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Her Diamond Deal with the CEO
She saved his life. His way of repaying her? A wedding! Enjoy this marriage bargain romance by Louise Fuller.
The offer on the table...comes with his billion-dollar ring!
When lifeguard Ondine Wilde rescues Jack Walcott from drowning, she almost regrets it. The billionaire is as rude and entitled as he is gorgeous, so Ondine doesn’t expect any thanks. She’s certainly not expecting his spontaneous marriage proposal...
Jack explains he needs a convenient wife to secure his position as CEO. And whilst Ondine hates to admit it, she needs financial security for her family. His only rule? No feelings. Which, after a lifetime of heartache, suits Ondine just fine. Until their white-hot chemistry makes a mockery of their on-paper agreement!
Mills & Boon Modern — Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.
The offer on the table...comes with his billion-dollar ring!
When lifeguard Ondine Wilde rescues Jack Walcott from drowning, she almost regrets it. The billionaire is as rude and entitled as he is gorgeous, so Ondine doesn’t expect any thanks. She’s certainly not expecting his spontaneous marriage proposal...
Jack explains he needs a convenient wife to secure his position as CEO. And whilst Ondine hates to admit it, she needs financial security for her family. His only rule? No feelings. Which, after a lifetime of heartache, suits Ondine just fine. Until their white-hot chemistry makes a mockery of their on-paper agreement!
Mills & Boon Modern — Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.
206 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 1, 2023
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18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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July 11, 2023Meh.
The characters act like kids
Quotes:
"Now everything looked grey. The colour of compromise."
New words:
Snitty
Frogmarched
The characters act like kids
Quotes:
"Now everything looked grey. The colour of compromise."
New words:
Snitty
Frogmarched
May 13, 2025
I had been planning on clearing out my Modern romance book backlist, but after two duds in a row, I might have to move on to something else!
This book didn't work because it had an absolutely awful hero.
Now, I'm not often a fan of the arrogant billionaire this line routinely delivers, but they've improved since the publisher moved away from the blackmailed-into-sex trope after the #metoo movement. However, this book takes hero Jack Walcott right into the opposite extreme. He's an immature, insecure, spineless, hopeless, poor-little-rich-boy sad-sack. The book begins with him jumping off his boat and into the water, despite being unable to swim, which skates too uncomfortably close to being a suicide attempt. (The book dances around it.) He is rescued by lifeguard Ondine Wilde. After a while in each other's company, they have sex. Jack then decides that the perfect way to win back his grandfather's respect, and secure his position as CEO, is to be married, so he proposes to Ondine. Ondine accepts after she discovers her previous husband has frittered away the money she had saved up for her younger brother, Oliver, to go to college.
Ironically, the marriage proposal here made sense. Jack is an immature idiot and this is exactly what an immature idiot would do. But I don't like my heroes being immature idiots. Up until the book begins, he has always been an irresponsible party-boy (that's what the book tells us, too.) He thinks marriage will make him more respectable. I can understand that sort of thinking from an immature idiot. But Jack remains an immature idiot for the entirety of the plot.
When Ondine discovers she is pregnant, Jack is absolutely adamant that it is not his baby and that Ondine is a lying, sneaky gold-digger. Even when she calmly offers a paternity test, he is not taking her up on that. Why? The book never explains. We're just left with Jack being an immature idiot and continuing to label Ondine a treacherous whore despite there being a very easy way for him to disprove this. Ondine constantly indulges Jack in his tantrums and man-baby whinging, thinking he's actually a great guy underneath because he did the bare minimum in being nice to her while she had morning sickness.
Actually, both these people are idiots!
Jack is such a bundle of insecurities that it was actually a real turn-off. He can't be alone, he can't do anything for himself unless somebody tells him he's good at it, and if he gets upset, he'll go and do something reckless and stupid because Life Is Hard. He had a litany of mommy and daddy issues that needed four books to resolve, not one. Or, you know, he could have just grown up. A poor-me millionaire who refuses to help himself is not high on my list of swoon-worthiness. When he's stomping off yet again over something that has upset him and Ondine is trying to call him on the phone 30 times, worrying he might hurt himself (the book once again skating around suicide attempt), I was done. This was a toxic relationship.
Ondine wasn't a whole deal better. She had already been married twice, and I got the feeling she was falling into the same trap of falling for a man despite the myriad red flags. She did come out of the book looking better than Jack, but that's a fairly hollow victory. I was utterly unconvinced that the relationship would be successful despite the epilogue. How long until Jack found something else too hard that he's going and jumping off another boat? (Or maybe a building, since he learnt how to swim.)
Give me an arrogant billionaire any day over the insecure man-baby we get here.
This book didn't work because it had an absolutely awful hero.
Now, I'm not often a fan of the arrogant billionaire this line routinely delivers, but they've improved since the publisher moved away from the blackmailed-into-sex trope after the #metoo movement. However, this book takes hero Jack Walcott right into the opposite extreme. He's an immature, insecure, spineless, hopeless, poor-little-rich-boy sad-sack. The book begins with him jumping off his boat and into the water, despite being unable to swim, which skates too uncomfortably close to being a suicide attempt. (The book dances around it.) He is rescued by lifeguard Ondine Wilde. After a while in each other's company, they have sex. Jack then decides that the perfect way to win back his grandfather's respect, and secure his position as CEO, is to be married, so he proposes to Ondine. Ondine accepts after she discovers her previous husband has frittered away the money she had saved up for her younger brother, Oliver, to go to college.
Ironically, the marriage proposal here made sense. Jack is an immature idiot and this is exactly what an immature idiot would do. But I don't like my heroes being immature idiots. Up until the book begins, he has always been an irresponsible party-boy (that's what the book tells us, too.) He thinks marriage will make him more respectable. I can understand that sort of thinking from an immature idiot. But Jack remains an immature idiot for the entirety of the plot.
When Ondine discovers she is pregnant, Jack is absolutely adamant that it is not his baby and that Ondine is a lying, sneaky gold-digger. Even when she calmly offers a paternity test, he is not taking her up on that. Why? The book never explains. We're just left with Jack being an immature idiot and continuing to label Ondine a treacherous whore despite there being a very easy way for him to disprove this. Ondine constantly indulges Jack in his tantrums and man-baby whinging, thinking he's actually a great guy underneath because he did the bare minimum in being nice to her while she had morning sickness.
Actually, both these people are idiots!
Jack is such a bundle of insecurities that it was actually a real turn-off. He can't be alone, he can't do anything for himself unless somebody tells him he's good at it, and if he gets upset, he'll go and do something reckless and stupid because Life Is Hard. He had a litany of mommy and daddy issues that needed four books to resolve, not one. Or, you know, he could have just grown up. A poor-me millionaire who refuses to help himself is not high on my list of swoon-worthiness. When he's stomping off yet again over something that has upset him and Ondine is trying to call him on the phone 30 times, worrying he might hurt himself (the book once again skating around suicide attempt), I was done. This was a toxic relationship.
Ondine wasn't a whole deal better. She had already been married twice, and I got the feeling she was falling into the same trap of falling for a man despite the myriad red flags. She did come out of the book looking better than Jack, but that's a fairly hollow victory. I was utterly unconvinced that the relationship would be successful despite the epilogue. How long until Jack found something else too hard that he's going and jumping off another boat? (Or maybe a building, since he learnt how to swim.)
Give me an arrogant billionaire any day over the insecure man-baby we get here.
August 11, 2024
I didn't like it.
The hero was not great, he was so damaged by his parents neglect that he had really bad coping mechanisms, he didn't like being alone ever, like he started having issues when just being in a room alone after his personal trainer left, so I can only imagine his body count. Before meeting heroine he was constantly partying and making bad decisions.
He basically tried to kill himself by jumping into ocean when he didn't know how to swim, then heroine saved him and he sleeps with her within hours of meeting (unknowingly getting her pregnant) and then proposes marriage to the complete stranger to show his grandfather he's grown up. He never once gave thought to how life would be after the wedding.
He was so mean to heroine when she revealed results of pregnancy test (they found out at about same time since she didn't even suspect she was pregnant, so he got her a bunch of pregnancy test). He just declared he wasn't the father and assumed she was devious and trying to pass someone else's baby off on him. He said some horrible things to her and was super distant, but he did hold her hair while she had morning sickness throughout some nights.
I can understand why he would think he wasn't the father and be suspicious (since he married a complete stranger), but I don't understand being so mean and adamant about it when he can easily know with an amniotic paternity test.
As for heroine, she had some issues of her own. She was already twice divorced before meeting hero and seemed prone to making bad decisions (choice of partners, financially, sleeping with a stranger hours after meeting him, etc.).
Then she let hero treat her (and by extension their unborn baby) terribly at every turn and just stayed because she "gave her word" she would stay married to him for a year. He had moments of being nice but something would trigger him and he would lash out at her and push her away.
Unclear if hero was celibate during 8 weeks between them sleeping together and them getting married. He had issues about being alone with his thoughts, so I don't know what he could have been doing for those 2 months since he didn't even have a job at his grandfather's company at the time. Heroine was working and they didn't have much contact, so mystery to me what he did for 2 months. P.
The hero was not great, he was so damaged by his parents neglect that he had really bad coping mechanisms, he didn't like being alone ever, like he started having issues when just being in a room alone after his personal trainer left, so I can only imagine his body count. Before meeting heroine he was constantly partying and making bad decisions.
He basically tried to kill himself by jumping into ocean when he didn't know how to swim, then heroine saved him and he sleeps with her within hours of meeting (unknowingly getting her pregnant) and then proposes marriage to the complete stranger to show his grandfather he's grown up. He never once gave thought to how life would be after the wedding.
He was so mean to heroine when she revealed results of pregnancy test (they found out at about same time since she didn't even suspect she was pregnant, so he got her a bunch of pregnancy test). He just declared he wasn't the father and assumed she was devious and trying to pass someone else's baby off on him. He said some horrible things to her and was super distant, but he did hold her hair while she had morning sickness throughout some nights.
I can understand why he would think he wasn't the father and be suspicious (since he married a complete stranger), but I don't understand being so mean and adamant about it when he can easily know with an amniotic paternity test.
As for heroine, she had some issues of her own. She was already twice divorced before meeting hero and seemed prone to making bad decisions (choice of partners, financially, sleeping with a stranger hours after meeting him, etc.).
Then she let hero treat her (and by extension their unborn baby) terribly at every turn and just stayed because she "gave her word" she would stay married to him for a year. He had moments of being nice but something would trigger him and he would lash out at her and push her away.
Unclear if hero was celibate during 8 weeks between them sleeping together and them getting married. He had issues about being alone with his thoughts, so I don't know what he could have been doing for those 2 months since he didn't even have a job at his grandfather's company at the time. Heroine was working and they didn't have much contact, so mystery to me what he did for 2 months. P.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2025
not to my liking
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews