My father has nothing but cold indifference for me. Work, the stock market prices, and his new wife are his only priorities. In that order.
My stepmom, Nicole, hates me. Disney stepmothers? Such fairy tales. True crime documentaries didn’t prepare me for the evil that invaded my life when she stepped into our home.
But Nash has given me everything I ever craved from the moment we met. For the first time in my life, I feel wanted. Needed.
Loved.
And then he says we can’t tell anyone.
Despite how much he detests my father, they are business partners.
After their newest deal is done, Nash promises he’s going to end the partnership.
We have a huge age gap between us that would make people talk—about me.
Nash only wants to protect me.
His list is long for why we have to remain a secret—just for a little while—until I am slapped in the face with the truth.
By Nicole.
Nash’s ex.
Overheard betrayal Age gapEvil stepmother Father’s enemy Secrets Billionaire
Terri Anne Browning is a USA TODAY bestselling author. Being dyslexic, she never thought a career in writing would be possible, yet she has been on bestselling lists multiple times since 2013. Reese: A Safe Haven Novella was her first Indie published book. The Rocker Who Holds Me changed the tables and kicked off The Rocker... series featuring the sinfully delicious members of Demon's Wings. The Rocker... Series is now complete with 12 books and the occasional novella. Other books by Terri Anne include the Angel's Halo MC Series, as well as The Lucy & Harris Novella Series, The Vitucci Mafiosos Series, and The Tainted Knights Rocker Series.
Terri Anne lives in Virginia with her husband, their three demons---err, children--and a hyper Frenchie named Grunt.
More novella than romance because it was really short, it’s a good and angsty reading. There’s - age gap - overhearing - big misunderstanding -unplanned pregnancy - Uber possessive and besotted hero The hero and the heroine grandfathers founded a huge hotel chain in Vegas, and the hero has always known he would marry one day the heroine. There is a 18 years gap, so when the story starts she’s 20 and he’s 38, they are secretly dating for seven months. The heroine finds out she’s preggo and overhears the hero talking to her stepmother, a gold digger only a few years older than her, finding out he had an affair with her months ago, and that her grandfather wrote in his will that if they didn’t marry before she was 21 her part of the hotel went automatically in the hero’s hand. She thinks she’s been played, because she will be 21 in a couple of weeks. So she leaves the hero, the job and Vegas. The hero goes crazy. He was trying to protect her since her father was going to bankrupt her and leave her with nothing, so he planned to marry her as soon as she was 21 and gave her her half of the shares as a present. Of course he was in love with her since they met again seven months before and there was never anyone else. But. The book has got a lot of sex scenes, but there are some things left unexplained. For example, we know they knew and met through the years, and he had been away in LA to work in another hotel for some time, maybe years? So maybe they haven’t met since she was a teenager and as soon as he met her again at 20 he was immediately besotted and knew she was it. But it’s not mentioned. It makes a difference if the have met last time when she was, say, 17 , because I would understand if he wasn’t interested in a teenager, and seeing her three years later he saw her all grown up and was attracted to her. But if he saw her some months before and didn’t think to pursue her because he was having a lot of fun screwing other women among whom there was her future stepmother, well, this would be yuck. I think it’s more the first one, that they haven’t met for some years and he remembers her as a teenager, so I understand why e didn’t have any thoughts about her in a sexual way, which is perfectly fine to me since he was in his late 30s. But the book left it unexplained. And the yuck factor was that he screwed her stepmother, even if it happened before she married her father. But, yuck all the same. Anyway it was fine for me since I assumed they haven’t seen for years and he loved her as soon as he saw her again.
Another one I should’ve written the review several weeks ago. (I’m SLACKING) This reminded me of another book, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. We’ve seen this scenario SEVERAL times, H wanting to keep his relationship with the h on the DL (I have a review on deck with the same layout) for some reason. Nash’s isn’t for a nefarious reason which works since we have limited page time to work through issues, but it also generates miniscule amounts of drama and no angst.
The H and h are from two different hotel/resort families that have recently merged. Delilah/Lily (21) has been sleeping with her dad’s business partner Nash for several months. I’m not sure that we’re ever told how old Nash is, only that he’s 10 years younger than her dad, so I guessed a 15 year-ish gap. Stuff happens followed by assumptions and misunderstandings.
Bottom Line- Ok but nothing great. The plot had some potential, there just wasn’t enough page time to dig deep enough for anything to sink your teeth in to.
All you cared about was fucking Joseph over. Keeping him away from the prize. If it was to protect Delilah, you would have told her.” He should have told her but then there will be no novella! Lol
It's a short story of Nash and Lily. Basically he kept them a secret because he wanted to make sure she got her shares of the hotel. That's pretty much it he goes after her and she just accepts everything and it ends. Huh?
Another spineless h who puts up with total cr@p from the H, finds out that he betrayed her and lied to her and then drops to her knees and gives him a BJ because he’s so hot and she can’t control her hormones. 🙄🙄🙄
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
It was ok. The angst really wasn't there probably because of how short it was. Not a lot plot was filled in, so you have to make up your own conclusions
I.didnt.really.like that he'd had a 'relationship' with the skanky stepmother before he secretly dated the h and it kind of squicked me out. I didn't like that at all. she overheard his disgusting comments and a secret about the will and I would have done the same as her. There is no cheating as he has only wanted the h since he met her and he truly.loves her. He has a plan and it all works out swimmingly. A little too short but a good read. Plus it was safe. That always helps.
'Desde el momento en que te arrojaste a mis brazos, ya no lo estaba. No ha habido nadie más desde ese momento. Sólo tú. Te lo juro.'
•Mi opinión puede contener Spoilers. •Esta destinada a ser un descargo personal no para que alguien más lea pero si lo haces y te ofende, me disculpo porque sé lo que es que te guste un libro y otros lo critiquen.
One More Kiss de Terri Anne Browning
Argumento:
Nadie me ha querido jamás... hasta él.
Mi padre no siente más que una fría indiferencia hacia mí. El trabajo, las cotizaciones bursátiles y su nueva esposa son sus únicas prioridades. En ese orden.
Mi madrastra, Nicole, me odia. ¿Madrastras de Disney? Qué cuentos de hadas. Los documentales sobre crímenes reales no me prepararon para el mal que invadió mi vida cuando ella entró en nuestra casa.
Pero Nash me ha dado todo lo que anhelaba desde el momento en que nos conocimos. Por primera vez en mi vida me siento querido. Necesario.
Amada.
Y luego dice que no podemos decírselo a nadie.
A pesar de lo mucho que detesta a mi padre, son socios comerciales.
Una vez cerrado su nuevo acuerdo, Nash promete que pondrá fin a la asociación.
Tenemos una enorme diferencia de edad entre nosotros que haría que la gente hablara... de mí.
Nash sólo quiere protegerme.
Su lista de por qué tenemos que permanecer en secreto, sólo por un tiempo , es larga , hasta que me abofeteen con la verdad.
Por Nicole.
La ex de Nash .
Mi humilde opinión:
Este fue un romance con diferencia de edad y en un ámbito de trabajo. Lily o Delilah, y Nash trabajan juntos en un hotel. Tienen un romance que él le pide mantener en secreto porque es socio del padre de ella y hay un testamento por la herencia de por medio. Después de meses juntos, Lily siente que se volvió su pequeño secreto y llega a pensar que realmente ella no le importa. Se vuelve peor cuando descubre él tuvo un romance con su madrastra. Dolida por sus mentiras y traición recurre a sus amigos para alejarse de él y sanar.
Disfruté de la historia, fue corta pero me mantuvo enganchada. El romance trajo momentos picantes, drama y de celos. El tema de la herencia puso un poco de intriga y revelación.
Sin embargo, me dio la sensación de que me perdí de algo. Me hubiera gustado la historia completa de Nash y Lily, conocerlos mejor y el mundo Royal.
Me gustaba Lily, a pesar de lo enamorada que estaba de Nash, fue lo suficientemente fuerte para alejarse. Nash me había parecido un tipo frío pero después entendí su propósito.
Detailed spoilers/trigger warnings (if any) and final thoughts can be found below.
Delilah and Nash are part of a legacy started by their grandfathers. Since she was born, Nash knew the intention was for him to marry her, per their grandfathers request. The book begins with the FMC discussing her pregnancy and small details of the relationship she shares with the MMC, mainly that it’s been going on for months and is very much a secret.
When the FMC overhears a conversation between the MMC and her new stepmother, whom she despises and whom apparently had been horrible to her, she is done. She has no interest in staying on to work in her family’s hotel nor seeing the MMC so she runs away.
In the meantime, we learn all is not what it seems and the MMC had a good reason to do all that he has done.
⚠️SPOILERS/SPICE/DETAILED TRIGGERS⚠️
*The reason for the MMC’s behavior is provided after the overheard scene. The stipulation of the will surrounding them marrying had him acting the way he did to be able to force her father out of the business then he intended on declaring his love for her publicly. 🌶️: 1.5/5
Final thoughts: What did I just read?? Cliche’d and typical MMC treats the FMC like a dirty little secret, but of course there was a reason he had to do this 🤦♀️.
The age gap is a nice size, adding the right amount of taboo. The overheard scene with Nash and the stepmom was definitely good and created some angst.
I get this is a novella but boy, would it have been nice to actually go through some of the scenes the FMC had to experience at the hands of her stepmother. Especially as the blurb mentions how evil this person is. Spoiler alert: there isn’t a single on page scene of this just the FMC merely stating she’s not been nice. So that was very disappointing. And don’t get me started on the BBS.
Overall, this didn’t work. There were just way too many things brushed past or ignored that would have helped the story. The blurb had me excited and the book was a total letdown.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
One More Kiss was about soon-to-be 21-year-old Delilah "Lily" Royal, an assistant manager at the Royal Phoenix, one of the family hotels, and 38-year-old Nash Phoenix, co-owner of a chain of hotels with Delilah's father.
Since this story was only 14 chapters long, I'm not going to write an in-depth review. The Blurb told what was going on, so I'll fill in some of the gaps and leave it at that.
The book felt so incomplete and rushed that it was over almost before it began. While there was more than enough angst, drama, and conflict written into the plot, it was more like the reader had been dropped into the middle of a series of stories without having read the books before it. It NEEDED more content to be complete. There wasn't enough backstory for the characters. Imagine walking into a chapel expecting to attend a wedding, only to learn that, not only was the wedding over, but a whole boatload of drama had taken place that you missed out on. So from that point until you returned home, you felt like you were missing something dramatic that would be life-altering. That's how this book felt. It wasn't a good feeling.
The emotional rollercoaster was satisfying, and the characters were mature, but there wasn't enough backstory to determine whether or not they were fully developed or had experienced any growth that would prove to the reader that any redemption (if any was needed) had taken place.
This was more incomplete than most novellas I have read over the years, and that was a disappointment because this book had such potential to be a really great book. But as it stands, I can't give it more than a three-star rating.
Quick and easy novella. Read it in about an hour. Angsty and quick. The characters are fun, writing is okay.
Due to the length I wouldn’t say anything is super satisfying or any of the characters you’ll fall in love with. Delilah is young, has betrayed body syndrome bad, and has a tough girl inner monologue that doesn’t quite manifest in her actions besides running away for a few weeks. Like how does one work their entire life for a dream and then decide not to fight for it at all?
Nash is the typical protective, obsessive H. You can’t really tell why he likes her, just accept he does bc the author mentions it. He’s actually a good guy and is looking out for her. He never really needs to grovel bc his intentions are in the right place but it’s set as a grovel so it falls flat.
Stakes should be high based on what they are but it’s so quick and none of the characters are built super well so it ends up just being a quick read.
I didn’t love how the only gay characters were basically used for their sexuality - making Nash jealous but they were safe bc they were gay.
Anyways, quick one night read so fits the bill for what it promises. But I was disappointed a bit bc the angst payoff just wasn’t there.
I liked it but jaysus crust.....every time she saw the guy, she got down on her knees and started hawk tuaing away.
She is a granddaughter of a Vegas hotel.and he's the owner guy person of another Vegas hotel? I dunno. Anyway, her grandfather put in the will that if she isn't marries to the dude by her 21 birthday it so goes to him and she gets nothing. I think....(my kida are home for summer break and I was listening with half an ear 😂😂) she gets pregnant and eaves drops on her stepmother telling him that she wants his dick and he just used it to shut her up. Her beat friend is a gyno and H gets sad and jelly when he thinks of the funk touching her soft labias. 😂😂😂😂 is good reads gonna come after me for writing that? 😂😂😂😂😂 labias.....anyhoo.
Then she runs away and he finds her telling her that he was waiting for her father to lose his part of the will so he can get it all but give half to her.
Wraps up around his dick again. RoMaNcE.
Bruh.
Hawk tua.
Labias.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Not bad for a short story. Reminiscent of HR books on which characters are forced to do something because of a will. The h's grandfather required the h to marry the H before her 21st birthday or she would forfeit her half of the hotel. Guarding against destructive interference from the h's father, the H convinces the h to keep their relationship a secret but doesn't share the terms of the will of his plan to protect her share. The h no longer believes that the H cares for her and she has just confirmed that she is pregnant. She overhears her stepmother and the H talking about a past intimate relationship. She quits her job and disappears not knowing that the H has prepared a birthday gift for her, a document signing over half the shares to her. Usually I find that short stories have several holes in them. This one has fewer than most.
If you’ve never read Terri Anne Browning, One More Kiss is a great place to start. Lily and Nash are great characters that this novella portrays in a simple love story. You’ve got the wicked step-mother, the absent father, fairy godfathers in Winston, Stef, and Sam. It’s a wee but Cinderella, but nothing like it in the end. Then read all of TAB’s other stories. You will not be disappointed. And if you’re a fan and wondering if this story connects, no, not outwardly. But that’s what’s awesome about this author. You never know what she’ll throw at her fans.
Short read. A bit too short for my liking though. Age-gap, secret affair, smut, miscommunication were some of the themes in this book. Nash and Delilah were irrevocably in love with each other. Every time they were alone together, they could literally not keep their hands off each other. Even when Delilah was upset with Nash she still ended up making out with him lol. It was to the point that I felt like it was a bit too much at time. Like girl stand up for yourself. Overall it was an ok read.
This book was honestly crazy. If it had been an actual full length book I would have DNF’d it.
This is an age gap romance in which the romance is kept a secret. The book also starts when the couple has already been together for a while. It basically highlights the major issue in their relationship, their breakup, and their makeup.
For me, I can’t get over that the hero in the story used to be with the heroine’s stepmother 🤮. The story was bad enough but that just put a bad taste in my mouth.
Cover: 3/5 very typical with a couple being very intense.. it looks classy with the color effect but nothing different or new. Great letter style for the book’s name.
Characters: good development even though the story is short.
Story: different! And I liked the time organization. When the heroine didn’t want to forgive the hero, I was a bit exasperated with her and her reasoning tho…
Wow, just wow! Lily and Nash don’t seem to fit together on paper, but in their hearts they do. Crazy misunderstandings take them away from each other, but true love finds its way back. This was a decent short story, a little predictable, but enjoyable nonetheless. Hope there will be more with some of these characters and how Joseph and Nicole got theirs.
Good story of a heroine in a relationship that keeps cracking due to the actions of the hero. He's secretive, wants no one to know about them and it sows doubt in her mind. Having the POV from the hero you learn what he is up to so it kind of spoils the angst. But is written really well. Like it a lot.
So much potential to make this a story and it felt flat as a novella. It needed more, for example, we are told Nicole is evil... but how? We are told the couple love each other, but we don't know how they met or what they even know about each other, expect that the sex is good :/ We don't even know what made the father suspect they were sleeping with each other. Nothing is explained.