Billionaire Boss is no different, either.
Links to previous related posts - and at this point, there's PLENTY with it being the third trilogy in an ongoing series - can be found at the bottom of the page, as per usual.
We first meet James and Aroha in Mistletoe an the Billionaire Boss, where we happen to be told that, during a holiday trivia night, they went back to a hotel room together, and he passed out before anything actually happened.
In Aroha, we figure out just WHAT happened, exactly, from their perspective.
See, Aroha's struggling financially, helping her family as much as she can, but right before the party she learns her dad's getting laid off, and in his fifties, he'll have trouble finding another job, so chances are she'll have to move back home to help out (her mom can only do cleaning jobs in the evenings because they have two other kids, one of whom is in college, but the youngest is high on the spectrum and needs 24/7 care).
That's the mood she's in when she goes to said party, and we already know Jamie breaks up with his girlfriend at it, too. The two of them then spend the rest of the evening flirting like crazy, go to a hotel penthouse, and he gives her a nice orgasm by going down on her ... before he actually falls asleep.
That in itself wouldn't have been terrible, except when Aroha wakes up, he's gone, having left her a note and Bob's your uncle.
THAT is what puts him in the doghouse LOL. Jamie!
Anyway, the two of them are headed to Damon and Belle's wedding, and the atmosphere is kinda frosty for a bit until they both realize they're being silly and thaw, and then the second shoe drops when Aroha learns SHE's getting fired, so now there'll be no income coming into the house at all.
That's the state Jamie finds her in, and because he's actually an upstanding guy (all of them are, the guys in these books, I mean), he immediately offers to help her. Since she won't accept outright money (her best friend, who also happens to be rich, would have easily given her some, no questions asked and never asking for it back) he instead hires her as his assistant, since the guys at the company do need another pair of hands to help out.
He also shoots himself in the foot with that, too, since Alex is firmly in the NO ROMANCE AT THE WORKPLACE camp, lol, but we'll get there in a minute.
Because Jamie has his own demons to contend with.
He has a twin sister who had just recently given birth to a baby girl, and she's struggling with post-natal depression. You already know this is a difficult thing to tackle when you read it, but of course it gets worse when the police come to the office one day to inform Jamie they found her body at the bottom of a cliff path.
His niece is okay, at least, and his sister named him her guardian, but he's way out of his depth so hires Aroha as a nanny on the spot since she has experience and qualifications in childcare. That means she moves in with him for round-the-clock care ... and some of the most beautiful scenes written that you can imagine.
Not smut, no, but just emotional and heart-warming, about grief, how to slowly accept it, coming to terms with your new reality, how it comes to you in waves and isn't linear, and many other things Jamie has to deal with, including but not limited to his father's presence at the funeral, a father he resents because of the guy's toxic masculinity which in turn shaped Jamie, prompting him to never want kids of his own since he never wanted to become the guy.
Through it all though, Aroha and Jamie learn that communication is actually the key (they have a few rough bumps and patches where Jamie, hiding behind his business sense, doesn't understand why she's upset or insulted), which is good because there's yet another snag.
The actual baby daddy, who didn't want anything to do with said baby and didn't even know she existed until he got the call right before Jamie's sister died, and now wants money so he 'takes the kid off Jamie's hands', and then once THAT isn't happening (I'm surprises Jamie doesn't deck him on the spot!) he starts threatening to take the child away.
This means yet another solution, which is that Jamie will have much better chances at getting his niece if he's married (he has a bit of a ladies' man reputation) and so ... he and Aroha tie the knot, hastily enough, although the girls have at this point deduced she likes Jamie, and the guys all know he likes Aroha, he just hasn't figured it out yet himself because, well, repressed emotions and all that from his upbringing.
Things come to a head when Blue - the aforementioned baby daddy - assaults Aroha in front of the company offices and tries to physically take the baby from her, which results in him signing away all his rights (since no court would have EVER given a baby to someone that violent!) and Jamie finally gets shaken out of his stupor so that he and Aroha can figure out ... yeah, they like each other.
Well, more than like, they LOVE each other.
And they're already married, so why not give this an actual go together?
To top it all off, Jamie gifts her brother a toy that'll interact with him and help him with his development, and hires her father so that they have another income coming in, very Mr. Darcy-esque, and there's no surer way to the girl's heart than that!
Which is where we leave them, happily wrapped in their personal bubble of love, and raising their little girl together.
All in all, frankly, James and Aroha will take your breath away.
Unlike some other works in this series, it isn't as "spicy", comparatively, but that doesn't detract from its overall appeal. Instead, it deals - quite realistically, I think - with what it means to accept massive, major life changes, and that your preconceived notions might not be the be-all or end-all.
As mentioned above, James is brought up to believe emotions are never to be shown, and discussing things that would be seen as "weak" goes against what it means to be a man. By nature, this then translates into him being actually unable to express his inner conflicts or emotions because HE HAS NO IDEA HOW TO DO IT. He hides behind business deals and agreements and usually recognizes he's made a boo-boo so he writes lovely apologetic letters afterwards, but that's the heart of the matter.
I think that's what I missed the most in this book, actually, and why I docked the one star to make it 4 rather than 5: nobody actually TELLS James what he's specifically doing wrong, although on the other hand I do appreciate that equally no one's trying to interfere and be a busy-body. But even the moments they have which COULD have helped, don't, as nobody opens their mouth, leaving him kinda floundering and on his own.
Aroha's partly guilty of this too, because she doesn't mention it either. I like her overall, but the lack of communication on her part that only confuses him further just had me shaking my head (they clear the air eventually, so THAT'S a relief!).
THAT SAID, though, this is a beautiful story with a tragic twist that ends on a happy note, giving both James and Aroha what they want, and a family neither one of them expected to have. Life turns in mysterious ways!
Ms Woods delivers heartfelt scenes and emotional impact with precision and grace both, and she knows exactly where and how to strike to make her readers resonate with the unfolding scene. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it through in one go right after the ARC landed in my inbox, which should tell you something!
At this point, I've yet to determine which of the Christchurch billionaires is my favourite (it's Titus for Auckland and Kip for Wellington), so I'm waiting to read about Henry and Juliette in the ninth book to make my decision.
But I want to give James and Aroha both a big, big hug, and tell them that, above all, they did a wonderful thing and maybe didn't start off with the emotions all squared away, but their hearts and intentions were in the right place. And that's what ultimately made everything work out in the end, I think.
Definitely recommend!
Unlike some other works in this series, it isn't as "spicy", comparatively, but that doesn't detract from its overall appeal. Instead, it deals - quite realistically, I think - with what it means to accept massive, major life changes, and that your preconceived notions might not be the be-all or end-all.
As mentioned above, James is brought up to believe emotions are never to be shown, and discussing things that would be seen as "weak" goes against what it means to be a man. By nature, this then translates into him being actually unable to express his inner conflicts or emotions because HE HAS NO IDEA HOW TO DO IT. He hides behind business deals and agreements and usually recognizes he's made a boo-boo so he writes lovely apologetic letters afterwards, but that's the heart of the matter.
I think that's what I missed the most in this book, actually, and why I docked the one star to make it 4 rather than 5: nobody actually TELLS James what he's specifically doing wrong, although on the other hand I do appreciate that equally no one's trying to interfere and be a busy-body. But even the moments they have which COULD have helped, don't, as nobody opens their mouth, leaving him kinda floundering and on his own.
Aroha's partly guilty of this too, because she doesn't mention it either. I like her overall, but the lack of communication on her part that only confuses him further just had me shaking my head (they clear the air eventually, so THAT'S a relief!).
THAT SAID, though, this is a beautiful story with a tragic twist that ends on a happy note, giving both James and Aroha what they want, and a family neither one of them expected to have. Life turns in mysterious ways!
Ms Woods delivers heartfelt scenes and emotional impact with precision and grace both, and she knows exactly where and how to strike to make her readers resonate with the unfolding scene. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it through in one go right after the ARC landed in my inbox, which should tell you something!
At this point, I've yet to determine which of the Christchurch billionaires is my favourite (it's Titus for Auckland and Kip for Wellington), so I'm waiting to read about Henry and Juliette in the ninth book to make my decision.
But I want to give James and Aroha both a big, big hug, and tell them that, above all, they did a wonderful thing and maybe didn't start off with the emotions all squared away, but their hearts and intentions were in the right place. And that's what ultimately made everything work out in the end, I think.
Definitely recommend!
xx
*image not mine
Mistletoe (and the Billionaire Boss)
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