Listen to this book when you’re in public. I dare you.
I will be the first to admit I’m not a fan of this author. (And the title was a total turnoff – I hate millionare/billionaire books as a rule.) However, having heard the recs and the sample, I decided to give it a go. I’m so glad I did.
First for the good:
How to Bang a Billionaire was an interesting title in how little banging went on. Mostly, we travel along in Arden St. Ives 20-year old head. He’s lively, fun, and has a unique way of putting things. Now, the reading this in public statement? Do it. But be sure to have earphones in so others can’t hear why you crack up laughing from time to time. It’s rather fun to see their startled expressions when one of the characters says something dryly funny and you burst out laughing.
If you’re into books specifically for erotic scenes – don’t get this one. Because there isn’t a lot of that going on. There’s one oral scene and two sex scenes we were suddenly in the middle of and I wondered when they’d started. However, if you want an intriguing narrative character who is excellent at tripping over his feet literally and figuratively, try it. It’s delightful.
Joel Leslie hit the narration out of the park, giving Arden and Caspian very distinct voices, not to mention many of the other characters.
I do hope we’ll see more of Nick in the next two books. Arden needs Nick to see when he’s screwing up major time.
That’s the good. Now let’s visit the bad.
The prologue: What? The entire book is from Arden’s first person POV. Except for the prologue, which was from a complete non-entity of a character’s first person POV. Yes, you figure out who he is at the end of the book, but having the prologue from his POV was odd.
Caspian: I like what little we got to know of Arden’s love interest, but we didn’t get to know much. Most of the time he was off screen. He stayed true to his character and the way he phrased things were definitely hot. But for a major character. There wasn’t much of him in the book. Though there was a lot of Arden thinking and fantasizing about him.
Ellery: OMG. There’s 1-2 chapters where Arden interacted with Caspian’s sister. NOT needed for the plot and she annoyed and angered me so much that I almost stopped listening. There was no need for their interaction, unless the author wanted to hit us over the head that Arden was way too immature—and stupid—for Caspian. It was almost like the author finished the book and went “Oh damn. I need a few thousand words more.” And slipped this in. It should have been cut. NOT NEEDED and it distracted from the entire premise of the story.
I highly suggest the book. It got only a 4 for story because of the ‘bad’ parts, but it’s still worth a listen and a relisten or two. With the amazing narration and the fact I truly enjoyed everything except for the Ellery scenes, it’s a definite 5 overall.