Billionaires, bad attitudes, great shoes—what could go wrong?
Quinn Babcock has no desire to be the “matriarch in training” for her family of highly-opinionated billionaires, but her tiny bulldozer of a grandmother has other plans. The honor of the family real estate empire has been insulted, and Quinn must step in to save the day.
But there isn’t enough money, a fine-enough collection of fabulous shoes, or a goofball assistant sunny enough to make up for Quinn’s new responsibilities. And after missing out on finding her own “Mr. Right,” Quinn suddenly has two—no, three—no, six handsome men begging for her attention. But do they want Quinn? Or Quinn’s enormous stock portfolio?
This grumpy-sunshine, Poor Little Rich Girl romantic comedy isn’t for those who dislike steamy sex, the classic only-one-bed scenario, the opulence of a billionaire lifestyle, or reader laughter that becomes unladylike snorts. You’ve been warned!
“I think Pru Warren is a genius with dialogue. She creates interesting characters and makes them seem so real. Not to mention, of course, she’s funny while doing it.” (Reader review)
Pru Warren (who is writing this in the third person as if simply too modest to toot her own horn) bores easily and thus has been a daydreamer since roughly the Bronze Age.
She is addicted to writing romcoms because in a novel, you can make things come out the right way. Life and karma really ought to take note. There are better solutions to these pesky daily annoyances!
Besides her in-the-laptop god complex, Pru laughs often and easily, loathes cooking, and plays way too much solitaire. She’s plotting world domination even as you read this, as long as she doesn’t have to wake up too early to accomplish it.
Remember that silly old adage that “Money doesn’t buy happiness”? I’d love to put it to the test, but until the gods deem me worthy, I’m going to live vicariously through the Babcock family, nestled firmly in their Manhattan skyrise while owning much of the surrounding real estate and running a multibillion-dollar company with tentacles that reach far and wide. Tabby (you and I would call her “Grandma,” but in this family, she’s “Tabby"), is still the board chairperson, but conscious of that pernicious hourglass, she’s putting her ducks in a row, and in this case, the ducks are her ten grandchildren. First order of business: moving Quinn (known lovingly as the “Queen Bee” by her cousins) from the west coast to the Manhattan headquarters and putting her in charge while subtly displacing Quinn’s father. The book’s named for her, so we know she’s going to succeed, but Quinn’s a bit overwhelmed by her now seemingly endless responsibilities. Fortunately, Tabby’s hired a mild-mannered assistant named Andy to stand by her (and carry lipstick, granola bars, and other necessities) and help her pull off the fund-raising event of the century. Luxury drips from every page of this gloriously amusing rom-com, but so does the same stuff you and I have to endure: exhaustion, loneliness, family tensions, and self-doubt, thereby reinforcing that well-trodden adage mentioned above. (I’m still willing to put it to the test!) There are shenanigans galore, matchmaking debacles, more than a few exquisitely touching family moments, and a lovely quick trip to a northern California cliff-side getaway, where Ms. Warren once again shows her skills at delivering toe-curling passion. I cannot wait to spend time with each and every one of the Babcocks, so I hope the author is writing quickly!
This is a new author to me, and I am glad I took the chance on this story.
Quinn Babcock is definitely the ideal person to be in charge of her family's company. I enjoyed how her cousins were all accomplished in their own rights and supported her visions. Quinn's grandmother Tabby was a fun character, and I loved watching her influence and loving manipulation of the events.
Andy is completely adorable, and his part in Quinn's success was very entertaining.
With her characteristic flare for language, which can paint a picture, set a scene, and bring laughter to your heart, Pru Warren introduces us to a new series. I am delighted by this prospect! Quinn, AKA Queen Bee, finds herself unexpectedly thrust into a new position in her family's majorly successful business. She is a darling of a woman, surrounded by a stellar cast of very different characters, the majority of whom she is related to. Special shout out to Tabby, a force to be reckoned with. And Andy 😍😍. A total sweetheart. He can adore my freshly painted toenails any time. The parade of potentials that Tabby collected was hilarious! This book was a tour de force, setting us up with the wider cast without seeming to! It is a book with style all its own. It flows, it makes you both laugh and smile, and it has a unique quality brought by the author's confident writing, great plotting and inimitable sense of humour! Fabulous 💖💖💖💖💖
This is a fun book which seems to have invented its own sub-genre of real estate and I am totally here for it. I am often salty about the billionaire trope, where said billionaires always live in penthouse apartments instead of anything more interesting.
There are some excellent buildings in this book, my favourite of which is Cliff House. The overlay of New York’s Dutch history and geography (real and fictional) is neatly interwoven as an integral aspect of the story. A strong sense of place grounds the narrative which, as romcoms do, frequently wings into the unlikely, if not the impossible.
The writing is strong and intelligent; mercifully well-edited. Reading a book free of grammatical and spelling errors has become a sadly uncommon pleasure in the world of indie publishing.
The characters are as much fun as the buildings. Pru Warren has a knack for creating interesting and fully formed characters in just a few paragraphs. I will say, there are a lot of Babcocks, alongside our heroine Quinn, and I found myself yearning for an old-fashioned list of characters at the beginning. On the old-fashioned side, I loved the descriptive chapter headings - this should be a trend.
I enjoyed the inversion of the usual billionaire trope, with our heroine Quinn as the accomplished corporate chie(, falling for her naive, ray of sunshine, personal assistant Andy. His palpable golden retriever energy is a nice foil to driven Quinn. At one point Quinn muses about beta vs alpha males: a cute in-joke for regular romance readers.
For once our billionaire protagonist is seen doing actual work; a refreshing change from the vague endeavours of the usual trope very rich people going into the offices for no apparent reason. She organises. Goes to meetings. Sorts out problems. Worries about staffing.
The other engaging aspect of this book is the machinations of corporate competition. Quinn not only saves the day, but triumphs over the opposition in an unlikely, but glorious fashion.
There are some annoying issues which slow the first half of the book. It suffers from uneven pacing and balance. Romcom writers have a considerable technical challenge. Their books need to balance humour, often absurdist humour, with enough emotional depth to make a satisfying romance. A bit like stresses in a sentence, putting stress in the wrong place in a narrative, upsets the flow of the story.
Although pacing is the least sexy of the technical aspects of writing, pace really controls how a reader experiences a book, and ultimately how satisfying it is to read. Ms Warren has made her task more difficult by writing the book entirely from Quinn’s perspective. On the whole this works well, but Quinn does a lot of recounting and not much reflecting, so her chemistry with Andy comes up short. It also means that we don’t learn much about Andy outside of what Quinn knows about him, so he remains a bit of a mystery to the reader. To Quinn too really; she never asks the obvious question of why her grandmother chose unqualified Andy as her assistant. There is an answer eventually, but it’s odd Quinn never wonders about it.
The pacing in Quinn (the book, not the character), is oddly episodic. For example: we first meet Quinn when she rushes to New York for an emergency at her family firm. This first chapter is energetic and immediately immersive.m. We’re with her as she navigates traffic, fields frantic phone calls, rushes into turmoil, learns about her new role, is primped for fronting the Board … and then it’s all over. We don’t see her at the Board meeting or explore her feelings about it. The problem here is that we’re told a lot about Quinn’s management skills, but at the point where we could see them for ourselves, we’re left wanting. All that energy in the opening just dissipates.
We meet Andy, but we go from his uncertain first day, to a while later when he’s morphed into a very capable assistant, without much opportunity to see Quinn and Andy getting to know each other. Andy is a carpenter by trade, so his willingness to take on a role for which he is entirely unqualified is never really explained.
The development of their relationship, even in a business sense, is mostly absent. And because this book is told entirely from Quinn’s POV, Andy’s rise to potential hero status comes as a bit of a surprise. We’re well into the book before aw-shucks-Andy really steps up into his hero role. There are some subtle intimations of his care for Quinn, which readers see, but for the relationship to really make sense, I think we need Quinn to be a bit more aware. And Andy to be a bit more emotive; even sunshiny protagonists are allowed to have feelings.
A few chapters in m, we have a lunch with corporate rivals, which starts out promisingly with Quinn flexing her leadership muscles, and historical enemies nearly coming to blows. An interesting character “Vampire Sophia Loren” makes an entrance, and the scene seems to be set for some juicy conflict. Unfortunately, that momentum peters out. Vampire Sophia Loren doesn’t do much, and appears again only fleetingly. The lunch finishes off-scene. Instead of moving the narrative forward, this scene just slows things down. There are other set-pieces like this: interesting and lively in themselves, but not offering much narrative payoff.
For example: there are several pages devoted to Quinn buying a house, but we never really see it, or understand what this building tells us about her. The text exchanges are funny in themselves, but miss the opportunity to further our understanding of Quinn or Andy. In a book devoted to buildings and the history of buildings, the absence of Quinn’s new home in any detail is odd.
I think this is a part of why this book isn’t as engaging as it could be. Quinn spends a lot of time telling people about her experiences, while it would be much more fun to be with her doing them. If we’re not going to see Quinn’s choice of home, and the insight it gives us into her character, there’s not much to be gained from the exposition.
The central joke in this book is Quinn’s surfeit of suitors, but once again, the potential richness of watching her engage with this odd lot of men, is passed off into her talking about them to others. That’s a shame, because Pru Warren writes excellently snappy dialogue and really knows how to bring a scene to life. Quinn’s first meeting with her Scottish swain is both deft and funny. Ms Warren’s pacing within a scene is impeccable; it’s a bit frustrating that it doesn’t follow through the whole book.
However, about halfway through, Quinn and Andy are, in evergreen romantic fashion, marooned by a storm in the wonderful Cliff House, with only one bed. This develops into a delightfully steamy encounter with Andy, where Quinn learns why you need a man good with his hands. The encounter comes out of the blue; there’s not been any sexual tension between them up until this point, but this chapter is beautifully crafted, it doesn’t really matter.
it feels like we’re finally getting into the romance part of the romcom, with a genuinely swoony moment, but Quinn and Andy go back to boss and assistant status. Quinn is a bit miffed, but that’s about the extent of it. The chemistry built by their encounter is allowed to die away, when what was really needed at this point was more awareness from both of them.
Happily, the second half of the book really picks up the pace. It’s funny (an hilarious proposal scene ever), inventive and energetic. The wicked corporate double-cross is genuinely inventive, as is poor Quinn trying to stave off all her unsuitable suitors. It’s here that Andy’s suitability as a proper match for Quinn is neatly contrasted against the other selfish, cold-blooded, peculiar or unethical rivals for her hand. It’s clear that Andy not only understands Quinn, but has the necessary to be a proper helpmate.
The moment when Quinn and Andy declare themselves has a low key sweetness true to both their characters. His declaration of dedication to supporting her is a delightful inversion of trope. Andy will have to take Quinn’s name when they marry and the feminist in me had a quiet chuckle.
All in all, despite some structural issues, this is an engaging and funny book. I read it in a sitting, enjoying Quinn’s corporate confidence. Read it for good characters, excellent writing and a neat inversion of the usual billionaire romance trope. And you should check out Pru Warren’s earlier books, which also give great ReRomCom (real estate romcom. You’re welcome.)
I dislike the cover of this book. If you’re like me and can’t wait for the trend for cartoon covers to be over, don’t let it deter you from the intelligent writing inside.
Quinn is summoned back to NYC from the west coast. She was managing part of the family business from there, but once in New York, she finds out from her grandmother (Chairman of the Board) that Quinn's father has been forced to resign as COO and Quinn is to take over that role. Quinn finds that she has an assistant that her grandmother has chosen. Andy, the new assistant, designed closets at the the grandmother's house. But he has an uncannily great talent at organizing and keeping Quinn on schedule. Perhaps even better, he loves this huge upgrade in his career and he's willing to put in the ungodly hours that the company requires. He's always cheerful and supports Quinn to keep her going.
Quinn finds herself crazy busy with running the huge business and having to deal with creating a huge event that, on the surface, looks like honoring their biggest competitor, but the company intends to come out on top - no matter the cost.
And to the cousins' added burden, good old grandma wants the young unmarrieds to find spouses and produce the next generation. All of a sudden, Quinn is flooded with suiters.
This book is so much fun. I laughed out loud and I marveled at the corporation, the marvelous homes and offices, and the detailed planning that went into creating and writing about the big event. And who will Quinn chose to spend her life with out of the 5 or 6 eager candidates? I see this book being made into a fun family movie for the summer or holiday season. No holiday theme, but I think the entire family would love watching it. However, for reading, I caution that this book is meant for adults with a sex scene and some language.
This is the latest book by Pru Warren, and is very much a standalone read with a HEA. I would consider myself a fan of this author and love her snappy, intelligent writing and interesting, quirky characters. However, this story just didn't do it for me.
As I've already mentioned, the author is excellent at making her characters real, and this made Quinn and her family very easy to imagine in all of their idiosyncrasies and made them real to me as I read the story. By comparison, Andy was almost like a caricature, more puppy than man. I was a third of the way into the book before I realised that Andy is the MMC to Quinn's MFC. We finished the story knowing lots of detail about Quinn's family but almost nothing about Andy.
There are some genuinely funny sections in this book, but it felt like we were laughing at Andy rather than with him. I also didn't get any of the tension I love to read between two main characters, they just felt completely separate for most of the story. Overall, this was not a winner for me.
One of my favorite parts of a Pru Warren book is the "little old lady" character that she writes so well. Tabby is a formidable family head of the Babcock family. There are so many characters and personalities n this large extended family, which makes for entertaining reading.
In Book 1, Quinn is in the spotlight. Quinn (Queen Bee) is the new COO for the Babcock empire. Andy was chosen to be Quinn's assistant. Through everything, Andy is Quinn's silent, steadfast hero. It just takes Quinn some time to recognize his role.
Get ready for some laugh out loud moments with a great story woven in. Under all of the chaos is family and love. I am excited to see where this series takes us.
And Pru Warren hits us again with her personal brand of romantic chaos - and boy, do I love this! Unlike other billionaire romances, the billionaire in question actually does the work of a billionaire - seriously, when do billionaires have the spare time to be fire fighters or soldiers or motorcycle club presidents? The work in question sets the perfect stage for a comedic take on an elderly matchmaker's efforts to bring grandchildren into the family business. Much anxiety, malice and hilarity ensues. Enjoy - I definitely did!
I received an ARC from the author and I am gleefully and voluntarily leaving a review.
OMG, Pru Warren did it again. I giggled through most of the book and that takes a lot for me. Imagine me, a 92 year old woman, sitting and reading about Quinn and giggling like a 6 year old at some of the things that Quinn is thinking or doing. I just loved this book and I love Quinn. She’s has so much on her plate, everyone in her family comes to her with their problems yet she is caring and sweet and loving. Her grandmother wants her to get married so here come the suitors, 6 in all, each with different agendas. In the end it’s a beautiful love story that brought a big smile to my face. Thank you, Pru!
Quinn is a total immersion into family fireworks, fierce loyalty, and unexpected love. The dynamic between Quinn and her commanding grandmother crackles with tension, while her bond with her spirited cousins radiates warmth and wit. Watching this tight-knit crew rally around Quinn as she’s thrust into the deep end of the family empire was pure joy. Add in a tender, slow-burn romance and you’ve got a story that’s as emotionally rich as it is entertaining. I finished it grinning, already hungry for more.
Billionaire family, interfering grandmother, grumpy/sunshine, love her for her or for money. For real laugh out loud comedy, with snorts, and hot amazing spice.
The perfect mix of plot, humor and spice.
This book is the first in the series and can be read as a complete stand alone. You do not need to have read any other books by this author. But it will make you want to read more!
This is a REALLY great book! I read the whole thing in under two days. Really early on, you will realize that Quinn and Andy are going to fall for each other, but the entire book is about how that happens. I, personally LOVED it. Yes, it does contain drama, and a little bit of sex, and many amusing scenes, AND, finally, an HEA.
This was such a fun story. While Quinn is crazy wealthy, she was still relatable and likable! The grandkids have the best relationships and are going to make for a binge worthy series. Tabby is the ultimate matriarch. Andy is nothing but a likable assistant. This was my first book by Warren and I’ll definitely be reading more!
Snark, family dynamics around a real estate empire, humor, a grandmother not to be trifled with, a devious plot to get even with their rivals, and some steamy sex- what’s not to love? This is a quick read that made me laugh, with engaging characters. I can’t wait for the next in the series!
Oh my goodness, this turned out yo be super fun. I wasn’t sure at first, as Quinn was living up to the bad attitude. But one can’t blame her, I would have a bad attitude then too! But the queen bee perseveres and ends up with the right one.