What do you think?
Based on You
Last night at 2am, my landlord locked me out of my apartment.
He changed the locks while I was at work, and I had nowhere to go.
I waited until the building I work at emptied out and snuck back in.
I've been working for a billionaire publishing CEO, and I've spent two years burying every feeling I have for him.
I cried until I fell asleep on his leather couch, sure no one would ever know.
I woke up being carried down a hallway in his arms, my face still swollen from crying.
My boss's eyes swept over the wrinkled work dress, the smeared mascara, and the notice from my landlord still crushed in my hand.
He looked down at me and growled,
"You're coming home with me."
He changed the locks while I was at work, and I had nowhere to go.
I waited until the building I work at emptied out and snuck back in.
I've been working for a billionaire publishing CEO, and I've spent two years burying every feeling I have for him.
I cried until I fell asleep on his leather couch, sure no one would ever know.
I woke up being carried down a hallway in his arms, my face still swollen from crying.
My boss's eyes swept over the wrinkled work dress, the smeared mascara, and the notice from my landlord still crushed in my hand.
He looked down at me and growled,
"You're coming home with me."
247 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 7, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 28, 2026
Based on You
Violet has made herself small for so long that she hiding was easy for her. But when her boss and her were crossing lines, neither of them realized how they were hiding from each other. This is an amazingly beautiful story. The characters are easy to connect to. I loved how vulnerable all of them were and dealing with their grief in different ways. I can’t recommend this enough and can’t wait to read book two.
Violet has made herself small for so long that she hiding was easy for her. But when her boss and her were crossing lines, neither of them realized how they were hiding from each other. This is an amazingly beautiful story. The characters are easy to connect to. I loved how vulnerable all of them were and dealing with their grief in different ways. I can’t recommend this enough and can’t wait to read book two.
August 30, 2026
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Based on You was the first book I read by Eden Lux, and I found it completely by accident while browsing Amazon Canada’s bestseller lists for billionaire and workplace romances. It was sitting at #2, so I decided to give it a try.
I am so glad I did.
This book follows Violet, an executive assistant to Simon, a billionaire who owns a traditional publishing company. What Simon does not know is that Violet is secretly a successful serialized fiction author with five million followers online.
Violet is sweet, caring, intelligent, talented, and a little insecure. She is also carrying a tremendous amount of emotional baggage from parents who simply do not see her for who she is. They expect her to become what they think she should be. Her mother dismisses her writing as fluff and thinks she should become a paralegal. Her father barely speaks to her.
That part of this book hit me hard.
There are so many stories where difficult parents suddenly apologize, everyone forgives everyone, and the book ties the family trauma up with a pretty little bow.
Eden does not do that.
Violet’s parents simply do not show up.
And I loved that choice.
Because sometimes that is reality. Sometimes you can explain yourself, achieve things, grow, succeed, and desperately try to earn someone’s approval, and they still will not become the parents you needed them to be. Sometimes healing is not reconciliation. Sometimes healing is realizing that the family you build can matter more than the family you were born into.
Simon is carrying his own grief. His sister, who was also his best friend and owned half of their media company, has died. He is now raising her daughter, Olivia, who is thirteen and approaching fourteen.
The grief between Simon and Olivia feels incredibly real. You feel Simon trying to survive the loss of his sister while simultaneously becoming the person Olivia needs. You feel Olivia trying to understand a world without her mother.
And then Olivia finds comfort in an author online.
That author happens to be Violet.
Neither Simon nor Olivia knows it.
That becomes part of the secret running through the story as Violet’s life becomes increasingly intertwined with theirs. When her landlord forces her out, she eventually ends up living with her boss, and slowly Violet, Simon, Olivia, and Violet’s best friend Sloan begin forming something that feels like a family.
That is what makes this romance work so beautifully for me.
The relationship is earned.
This is a true slow burn. There is tension. There is yearning. There are emotional stakes. There are kisses, cuddling, vulnerability, tattoos, secrets, grief, and two people gradually allowing themselves to be known.
One thing that surprised me was that there is essentially no explicit spice.
And I did not miss it.
There is intimacy, and sex is implied, but Eden does not write an explicit scene. I actually really liked that choice because the emotional intimacy carries the relationship. The yearning does the work.
This is not what I would call a light billionaire romance. It is serious, emotionally heavy, psychologically compelling, and deeply character driven.
And now I need to talk about Eden Lux’s writing.
I am an author myself, and I have written ten books over the past year. Writing that many books has made me painfully aware of craft. I notice telling versus showing. I notice repetition. I notice sentence fluency. I notice character development, pacing, dialogue, editing, emotional beats, and whether a relationship actually feels earned.
I am constantly looking at my own writing and asking myself what I can improve.
So when another writer impresses me at the craft level, I notice.
Eden Lux impressed the hell out of me.
The showing in this book is exceptional. The sentence fluency is beautiful. The characterization is incredibly strong. Every character feels developed instead of existing simply to move the plot forward. The emotional progression makes sense. The romance develops naturally. The tension builds. The grief feels lived in.
And the editing?
Phenomenal.
I genuinely cannot remember finding a single error that pulled me out of the story. I do not know whether Eden edits herself or has an incredible editor, but whoever polished this manuscript did an outstanding job.
This is somewhere around my 81st or 82nd book of the year, and I read a lot of billionaire romance.
I think this may be the best-written book I have read this year.
Not simply one of my favorite stories.
The best written.
There is a difference.
And then there is Violet.
Violet made me feel seen.
I understand what it is like to spend years believing that maybe if you accomplish one more thing, prove yourself one more time, or become impressive enough, the people who are supposed to love you will finally see you.
I understand what it is like when they do not.
I stopped writing for ten years and only returned to it recently. There are people in my own life I do not even tell about my writing because I already know how little it would mean to them.
So reading Violet’s relationship with her mother, especially, was emotional for me.
I loved that Violet eventually tells her parents about her writing. I loved that she stands behind the life she has chosen. And I especially loved that when her parents fail her again, the story does not make Violet abandon everything she has learned just to manufacture reconciliation.
Simon asks how she feels about them not coming.
And Violet looks at what she does have.
Simon.
Olivia.
Sloan.
Her people.
Her family.
That resonated with me enormously because family is not always limited to the people who raised you. Sometimes you find your people. Sometimes you build your family. Sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is stop begging people to see you and start investing in the people who already do.
Romance novels often give us the fantasy that every broken family eventually reconciles. Real life does not always work that way.
Eden allowed Violet’s story to be more honest than that.
Thank you for writing her that way.
Thank you for writing a woman whose ambition, creativity, loneliness, insecurity, strength, and complicated relationship with her parents can make another woman reading the book think, “Oh. Someone understands this.”
You made me feel seen.
That is one of the greatest things fiction can do.
Five stars without hesitation.
Eden Lux, you are a phenomenal writer. I think you have something special, and after reading Based on You, I absolutely want to read more of your work.
This book deserves far more attention and far more reviews.
I will be recommending it.
Based on You was the first book I read by Eden Lux, and I found it completely by accident while browsing Amazon Canada’s bestseller lists for billionaire and workplace romances. It was sitting at #2, so I decided to give it a try.
I am so glad I did.
This book follows Violet, an executive assistant to Simon, a billionaire who owns a traditional publishing company. What Simon does not know is that Violet is secretly a successful serialized fiction author with five million followers online.
Violet is sweet, caring, intelligent, talented, and a little insecure. She is also carrying a tremendous amount of emotional baggage from parents who simply do not see her for who she is. They expect her to become what they think she should be. Her mother dismisses her writing as fluff and thinks she should become a paralegal. Her father barely speaks to her.
That part of this book hit me hard.
There are so many stories where difficult parents suddenly apologize, everyone forgives everyone, and the book ties the family trauma up with a pretty little bow.
Eden does not do that.
Violet’s parents simply do not show up.
And I loved that choice.
Because sometimes that is reality. Sometimes you can explain yourself, achieve things, grow, succeed, and desperately try to earn someone’s approval, and they still will not become the parents you needed them to be. Sometimes healing is not reconciliation. Sometimes healing is realizing that the family you build can matter more than the family you were born into.
Simon is carrying his own grief. His sister, who was also his best friend and owned half of their media company, has died. He is now raising her daughter, Olivia, who is thirteen and approaching fourteen.
The grief between Simon and Olivia feels incredibly real. You feel Simon trying to survive the loss of his sister while simultaneously becoming the person Olivia needs. You feel Olivia trying to understand a world without her mother.
And then Olivia finds comfort in an author online.
That author happens to be Violet.
Neither Simon nor Olivia knows it.
That becomes part of the secret running through the story as Violet’s life becomes increasingly intertwined with theirs. When her landlord forces her out, she eventually ends up living with her boss, and slowly Violet, Simon, Olivia, and Violet’s best friend Sloan begin forming something that feels like a family.
That is what makes this romance work so beautifully for me.
The relationship is earned.
This is a true slow burn. There is tension. There is yearning. There are emotional stakes. There are kisses, cuddling, vulnerability, tattoos, secrets, grief, and two people gradually allowing themselves to be known.
One thing that surprised me was that there is essentially no explicit spice.
And I did not miss it.
There is intimacy, and sex is implied, but Eden does not write an explicit scene. I actually really liked that choice because the emotional intimacy carries the relationship. The yearning does the work.
This is not what I would call a light billionaire romance. It is serious, emotionally heavy, psychologically compelling, and deeply character driven.
And now I need to talk about Eden Lux’s writing.
I am an author myself, and I have written ten books over the past year. Writing that many books has made me painfully aware of craft. I notice telling versus showing. I notice repetition. I notice sentence fluency. I notice character development, pacing, dialogue, editing, emotional beats, and whether a relationship actually feels earned.
I am constantly looking at my own writing and asking myself what I can improve.
So when another writer impresses me at the craft level, I notice.
Eden Lux impressed the hell out of me.
The showing in this book is exceptional. The sentence fluency is beautiful. The characterization is incredibly strong. Every character feels developed instead of existing simply to move the plot forward. The emotional progression makes sense. The romance develops naturally. The tension builds. The grief feels lived in.
And the editing?
Phenomenal.
I genuinely cannot remember finding a single error that pulled me out of the story. I do not know whether Eden edits herself or has an incredible editor, but whoever polished this manuscript did an outstanding job.
This is somewhere around my 81st or 82nd book of the year, and I read a lot of billionaire romance.
I think this may be the best-written book I have read this year.
Not simply one of my favorite stories.
The best written.
There is a difference.
And then there is Violet.
Violet made me feel seen.
I understand what it is like to spend years believing that maybe if you accomplish one more thing, prove yourself one more time, or become impressive enough, the people who are supposed to love you will finally see you.
I understand what it is like when they do not.
I stopped writing for ten years and only returned to it recently. There are people in my own life I do not even tell about my writing because I already know how little it would mean to them.
So reading Violet’s relationship with her mother, especially, was emotional for me.
I loved that Violet eventually tells her parents about her writing. I loved that she stands behind the life she has chosen. And I especially loved that when her parents fail her again, the story does not make Violet abandon everything she has learned just to manufacture reconciliation.
Simon asks how she feels about them not coming.
And Violet looks at what she does have.
Simon.
Olivia.
Sloan.
Her people.
Her family.
That resonated with me enormously because family is not always limited to the people who raised you. Sometimes you find your people. Sometimes you build your family. Sometimes the healthiest thing you can do is stop begging people to see you and start investing in the people who already do.
Romance novels often give us the fantasy that every broken family eventually reconciles. Real life does not always work that way.
Eden allowed Violet’s story to be more honest than that.
Thank you for writing her that way.
Thank you for writing a woman whose ambition, creativity, loneliness, insecurity, strength, and complicated relationship with her parents can make another woman reading the book think, “Oh. Someone understands this.”
You made me feel seen.
That is one of the greatest things fiction can do.
Five stars without hesitation.
Eden Lux, you are a phenomenal writer. I think you have something special, and after reading Based on You, I absolutely want to read more of your work.
This book deserves far more attention and far more reviews.
I will be recommending it.
September 26, 2026
Greag read
Sweet, soft yet heartbreaking. This is a beautiful story of finding love, losing it briefly and realizing the mistakes made and finding each other again.
This is a no spice book, just a slow burn. That leaves you cheering.
My only issue, the father of Olivia was totally just...ignored. His loss to Olivia shouldve been brought into account as much as her mothers loss.
Beyond that...great story.
Sweet, soft yet heartbreaking. This is a beautiful story of finding love, losing it briefly and realizing the mistakes made and finding each other again.
This is a no spice book, just a slow burn. That leaves you cheering.
My only issue, the father of Olivia was totally just...ignored. His loss to Olivia shouldve been brought into account as much as her mothers loss.
Beyond that...great story.
October 7, 2026
Based on YouEden Lux
Really cute book I was hooked. I was expecting something hot and dirty 😂 but this was nice.. I'm on the second book ❤️
Really cute book I was hooked. I was expecting something hot and dirty 😂 but this was nice.. I'm on the second book ❤️
August 21, 2026
A first read for this author. It was missing the sensual side of a romance novel. The couple were deeply scared people who didn't know how to lay their emotional protection armor down and ended up hurting each other deeply. They eventually get to their HEA but without any real dive into how they get there.
September 7, 2026
Tension in the work place
The banter between CEO and Assistant have worked for two years. However, her boss only knows the work side and not her personal life. When a new platform is brought forward and the author they want is sitting in the room. Secrets are kept in the budding relationship and could change everything. Will publishing her work be worth the risk.
The banter between CEO and Assistant have worked for two years. However, her boss only knows the work side and not her personal life. When a new platform is brought forward and the author they want is sitting in the room. Secrets are kept in the budding relationship and could change everything. Will publishing her work be worth the risk.
October 10, 2026
💖💖💖
I loved every word written about Violet and Simon. I got somewhat emotional in some parts. The grief Simon felt after the loss of his sister. And the dismissive attitude of Violet parents. I'm so glad that Simon and Violet can love and heal each other. Another fantastic book Ms. Lux!
I loved every word written about Violet and Simon. I got somewhat emotional in some parts. The grief Simon felt after the loss of his sister. And the dismissive attitude of Violet parents. I'm so glad that Simon and Violet can love and heal each other. Another fantastic book Ms. Lux!
September 8, 2026
Phenomenal!
I have loved every second of this book! The secrets, the forbidden nature of working with someone you want, and the battles each character had to face to realise their potential. Bring on book two! I am hooked already!
I have loved every second of this book! The secrets, the forbidden nature of working with someone you want, and the battles each character had to face to realise their potential. Bring on book two! I am hooked already!
September 14, 2026
It’s a warm read but anticlimactic. You feel it leading up with the tension etc but then when they finally crack it doesn’t feel anywhere near as gripping or exciting and actually rather short and dull.
Comments regarding grief are lovely. Make a girl suffering grief feel seen.
Comments regarding grief are lovely. Make a girl suffering grief feel seen.
August 19, 2026
I enjoyed the book. It was a little anticlimactic. I would have liked some spice and a little more tension from them. But I enjoyed the idea of this.
August 22, 2026
This was a bit different and had a lot of heart.
August 22, 2026
Beautifully written. Worth the up-to-2AM binge read, truly amazing author. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
September 16, 2026
Great.
I don't tend to do many reviews, but this was a great book. It made me blink a lot at the end. We all love a hea and grumpy bloke,strong woman. So hey.. blink allowed..🔥
I don't tend to do many reviews, but this was a great book. It made me blink a lot at the end. We all love a hea and grumpy bloke,strong woman. So hey.. blink allowed..🔥
September 24, 2026
Ok but not enough spice 🌶️ for my taste all a bit too nice.
September 30, 2026
Excellent
Excellent book superbly written love it
Amazing author can't put it down and can't read quick enough
Excellent loved it
Excellent book superbly written love it
Amazing author can't put it down and can't read quick enough
Excellent loved it
October 11, 2026
truly an honest read
This is a gut wrenching story with vivid characters and honesty that makes you not stop reading. Read this book.
This is a gut wrenching story with vivid characters and honesty that makes you not stop reading. Read this book.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews