Reviewed by Berls on
Banking the Billionaire - 4.5 stars
This was by far the best of the collection, probably because it's 1- the longest and 2 - where our characters fall in love. Cassie and Thatch are fantastic characters - they both rock tough exteriors but definitely have a soft underbelly. I loved the way they started off friends who are basically one-upping each other in the ultimate prank - a fake relationship neither one will admit is fake or say the other one has taken it too far. And somewhere along the way the prank turns real and they both find themselves wondering if the other person feels the same way. It's an interesting twist on the fake relationship trope, which is one of my favorites. I loved laughing with them and rooting for them.
This book was narrated by the duo of Elizabeth Hart and Jeremy York. Elizabeth Hart I've listened to a few times previously and really liked - Jeremy York was new to me. They complimented each other well and I really enjoyed listening at 2x speed, no problem.
Banking Her - 4 stars
I both loved this book and found it frustrating. It was like a really long epilogue - and hey, those can be my favorite part of a book, since it's where you see the HEA right? - except we also were getting set up for the next book (maybe?) with glimpses into another couple (Wes & Winnie). That was the frustrating part - I wanted focus to shift to them entirely. They have fantastic chemistry potential and I wanted to see it to fruition. But, excepting that frustration, I really enjoyed seeing this next phase of Thatcher and Cassie's relationship. I will say, the level of sex in this book really increased and started overshadowing some of the humor, which I didn't love either.
This book (novella) had 4 narrators - a fact I didn't realize until I sat down to write the review. So I guess they blended together really well right? I do remember thinking that I heard a different narrator at some point, but it was just enough to provide variety and not enough to take me out of the book completely. The narrators were Joe Arden, Elizabeth Hart, Maxine Mitchell, and Jeremy York. I'm going to assume that Elizabeth Hart and Jeremy York were Cassie and Thatcher, since they were the narrators for their solo book and that Maxine Mitchell and Joe Arden stepped in to give voice to Winne and Wes's POVs. Which just reinforces my feeling that they were strong parts of this book and I need more!
Crazy Fluffing Love - 3.5 stars
So on one hand, this was hilarious. I don't want to be spoilery, but it also says it in the book description so - Cassie is pregnant and she's lost her flipping mind. And that part really is hilarious. But remember how the last book was like a long epilogue? Well this is like epilogue number two and since I was all primed for Wes and Winnie, that's what I wanted... and not what I got. To be fair, it's hard not to fall for Thatcher all over again with how amazing he is to his pregnant wife and dealing with her lunacy. It was good and I probably would have liked it even more if I wasn't wanting Wes and Winne!
Crazy Fluffing love goes back to our narrator duo of Elizabeth Hart and Jeremy York and they continued to deliver a stellar performance.
Overall these books were exactly what I was hoping for from Max Monroe. Funny, sexy as all hell (sometimes a bit too much, though) and also very sweet (while being crass... how they pulled that off I really don't know). One note - it wasn't until writing this review that I discovered this was books 2, 2.5 and 2.6(? - that last one was only released here so IDK exactly) of the series. I had a sense that I was missing Georgia and Kinkaid's story and really wanted to know it, but it didn't mess up my enjoyment of this book at all. I do think it's probably a BIT better in the correct order though.
These books fulfill COYER Fall Scavenger Hunt item #19 - Read a book by an author you’ve previously read and given 5 stars. I've rated Max Monroe 5 stars before.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 19 December, 2021: Finished reading
- 19 December, 2021: Reviewed