Review: Private Player

Private Player by Louise Bay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

I don't know why I like Louise Bay books but I do. Every time I read one my eyes roll so hard I fear they could fall out of the sockets and yet every time they come up as Kindle freebies I keep one-clicking! I call these books Billionaire by the Numbers novels: arrogant, yet insecure; appears unprincipled, yet actually has a strong moral code; known as being a playboy, yet actually its all smoke-and-mirrors; starts off raunchy with a potty mouth but ends up making lurve; etc.

Nathan Cove is a self-made billionaire who has recently taken his insurance company public. Unfortunately, being the youngest FTSE 100 CEO in history has brought him unwanted publicity as a playboy more interested in partying with supermodels than in business, whereas he is actually totally dedicated to the business, just not schmoozing Hedge Funds and journalists. He has recently been seen at a nightclub with a married woman, which has been splashed all over the tabloids, even though the woman is an old family friend. He's at his friends' wedding, bored out of his skull and itching to leave because he hates weddings (of course he does).

Madison Shore is a journalist who has recently got a temporary position at the Post (not sure which UK newspaper that is supposed to be), having previously worked at Rallegra which is more of a women's magazine, and is anxious to get a permanent position as a serious journalist. Madison is also at the wedding, knows no one other than the bride and groom and is also desperate to get away.

Inevitably the two of them are sitting together and end up having a steamy one-night stand. Cue horror all round when they both discover on Monday that Madison has been hand-picked by Nathan's PR representative to write an in-depth, all-access, article on Nathan to (hopefully) dispel some of the bad press.

I both enjoyed this and didn't, part of me thinks there wasn't really a story here, or maybe the story wasn't a romance but more Nathan losing the chip on his shoulder. And yet ... I have at least 10 books that I have started/tried to read in the past week or so, two of which were published this week, and this is the only book I could bear to continue reading. To me this is a typical beach read (indeed I think I binge read one of her series on holiday in Thailand several years ago), raunchy, easy to follow, candyfloss for the brain.

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