| Title | : | Stripping the Billionaire (Heirs of Damon, #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published September 9, 2014 |
He won’t trim his beard, he mostly talks in grunts, and he’ll hardly emerge from his cave of an apartment. Ben might be a grumpy mess, but she kind of likes him anyway. She’s not attracted to him, of course. Not at all. Those stray feelings are merely a fluke. She’s looking for a man who has it all together, and Ben isn’t even close.
Benjamin Damon is heir to a billion-dollar corporate empire, but he has put his family and that whole lifestyle behind him. No one knows who he is now—not even his pretty princess of a neighbor who refuses to leave him alone.
When she ropes him into taking her with him to work on his mother’s historic Savannah home, he knows it’s a mistake. Mandy represents the world he’s tried so hard to escape, and he can’t let one woman strip him of the new man he’s tried to become. The more he’s with her, though, the more he wants her. Despite his best efforts, he’s falling for her hard—and dreading the day she finds out all of his lies.
Stripping the Billionaire (Heirs of Damon, #4) Reviews
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Sweet, slow-burn n enjoyable friends to lovers romance between work-in-progress H and a h with a heart of gold.
4 stars
Safe romance. -
Meh...that about sums up my feelings for this book. The biggest issue was the melodic, omniscient narrator. This sing-songy voice was better suited to a children's book then a just-a-tad racy book about two adults...though they did, at times, act very childish. I really liked the MC, Ben Cain/Damon. He was a grumpy bear with a good, strong, though wounded, heart. At first, I was really drawn to to Amanda/Mandy Milton, the female MC. But, too quickly, her neediness put me off and I found myself desperately pleased that she wasn't MY across-the-hall neighbor. ;) And this is completely off-track, but I'm just sSO bugged by all these heroines with hair grown down to their ass. Why is this a selling-point? Call Locks of Love already! Anyway, there were a few racy scenes, very tame, though. But they left me cold as they were, of course, narrated in that same nosy grandmother voice.
Well, I've got that off my chest. Please, I do want to stress that I've read and enjoyed several other books by this author. This one just missed the mark, in my opinion. -
What a beautiful friends-to-lovers romance with all the angsty goodness you could want.
I liked Mandy immediately. She didn’t take Ben, with all his grumpy, growly ways, seriously. It was her innate sunny attitude and determination that had him yielding to her friendship. Her ability to talk him into what she wanted was fun.
Ben was amazing. I love a grumpy hero and the fact that he was very much a Neanderthal, as Mandy called him, not only in looks but when it came to protecting her made me love him all the more. When he thought someone had hurt her he came unglued and that’s a characteristic in a hero that I adore.
While this has a lot of light hearted moments throughout the story, it hits some pretty dark times and heavy angst as well. I was grinning and laughing one moment and within pages my chest had a knot forming in it from the issues the hero, heroine or this couple faced. The epilogue was a wonderful addition to this story and had my eyes watering and my heart soaring.
Dual POV
Safe
Triggers -
**Free on Amazon, ibooks & Kobo!
Awwww :).
What a cute read!
After finishing
Clipped Wings I was looking for something lighter but still within the romance genre to read. I came across this on iBooks, and having read a couple of her other books I decided to pick this one up! I really enjoyed it, I had no idea it was part of a series! The writing style was fantastic, and I loved all the characters. Mandy + Ben were perfect together, their relationship and the growth of it was perfectly executed. Overall, a great read! At some point I will go back and read the previous books in this series :).
Side note: I just finished reading
Clipped Wings by Helena Hunting and Hayden has a serious obsession with cupcakes. In Stripping the Billionaire Ben calls Mandy cupcake...seriously!?! I went from one cupcake lover to the next :D. -
Genre: CR
Series: 4 of 4, cannot be read standalone IMO
Sensuality: R
I am not into the gruff mountainous H trope but the first half was fun with the light banter. Then the second half got tiresome with H/h dithering back and forth and all the drama with the previous characters from the series. I only read 2 of the previous 3 bks and it was a while ago so I didnt give a F.
I first got into this author bc she did a lot of MOC romances which are my faves. This year, she has mixed it up with rom-coms, sex tape scandals, and road trips, and while the results have been sorta interesting, they have not been my cuppa. -
This review was first posted on Babblings of a Bookworm:
http://babblingsofabookworm.blogspot....
This is the fourth book in the Heirs of Damon series, which follow the four nephews of Cyrus Damon. We were introduced to black sheep of the family, Ben, in the last book, which was ‘Engaging the Boss’ but Ben’s story gets told here. There were originally five Damon nephews – Ben had an older brother, but he died in a car crash years ago. In the past, Ben tried so hard to be everything that his uncle wanted, but he never felt loved in return, and when his uncle tried to control Ben’s life and dictate who Ben could date that was the final straw. Ben’s career would have been compatible with joining his uncle’s business, as he is an architect, but his determination to be successful on his own terms and without using the Damon name has led him to cut himself off from his family, even going so far as to legally change his last name. Ben’s attendance at his cousin Harrison’s wedding was a mistake as far as he was concerned, and he is determined not to be part of the Damon scene again.
Ben is not the most sociable of people – probably the only person he can count as a friend is the tenacious Mandy, who lives across the hallway from him.
'If he'd been smart, eight months ago when he'd returned from his cousin's wedding to discover someone new had moved in across the hall, he never would have opened the door to the pretty, smiling princess on his doorstep.
She'd kept knocking on his door, asking for help with moving boxes and rearranging furniture, asking if he wanted dinner since she'd made too much. At first, he'd tried to discourage her, but eventually he hadn't even wanted to.
Now he was stuck with her.
Now he was starting to miss her when she didn't come over.'
Mandy is an interior designer who is just starting her own business. Her parents were rich and she’s inherited a lot of money from them following their untimely death in an accident when Mandy was just 17. Mandy doesn’t need to work but she wants to. The other thing that Mandy wants is a family of her own. Her guardian did his job financially, but offered nothing emotionally, dealing with business transactions on Mandy’s behalf but not really welcoming her into his family. Mandy is determined to find a husband and not waste her time dating men who aren’t serious about settling down, however, being a friendly and loving type of person she enjoys being on good terms with her neighbour, including Ben, who Mandy feels must be pretty lonely. Ben is decidedly not Mandy’s type. He’s not husband material, he’s not interested in settling down, he’s a little on the slobby side, pretty grumpy, and Mandy laughingly refers to him as a ‘hulking Neanderthal’. Mandy has been starting to have feelings towards Ben which she needs to stifle, as no matter how fond of him she is, he isn’t going to fit into the husband-shaped hole in her life. Ben is also very attracted to Mandy, but she is everything that would fit straight into the world of the Damons, and that’s a life that Ben has left behind him. Since Ben has a history of being a people-pleaser he doesn’t want to take a chance on taking on a partner who wants him to change into something he doesn’t want to be.
When Ben leaves town to do some renovation work on his mother’s house, in his hometown, Mandy begs to go with him to have the experience to add to her design portfolio. But Ben still wants to keep his identity a secret, and they both need to fight against the attraction they feel as they want different futures.
I thought this was a really enjoyable, easy reading romance. Mandy was a loveable, sweet heroine, who just needed to relax her inflexible requirements. Ben was more of a mess, he had walls that he needed to let down to allow anybody else near him. You would need Mandy’s impressive level of tenacity to stick with him! I liked that he was a little different from a lot of romantic heroes, we need more hairy, grumpy romantic male leads if you ask me, I far prefer Ben to some bossy alpha male!
In this series, each book has led on to the next, like you’d expect in a series. As this was the last book in the series I liked the fact that this book dealt with Ben, whose brother was involved in the accident that caused the fallout that was resolved in book 1 of the series, it felt like the series came full circle.
Please note that there are a number of sex scenes in this book and some swearing, so if those things are not for you, steer clear.
I’ve really enjoyed this series. They have all been entertaining, light reads, perfect to whip you away from reality for a couple of hours without being too taxing. I’d rate this one as 4 stars. -
Mandy has been chasing down the idea of a family ever since she lost hers. Needing to find a way to fill the void that the death of her parents left behind, she has been on a quest to meet a man that is ready for the kind of commitment she needs.
Ben has a family, one that he’s been trying to escape. Giving up his family name and money, Ben is tired of trying to please everyone. So now he isn’t going to do a damn thing beyond exist for himself. But it’s becoming far more difficult than expected, when his neighbor continues to befriend him.
Mandy never imagined that she’d feel desire when she looked at Ben, but even behind the grumpy attitude and the mess of facial hair – she can’t deny that there is a sudden attraction blooming. When he takes her along to his mother’s house to do some repairs she gets even closer to him and to learning the secrets he’s been keeping. But for Mandy, honesty is a requirement of her friendship and Ben’s not been quite honest with her thus far. As these two allow their attraction to blossom, Ben is forced to face what he’s been trying to escape before he loses everything.
This was a cute, short romance. Ben was quite likable and even with the rats nest of a beard hiding his handsome face, I found that I liked his grumpy behavior. It was a nice change of pace from the demanding alpha-male hero – to have one that was just sort of brooding. His interactions with Mandy were sweet at times. The way he didn’t like her feelings getting hurt, the easily giving in and apologizing... sweet as can be.
The story wasn’t overly complex or riddled with drama/angst, but it was enjoyable. A light read that hit the spot in a quirky way. Although this is the fourth book in the series and I read this completely out of order, it can be read as a stand-alone. I have a feeling I’ll be going back to the other books in the series and loved that the author did not give details away that were pertinent to the prior stories, which is often the case in this type of series.
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4.5 Caveman Stars!
OMG, Ben was sooo sexy! I know that I should try and sound like a mature adult here and not a giddy girl but, I just can't help myself. Something about a brooding man with a beard, freaking does it for me!!! Lol!
Ben is one of four who inherited a huge fortune from his very wealthy uncle. However, he wants no part of it, nor of the life that comes with it, so instead he has decided to go live his life his way....pretty much off-grid. Mandy is his neighbor and is looking for love. But with anyone except her awkward, unkempt neighbor. They have been friends but a sudden trip to Savannah, and the events that follow, make Mandy start start seeing Ben in a way that she never thought possible.
"Ben wasn't anything she'd thought she wanted, but she wasn't planning to let him go either."
Noelle Adams has become one of my favorite authors this year. I can pick up one of her books and I know it is never going to disappoint. She writes emotion so beautifully, with the perfect blend of hot-as-hell sex! Her characters are real and there is never any OTT drama.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for a sweet, but hot and emotional read.
"I want you too," he murmured, his voice a little thicker than before. "Only you. All of you. Even if it means breaking every vow I ever made for myself."
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Ben was the youngest Damon heir who walked away from it all after a huge blowout with his Uncle, owner of Damon Inc. He walked away from his family and the business and never planned to go back and be shackled by responsibilities ever again.
Mandy is Ben's neighbor. She's beautiful, smart and looking for Mr. Right. They became friends and Mandy made it her mission to coax Ben out of his shell, so to speak. Circumstances brought them together finally until Ben's past came and destroyed it.
This was an okay read for me. I finished it in one sitting, and I liked Ben and Mandy. This was okay. Not great, just an okay read. I wish it had more. Other than that, a very sedate read.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. -
Got this book from @Areaderrambles 🙂 It's a fun story to read between other books. It's fastpaced, funny and predictble. Good ingredients for a guilty pleasure.
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can’t believe ben was so stupid. oh wait. i CAN believe it, judging from his cousins’ behaviour from before. anyway, i’m happy for the four of them damons. nice ending to the series
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This was a good friends-to-lovers romance. It’s a good slow burn, showing they have a good friendship, but clearly more is in the works. They falter with their communication, but still make it through in the end. A quick read that leaves you with all the feels. A good end to the series.
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Book Review - Stripping The Billionaire by Noelle Adams - *** ‘too sweet for me’ stars
I wanted so badly to love this book. When I read the premise, it was full of promise. Neighbours who are friends, but then an attraction builds. He’s a bit of a caveman, but he’s not the man he seems and as they get closer, his lies start to start to trip him up. So I sat down and rubbed my hands waiting for the thrills.
Sadly, it just didn’t do it for me. It’s a nice enough story, if a little on the overly romantic side for me (lots of flowery ways of showing the feels), but I couldn’t help feeling like something was missing. And I think what that was, was a real connection with the characters.
Whilst I know this flows from a series, i’d been led to believe it could be read as a standalone, yet Ben’s background is barely covered. I couldn’t help but feel that if there had been more background, grittier raw love scenes and maybe a few raw scenes full of emotional angst, this story could have been pulled over the edge.
Maybe we should have had a few scenes from the previous eight months at the start to show how their relationship built and became close.
Maybe we just needed telling more about what it was about Mandy that made Ben open up and let her in. Mandy’s neediness wasn’t an attractive trait, so for me I couldn’t see what Ben saw in her. I don’t really buy into the whole needing a man to make you whole kind of thing, but that’s what Mandy puts across. She’s looking for a serious boyfriend, who is looking long term, because she craves a connection. Why couldn’t she get that from getting out there and making friends with people? (not just her neighbour Ben, but others as well) So because that bit isn’t attractive about her, we need more about what is, underneath it all.
This book just didn’t hit the mark for me and that makes me sad. People who like a more flowery romanticised story will probably enjoy it a lot more than I did. I’m certain it has a market out there, sadly it’s not mine. -
2.5 stars
I have complains! I was loving the blurb and was looking forward to reading it but I ended up contemplating if I should even finish this book but then I thought maybe it would get better but it just didn't. Kinda disappointing. For me, it was just too much drama and I do not like drama. This was like teenage drama. I was irritated by the amount of drama so I didn't really enjoy the book much.
Mandy came off as naive in a sense, fantasying about the perfect man and how things should play out in a relationship. She was immature when it came to the problems between Ben and her. Sure, they had sex once but that doesn't mean you two are exclusive and he should be pouring out all his secrets to you. Everyone has their secrets. And then she starts getting pissed and going on about how he's lied to her when he's been keeping his identity a secret for the past 6 years. Newsflash, the world doesn't rotate around you.
Ben was more likable. I like him as the hulking Neanderthal that he is. Gruff, grouchy, growly. He has his share of issues though, drama~ He's sweet in the sense where he tried to make up for fucking up.
Maybe it's because I didn't read the others in the series but I felt like I was thrown into the middle of the story as it started with them already knowing each other for 8 months. With that, I didn't really had a good feel of the characters from the start nor did I feel any connection to them. At least I got a happy ending...though it seemed a little rushed as well.
Other than that, story telling and writing was pretty good. Flow wise, it was a little rushed and could use a little more development. I didn't really feel attached to the characters. I did like how persistent Mandy was in trying to get Ben to open up to her. And he calls her cupcake :D -
Out of all the books in the series, this one is my favorite.
I have to say, the hero was testing my patience all throughout but the heroine was so easy to love.
They were confusing, funny and interesting together I just couldn't put down the book.
And if we have been getting glimpses of Ben from the previous books, we get the full effect now. I still don't think being a Damon is much big of a deal as his issues are though. And if we liked the cousins in the previous book, seeing them together and playing again in this book is a treat for fans of the series.
And all those cliffhangers with the uncle is finally put to rest here. Now that part was what made me emotional. You can't really tell with family sometimes, cause they absolutely do think they do the right thing even though it's a conflict of what we feel - and the books in this series give an example of how far family would go for family.
So all in all, I highly recommend this series to those who want fun, easy light reads about responsibility, love and family. -
I didn't know what to expect reading with Stripping the Billionaire but I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. This will tick all the boxes for Ladies that love, deep, meaningful building of relationships. It's hot and very sexy. Erotic and steamy but definitely packs a good story, it's not all sex at all.
My rating revolves around the writing style being a little bit like the author needed to point a lot of things out, things that could be left to the imagination are continually told and that the only reason it lost a star. I was able to connect with the characters, I did somewhat get slightly agitated when said pointing out of things got in the way but all in all this is a very fine hot, steamy romance that I am very glad to have read.
I received an ARC of Stripping the Billionaire in return for an honest review. My reviews are my own and are 100% honest. -
I enjoyed the majority of this book, but felt that the ending didn't fit well. The resolution to the couple's conflict is weak and doesn't really make sense. Mandy's the one that takes the risk and reveals how she feels to Benjamin. When he isn't receptive she bows out and vows to just stay friends. Benjamin doesn't open up and reveal the extent of his feelings for Mandy when he comes back home, he just continues being himself. His internal issues aren't addressed (in my opinion), hence my feeling that the conflict isn't sorted out well.
Benjamin in my eyes was the most interesting of the Damon men and so I was looking forward to this book more than the others. I'd love to read a novella or short story that revisits Benjamin and Mandy and addresses some of my unresolved feelings. -
I really like this author and I really wanted to like this book, but I hated it. Well, maybe hate is too strong a word. I should say I just didn't care anymore, which I think is worse. I got about 1/2 way through and I couldn't even bring myself to finish it.
There was something weird with the writing. It felt awkward and abrupt. There wasn't any real emotion that drew me in. I felt like I--as the reader--was kept at a distance from these characters. -
I waited for Ben's srory for so long and I really wanted to be Wowed by it.
Sadly , I wasnt.
I never really felt the connection between the mc. I felt that they became together because they just near each other.
I found myself rolling my eyes a lot during the reading.
NA stories are always really short and maybe thats the reason that I dont see whole charechters. -
A beautiful conclusion.
Ben and Mandy both brought so much to this story. I love the struggle each of them faced and how they had to navigate around that. It was nice to get some answers to the problems Ben was having with the family and I found myself tearing up near the end.
A beautiful series about family and love and overcoming the obstacles the world throws at us. -
3.5 cupcake stars
I was in the mood for a grumpy H and sweet h, can't say I loved this book, but I liked it just fine.
Amanda and Ben are neighbours and somehow friends, mostly because she is very persistent in befriending him when he just wants to be alone, but Ben still enjoys her company even behind his grumpy mask (come on, he calls her cupcake lol). There is an obvious attraction between the two, but because Mandy is looking for a husband material and Ben feels he can't give that to her, there is a lot of miscommunication, secrets, and drama.
This book is a quick read with good writing, characters, and else but plotwise... meh. Too much drama (the kind of drama that irritates you, because you can't even understand why a small thing became such a whole drama), not enough groveling (mostly because Ben is a grumpy ass and Mandy was there to forgive him, and I don't know, I wanted him to be jealous and to realise what he just lost because of his grumpy ass because Hi! Mandy is described as a gorgeous woman that's gets asked out on a daily basis, and author didn't take advantage of that to make him jealous and grovel over that, sigh... but no, Mandy was like, yes, let's be friends again, I was at fault, etc., etc. Yeah...
Not sure how to describe the OW/OM situation, lol. It wasn't bad at all since OW is Ben's ex from high school. She was friendly and didn't seem to want to be with him again, so for me, she wasn't OW, and as for OM... lawd lol nothing is described in detail. Still, Mandy dates a lot because she is searching for her future husband lol and it is mentioned that when they separate, Mandy said yes to every guy who asked her out to forget Ben, but again nothing in detail. -
My only major problem with this was the ending, which wasn't very satisfying. I liked the hero, but imo, he was hard to love. For all him being gruff, with tattoos and a beard, the hero was one of the biggest beta males I've seen in a long time. I don't dislike beta males, but there were points that this did annoyed me, since all their problems came from his emotional weakness. I'm all for a sensitive hero, but he was to the point of being irrational and I don't understand why he hadn't gotten mental help in the past.
Even with my issues with the hero, I still would have given this book 5 stars, but the very end when they say their I love yous was anti-climatic. -
Okay.
I like the gruff character of the hero, and I liked how his feelings for the heroine were portrayed. I liked the heroine’s sunny personality and how she didn’t take it personally when he’d be abrupt with her, but pushed through and made friends with him regardless.
**spoiler**
What I wasn’t a big fan of was that I couldn’t understand the hero’s reason for cutting himself off from his family so completely. Because he couldn’t help himself from trying to please them unless he had no contact with them whatsoever? I didn’t understand that. I also didn’t like how even after the hero pushed the heroine away so completely and made assumptions, she seemed to still be pursuing a relationship with him. It should’ve been him making more of an effort IMO since he pushed her away. -
Part of doing a challenge to read randomly from my kindle cloud titles
This title is an older FM romance title and part of a series with a billionaire trope. You can read these even as standalones, pretty much.
It's quite all right but not anything special. It wasn't a bad read by no means but neither was it particularly great though there wasn't anything particularly wrong either. It wasn't badly written, I just didn't click with the writing style I think, mainly. It's so average and ordinary, there's really nothing to differentiate it from all those countless others written of the same old mold. Well, except that the heroine seems a bit obsessed about giving the hero a hair trim and getting the beard off. It was annoying. Then I really had difficulty with grasping what had been the real point of contention which had broken the relations between the two relatives to the point that became clear. That bothered. What I read, wasn't "enough" and the other party wasn't such a monster at all. But all in all it's a readable, average, everyday romance with a HEA. -
Typical rich family (The Damon's) one of the Nephews ben had falling out with uncle Cyrus so left firm and changed surname. Met the pretty girl next door Mandy ( not disclosing who he was) he took mandy to family home still keeping his lie. Mandy found out but Ben didn't want relationship marriage family name etc still so Mandy left went home, ben went to family functions realised he did want mandy after all. When he went home he completely tried to blow off what had happened but within few weeks apologised and told her he did love her....happy ending gave 4/5
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Ben had walked away, refusing even to use the Damon name, due to his Uncle's high handed attitude of insisting on remaking Ben in an image that wasn't Ben at all.
Now, the neighbor was the person taking up mental and physical space in his life. She refused to allow his boorish behavior daunt her from pulling him out of him man cave.
How she manages to transform the hulking Neanderthal to someone who could emphasize and care again. -
Sweet.
From the moment you meet Mandy with her bubbly personality, positive outlook and sweet nature, you will love her. Ben appears surly and gruff, but under all his facial hair is a sweet boy looking for love.
I pretty much smiled through this story. But as with any good book it invokes more than just one emotion.
