I Married a Billionaire

I Married a Billionaire #1

by Melanie Marchande

Maddy Wainright has given up on marriage - and men. After dating way too many losers who aren't capable of appreciating her for who she is, she's about ready to resign herself to a life of spinsterhood. Until her insanely rich boss Daniel Thorne comes along with an offer she simply can't refuse.

He proposes a marriage of convenience - one that would allow Maddy to live in the lap of luxury for a year, and Mr. Thorne to stay in the country that has become his home. At the end of their arrangement, Maddy will walk away with a cool two million dollars. All she has to do is move into his mansion, put on a convincing show in public, and endure a few INS interviews, for which she will be thoroughly prepped. It's a big risk, but one Maddy might just be willing to take, considering the payoff.

At first, it's all business. But when the gentle touches, passionate kisses, and lingering looks they have to give each other in public start spilling over into their private life, Daniel and his devious mind take Maddy to heights of pleasure she's never experienced. And the more she gets to know him, the more she feels that wistful tug in her chest every time he puts his arm around her in public. Before long, she finds herself wishing it were real.

As time goes on, Maddy finds herself wondering if two million dollars will be enough to cover the cost of repairing a broken heart. But Mr. Thorne may have yet another secret in store...

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Erotica, Marriage Of Convenience, Chick Lit, BDSM

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Melanie Marchande is the New York Times bestselling author of His Secretary: Undone. She loves sarcastic alpha billionaires, sassy curvy heroines, and pizza. Not necessarily in that order.

Reviews

[Mrs Wilson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, I really did. It's like three people wrote the book without talking to each other or reading the others' sections.

There were many aspects that didn't make sense. How did he have a favorite childhood restaurant but he is an illegal citizen? How is his sister living and working in the US and he is an illegal citizen?

Where did the dom in him come from suddenly?

She was a total wimp.

I could go on but I won't. Suffice to say, this book doesn't make the grade.

[Lucy (why do I bother to read chicklit) · Rating 1 out of 5]

How can I fully express how bad this is?
First, there's no story and everything happens so fast and so deliberately I kept asking myself how? how? how? why? why? why?

The plot is supperficial enough, but there isn't ANY character development. We are left in the dark about character's motivation and when they fall in love, as you know eventually they will, I kept asking myself how did this happen? And how come are they attracted to each other? It just doesn't make sense!!!

And to make matters worse, the sex scenes are not particularly well written so even that is a downside in this book.
Keep away if you are wise :)

[Mac · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible book. Absolutely nothing happened. The story line had potential but nothing was developed. Not even a good sex scene. Not sure why so many people love this book.

[Jacqueline's Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

I am not a fan of novellas, BUT I am a huge fan of new and self published authors, so I gave this one a go.

Although I Married a Billionaire didn’t hit it out of the park for me, it was still a valent effort and sweet read.

Maddy is your typical young city girl, she’s on her own and has a lot of bills and debt. Her boss, Daniel is going to be deported and conveniences Maddy to marry him and stay marry for a year so Daniel can stay in the country. Once that year is finished Maddy will get two million dollars.

Love the blub right? I know, the whole billionaire thing is very trendy right now, but I hate to say it, I love it! The summary isn’t very original, reminds me a lot like the movie “The Proposal”, but that didn’t bother me too much.

Let’s just get on with the review.

I married a billionaire has so much potential! I think if it was longer and Marchande played up the chemistry a little more between Maddy and Daniel, it could have been so much better.

I thought the tone was kind odd, I wasn’t sure if it was a steamy or light-hearted read. I felt like 50% of the story was light-hearted, then around the 75% mark things got steamy. I believe the whole book should have been light-hearted and the extra steamy scenes kind of took away from the “cuteness” of the storyline.

I didn’t get enough of Daniel, since it was told in Maddy’s POV. I didn’t see the dominate side of Daniel until towards the end and if that could have been exposed more towards the beginning, I would have understood his character better.

I thought the slow progression into the marriage was nice and it was leading up to something, but once we hit the wedding, honeymoon and afterwards, I kind of felt like everything was rushed. What happened to the tone? I really believe I Married a Billionare could have been a 4 star book without all the kinks. I have faith in Marchande and will not write her off yet.

Don’t give up on these kinds of books because they aren’t epic reads. Like I said before, I love new and self published authors. Overall, I Married a billionaire was a decent read for a first try.

For more reviews, visit http://jacquelinesreads.blogspot.com/

[D.Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found the writing refreshing. The author is great at making you care (I barely checked to see how close I was to finishing (which I do with too many books...)because I was too busy wanting to see where things were going). It did feel a tad rushed in 3 or 4 parts, but the lead protagonist is really flippin charming, and she makes you want to read more.

Daniel began to flesh out more towards the end, but he was maybe a little too mysterious before that (Some build-up of how attractive he was to other women might have helped - I don't feel his attractiveness was made clear when it would have best helped to build anticipation).

He roared to life later in *ahem* key scenes (I may include spoilers in the future, but for now, I'll keep this review brief). Once he/his confidence/aims 'showed up' in this way, I wanted to see the couple overcome their barriers, and be together.

I would read this author again.
I give it 4.25 stars.

At worst, I can see this as a 3.5 star book but anything lower than than is off-base in my opinion. One star (and sometimes two star) books that truly deserve such a rating are junk that deserve a nasty zinger. This is not that.

(Possibly more later)

[Katrina Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this story. Left me hungry for more though. Was just a tad too short. Can't wait for the sequel!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice surprisingly sweet read.

The marriage starts out as a buisness contract. Thorne needs to marry to remain in the country so he offers Madeline 2 million for 1 year of marriage. She must also move in and then get to know one another to pass the INS interview.

Simple right? Just pretend to be a couple, get married then go your seperate ways. However plans change proximity and attraction work its magic. Two people falling for one another but fighting themselves and tring to stick to the 'fake' marriage without getting their hearts broken.

Loved his big sister Lindsay she was great. The story wasn't all that predictable.
I got this as a free download from Amazon so well worth it. I actually enjoyed it. It wasn't all about the sex or the money but two people in a situation trying to make it work. Yes they was drama, and sex but it was so much more than that.

[Anais Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful morning read!

This book is just what I needed to start my weekend. Literary read the whole book in one sitting. I loved Maddy's inner Broke Girl attitude, as well as, her personality and perspective of a different world that to the rest of us seems unrealistic and glamorous. Five-star restaurants, credit cards with no limits, and all of her opinions. It makes you chuckle and sometimes huff out loud in agreement.

And Daniel is just the kind of man you want to spend a lazy Saturday morning falling in love with. He's like a Mr. Grey for the not so crazy about butt plugs demographic! Trust me about this read if you wanna be hooked with droopy unexplainable grin on your face ... this is the book for you!

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars.

I Married a Billionaire is best described as uninspired. It’s not a bad book but it’s a long shot away from good either. To be honest, I felt like I was reading a first draft of the story that the author was using to plot everything out before they go back and build the characters. If I were the editor I would have at least raised a few issues. The biggest problem being: Everything in the story was just there and usually had zero explanation as to why it was there in the first place.

I Married a Billionaire doesn’t do a great job of explaining things. In fact, after reading this whole book, I can’t say I really know who any of these characters are. I would go so far as to say that Melanie Marchande probably also doesn’t know her characters all that well either. For example, the blurb details how Maddy has “given up on men” but the book never really talks about why that is. There was a bit with a crazy, jealous ex-girlfriend where she threw a wrench in the gears and showed up once to yell and nothing ever came of it. Again, why? The story tells us literally nothing about the situation and since so little came from it, why was it even in the plotline to begin with? What purpose did it fulfill? The smut kind of came out of left field as well. I just didn’t see Daniel being a Dom. It wasn’t even really discussed as to why he liked the kink he did. All I can do is keep futilely asking “ why? ” because the answers are nowhere to be found in the text.

This story was about a down on her luck woman marrying her billionaire boss to keep INS from deporting him and thus resulting in a whirlwind romance. Shouldn’t there be some excitement? Some laughs? Anything? Sadly, I Married a Billionaire had a ton of foundational issues and ended up being having the personality of a cardboard box. It’s painfully bland. The concept itself isn’t bad and there was definitely potential for things to go well. However, the things just happened without any reason. I just wish there were also explanations somewhere along the line.

[Ipshita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the writing and the overall story, at least the first 70% of it. It went a little fifty shades cringy both in terms of writing and their awkward intimacy (or perhaps I was the one feeling all kinds of awkward)after that, so much so that I wished it had finished up as a clean romance instead. It was a pretty short read for me since I mostly skipped the intimate scenes, I don't believe that I'm being biased by saying that those scenes were actually incongruent to the standard of the remaining story. And what was that scene near the end with the ex? It felt so convenient and a cheap way to wrap things up.

Anyhow, for those who don't mind eroticas, go right ahead with this.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/14/2021)! 🎁

[Crystal Cierlak · Rating 2 out of 5]

With the right writer, this book could have been amazing. Unfortunately it's very lackluster. The premise of a marriage of convenience for a foreigner (he's from Canada; that isn't exactly foreign) is a bit of a stretch, but fine, whatever. But it all happens very quickly at the beginning of the book and there isn't much in the way of character building, let alone an introduction. We have no idea what these people look like, which is oaky because that can appeal to a broad audience, but there are ways of claiming physical appearance without excluding people, and that isn't done here. You just have no idea what these people look like.

It's strange to me that so much time goes by in short spurts and yet the flow of the story doesn't match the length of time. One paragraph following another could take place weeks later. It was a bit jarring at times.

What was apparent about this story is that a lot of the elements seemed to have come from general knowledge or common sense and not any amount of research. For example: for the honeymoon they go to Florida, and Florida is just mentioned as being hot. Everyone knows that. But then they go to "NASA", there is a very brief mention of a vehicle assembly building (described only as a tall white building with an American flag on the side of it), and a woman plainly introduces herself as "I'm an astronaut." (No, I'm not kidding, she literally says 'Hi my name is so-and-so and I'm an astronaut.') The author could have elaborated on what part of Florida they're in (eastern central coast - or more specifically, Titusville in Brevard County, which is where Kennedy Space Center is) but instead chose to be lazy and just refer to "NASA" as though she randomly picked that from a pile of postcards. There's an improbable little side story of them basically getting trained as astronauts and going on a fake mission, and for as much time was dedicated to the MC claiming she'd love to go to the moon (random) there's very little satisfaction in her attending this mini space camp. It was just odd.

The characters are bland. There's no real conflict. There are only one or two minor characters and neither of them have much depth, despite what seems to be an attempt in the contrary for the billionaire's sister, who actually acts quite opposite of how she is described. And then we're supposed to believe that they successfully fooled INS but not their friends/co-workers.

There's just a lot of lazy storytelling here that could have been spectacular had the story been executed properly, and by the time the book finished (which comes as quite a surprise actually - there's an immediately unspecified time jump of six months between chapters and everything just happens to be resolved) I was left feeling a bit robbed. Fortunately reading this only took half an afternoon of my time and I paid nothing for it.

You should know that 8% of the book is advertising for the author's other work (I personally have no problem with that, but 8% of the book is too much), including a couple sequels to this book that I have zero interest in reading.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melanie Marchande is a new-to-me author. I was on my Kindle Fire and looking at “recommended for you” books and noticed this and grabbed it. The blurb really caught my attention. I love the marriage of convenience trope. In I Married A Billionaire, Maddy Wainright, a graphic designer at the company she works at has given up on men and relationships. She doesn’t believe in love at all. This makes her the perfect fit for Daniel Thorne. He’s in jeopardy of being deported and needs to get married quickly. Her aversion to relationships and disbelief in love is a perfect fit for his plan.

Maddie can’t believe Mr. Thorne is serious, even if he is the answer to all her debt-ridden prayers. She takes a few days to consider his proposal, and after a mishap with her car, she’s all in. That’s where the fun starts.

These two have some pretty steamy chemistry and they both try to ignore it at first. They want to keep the arrangement all business. The kisses and caresses in public put a chink in their armor though. Then the honeymoon from heaven blows them all to smithereens. Or it does for Maddie anyway. Daniel on the other hand acts as though she doesn’t exist.

Once this couple figures out they both want the same thing and feel the same way, by way of a meddling sister, they start a beautiful relationship. One issue I had with this book is Maddie’s relationship to her parents, it wasn’t really explained why she didn’t have one. I mean what parents don’t have time to come to their only daughter’s wedding?

I will definitely be reading more from this author. I really like her style of writing, how the words just flow together. I Married A Billionaire was a very well written and edited book, a rare find in today’s market, especially for new authors.

[Heather andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daniel took awhile for me to warm up to him, he's just weird, "all the usual," said Daniel, waving his hand vaguely. "They'll make you anything. What do you like, steak? Chicken? Seafood? I think I've had everything there at least once, I could recommend you something." Maddy and Daniel's relationship is a weird one but Daniel I just don't understand why the boy can't go with the flow with some things:
"Why bother? We've got some of the best restaurants in the country within a twenty-mile radius." He made a dismissive hand gesture as he opened his phone.
"Well, at least it would give me something to do," I muttered.
He set the phone down on the counter and came over to me. "Anything you want to do, you can do it," he said. "You have your car. You have my credit card. Do whatever you want."
Sometimes Daniel, it's not all about money! This book was alright I think it was hard for me to love it because of well Daniel.

[Brandi Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Daniel wasn't the "normal romance billionaire" he was shy, reserved, even a little lonesome. I quite liked it. I usually like the hard-ass, doesn't take no for an answer, just overall dominant CEO. But Daniel was real. Maddie challenged him without even knowing she was doing it. They both were smitten with each other from the very beginning. I just loved how their relationship evolved. And when he showed her his dominant side she just went with it and took his instruction. So many of the romance Dom/sub books I’ve read the females resist hard, but Maddie just said ok and breathed. Like I said I quite enjoyed this book it is definitely worth reading.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, simple read. It seemed that book idea was awesome, but it just didn't seem to develop or grow.

It started out great, I thought it had huge potential but it just didn't seem to go anywhere. There was zero sexual tension, no steam, no declaration of love and so on. It just fell short of my expectations. I kept waiting for something to happen but it didn't. I really should give it around 2.5 stars. It also just kind of ended and I was left wondering when did they fall in love? Did they? No I Love You's or nothing. Total bummer.

[Delaney Diamond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Interesting storyline and nice sexual tension between the hero/heroine. My only wish is that the author had shared the hero's POV. I was curious about his thoughts a few times. His sister was awesome.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to meet a BT Goodreads monthly challenge.
This was a quick easy read, and may have scored higher for an avid reader of romantic books.


Thanks to the author for a free copy of this book.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. It's a good old fashion love story, with interesting characters and an unexpected twist.

[Frankie Brown]

hoping this is a how-to

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

when your trust is messed up, pretty much everything else is too.

[Elizabeth]

DNF at 40%. Bored.

[grumpyoldbird · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but I didn't love it, and from the synopsis I was expecting to love it. So there was a bit of disappointment there. Also from the synopsis I was expecting some scorchio scenes, however they were just lukewarm. I read a variety of books some with no scorchio scenes at all, so it's not a dealbreaker for me. However, I'd rather no scorchio scenes at all rather than lukewarm ones, so that did create disappointment. TBH from the synopsis and the lukewarm we did get, it came across as if the author did want to write scorchio scenes, but was unsure how to write them once it got to a certain point. I don't know if that is what happened, or if that is just this writer's style, possibly a mixture, who knows, I certainly don't.

Was also disappointed to realise at the end that this is a continuing series and ended on a cliffhanger of sorts. I knew it was part of a series, however I thought it was a self-contained read so to speak. I also wanted to know more about what had happened between Maddy and her parents, so was getting frustrated about it never being explained. When I realised the story continues I figure it must, hopefully, be contained in one of the other books. Another annoyance was some things were quite detailed, whilst other things were skimmed over. I'd have appreciated a bit more depth to some of the things skimmed over, as I felt they were relevant to the story.

Anyways bottom line this was a decent read and I would read more from this author, especially as I am interested in what happens next, but price point will be a major factor in that decision.

[Elle Markov · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book free on Amazon and read on my phone on my way back from San Diego. Its a quick, enjoyable read.

The book is told by Maddy Wainright, a graphic designer who leads a pretty quiet and romantically depressing life.

Maddy works for Daniel Thorne, really rich, obviously good looking (because when is the main guy ever not good looking), and smart guy; who is about to get deported back to Canada. Of course Mr. Smart Guy has a plan to avoid deportation; a marriage of convenience (because that never goes wrong).

Well, Daniel makes Maddy the offer, they marry, she gets to live a life of luxury and gets a few of her bills taken care of, who can really say no to having those dreadful student loans paid off, hells I'd take that deal right now. It wouldn't be a book if Maddy had said no; so yeah, she takes the deal, who wouldn't, oh, and did I mention at the end of the agreement she gets two million dollars.

Of course, Maddy falls for Daniel, who turns out to not be such a jerk, a little quirky, but overall really thoughtful towards Maddy. Don't fret, the attraction isn't one sided, they just both think that because, who really wants to tell their crush "hey I like you".

I enjoyed the book, the love story is sweet, I've already gone ahead and gotten the rest of the books in the series.

Rating 4 out of 5
Read@Book

[Writer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short but sweet and quirky!, March 4, 2013

Amazon Verified Purchase
This review is from: I Married a Billionaire (Contemporary Romance) (Kindle Edition)

Billionaire Daniel Thorne whose lawyer neglected to complete filing his paper works to become a natural US resident is now in danger of losing his visa. His only way of staying is if he marries a US citizen, so he set his eyes on one of his employees, the beautiful Maddy Wainwright and ask her to marry him. He bribed her to pay all her debts, move in with him, and enjoy all the perks of being his wife and at the end of their one year contract, he'll pay her a cool 2 million dollars and she walks away, no strings attached. The only condition, while they are living together she has to do everything to make it real and believable including sleeping together in the same room in the same bed. Maddy is in deep financial trouble and since the offer sounds so simple and enticing, she agreed...the trouble is, she fell in love ( and in lust! ) with the hot and sexy Daniel Thorne (who wouldn't be, whew! )
This is a sweet short fast read, quirky with a little twist and drama and a lot of sexual tension...and of course, a sweet and happy ending!

[Rhella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Must say I'm disappointed. Really wanted to like this book, but from the writing style to just how...undeveloped the story turned out, I couldn't. I'm not a stellar at writing reviews, but here's some of the things that I just could NOT let slide. Literally had me say "wtf" when it happened

1. When she calls him creepy and controlling for having a driver ready for her entire week BUT she told him her car would be in the shop all week? Like WHAT?

2. Her attitude? She'd literally turn from this agreeable, sorta sweet girl into this sarcastic b*%#^. Not my type of heroine, no thanks.

3. What the heck was up with all the apologies?! Did anyone else notice it? Half the book was about someone apologizing for something!! Really became annoying when it happened the.......25th time maybe? And that wasn't even half way into the book! Christ!

4. (Last one) I didn't like the unnecessary- and for lack of a better word- sh*t the author added in there. Like Sam, the female astronaut?! WHO CARES!? And Flo barging in at the end, super dumb.

What I actually did like was how Ray and Lindsey brought a little humor and life into this book. I can't believe there are other books in this series, I will not read them.

[Stefani · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is relatively new. My copy has been printed in March 2013.

The story starts with Maddy being called to her boss's office to discuss a special projects. Turns out he wants to marry her so he can get a USA citizenship. They would have to stay married for a year at the end of which she would walk away with 2 million dollars. She agrees. Before long she is in love with him. What Daniel feels is not clear. At times he seems to avoid her. At other times he surprises her (he even bought her a brand new car!). This is when the reader realizes that he must have feelings for her too. But is his affection for her big enough?

The ending left me wondering. There are some unanswered questions. Will they finally learn to trust each other? Will they stay together after the 12 months they are supposed to spend together? I will have to read the sequel to find out.

Comments: There are too many similar books published every day. So I kind of knew how it would end beforehand. And when you know what is going to happen the read is simply not that interesting. However, I would read the sequel to see what happens with Maddy and Daniel.

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marriage of convience...just a business proposition...right...

I thought this would be a light distraction when I didn't want to go deep and wanted to enjoy a favorite romance trope. He's a billionaire who needs to marry to get his citizenship expedited and she's a poor working girl who could really use a break.

In the end, it was not as engaging as I would have liked. The hero, Daniel, is never clearly developed and the heroine was a bit all over the place. I wasn't troubled much by her early attraction and struggles to keep to the business contract because that's to be expected, but I was troubled by her issues. She got testy when he jumped to conclusions about her, but had no trouble with her own personal prejudices. And that late showing of bedroom D/s with some slap and tickle made me wonder if it was a play for the 'what comes after a certain millionaire dom' romance craze.

Anyhoots, it was easy and moderately entertaining. A rushed ending. But I would still recommend it for those who enjoy the marriage of convenience romances.

[Kay Jacobs · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have no words that can truly express how much I hated this book. I finished it and I am still a little apologetic to myself about that. Where to start? The 'relationship' was ridiculous. It was fleshed out only slightly less than the fake characters. There was some supposed D/s relations in the story which I did not see in the description. I have no issues with the D/s relationship concept at large, in fact, I often enjoy the edge it gives a story and the broadness of scope it gives the leads - in this book it was crap. It wasn't done right or well. It was more like an abusive man who was patronizing and lowering himself in his willingness to teach his foolish little woman something while he referred to her as his sub. The emotions necessary to the D/s relationship were not only absent, they were enemies to the storyline. It irritated me so much that even seeing the cover of the book makes me frustrated inside. I will actively avoid this author in the future.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like the potential this book had was not lived up to. The idea was good. The base for the characters was good, the authors voice was good, but there was something missing. There were gaps in time that came as a surprise. I was left with unanswered questions, like why did she have a bad relationship with her parents? It doesn’t have to be much detail but just a little something would be good.