Faking it with the Billionaire

Ice Dragons Hockey #1

by Willow Fox

When you're a star athlete and hire a bodyguard to protect your daughter but... The agency sends you an adorable 5 foot 2 brunette that barely looks capable of protecting herself, let alone anyone else. Turns out "Ryan" is Emerson Ryan, former FBI. She drop-kicks your butt to the ground to prove her point. She's more than capable of protecting Bristol, your little girl... But you shouldn't be turned on by her fierceness. Everyone thinks she's your daughter's nanny, including Bristol. Emerson looks the part and goes along with it at your insistence until she's forced to be your daughter's babysitter. With a professional hockey career on the line, you need Emerson by your side. But questions will arise the moment you hire a "second" nanny for Bristol, and you don't want to worry your daughter about the threat to her safety. The next best thing? Hire Emerson as your fake girlfriend. She can protect Bristol, and you get a little extra publicity when the news learns about your new spicy romance. But how long can you pretend everything is fake when the sparks are real? This steamy hockey romance book features a grumpy single dad, a sizzling romance with plenty of drama. No cheating. Standalone. HEA.

Genres: Romance, Hockey, Sports Romance, Sports, Audiobook, Hockey Romance, Fake Dating

396 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2023

About the author

Willow has loved writing since she was in high school (many ages ago). Whether she’s writing romance or sitting outside by the bonfire reading a good book, Willow loves the magic of the written word.

https://shopwillowfox.com

Reviews

[katiecohen1106 · Rating 2 out of 5]

1) are you kidding me why is this the cover on Goodreads this is literally not the cover of the book I swear Goodreads just wants to embarrass me
2) this book is like 5 hours of my life I will never get back
3) I need to stop reading books just because it has the tropes I like because seriously this was a train wreck. I’m sorry who thought it was a good idea to combine bodyguard, mafia, hockey player, single dad, and fake dating tropes all in one.
4) I would only recommend this book to someone that I couldn’t stand

[Meagan Whitmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many troupes with very little substance. I’m not a fan at breaking down someone’s work but man, I wish the authors friends/editor/publisher or whomever read this book before it was published could have been honest. This book is a hot mess. It had potential to be good but fell completely flat and shouldn’t have been published. It needs to be rewritten at best.

Don’t let the 5 star reviews or FB/TikTok ads fool you. There’s almost just as many 2 stars and this current version of the book, isn’t worth the money. I DNF around 40% and even broke my cardinal rule and skipped to the end to see if it could somehow be salvaged but the ending is rushed, makes very little sense and just sucked. Save your money and time and skip this book.

[Anna Downing · Rating 1 out of 5]

Man. This book was a fucking train wreck. It had too much going on. I mean was it a hockey romance? Mafia? Billionaire? It constantly repeated itself. I hate when they have a kid and the kid is “so mature.” My six year old is pretty mature for her age and she wouldn’t say half the shit this one did. I finished it because I bought it but it was hard.

[abbie ⁎⁺˳✧༚ · Rating 1 out of 5]

this was a crime. not even a crime against literature, just a crime.

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Brain cells were lost in this dumpster fire of a book

[Arlene Aesthetic · Rating 1 out of 5]

horrible writing. storylines dont even match.

THIS BOOK WAS TERRIBLE!!!! I LOVED the premise. Female bodyguard, underestimated but kick @$s at her job. Falls for her client and lives happily ever after. (I love me a kick a$s FMC). Emerson is NOT this. I mean she’s not even a bodyguard. Yeah yeah she was in fbi but there’s no history. No use of her “skills”. We dont even see her investigating people of interests. She notices someone watching her / the child she’s supposed to be guarding and DOESNT look into it?!

Then She INSTANTLY caves to “physical” touches from Grayson even though she “swore off men” b/c was gr@ped by her precious boss??? Oh and let’s add in the child’s mothers “suspicious” connection to the “m@fia”. So she abandons her daughter for her safety………. But by the end of the book the m@fia kids and said child are going on play dates !? I thought they were to be kept apart? That’s why the mom dipped. And now you’re just buddy buddy?!)

There are typos and added words onto completed sentence. Horrible writing. Feels like a beginner watt pad book. Author tried too hard to describe things. If i had a drink for how many times Emerson bit her lip i would have died from
Alcohol poisoning.

As this is a contemporary romance, i expected some realistic vibes from it. But it was garbage. Emerson was forced into lying to the child. Then forced into Fake dating. Forced fake an engagement. (Oh yeah just to be “invited” to the wives box so she can be more comfortable during games. I read a lot of romance, i read some pretty far fetched / illogical things. And let me tell you this was the worst reason for a fake engagement i have EVER read).

Save yourself the time and dont read this. Waste of 3 hours.

[Charlei Harwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually think I lost brain cells reading this.

[Chloe · Rating 2 out of 5]

ummm it was free on YouTube so…

[maya · Rating 2 out of 5]

the review you've all been waiting for;

this book was very bad but quite entertaining. the amount of tropes was almost overwhelming:
-billionaire
-hockey
-single dad
-female bodyguard
-fake dating
-mafia
-"tiny"fmc

I did not really like the love interest. He completely underestimated the mc because of her gender and can't stop mentioning how tiny she is throughout the whole book. His only solution for anything seems to be hitting someone. (are you a child?) He always keeps important information from emerson He literally says that he wants to know what it would be like to possess her. Which brings me to my next point.
What the hell was the kitchen scene?? Getting at it where his friends can see them through the window? getting all jealous over a little teasing and telling her he'd f*ck her in the ass if she said his brother's name one more time?? I was done when his friends walked in on her giving him head in the kitchen.
this is unrelated but the cover on goodreads is a crime against humanity.

[Bethany Mosettig · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so bad it was actually upsetting.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kyler hires Emerson to be a bodyguard for his daughter, to keep her safe. They go from fake dating to having real feeling quickly. This author can definitely tell a great story. Both the writing and the characters were great.

[dylan · Rating 1 out of 5]

burn it

[Naomi☕️ · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so bad. I was disgusted, cringed and shocked woth this book. I pushed through but this is a very bad version of twisted lies of ana huang.
The wattpad storys where youre sold to one direction are better than this im sorry to say it

[Annie Moon · Rating 2 out of 5]

the kid was so
annoying

[Mar · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5

[madi · Rating 1 out of 5]

his name was kyler and his daughter's name was bristol.

this is a great example of authors writing tropes instead of writing a story,
billionaire romance? yes
hockey romance? yes
fake dating romance? yes
mafia romance? somehow also yes

the writing was terrible, ill find some quotes soon as proof because this was crazy.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being in a book slump, I am glad to have read this book because it was quick paced, spicy, fun and easy to read. It got me back into reading and I had lots of fun.

It does have a lot of tropes like a billionaire hockey player, a single dad, she’s a bodyguard for his daughter because of her maternal lineage and I know some might think it’s alot but I felt like it made the plot interesting. It moved at a good pace, if you want that quick attraction which I needed. You know? Why wait sometimes! I thought the dynamic between the FMC and MMC was good. They both had strong personalities, he could be grumpy and a little bossy and she wasn’t letting him and challenged him and their scenes together were hot. They had a lot of mutual longing, the “we shouldn’t do this” and “it’s so wrong” hit its so right. I love a good forced proximity and I thought it worked well and there’s fake dating because why not? Fake dating your boss just adds to the fun.

I also thought the daughter was such a cutie and brought a lightness and sweetness to the book. Seeing her have a fun relationship develop with the FMC and how they go to hockey games and if you’re a fan of the wearing his jersey trope like I am, we got here it right here and he’s possessive about it which was top tier. I like the found family trope that the book also seems to have and all the side characters. I thought it was different take on hockey romance and I really did enjoy it. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series

[avi ౨ৎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 2.90
Age: +17
Spice: 2.5/5
Thoughts:
Uhm, I am so confuse. I like the story line. And the plot. But I think it was too short in my opinion. Like I wish it was longer. I also wish we could see more of the relationship. I also didn't like the transition of Emerson to cold and all business too lovey dovy and smushy. You know. I love Tyler. My only complaint is that it should've been longer. I listened to the Audio book and loved the speaker! Can't wait to read the next book in this duology.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads wants to humiliate me and make me a not credible reader with this cover buuuuuut WE ARE SO BACK!!! Italian mafia, fake dating, AND hockey player? It was like a One Direction fan fic and I loved it. Terribly written but who cares

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book definitely isn’t bad, i just think it’s missing something. It kind of felt like it was going in circles and I wish there was more to it.

[Chase · Rating 3 out of 5]

I still have no idea what the Italian mafia being in this book had to do with anything

[Klyne McComas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Man this was a hard one to get through I absolutely hated every second of it. The plot what plot. The author tried to put a mafia, hockey, billionaire romance into one ☝🏾 book and it was an epic fail!! Like there wasn’t enough hockey to be categorized as such same for the other 2 tropes. And I hate all the characters. Just awful!!!

[Mirjam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read. Saw some red flags at the beginning, but liked them better towards the end. Will be reading the next book.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

That was a painful train wreck

[Kalynn Bucio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook … it was interesting 😂 didn’t hate it but wasn’t great either. Just not for me. Maybe would feel different if read it physically

[morgan larick · Rating 2 out of 5]

awful. i had fun!

[Arelee · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 ⭐️’s
It was an ok book but it was definitely too wattpady for me. 🤢 it seems like the author tried to fit too many tropes into one book.

[Poly Dell'amore Purple · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

Okay, partir diciendo que es una novela de Amazon, por lo que el smut corresponde al 50-60% de la historia. Si bien la historia podría ser bastante atractiva al reducir esta cantidad INNECESARIA de smut, me comprometí y lo terminé, aunque no soportara ciertas escenas.

La idea general de que una mujer sea guardaespaldas y demuestre que es suficiente para cuidar de una niña y su padre, me parece llamativa, pero el hecho de que el cachondeo haya empezado desde el momento en que ella llegó y comenzó el trabajo, me pareció ridículo.

La linea de tiempo de la historia no se explica, y es como si no fuera importante, pero debería serlo, porque yo no entiendo como en un capitulo comienza el fake dating y luego de la nada tenemos un fake engagement. Para que lueego te expliquen que han pasado como 6 meses, pero el tiempo no se explica en ninguna parte, no hay ninguna referencia al paso del tiempo, no hay menciones a "ayer", "la mañana siguiente", nada, solo saltos a lo loco y espero que adivines en que punto temporal te encuentras parado.

De todas formas, le dejo 2.5 porque a pesar de todo, no fue un sufrimiento acabar con el libro, solo una incomodidad y confusión. Puede que a la gente que le gusta el smut sin sentido este sea un buen libro.

[meka · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars

Look… I was fully on board at the beginning. But the more I read, the less of a fan I was. I liked their characters and there was so much potential but there was way too much going on. I even had to write down my thoughts so my mind wouldn’t explode and forget what I was reading.

Kyler seems to think with his downstairs area a majority of the time. He seems like a great dad but everything with Emerson is just lust driven. He even uses the phrase ‘because I’m a guy’ multiple times as an excuse to ogle her… like what? Emerson and her feelings gave me constant whiplash. I liked her fierceness and profession but her emotions were all over the place and I couldn’t pin point what she wanted. There’s also a lack of character development/ building which also made my mind scattered. By the end I realised the smartest person in the book was his kid.

Overall, I thought it was okay and had potential maybe if there were less tropes and more of an emotional build to convince readers of their connection. I received a copy of this book and am leaving this honest review voluntarily <3

[utter_bookishlove · Rating 1 out of 5]

A billionaire romance with a single dad hockey player who hires a bodyguard to protect his 6 year old daughter. Things take a rapid turn when Kyler and Emerson have to fake date to keep the reason why she’s actually around a secret.

The insta-lust vibes were not giving, it felt entirely insincere😒 went from ‘I work for him I can’t possibly want him’ to giving him a BJ in the next breath.


At least buy me a drink first, ease a girl into it🗣️🗣️🗣️

I was constantly fighting the urge to not roll my eyes.

Emerson (FMC) was just not likeable for me.

And Kyler (MMC) was just arrogant, in constant heat and kept mentioning how little and tiny the heroine was compared to him, and that a girl can’t possibly be a bodyguard😩

The men in this book just gave me the ick


This was so cringey you guys 😭

Read this book if you like. . .
Never mind.


1 star ⭐️