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Deceiving The Ruthless Billionaire
Hazel Green's late mother's business of housing seniors is now in control of her wicked stepfather. With her loved ones under his hostile care, she is eager to obey his demands to keep them safe. Including acting as a spy in the Kingston Corporation for intel that will dismantle his rival's empire.
But, entangling herself with the infamous billionaire, Dimitri Kingston, throws a wrench in her plan. Intrigued by his ruthless desire for her, she runs the risk of her stepfather following through on his threat to murder her beloved seniors one by one. With Hazel deeply involved with Dimitri, she risks far more than she had expected.
Love. Loyalty. And lives.
But, entangling herself with the infamous billionaire, Dimitri Kingston, throws a wrench in her plan. Intrigued by his ruthless desire for her, she runs the risk of her stepfather following through on his threat to murder her beloved seniors one by one. With Hazel deeply involved with Dimitri, she risks far more than she had expected.
Love. Loyalty. And lives.
- GenresRomanceContemporary
Kindle Edition
Published March 20, 2023
3 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Mariyam Khan
4 books71 followersMariyam Khan is an author of Romance and Fantasy. Slow burn, possessive alphamales, and happy endings are the main ingredients in her love recipes. Reading and stargazing are her favorite times of the day. When she's not buried deep into the pages of a good book, she's either fantasizing about her multiple book boyfriends or plotting a dozen novels in the shower.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 22, 2023
When Hazel's horrible, and abusive, stepfather takes control of her late mother's senior home, she's terrified. She believes he killed her own mother and he definitely wouldn't hesitate to hurt any other people Hazel loves if she doesn't give him what he wants. He's determined to gain power and he wants her to act as a spy in his rival's business. Anything they plan, he needs to know about it.
But infiltrating and gaining secrets on Kingston Corporation is easier said than done. With safeguards and cameras littering the property and plans kept on a need-to-know basis, Hazel has her work cut out for her. When she seemingly catches the eye of her new boss and their relationship slowly transforms into a romance, she struggles with betraying the trust of the man she's slowly come to know. She was always told how dark and deceptive he could be, not hesitating to betray even his own family, but Dimitri Kingston is not what he seems. And when everything comes to a head, will the romance survive or will he take the woman he loves down too?
***************
Written first-person POV, "Deceiving the Ruthless Billionaire" follows Hazel Green as she attempts to save the last piece of her late mother's legacy from her depraved stepfather by manipulating and betraying her new boss. While she has no intention of falling for the charms of her new boss, she finds herself being pulled in by his kindness while attempting to unravel the truth of the rumors she's heard about him.
This book was okay. But it was definitely too long in my opinion. The pacing was draggy and bogged down by too many inconsequential details that weren't really needed to tell the story. I was constantly checking to see where I was in the book because I was struggling to keep interested in it.
The characters were fine, though I felt that the romance between Dimitri and Hazel needed something more. Yes, Dimitri was a great dude once you got past all of the rumors about him and heard the truth about everything, but he seemed to be too good to be true. Hazel felt blah to me. She sorta had believability to her actions in this book -- she wants to protect the seniors in her mother's senior home from her stepfather who would gladly kill to get rid of them since she believes he killed her own mother. I just felt weird that she's never mentioned it to the police or that she never once tried to tell Dimitri anything even though he made it clear how he was willing to do anything for her. I was sometimes rolling my eyes because she constantly thought about telling Dimitri and he gave her plenty of opportunities to do so, but she didn't.
As for the plot of her stepfather wanting to gain the edge of Dimitri's business so he could have more power and whatever and doing it through Hazel just felt...lackluster and incomplete. I didn't understand the motivation for it or really how he could feel reassured that she wouldn't give anything away or tell anyone. I felt like it needed something more to it.
The book did make me emotional though, so I will give it that. There were just some things that I felt that weren't clearly explained or that just didn't make sense to me. I wanted to like this book and this romance, but it was only blah to me.
I received a free copy of this book via the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.
But infiltrating and gaining secrets on Kingston Corporation is easier said than done. With safeguards and cameras littering the property and plans kept on a need-to-know basis, Hazel has her work cut out for her. When she seemingly catches the eye of her new boss and their relationship slowly transforms into a romance, she struggles with betraying the trust of the man she's slowly come to know. She was always told how dark and deceptive he could be, not hesitating to betray even his own family, but Dimitri Kingston is not what he seems. And when everything comes to a head, will the romance survive or will he take the woman he loves down too?
***************
Written first-person POV, "Deceiving the Ruthless Billionaire" follows Hazel Green as she attempts to save the last piece of her late mother's legacy from her depraved stepfather by manipulating and betraying her new boss. While she has no intention of falling for the charms of her new boss, she finds herself being pulled in by his kindness while attempting to unravel the truth of the rumors she's heard about him.
This book was okay. But it was definitely too long in my opinion. The pacing was draggy and bogged down by too many inconsequential details that weren't really needed to tell the story. I was constantly checking to see where I was in the book because I was struggling to keep interested in it.
The characters were fine, though I felt that the romance between Dimitri and Hazel needed something more. Yes, Dimitri was a great dude once you got past all of the rumors about him and heard the truth about everything, but he seemed to be too good to be true. Hazel felt blah to me. She sorta had believability to her actions in this book -- she wants to protect the seniors in her mother's senior home from her stepfather who would gladly kill to get rid of them since she believes he killed her own mother. I just felt weird that she's never mentioned it to the police or that she never once tried to tell Dimitri anything even though he made it clear how he was willing to do anything for her. I was sometimes rolling my eyes because she constantly thought about telling Dimitri and he gave her plenty of opportunities to do so, but she didn't.
As for the plot of her stepfather wanting to gain the edge of Dimitri's business so he could have more power and whatever and doing it through Hazel just felt...lackluster and incomplete. I didn't understand the motivation for it or really how he could feel reassured that she wouldn't give anything away or tell anyone. I felt like it needed something more to it.
The book did make me emotional though, so I will give it that. There were just some things that I felt that weren't clearly explained or that just didn't make sense to me. I wanted to like this book and this romance, but it was only blah to me.
I received a free copy of this book via the author and am voluntarily leaving a review.
February 20, 2022
One of the most amazing books I have ever read! Thank you author for creating such a beautiful journey of Hazel and Dimitri. Absolutely loved Dimitri! Will wait for more books from you! Keep up the amazing work!
March 23, 2023
Deceiving the Ruthless Billionaire by Mariyam Khan
3 stars
An ARC review.
A fair story of a girl blackmailed into deveining her new boss.
It could have been a great story, but it wasn’t due to
1. Story was far too long for its content. It didn’t need to be this long. It would have benefited with further polishing incorporating the below points:
2. Sentence structure was a bit weird at times…”a ball of hugs”… …”Such a great man he was. So easy to content”…
3. Some parts don’t make sense for example, “Glass stairs occupied the centre, concealing the small dinette behind”. This interfere with the story flow, because I’m thinking why is the dinette concealed by stairs made of glass.
4. Weird verbs… “I prodded to the CEO room and knocked” …just for one example, or was she prodding herself just to get there? She also … “prodded to the cooking pot’ …
5. Usage of the most weirdest words that kept me reaching for the dictionary. This bit of annoyance also interferes with the flow of the story.
Fuscous = of brownish-gray or dusky color
Sybaritic = characterized by or loving luxury or sensuous pleasure
Physiognomy = a persons facial feature or an expression
Mulligrubs = a despondent, sullen or I’ll-tempered mood
Felicity = Not the girls name it’s the state of being happy, especially in a high degree; bliss
Dolor = sorrow or grief.
Just to name a few.
The story Deceiving the Ruthless Billionaire saving grace is that the characters are well thought out and you do become invested in them.
3 stars
An ARC review.
A fair story of a girl blackmailed into deveining her new boss.
It could have been a great story, but it wasn’t due to
1. Story was far too long for its content. It didn’t need to be this long. It would have benefited with further polishing incorporating the below points:
2. Sentence structure was a bit weird at times…”a ball of hugs”… …”Such a great man he was. So easy to content”…
3. Some parts don’t make sense for example, “Glass stairs occupied the centre, concealing the small dinette behind”. This interfere with the story flow, because I’m thinking why is the dinette concealed by stairs made of glass.
4. Weird verbs… “I prodded to the CEO room and knocked” …just for one example, or was she prodding herself just to get there? She also … “prodded to the cooking pot’ …
5. Usage of the most weirdest words that kept me reaching for the dictionary. This bit of annoyance also interferes with the flow of the story.
Fuscous = of brownish-gray or dusky color
Sybaritic = characterized by or loving luxury or sensuous pleasure
Physiognomy = a persons facial feature or an expression
Mulligrubs = a despondent, sullen or I’ll-tempered mood
Felicity = Not the girls name it’s the state of being happy, especially in a high degree; bliss
Dolor = sorrow or grief.
Just to name a few.
The story Deceiving the Ruthless Billionaire saving grace is that the characters are well thought out and you do become invested in them.
March 20, 2023
✨✨ARC REVIEW ✨✨
“I may have had you, but you were never mine” just about ate at my heart 🥹
But holy hotness!!! Dimitri is a whole dream, Good book with great writing, the story wasn’t predictable and kept me going. I’m so glad it wasn’t a short story with a bad break up and that they got back together soon not wasting time on dragging the story along. Loved it thank you so much!!
“I may have had you, but you were never mine” just about ate at my heart 🥹
But holy hotness!!! Dimitri is a whole dream, Good book with great writing, the story wasn’t predictable and kept me going. I’m so glad it wasn’t a short story with a bad break up and that they got back together soon not wasting time on dragging the story along. Loved it thank you so much!!
March 24, 2023
Such an exquisite story. Beautifully written. Quite a different read from the usual billionaire romance, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I laughed and cried throughout
March 16, 2023
This was a decent read. A little longer than what I expected. But overall it was decent.
February 15, 2022
As much as I love Dimitri, it’s selfless Hazel that’s the win for me! Her devotion toward her cause and relentless pursuit of good even when she knew she would suffer the greatest consequence, is most admirable. That was something I truly applaud the author for such an unusual take by including the senior citizens.
The billionaire romance itself is heartwarming and as feel good as a hallmark movie romance- the BEST kind.
The billionaire romance itself is heartwarming and as feel good as a hallmark movie romance- the BEST kind.
December 14, 2024
This was bad and full of loose ends and plot holes.
Nothing in this plot makes sense. Hazel is as dumb as they come. She could have asked help from so many people and so many times. But she didn’t. She voluntarily played to her stepfather’s tunes.
Dimitri was the cliche playboy billionaire.
Hazing was lying and deceiving Dimitri to save a senior house. It’s trivial. Why is this blown so out of proportion?
His family hated her right from the beginning. Rightfully so. Even when everything came out that she was a liar and got exposed, Dimitri leaves her. Only to come back, then suddenly they are having a wedding. Nothing was ever mentioned about his family either making amends, reconciling or accepting her. They just didn’t exist anymore.
Nothing in this plot makes sense. Hazel is as dumb as they come. She could have asked help from so many people and so many times. But she didn’t. She voluntarily played to her stepfather’s tunes.
Dimitri was the cliche playboy billionaire.
Hazing was lying and deceiving Dimitri to save a senior house. It’s trivial. Why is this blown so out of proportion?
His family hated her right from the beginning. Rightfully so. Even when everything came out that she was a liar and got exposed, Dimitri leaves her. Only to come back, then suddenly they are having a wedding. Nothing was ever mentioned about his family either making amends, reconciling or accepting her. They just didn’t exist anymore.
March 16, 2023
This was an amazing read! Such a beautiful journey for Dimitri and Hazel! It kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole book! Can’t wait to read more by Mariyan Khan!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews