A Marriage of Anything But Convenience (The Billionaire Club #1) by Victorine E. Lieske

A Marriage of Anything But Convenience (The Billionaire Club #1) Reviews

• 
  Julie Carpenter

  Super cute with lots of sweet romance, foot in the mouth moments, laugh out loud moments and swoony moments. *Happy Sigh* I loved it and devoured it pretty quickly. I’m always happy when a favorite author does a marriage of convenience story and this one has the added bonus of having a second chance trope with it. Yay!!!!
  
  I have read many books by this author and have enjoyed them but I think this one is going to claim the favorite book spot of all her books.
  
  There were misunderstandings, hurts from the past, reconciliations, friendship, family, dreams, laughs, sweet kisses, delusions, heart pounding chemistry, forgiveness, fashion, love and much, much more within the pages of this book.
  
  I loved these characters. Nara is a bit of a spitfire and sometimes goes full speed ahead but she has a love of life that shows in her interactions and choices. Derek is a strong, steady and reliable hero. At first I wasn’t sure what to think of him. Especially after reading Nara’s perspective of him. But it quickly became clear that there was a lot of hidden depth and goodness to him and I loved watching Nara uncover and discover more about Derek than she previous thought and knew about him. His smile. His humor. His dreams.
  
  I loved the fluffy unicorn and how that became part of their story. Lol! And the balcony kiss. Derek’s sister and her comments. Oh this was a fun read for sure!
  
  Content: Clean. Some kisses but nothing more. The main couple is married and share a bed but nothing happens between them but a few kisses.
  
  I received a copy from the author. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.
  
  Happy Reading!!!
• 
  Katie (Hiding in the Pages)

  Swoony
  
  A marriage of convenience is one of my favorite bookish tropes and I loved how this one had a sliver of love threaded through it. Nara and Derek have known each other since they were kids and now that her father is "forcing" them to get married, they have a chance to get to know each other in a different way.
  
  Nara and Derek are great characters, but I'm definitely more like Derek. He was extremely awkward, not wanting to take risks, expose his heart, sit in the spotlight, or attract any kind of attention. That's me! Because of that, Nara often made me uncomfortable because she was so opposite, so determined to bring a smile to Derek's face, and she wasn't shy in her feelings towards her father. But she was completely intriguing and I absolutely adored watching this "forced" relationship unfold.
  
  I loved the settings for this character driven story and could visualize things in my mind like I was watching a movie. I laughed and swooned, and didn't want this one to end.
  
  Content: mild romance (kissing, swoony, light innuendo)
  
  *I received a complimentary copy. All opinions expressed are my own and were voluntarily given.*
• 
  Mara

  This is a marriage of convenience story, but it's also a childhood friends turns to love story too. Nara and Derek kind of grew up together; now they're grown and Derek works for Nara's father's company. Nara doesn't get along with her father and doesn't really want anything to do with his company. She's a wannabe fashion designer with a serious Diet Coke addiction, who's words are always faster than her brain, and she's none too happy when her father makes her marry Derek, even if it only has to be for two years.
  
  Nara's a great character but I thought she could be a little pushy trying to get Derek to do things. Some of it was really funny like the jumping waves scene on day 1 of their "honeymoon", when they go to the carnival that turns out to be for the kids and Nara wants Derek to win her a stuffed unicorn. On the other hand, sometimes we got to see Nara's less snarky side like when she found out Derek gets seasick and cancelled the boating excursion she had planned, and when she showed an interest in Derek's photography. That's the Nara I liked best. I could sympathize with Derek because I'm definitely more like him than Nara.
  
  Even though they grew up together Nara had a lot to learn about Derek and why he was serious and worked so hard. We also find out why Nara and her father haven't gotten along, which gets resolved (that was a bonus for me). I found the little things Derek did for Nora swoony, like stocking strawberry syrup in his pantry because it was her favorite and keeping Diet Coke on hand for her. The little things can mean more than grand gestures. All in all this is a fun book with several laugh out loud moments.
  
  I received a complimentary copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed in my review are my own.
• 
  Tressa (Wishful Endings)

  I had a really tough time with this one. I've read a few of the author's other books and enjoyed them, but this one... I felt like the the heroine, Nara, was acting like she was 16 or something. Just really immature and quite spoiled with a lot of anger issues. She's rude and mean to Derek, who she's supposedly childhood friends with but you would never get that from the story except in a few references. The shared experiences feeling from childhood was just not there at all. She calls him the Emperor in a really snarky way and in her head is calling him uptight and serious and so stuck-up and then later says it's a term of endearment, but it wasn't and he doesn't take it that way up to that point. Then she uses the term again in an unkind way afterwards, so it was really inconsistent. The way she talks and acts just didn't feel like it would be someone who had been on their own for years and had some serious boyfriends. The dialogue also had a lot of issues. I actually did like Derek, even though he too didn't seem ready to have a mature relationship. I'm not sure how you're in love with someone you haven't even seen or talked to for five years or more. I also felt like he just didn't really step up for most of the story.
  
  Then there was this whole situation with a marriage-of-convenience. Supposedly Nara is being forced to marry and what her dad did was pretty crappy. Derek isn't sure about the whole thing, but he's in a better place to move forward. Then they don't talk at all about it with each other and Nara doesn't really talk at all with her dad about it. She just shows up and it happens and then they go on a honeymoon where they still don't talk about anything. It was just messy on top of messy with a heroine I just couldn't like. It felt like a story that dragged on and on with mediocre characters and a plot that was a good idea, but just didn't pan out on paper for this author. Of course the ending is all sweet, as you'd expect, but this story just didn't work for me. At all.
• 
  atomickitten

  1 star
  
  Immature morons for characters + zero sex or smut = Thanks, but no thanks.
  
  
• 
  Aimee (Getting Your Read On)

  Romantic and Sweet
  
  This was just the romantic distraction I was looking for today. Nara and Derek were fun characters. I loved how kind Derek was, how thoughtful. His devotion to Nara was so sweet. He stole the show for me. This was light, easy reading. I loved it.
  Content: kissing
• 
  Jessie

  Nara and Derek grew up together. He's loved her for years, but always been too shy or awkward to show it. When her father coerces her into an arranged marriage, Derek hopes to finally win her over.
  
  I loved Derek! He was sweet, considerate, and slightly clueless about women. Nara was spunky, playful, and sometimes a diva. It felt like she put Derek down a lot in the beginning. I loved seeing her growth as she let go of her anger, and looked at how her words were effecting others.
  
  This story was cute. I loved the lighthearted moments, especially the street fair. I also loved watching the romance build on Nara's side, and the confidence build on Derek's.
• 
  Pascale’s*ARC,Unwind,Read,Review

  So fun! This story was just like her marriage series, which I loved. It was really great that she wrote this one in a similar style. It made me want to go back and read all those other books of hers again!
  Derek is so stuffy. It’s like he was born in a suit and he just doesn’t know how to relax and have fun. Nara calls him the Emperor. She can’t stand him. But her father has forced her to marry Derek, a “marriage of convenience”, which is to last for two years. Nara has no idea that Derek has been in love with her for years... Will Nara manage to get Derek to loosen up? And will Nara let go of her preconceived ideas about Derek and look deeper to get to know the man behind the stiff suit?
  I definitely recommend this book. As always with this author, a clean romance.
• 
  Dystopian Mayhem

  The plot is weird and unconvincing, filled with cliché moments, and too predictable. She was immature, self absorbed, and manipulative. He was a doormat. Maybe it would’ve been more convincing If it was about two high schoolers.
  
• 
  Tiffany (Bluestocking)

  3.5 stars- Such a sweet, fun romance. Nara and Derek were so perfect for each other. She was quirky and fun, while he seemed to be a workaholic and bit uptight. However, Nara soon realized that she had completely misjudged him.
  
  Derek was 30% awkward, 40% shy and 100% adorable. He just wanted to make Nara happy even if that meant doing things he didn’t like. I loved how she made it her mission to help him loosen up and have fun. But while she wanted him to get out of his comfort zone, when she realized that he didn’t like certain things, she didn’t push him, she just tried something else he would enjoy.
  
  At times i wished he would just tell her how he felt but I completely understood why he hesitated. I loved that Derek and Nara got a cute HEA.
  
  Brielle was such a loveable character. I loved how she teased her brother. Especially the scene on the porch. That was hilarious and priceless.
  
  
  I honestly didn’t like the first book I read from this author but I’m glad I gave her another try. I really enjoyed this one.
  
  
  Content: Clean, kissing between married couple
  
• 
  Margaret Watkins

  A marriage of convenience, engineered by Nara's father, brings two childhood friends together, but not without anger and frustration at her father's highhanded ways. Derek appears on the surface to be a man without feelings and little enjoyment in life, and yet he has suffered in silence through the years due to his unrequited love for Nara. Eventually, the truth about Mr Claymore's decision for forcing a marriage between his only daughter and the son of his friend comes to the surface, but not without recriminations, when the lid to Nara's pent up anger flies off. There is a good plot and the novel is well written, however, I do feel that it would be most suited to a young adult audience. I received a copy of this book as a gift and this is my honest and voluntary review.
• 
  Paige Edwards

  A marriage of convenience sure to make you laugh-out-loud. Two years of marriage, and both parties get what they want. What could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot, actually.
  As an aspiring fashion designer, Nara’s life is in New York—not in California. Why did her father insist she marry Derek, a man she despises, for two years to obtain the thing she desires the most? Derek is a former childhood friend and her father’s protégé. He’s always loved Nara but is too awkward to do anything about it. Whenever she’s near, his tongue is tied in knots. How these two find their happily ever after will make you giggle and sigh.
• 
  AvidReader

  An ok read with decent protagonists.
  Clean & safe romance.
• 
  Lydia

  The tag line for this book should read "The stakes have never been lower." If you don't have a high tolerance for stupidity, you should skip this book. The characters are absolute morons and kind of pathetic in their desperation for each other. They are supposed to be lifelong friends or at least acquaintances (one of the many murky points of this book) but they seem to be complete strangers.
  
  The plot is superficial at best. The author doesn't understand the "show, don't tell" rule, and her editor and proofreader slacked off after chapter 20. The majority of this book takes place over the course of a week and the change of heart (if you can call it that) is not believable. In fact, very little in this book is believable.
  
  I have no idea how this book has such a high rating. If it hadn't been a read for my book club, I would not have finished it.
• 
  Cathy

  I really enjoyed reading this one by Victorine E Lieske. I thought she did a great job with her characters and her plot. There were many parts of this book that made me chuckle out loud. It’s a good one!
  
  Nara. There were a lot of things I really liked about Nara. But one thing I really didn’t was how she couldn’t seem to let go of the past. Even when she most needed to. I did like that as the book ended, she was learning to. She grew a lot that way. But at the beginning of the book, she seemed really spoiled and selfish. That’s one sign of a well-written character, I think, strong feelings about them. I did like that she realized she cared for Derek and acted on it.
  
  Derek really is a great guy. He knew up front that he loved Nara, so marrying her was happy for him. Even though he knew it wouldn’t have been her choice. Derek did go out of his way to do anything he could think of for Nara. That included buying her a massive unicorn at a street fair when he couldn’t win her one. That was a fun scene! I wished he would have tried to put himself out there a little. But he did keep getting put in his place by Nara, so maybe that’s why he didn’t.
  
  I really liked the ending of this one. These two did learn to work together and let each other know how they felt. It took kind of a long time though.
• 
  Jes Drew

  When I saw this cover, I knew I had to pre-order. Victorine E. Lieske introduced me to the world of contemporary romance, and this childhood-friends/marriage-of-convenience story was as sweet and charming as her other books I've read. I love men who suffer from unrequited love, so our hero got me right away. The heroine was dealing with a marriage she didn't want, so her feelings were justified, but she didn't realize how much she was breaking the hero's heart, and that broke mine. It was great to see the pair grow both individually and as a couple. A sweet, clean romance that is easy to love.
  
  Review first posted on my blog:
  https://agencyofbooksandspies.blogspo...
• 
  SA Krishnan

  Lovely romance
  
  Nara and Derek were so cute together.
  Following her father’s wishes, Derek and Nara marry each other and then begins a love story which was cute and thoroughly enjoyable. Derek with all his awkwardness was great to read about and Nara was a perfect foil for him as she was emphatic and snarky as she trying to get Derek to do many things, out of character. The sudden tender moments between the couple were also beautifully captured.
  Overall, enjoyable romance.
• 
  Lindsay

  *3.5
  To be fair, I had just finished a heart wrenchingly beautiful true story right before I read this one, and it was filled with complex characters, beautiful imagery, and depth. This one just felt a little shallow and flighty in comparison. I might have rated it higher had the order been swapped.
• 
  Lisa (Bookworm Lisa)

  Conveniently Inconvenient
  
  An unrequited love and a hasty marriage of inconvenience are the backdrop for this fun story.
  
  I loved every minute of it. I had great hope that the characters would make it a real marriage despite the less than favorable beginning.
• 
  Karen

  I enjoyed this story.
  
  Content: clean- passionate kissing
• 
  Soquel

  This was delightful with a fun trope.
• 
  Karen

  This is a cute, fun, flirty book. Nara finally allows herself to being talked into marrying Derek, a guy she grew up with. Her dad is insistent. And he has cut her off and holds over her head something she really wants. Derek works for her father and has agreed to the arrangement. What happens next is Nara trying to get the stuffy but hunky Derek to relax and have some fun on their “honeymoon”. Nara is kind of clueless and Derek is a bit of a chicken. But the book is enjoyable if not a bit silly.
• 
  Cherye Elliott

  Yikes
  
  Whoa. I am halfway through the book and I am contemplating to stop right here. Here is a guy, a professional businesses man who stopped being a MAN and has turned into a virginal teenager. The author emasculated him. What a turn off. She turned him into the village idiot. The bumbling fool. The book didn't get better until the epilogue. I can't believe I read this book. Very disappointed.
• 
  Dani

  Horrible. I can’t even imagine any male acting the way he did (like a prudish virgin) I couldn’t even finish the book- so he may be a virgin . I gave 2 stars because the storyline was decent, just poorly executed. And the 37% I got in didn’t seem to have any grammatical errors. This story (at 37%) is great for a teenager to read. The main character was about as mature as one. I’m sure they each have their reasons...I just couldn’t get there.