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Winning the Billionaire #1

69 Million Things I Hate About You

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an alternate cover edition can be found here

After personal assistant Kiersten Abbott wins sixty-nine million dollars in the lotto, she suddenly has more than enough money to quit her impossibly demanding job. But where’s the fun in that? She decides to stay and exact a little revenge on her insufferable ass of a boss.

Billionaire Cole Harrington quickly figures out something’s afoot with his usually agreeable personal assistant. When he finds out about the office pool betting on how long it’ll take him to fire her, he decides to spice things up and see how far he can push her until she quits.

The game is on, with everyone waiting to see who will crack first. But the bet sparks a new dynamic between them, and soon they realize they just might have crossed that fine line between hate and love.

252 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 9, 2017

1106 people are currently reading
2965 people want to read

About the author

Kira Archer

20 books614 followers
USA Today bestselling author Kira Archer lives in Pennsylvania with her hubs and two kids. And 3 ridiculous cats. She's one of those people who laughs at inappropriate moments (especially overly emotional occasions like weddings or funerals), and she has an insanely overactive imagination which is great when she's writing but not so great when she's shutting all the lights off at night and then has to go up the stairs. She has a PhD in Procrastination (or would if there was such a thing and there soooo should be because she's seriously at expert level here). And if she's not writing, she's reading, or thinking about reading or writing. And running her kids around because they are busy and she's the taxi driver. She also writes historical romances as Michelle McLean.

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5 stars
2,042 (34%)
4 stars
2,226 (37%)
3 stars
1,275 (21%)
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107 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 758 reviews
Profile Image for Bibi.
1,287 reviews133 followers
February 6, 2019
*I actually got an advance copy from NetGalley except it's so good, I had to buy a copy in support of the author*

I cannot believe it took me this long to finally read this book and for that, I apologise to both Netgalley and the publishers because, without a doubt, this was one of the best romantic comedies I've read, surpassed only by "The Hating Game" by Sally Thorne.

Cole Harrington and Kiersten Abbott are my new favourite book couples, and now I need to go find more books by Kira Archer!
Profile Image for Jen .
814 reviews624 followers
October 7, 2017
4 Jackpot Stars

So who was the real Kiersten ? The uber-reliable assistant who had unfailingly run his life for the last several months? Or the tempting bombshell who would feature prominently in his wet dreams for the next forty or fifty years of his life? Or was she someone else entirely?


When Kiersten Abbott thinks about her boss, the phrases overbearing jackass or entitled prick probably spring to mind. Cole Harrington is hot as hell and his commanding voice does funny things to her lady parts, but there’s only so many times a girl can be called to the office in the middle of the night to retrieve a file before she starts dreaming of chucking something at her aforementioned employer's head. When Kiersten and her two BFFs win the mother of all lotto jackpots, she decides a little payback’s called for before she says goodbye to working for Mr. Harrington.

Something’s off with Cole’s normally reliable and unflappable assistant. For six months she’s been nothing short of perfect, seeing to his every need both in the office and at home. He knows he can be demanding, but having Kiersten pick out his clothes for the week and make herself available for work literally around the clock makes his life so much easier. The fact that she’s a gorgeous blonde doesn’t hurt, but Cole lives by a strict no fraternization rule and she’s never given him any indication she’d like to take things further. Hell, she doesn’t even get upset when he calls her by the wrong name. Repeatedly and on purpose.



When appointments start getting screwed up and Kiersten makes some questionable choices (massage in the boss's office, anyone?) Cole knows something’s up. When he finds out Kiersten’s purposely trying to get fired and the entire office is betting on how long it will take, it’s game on!



This book was so much fun. Seriously, I found myself laughing out loud constantly. After all she’d been put through by Cole, Kiersten’s ready for some sweet revenge. The more she put Cole through, the more he seemed to get off on the competition and the fire Kiersten finally showed him.


She’d taken the boss’s mother to a strip joint, gotten her smashed, and arrested, then bailed out of work after chewing out a potential client because she was too hungover to put up with his shit. How the hell could she not get fired?


As hilarious as this book is, it was never over the top or stupid. If you enjoy a humorous read but don’t want the gross or immature stuff that often comes along with it, this is the book for you. I enjoyed it so much I’m hunting down other Kira Archer books to see what I’ve been missing all this time.

My only complaint and the reason this didn’t make it to five stars is the romance itself. As much as I loved Kiersten and Cole together, I felt the relationship aspect was underdeveloped and lacking just a bit. I could’ve used a little more heat before the, well, hot stuff and a little more time with them not actively embroiled in their feud.

69 Million Things I hate About You is a cute and wonderfully funny read. I tried to find out if Ms. Archer will be writing any books for Cole’s friends (Brooks!!!) but it looks like I’ll have to wait for that info. I wouldn’t mind seeing more from these two as well.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Profile Image for Kiki.
1,217 reviews680 followers
October 26, 2017
Let me give you ONE reason to hate him!
1. sexual FUCKING harassment.
using your boss's personal office to set up your massage appointment is inappropriate, you can probably get fired or get a warning or if he's a good guy he'll laugh it off and give you half a day off and a voucher to get a massage taking the fucking hint, no matter how wrong the whole shit is.
Giving a half naked employee massage WITHOUT their consent and without their knowledge while you're lusting after them is actually a form of sexual abuse and DEFINITELY sexual harassment.
How do I know?
I checked with my fucking HR department, poor HR lady will have nightmare tonight!
No matter what she felt for him, how she felt, it was NOT romantic. it was taking advantage of her and it was abuse and harassment and she should have fucking sued.
Now while everyone was pondering, "oh, why, oh, why, oh, why isn't he firing her, he must be in luuuuuurve". How many fucking times does HE have to tell you the reason till you get it?
Firing will mean it will cost HIM money, she quits, he's off the hook.
He's new money, he does NOT care about his reputation, all he cares about is money.
He even admitted the above fact to himself. There was absolutely nothing romantic about this whole book.
He. was. a. snob.
He only dated rich woman. and models.
Heroine wasn't actually good enough for him in both money and looks department.
And if I never read a hero monologuing “I know I’m a snob, and it’s wrong, but she’s not my type, I only date models and the one with money while we’re at it” it’ll be too soon.
That was just shallow and petty. He clearly has a type who is shallow and petty and he expects to find selfless motiveless love within his type. He’s not ready to look beyond his non-model type to find love and he keeps on whinging like a teenager? And can’t figure out what he’s doing wrong?
He wants to find apples in an orange tree? How did he make millions again? (terrible analogy I'm aware, but i am NOT the millionaire here).

And not only was he a bad boss or a bad boyfriend, he was a SHIT human being. This is his conversation with his best friend, so he's actually being honest, which is actually worse!

“Brooks stared at him like he’d grown two heads. “You expected her to cancel her own wedding so she could work?”
Cole grimaced. It sounded so much worse coming out of Brooks’s mouth. “She knew I needed her at the conference. It was nonnegotiable. Why the woman would book her wedding the same weekend is beyond me.”
“Did it ever occur to you she may have had the wedding booked long before the conference was set up? Women plan those things years in advance.”
Cole sighed again and scrolled through the file on his tablet. “I didn’t give it that much thought. At some point, she would have realized they were the same weekend and she should have changed her plans. Her job was to make my life easier. I paid her very well to be at my beck and call. It was not my job to accommodate her.


Let me repeat: It was not my job to accommodate her. - he's talking about her wedding that she gave him notice for over a YEAR ago.

And he's justifying himself by saying he's paying her a severance package which he didn't have to since she quit, and giving her a reference, in fact he's recommending her to her to competition.

Has it ever occur to him or his Friend that NO, he's NOT the sentimental fool his BFF is now affectionately calling him, but rather a conniving bastard because he knows if the story gets out about this, his PR team would lose their shit and he'd stand to lose a lot in the market?

"personal assistant suffers mental breakdown after her wedding gets cancelled due to unfair workload"

In Australia, fairworks Ombudsmen would be involved within 24 hours.

Really? No one is ever going to look into the facts? We are going to gloss over bullies and bullying? In 2017?

then HE doesn't believe anyone, doesn't believe the heroine then conveniently wants to date the heroine when she's rich, and takes offense when she doesn't believe him? Well you are NOT excused. YOU don't get to play the "trust has to be given freely" card when you don't fucking trust HER.

THERE WAS NOTHING REDEEMABLE ABOUT HIM. NOTHING.
pages and pages about his type of woman but how she's not his type, but do we get to know what is HER type? How HE doesn't really live up to HER expectations but she gives it a go anyway? NO! Author is surprisingly (!) silent there.

And then as if his assholery was not enough, we have the heroine GO to him, interrupt a meeting and declare her love for him!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
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Sorry, I had to take a break to throw up a little!

I will actually mark the book as safe, and give it benefit of doubt. Even with heroine's comment about putting hero's woman in cab. Because book was pretty inconsistent, so I have a feeling Author just forgot about this whole thing and that she meant to make the hero celibate, and the hero did point out numerous time to his BFF that he didn't date since his assistant, and by date he did mean F, so I am willing to let the woman comment slide. Also because I really do not give a flying fuck if this book was safe or not. I would love to throw this guy on a shark infested tank with paper cut.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Mindy Lou's Book Review.
3,001 reviews798 followers
November 30, 2017
Anyone who has a demanding boss would love this book! To have the freedom to say what you really want to your boss would be so liberating.

Kiersten just won the lottery with her 2 best friends and she can finally get her life back. For the past 6 months she has worked for the most demanding boss who has her on call 24/7. Instead of outright quitting, her friends talk her into exacting a little bit of revenge. Nice friends huh?

The boss found out she was trying to get fired. He thought it was for the severance package she would receive if she got fired, so he decided to make her quit first. What followed was a hilarious tale of who could top who.

This was a fun read. I laughed out loud a lot to their antics and truly enjoyed this book. Even having a love/hate relationship, their chemistry was believable and I didn’t even mind that they didn’t get together until almost the end. If your looking for a cute story that with keep you laughing, I recommend this one from Kira Archer. ARC provided by NetGalley.
Profile Image for Syndi.
3,710 reviews1,038 followers
March 12, 2019
DNF

I think this book is meant to be hilarious office fling between the boss, Cole and Kiersten, personal assistant. But instead of hilarious, I found this book is immature. So immature that I just can not finish the book.

The scene with the massage is really not funny nor steamy. Its actually boring and uneventful. The insta lust between Cole and Kiersten does not executed well. The writing style to describes the attraction feels stiff and shallow. There is no character development.

And I also have problem with Cole. He is really a jerk. He shows no respect towards his employee but then justify himself by giving gifts, generous severe package really does not feel comfortable with me.

And where is the HR department on this story? It feels this billionaire office does not have capable HR department. Even while there is a bet on the office for how long Kiersten can stay work for Cole. I think that is very appropriate behavior.

DNF
Profile Image for Sarah.
Author 22 books766 followers
October 18, 2017
4.5 If the movies Two Weeks Notice and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days had a baby it would be this book.
Profile Image for Melanie A..
1,242 reviews559 followers
February 25, 2018
4 stars!
"I always win. I'll just have to up my game."
How sweet, fluffy, and wonderful was that?!!!

Cole has always been driven to succeed; it's just how he's wired. He's dedicated to his work and demands the same from his employees.

Kiersten is his executive assistant. She's good at her job - and she needs to keep it, so she puts up with a lot from her asshat of a boss. Then she wins the lottery! Deciding to have some fun at his expense, she tries to get fired. What ensues was so much FUN!

Early on, Cole figures out what's going on, and just as hard as Kiersten tries to get fired, he tries to get her to quit. These two made for some VERY entertaining reading. I laughed out loud more times than I could count. Just thinking about it right now has me smiling.

They had great chemistry together, and I loved that he was just as affected by her as she was by him.
No matter how aggravating the man was, he was one seriously impressive specimen of manhood.
He never treated her badly and the banter never crossed the line into mean-spirited. I wasn't the biggest fan of how the conflict played out after about 75%, but it certainly didn't ruin the book for me; their HEA was hard won and warmed my heart.
If he could see that smile every morning for the rest of his life, he'd live and die a happy man.
If you're looking to add some sugar to your life, you'll find it here!
Profile Image for Carvanz.
2,379 reviews897 followers
October 5, 2017
4.5 Stars

Kiersten has been running Cole’s life for the last six months and she does it flawlessly. He needn’t even think what he requires and it’s provided. She is the perfect personal assistant. Until she isn’t.

Kiersten wins the lottery and instead of immediately resigning from her torturous job, she decides to get a little revenge on her control freak boss. Cole was alerted to her plans when he learned about a betting pool regarding how long it would take him to fire her. He’s on to her. If he fires her she will receive a huge severance pay and that just won’t do. If she’s leaving, she’s going to have to quit. And so it begins.

This crazy fun book had so many laugh out loud moments my cheeks started to hurt from smiling so much. I liked both Kiersten and Cole and the constant battle for winning the war. There isn’t any real drama or angst here except toward the end when they are confronted with a conflict.

The steamy times don’t hit until around the 75% mark but I didn’t really miss it. Although I did feel that once they took that step they were just suddenly so syrupy sweet with each other and that was a little jarring.

The secondary characters were hilarious! Brooks gave us some amazing one liners and oh my, I do hope we get a story about him! And Izzy and Cass, and Harrison and Christopher. Well, you understand.

This is the perfect book to sit back and just relax. Lighthearted, flirty, fun and absolutely adorable.

This is an honest review of an advanced copy provided by NetGalley and Entangled Publishing.

Dual POV
Safe
No Triggers
Profile Image for Inna.
1,678 reviews372 followers
July 15, 2023
1 star. Ugh. This started out good, and had some good parts that made me laugh. The heroine was also strong and had some great moments of manipulating the hero and making him miserable. If she ended up with someone else, this would have been more enjoyable!


So why the low rating? It’s because I am just sooooo fucking tired of reading books with this trope only to have it always contain the same shit. The hero working the heroine to death in her role as his PA, she has no time to sleep, or eat, or live her life… he’s also a workaholic but he always finds time to fuck random women. And OFC has her send them home sometimes. 😒 I’m so over it, why can no one write this trope without fucking it up with the same, THE LITERAL SAME manwhore bullshit? Then he goes on and on about how he only dates rich models and actresses… and ofc the heroine is neither rich nor a model… and I immediately dropped the rating as low as I could.

Also, the ending where the heroine goes to chase the hero after HE was the bigger asshole…not for me! I need my hero to be the one doing the chasing, TYVM.

So to summarize: the author wrote a book with some fun scenes and then ruined it by including the same bullshit as every other annoying boss/secretary book ever written.

SWE or Unsafe
Heroine’s past not mentioned AT ALL. She wasn’t a virgin based on the sex scenes, but it would have been nice to know that she also had an active sex life, not just the hero.
Hero was a manwhore or adjacent since in the 6 months the heroine worked for him she had plenty of experiences with his sexcapades and sending women home for him. How romantic 🥰
No scenes with OM/OW
No OM/OW drama
No cheating between MCs
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Nadine Wilmschen.
Author 7 books105 followers
February 9, 2019
*re read and adjusting the rating from 4 to 5 stars
I had to have a picky moment when I rated this hilarious romcom with just 4 stars. There's so much heart in this story. Something you don't find often these days.



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Let's make this quick: I didn't expect to like this book. I don't enjoy these billionaire stories much because they're always so way over the top.
This story... yeah, it was over the top too but '69 million things I hate about you' is a lovely and charming romance.

4 stars for a jerk (who is not so much of a jerk) and a doormat h (who is everything but a doormat).
Profile Image for Jennifer.
2,905 reviews6 followers
October 9, 2017
Sorry to do this again. After further contemplation: 2.5 stars.

This was a light and funny read. The premise of the story was bit juvenile, but some of the things that the MCs did to one-up each other were pretty funny. However, since it was so short there wasn't much character development. I also didn't really feel the slow burn of the romance since most of the interactions for the first six months of their (working) relationship was fast forwarded. And once the assumptions/misunderstandings/lack of communication really bothered me. I guess I shouldn't have expected too much maturity from characters who behaved the way they did throughout the book.

I did appreciate the fact that the H wasn't a manho, even though that certainly does seem to be the norm these days in the billionaire romance world. He was, however, a serial monogamist/dater, and the many mentions of the type of women that he dated, the way they reacted to a prenup, his many disappointments in the romance department, etc. I didn't like all the reminders. I mean, is there a limit to how many women you date, seriously or not, before you can be described as a manho? I'm not sure. On the other hand, there was absolutely no mention of the h's history at all. She wasn't a virgin (thank goodness) but I wanted to hear how she'd had awesome sex in the past (too bad things didn't work out with that guy) or how she was confident in what she liked. I didn't like the disparity of it. Either don't give me any details for either MC, or make it somewhat equal.

And the ending before the epilogue bothered me. Overall a light and fun read. I enjoyed the writing style of this author and am willing to read something else by her, as long as it doesn't feature manhos. Note to self: Skip Brooke's book. :/
Profile Image for Simply Love Book Reviews.
7,046 reviews870 followers
October 9, 2017

4.5 stars

There were at least 69 Million Things that I loved about this book. No, I won’t name them all here but I will say that this is a story that seriously put a smile on my face, had me laughing out loud and had me looking forward to who was going to do what next.

Kiersten was hysterical throughout this whole story. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from her. At first, she was an uptight 1st assistant with no life and then turned into a conniving woman who would do just about anything to get herself fired. You couldn’t blame her … Mr. Harrington was one demanding boss. Once she got going with her little games, there was no stopping her. She just couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t fire her already.

As for Cole Harrington, you knew he was an asshole right from the start when he fired his first 1st Assistant for not heeding his demands. But, as the story goes on, you know that he really does have a heart and one hell of a sense of humor as he started playing the games right with her making her just as frustrated as he was.

As the games go on and the each really get to know one another, you know that one of their little pranks is going to go wrong and someone is going to get hurt. Especially after they finally face the feelings that they have for each other. When everything implodes, it’s Kiersten that has to fix things and Cole that has to face the fact that he was wrong, that she wouldn’t intentionally sabotage the one project that was closest to his heart.

So, there wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about this story. Kira Archer wrote a feel good, fun story. When she finally brought them together, it was explosive. It was fantastic watching Cole succumb to his feelings, to see him laughing and happy instead of broody and difficult. To top it all off, they were both surrounded by wonderful friends. Brooks was an instigator with a fantastic sense of humor and Izzy and Cass were so supportive and just as much troublemakers as Brooks was. But, they were also loyal to their respective friends. So, from drinking his coffee, to re-stapling client files, to dancing in the park, to Amish Country, I was kept on my toes with one hell of a smile on my face. But, I kept thinking about our lottery pool at work and knew, deep down, I would act just like Kiersten and stay at my job just to aggravate the powers that be.

Now, if you want to read something fun and interesting written by an author who knows how to bring the antics of two people to life in an entertaining and fascinating way, pick up 69 Million Things I Hate About You and enjoy yourself. I will promise you that you will not be disappointed.




4.5 stars




Let’s be honest here, there probably aren’t too many people out there that haven’t dreamed of striking it rich and being able to quit their job and get away from a miserable boss, so Kira Archer has struck gold with 69 Million Things I Hate About You. Three friends, roommates, and co-workers dreams come true when one of the three tickets they bought for a Powerball Lotto nets them the jackpot leaving them to plan their escaped from the lives they know, no one is more ready that the woman who deals with the president of Harrington Enterprises on a daily basis sometimes sixteen hours a day as his administrative assistant. I loved pretty much everything about this book; both characters were fun, their exploits hilarious, the tension exciting, and the aftermath charming. All in all 69 Million Things I Hate About You is a perfect romantic comedy.

One moment Kiersten Abbott is the second assistant to Cole Harrington and the next, she’s is only assistant and her life is forever changed. She is more than qualified and the huge bump in salary is a bonus, but her life belongs to Mr. Harrington because she is at his beck and call and he calls a lot. The man she once thought was debonair and sexy isn’t quite a pretty now that she works for him all the time, so when she and her roommates win a huge jackpot lotto, Kiersten decides that until they claim it she is going to exact her revenge in very interesting ways and see how long it takes for him to fire her, she just doesn’t realize he knows what she’s doing and he plans to get her to quit first.

There is so much I want to say about this book, but I’m not going to because I want you to read every devious, delicious, laugh out loud funny ways these two go after each other. These are two high intelligent people and with each prank their respect for one another grows, a few lines get crossed and then pulled back, and the tension growing between them is far from work related making things very interesting. My one complaint and it is a small one was after the exciting time Kiersten spent with Cole’s mother; I was shocked she wasn’t present at the end because I know she loves a good party.

If you want a book that is low on angst and high on laughter then 69 Million Things I Hate About You is the perfect read, seriously as I write this review I am still giggling about the many hilarious antics throughout this story.



Profile Image for Olga 🌺.
490 reviews8 followers
February 13, 2025
I had to dnf at 35%.

Here we have a broody stoic self made millionaire who's supposed to be awful with everyone and he literally hijacks the MFC's life being at his beck and call 24/7, YET when she wins the lottery and decides to be awful to him so that he fires her to get her severance package (excuse me, why do you need your severance if you literally have 69 million dollars sitting in your bank account 🙄🤔).

Anywho, she does the most atrocious things, one of them is getting a massage in his office while she's oiled and naked. Who does that?!

And then, THEN!!! the scene that made me finally dnf is him wearing a 1700s costume, he's running after her in a park, they come upon an odd pseudo-Tudor type dance to rock music, an actor takes the MFC to stage holding a wooden sword, the MMC jumps on said stage, takes another wooden sword and orders the actor to unhand her because "she's mine!"

Hahahahahahahahahaha 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

What world does this author live in. I am sorry but this book is the epitome of ridiculouseness.

At least I had a good eye rolling laugh with my Daragaya Lori while BR-ing this absurdity!
Profile Image for *The Angry Reader*.
1,522 reviews341 followers
June 9, 2018
Just what I needed.

Cute. Funny. Sassy. With characters that didn’t always do what I was expecting, entertaining dialogue, and a plot that kept me snared til the end.

Kiersten is the administrative assistant to a tyrant. You’ve read this 1000 times before, right? I know. Me too. But this one was a little different. At 3% Cole had a line that made me think maybe I wasn’t going to be bored to tears. And it turned out I was right.

Cole and Kiersten are at their level best wreaking havoc and torturing one another. I thought things were a little jerky when the romance moved to the forefront, but the ending had me beaming.

So when you’re looking for a short, easy, funny read that isn’t over the top while remaining unpredictable and outside the norm - grab this one for sure.


Profile Image for Dianna.
609 reviews117 followers
November 24, 2017
When Kiersten wins the lottery she’s revoltingly sensible. You know, how YOU would be if you won the lottery, where you have a plan and a lawyer, rather than shouting about how rich you now are to every passing stranger, and if you manage not to get murdered during an embarrassing sex romp, blowing the lot on booze and cookies in the first six months.

I’m resentful that nothing terrible happens to her. I mean, she’s a heroine in a romance novel and her hero is a hot billionaire AND she’s young and pretty and not emotionally wrecked AND she’s won the lottery? How is this in anyway karmically permissible?

Anyway, Kiersten decides that she’ll use the fact that she never has to work again to spend the last few weeks in her job being an awful employee to her insanely demanding and insanely hot boss. He finds out that she’s trying to get fired, so he decides to try to make her quit.

All of this is in good fun and plays as a comedy. There are some cute moments as Kiersten and Cole each come up with their own fun little schemes. The schemes are designed to showcase the chemistry between them, and demonstrate how they are no longer bottling it up to the same extent.

There’s no real competition: Kiersten’s more invested in the scheming, but they are both limited in what they can do. The schemes are very, very safe. Kiersten doesn’t do anything on the shady moral side as a disgruntled employee, and neither does Cole, her sexy billionaire boss. None of his actions shaded into bad areas of the power dynamic. I mean, fundamentally boss-secretary has all sorts of real-world issues, but it’s not that difficult to let that go if you’re hoping for a nice hot scene on a desk or a boardroom table, or up against a massive window in a high-rise overlooking a scenically gorgeous city, or down in the stacks amount the file boxes. And no, I haven’t spent ANY time at all thinking about the sexiest places to do it in a workplace, how dare you.

Cole’s relationship obvious problem is trust because of all the ladies who have dug his gold. Plus, he’s not a bastard so he hasn’t pursued Kiersten while she’s his model employee. His less obvious problem is that he works all the time, has a sad family story, and probably only gets 4 hours sleep a night. This is bad, and I’d prefer it if before the HEA there’s at least some realisation that the hero needs to make some radical lifestyle adjustments before it’s too late.

Kiersten doesn’t have a relationship problem – she has a Cole problem. She’s had to keep a lid on how hot she thinks he is, and is of course baffled over how you can still find a guy hot when you aren’t off the clock until you’ve handled a week’s worth of his underpants. And sadly, that’s not as kinky as it sounds.

I also found their sex scenes very safe. I mean, they’re fine, there’s a nice amount of build-up before the get down, and the characters are vaguely passionate. But Cole and Kiersten going at it are experiencing the same amount of pleasure as a nice long hug and a glass of wine. There’s a kind of timelessness to some of the pre-coitus tease: the ‘replacement masseur’ scene and the ‘answering the door in my bathrobe’ scene both get another outing, but with no significant updates. Sure, these are classics. And maybe if I hadn’t briefly dipped out of some slightly raunchier reads to take on this book the safeness of it wouldn’t have stuck out as much as it did, but I had, and it does.

Still, even though it was safe and traditional, I liked the lottery win to establish that the characters are suddenly on a far more even financial level.
Profile Image for Addie.
554 reviews316 followers
May 27, 2018
(Tropes: Boss/Employee, Enemies to Lovers)

Scenario (no spoilers): Kiersten works for an over demanding (albeit attractive) boss, Cole, who likes to treat her like dirt because he is attracted to her. She wins the lottery, decides to quit, but not without getting fired for being a horrible assistant as revenge. Cole finds out what she is up to and decides to see how far he can push her until she quits herself.

This book pushed me to 18% and then I put it down.

description
(Could not agree with your more, Jeff.)

Before Kiersten wins the lottery, Cole is the most demanding boss I have ever come across (his previous assistant quit because he wanted her to move her wedding to go with him to a conference).

- “Here,” he said, handing her the phone Marie had left. “Keep it with you at all times. I keep weird hours. Consider yourself on call. All the contacts you’ll need should be in there.”

- He gave her a look that would freeze a polar bear’s balls, and she nodded. Thankfully, she had no life.

description

Still because he is SOOOO talented, rich and everyone loves him, Kiersten suffers through.

- Cole Harrington was the dream of practically every woman in the world. Young, gorgeous, richer than God, and in many opinions more powerful. He’d developed one of the most popular dating apps around, almost before he was old enough to date himself, owned entire islands, gave generously to charities, and loved puppies and children.

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Cole feels sad because he thinks he will never find someone who will see past all his money and just love him for who he is.

- They all wanted to be Mrs. Harrington. Not because they loved him, but because, as his wife, they’d have better access to his fortune.

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Newsflash Cole, most women are not money grabbing harpies, maybe they don’t like you for you because you’re an a**hole?

- “Just because I prefer working to fucking every female that crosses my path doesn’t mean I’m uptight.”

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And how you’re so successful is beyond me.

- Kiersten came back in, carrying another stack of files. It would probably be easier and save a ton of trees to keep everything digital, but being on the computer 24/7 was killing his eyes. Paper didn’t bother him nearly as much.

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When Kiersten finally decides to stand up to him (on the night she finds out she has won the lottery), Cole tracks her down.

How?

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- He realized that tracking the GPS in Kiersten’s company phone and following her to the club was teetering into creepy territory, but she’d never done anything like this before.

**********

Buying this book, I had hope for something similar to Sally Thorne’s “The Hating Game”, or Lauren Layne’s “Walk of Shame”, but this?

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Profile Image for Leila.
411 reviews80 followers
March 21, 2020
4 winner stars!

That was a lot of fun. As unbelievable as it was I enjoyed myself immensely throughout the whole thing and had a smile on my face the whole time.

What would you do if you won the lottery? For Kiersten, the choice was obvious - quit her job. But why not have a little fun while doing it? She finds plenty of ways to mess with her jerk of a boss to try and get him to fire her. Unbeknownst to her, Cole knows that she's trying to get herself fired (though not the reason why) and sees just how far he can push her to get her to quit instead.

The antics that followed were hilarious and had me laughing out loud. A perfect read if you are looking to escape and have a good time.
Profile Image for *Book*Crazy*.
216 reviews19 followers
July 10, 2018
Really enjoyed this one. was a fun and sweet read, exactly what I was in the mood for!
Profile Image for Irene.
1,908 reviews129 followers
October 4, 2017
4.5 stars

69 Million Things I Hate About You by Kira Archer was such a fun and entertaining read.

The storyline well written, the plot entertaining and watching the relationship between Cole and Kiersten unfold kept me turning the pages.
They made me laugh and they made me swoon, these two were perfect for each other and totally belonged together.

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If you're in the mood for a well written, fun, sweet romantic read then you'll love 69 Million Things I Hate About You.

*Get You Copy Here*
-> Amazon- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0756JVQ2R?...
-> B&N - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/69-m...
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*Thank you to the publisher via Netgalley for the advance copy.*
Profile Image for abi.
1,186 reviews138 followers
August 28, 2024
➸ 3.5 stars

Tropes:
↬ Spice: 🌶️.5?
↬ Contemporary Romance
↬ Dual POV; Third Person
↬ Workplace Romance
↬ Enemies to Lovers
↬ Billionaire x Assistant
↬ Forced Proximity
↬ Romcom
↬ Revenge Plot

Ratings:
↬ Initial Intrigue: 2/5
↬ Characters: 3/5
↬ Plot: 2/5
↬ Structure 3/5
↬ World-Building: 2/5
↬ Writing: 3/5
↬ Uniqueness/Creativity: 3/5
↬ Overall Enjoyment: 3/5
↬ Read: on Kindle

_________ ׂׂૢ་༘࿐


You know that movie, Two Weeks Notice with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant? Well if you do, have you ever wondered what a book version of that would be. Well if you have, this is probably the book for you (although I’d recommend Two Weeks Notice by Whitney G. a hundred times over this one).

Keirsten, an overworked and tired assistant to a billionaire CEO, Cole hates her job and desperately wishes to quit—but she also needs money. However, when a stroke of luck gives her and her friends the lottery jackpot, her wish comes true. She’s ready to quit her job, until she remembers all the times her boss has made her miserable, and she wants revenge. Instead of quitting and putting in her two weeks notice, she decides she’ll mess with her boss for as long as it’ll take until he fires her. Cole starts to realize what she’s doing, and decides to play her game, but not only by her rules. He’ll make her even more miserable, and he’ll see how long it takes for her to quit.

The plot for this book sounds good in theory, but really you just get two emotionally immature adults who have absolutely nothing better to do than fuck with each other. It reminded me a lot of the plot from You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle—only in Hogle’s book, the execution felt much more natural and realistic, and not like two assholes with important jobs fucking everything up for everyone else.

And unfortunately with so much time spent on the comedy in this book, we didn’t get enough time to build up the relationship between Keirsten and Cole. Keirsten really hates Cole in the first half of the book, and I felt like the progression from hate to love just didn’t feel very authentic. They’re definitely both attracted to each other from the start, but the hate is also there. And I felt like there just wasn’t a lot of feelings besides lust by the end of this.

And not to say this book isn’t funny, because it definitely is. This is a bit of an older book, so I thought maybe the humor wouldn’t land as much, and some of it was definitely outdated, but a lot of it was also pretty funny. It felt like watching a romcom the way certain scenes played out, and definitely takes a little inspiration from its predecessor Two Weeks Notice. But I think the humor got a bit too much at times, and the focus on everything else, especially the romance definitely felt lacking.

This was still funny and cute, and a nice palate cleanser. I’m glad I read this because Boss/Assistant is one of my tropes and this is definitely a staple in this genre, but it’s not a favorite of mine I read. Still worth the read for me, just not amazing.
Profile Image for Ivy Deluca.
2,377 reviews329 followers
October 8, 2017
description

3.5 stars

What would you do if you won the lottery and you wanted to get a bit of revenge on said demanding boss? Then you realize you’re in love with the ass? This is the problem that Keirsten faces.

The perfect fantasy scenario for anyone who’s ever worked as an assistant to a demanding boss is the plot for this romance and can I tell you? As someone who’s worked as an assistant for a long time? It’s certainly a revenge fantasy I could buy into. Well, except for the love part. And none of my bosses have ever looked like Cole Harrington. But I digress. Let’s carry on.

I thought the characters were fun, the plot was enjoyable, there’s good chemistry between Cole and Keirsten and there’s some crazy antics that go on in this corporate game of chicken. I would say that the the ultimate obstacle between them wasn’t as fleshed out as it could have been, and I wish they had dealt with Cole’s trust issues a bit more between him and Keirsten, as opposed to all discussion between the friends. Having said that, the premise is fun, the characters clicked and I enjoyed this light read.

**ARC provided by publisher via netgalley for review**


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Profile Image for Alison.
3,685 reviews145 followers
October 3, 2017
Three and a half stars.

This reminded me of one of my favourite RomCom films, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Kiersten and Cole have been in a mild flirtation since she started work for the impossible billionaire - I LMAO when he made her lay out his underwear each day as well as his clothes to match his diary activities! But things really escalate when she and her two roommates win the lottery. Cole's last assistant quit when he asked her to rearrange her wedding day (the day before) because he needed her to attend a meeting with him. In order to avoid a similar situation Kiersten and Cole write some additional clauses into her employment contract which penalise her if she quits but penalise him if he fires her. Now that she has nothing to lose, Kiersten decides Cole should suffer for being such a terrible boss and thinks the best way to do that is to behave so badly that he has to fire her. So she behaves more and more outrageously every day. Unfortunately, the support staff use the group calendar to run a book on how long Cole will last before he fires her - and Cole finds out. Then there is a war between them as each one pulls more and more outrageous stunts.

It was silly and flirty and funny and I loved it.

Then the two of them got together and there seemed to be a lot of sex. It felt that two-thirds to three-quarters of the book had been the war between Cole and Kiersten so the author (maybe) felt that she needed to cram the obligatory four sex scenes per book into the final quarter - that's how it felt to me. Maybe I'm just getting old but I seem to raise this complaint nearly every time I review a book!

Anyway this is clearly the set up for a series, Cole is friends with a group of other billionaires who play poker together so I expect to see each of them fall in love in due course.

Overall, I enjoyed this war of the sexes and look forward to reading other books in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Profile Image for MsChris1161.
487 reviews52 followers
November 13, 2019
Wow! Funniest dialogue and most unique storyline I've read all year... That's more than 200 books. Absolutely loved this one and it was my first time reading Kira Archer's work. It won't be my last. Take a chance like me. You won't be sorry!

69 Million Things I Hate About You is hilarious and fresh. Characters are well-developed. It's well written and just flows. I didn't want to put it down!! Definitely recommend this one to everyone who loves romance, wit, snappy banter, laughing out loud, and happily ever afters. 5 stars

~Complimentary copy downloaded from NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Profile Image for Tianna✸loves books✸.
1,084 reviews
October 9, 2017
Actually more between a 2.5 -3. Leaning more towards three stars.

I actually considered giving it 2 stars at one point.
But it does have some funny banter.
Sexual tension? Hmmm. Interesting but didn't blow my mind.
This book had the potential to be a four of five star book. But there are some aspects of the book that dragged it down for me.
The book wasn't bad, it was just a typical, straightforward contemporary romance. Average Book.
Profile Image for Martel.
225 reviews33 followers
April 16, 2019
Some parts were outrageous, but this book made me laugh out loud so often that it frankly deserves, in my eyes, 5 funny stars!
Still wonder why some things I would gladly pay for are considered awful by others ;)
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Ah, well, there is no accounting for taste...
Profile Image for Elizabeth Neal.
1,786 reviews146 followers
October 17, 2017
Usually, after someone wins the lottery, especially an amount like 69 million, they immediately quit their job, and sometimes there are not nice words involved. LOL However, for personal assistant, Kiersten, she decides to go out with a bang, at the expense of her boss, and yeah, he may have some of those words aimed his way too.

Cole, a billionaire, knows something is going on when his usually agreeable assistant no longer is. When Cole learns there's a pool going to see how long it'll take him to fire Kiersten, he decides to enjoy himself with the situation, and push her until she quits.

Everyone is eagerly watching the two battle it out, anxious to see who'll be the victor, yet not wanting the show to end. However, Kiersten's bank account isn't the only thing changing because she and Cole are beginning to look at one another differently, with a spark that's even more intense than their battle.

Who will win? Do either of them even care anymore now that something much more important, and possibly permanent, is on the line? Can these two join sides and fight for their HEA instead?

One-click now and follow along as two people go from boss and employee, to opponents, to forever.

**I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.**
Profile Image for Pamela(AllHoney).
2,688 reviews376 followers
December 3, 2018
The first book in the Winning the Billionaire series by Kira Archer. Personal assistant to billionaire, Cole Harrington, Kiersten Abbott is suddenly promoted to first PA when the previous one quits. Cole is a pain in the you know what and so when Kiersten and friends win a huge lottery you would think she would just quit. But no! Kiersten will not give Cole the pleasure of her resigning. She wants him to fire her instead.

I read the synopsis and decided I had to read this. I am glad I did. It turned out to be quite hilarious and entertaining. Definitely recommended to Contemporary Romance fans!
Profile Image for Ipshita.
440 reviews194 followers
March 23, 2018
That cover gave me second thoughts about this book. I expected this one to be one of those too-hot-to-handle in a brain-frying-eyes-melting way (yes, not much a fan of repeating such experiences).
I'm glad I was wrong (phew)!

I liked the premise, it is unique; there is an ongoing banter and power play between the two main characters. It is the perfect blend of entertaining and funny IMO. It has several humorous scenes and a few heart-warming actions (mostly performed by our staid but caring hero. sigh.). It was so much fun to see Kiersten(this name seriously bothered me!) trying to get fired and Cole equally determined to not let his employee get away with it.

What I really liked is that the author takes her sweet time in building up the rapport between them so that when they do end up together it doesn't feel rushed, just rather inevitable. And that HEA(!), aww.
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