Review: Winning the Billionaire by J.M. Stewart

Christina (Tina/Chris) has been in love with Sebastian (Baz) for years. He’s her twin brother’s best friend and has been a solid supporter and also a determined tormentor of her’s for most of her life. He’s more family than friend… and he’s always been off limits.

Coming to him early one morning to ask for his help with a charity, the last thing she thought she’d encounter was a half naked Baz who was more irritable than usual. When he starts to push her buttons and amps up the sexy meter to get a rise out of her, she knows something is seriously wrong but she can’t help but fall into his arms as a willing participant.

What starts out for Baz as an attempt to scare Tina off, turns into a hot, charming romance where both the hero and heroine have to face up to years of longing and loving from afar. This was a sweet read with some great character interactions but it also had some challenges.

Firstly, there was too much internalizing on Tina’s part. She was very wishy-washy. I get that she didn’t want to get hurt (again) and had walls erected to protect herself but she kept sliding from strong to weak within the span of a sentence. There were several times where she said she didn’t trust Baz at all and she questioned if she really knew him, and then in the very next sentence, she said she trusted him completely. She was confused and hurting but I wanted more from her character than to be swayed by her libido. She was a great person who loved fully, but I had a lot of trouble connecting with her.

Secondly, there was a LOT of character narration (explanation of feelings) between dialogue and scene action. I had trouble keeping up with conversations and found myself skimming backwards to remember what the conversation was about.

However, Sebastian was amazing… and sexy! He totally saved this book for me and took it from an okay read to a great read. I absolutely loved his character. The author wrote him in such a way that you could feel his struggle but also his conviction towards Tina and his need for her. He loved her. He’d always loved her. And once he had a moment to realize that and accept that, he was a force to be reckoned with in getting what he wanted. I loved that about him.

All-in-all, this is a standard friends-to-lovers story with very little drama or angsts. There’s not a lot to get emotionally invested so it’s a great read to pass the afternoon with.