Brutal Billionaire

Brutal Billionaires, Book 1

De: Laurelin Paige

Narrado por: Elena Wolfe, Jacob Morgan

He’ll get what he wants—even if I’m already taken.

Holt Sebastian is royalty in our world. As CEO of the Sebastian News Corp, he’s the man with all the power. The man who decides if I’ll always just be a local television anchor or if I’ll be the rising star of my own show. I make it my mission to be noticed. Make him see my potential. But soon, it's clear he's the one in charge. His possessiveness is brutal. His eyes own everything they touch. I feel his gaze on me when he's in the room. The heat of them as they rake down my body, taking me in, marking me as his. He doesn’t just want me on the screen—he wants me in his bed. And Holt Sebastian gets what he wants. No one will stop him, no one will get in his way.

No one can protect me from his desire. Not even the man who promised nothing would come between us and his ambition—my husband.

©2023 Paige Press, LLC (P)2023 Paige Press, LLC

Brutal Billionaire

Really enjoyed this audiobook! Twisted storyline but kept it interesting. I think the female lead internal monologue was a bit much and annoying at times but not so much that it took away from the book as a whole. The narrators were excellent!

Starts off slow but stick with it!!!

This book was not what I expected. I read several reviews and started not to purchase it but did it anyway and I do not regret it at all. This storyline was phenomenal the narration excellent except for more Jacob Morgan needed of course! But totally not what you think.. no spoilers here but yes get this book!!! 5 🌟 for me!

Interesting

There were a lot of times when I couldn’t relate to B but I stuck out the story and enjoyed it.

Phew! Extra spice with a side of spice

Who doesn’t love a billionaire alpha male?! Especially when Jacob Morgan (Zachary Webber) is his narrator. So much yum in this story.

Woah!

“Get a bucket,… and a Mop…”
This is not just ANY billionaire boss story. This is THE BEST BILLIONAIRE BOSS STORY. Ms.Paige, you are officially my new favorite romance author. Brava! 👏

Narrators

I wish that she was not married just engaged. But, wow at first I almost did not continue with the audio thought that great a married woman having affairs, but I started to read more and fell in love with the characters except for Michael he was such a

Yesssssss!!!

Like always Laurelin knows how to deliver 🙌🏻💥🔥🔥🔥. Hot, funny, real issues, the whole package. So dang good.

Amazingly steamy!!!

I love this book. For my first audio, this didn't disappoint whatsoever. I loved it!!

🤩😍🤩

I rarely leave reviews — and almost never unless they’re 5 stars — but this one absolutely deserves it. The author did an incredible job developing the characters. They were sharp, intelligent, and their dialogue was a joy to follow. I especially appreciated how self-aware they were, perceptive of both their own feelings and those of others, without ever coming across as ditsy or naive. There was no “damsel in distress” here, which was refreshing.

The narrators also did a fantastic job bringing the story to life. A great book can be ruined by poor narration, but that was definitely not the case here.

I might be in trouble after this read because it set the bar so high — very few books on the market compare. And for context, I have hundreds in my library.

Can't wait to read more books about the Sebastians

I don't know what it is about this book but it has me going FERAL over the story. I am truly obsessed?? The thing is, when I found out this book was based off Indecent Proposal, it kind of turned me off because I just don't really care to read books based on movies I've never watched and don’t care to watch, and the Wikipedia summary of the movie isn't a compelling sell. HOWEVER. I saw Elena Wolfe was narrating the audiobook, and she's my favorite female narrator. And that was really the selling point for me. I really like Jacob Morgan as a narrator too, but the tipping point here was Elena Wolfe.

I winded up liking this book and the sheer audacity of where this storyline went, but what really pushed it over the edge for me and why I love it so much is the ending. I've seen reviews where people don't love the ending but I think it was needed here, and I'll explain more further down in my review. I just really loved this story, and it has me interested in reading more books about the Sebastians!

Content notes include mentions of drug addiction (secondary character), mention of parental death, mentions of suicide, misogyny, sexual harassment, abuse (manipulation/gaslighting), and further notes from the author's website: open marriage/outside relationships, use of a powerful position for coercion, sexually explicit scenes, death of parent by suicide (in the past), child of an addict (minimal mention), and unrequited love of a character that isn’t the hero.

This story is MESSY. Even for a dark romance book. We have Brystin Shaw, 33 years old and an up-and-coming news reporter who longs to have a hosting/anchor job of her own show someday. She's ambitious and currently working at a local news station with her husband, Michael Endlich. Michael is also the producer of the show, and together, they're a team who will do almost anything to get to the top. When Brystin is invited to an event to accept an award for local news people, she bumps into Holt Sebastian, CEO of Sebastian News Corp (SNC).

The sexual tension radiates off the two of them from their first meeting, and an invitation for Brystin and her husband to his home for the weekend along with other news personalities has Brystin in the middle of a very tempting proposal she doesn't know how to back out of. Holt gives Brystin and Michael an choice - if Brystin sleeps with Holt, he'll give Brystin and Michael their dream news show at SNC.

This is where things are messy because obviously Brystin and Michael are still married. And they do remain married for the majority of this book. The key here is that they're in an open marriage where they can sleep with whoever else they want. This is obviously something Michael suggested at the beginning of their marriage, and something he takes advantage of at every given opportunity, but not something Brystin had ever taken advantage of before.

Brystin loves Michael, but it becomes obvious that he does not feel the same way about her and in all the time they've been together, he has never felt that way about her. She's the key to getting him where he wants to be in life, and at 20 years her senior (he's 53 years old), there's an obvious age-gap here but not in a sexy way because he's not the main love interest. This book is anti age-gap if you will, and Zully (Brystin's best friend) is so right for trash talking about Michael any chance she gets. He the type who seems charming, and CAN be charming, but only if it benefits him. He looks out for one person, and one person only - himself. If my math is correct, I think Brystin and Michael first met and starting hooking up when Brystin was starting out in the news beat at 24 years old and Michael must have been around 44.

We have Holt who is 37 years old (so, 4 years older than Brystin for those trying to keep track), who is a typical Laurelin Paige dark romance hero. He's powerful, he's sexy, he's a bit of an a******, and he gets what he wants. I wouldn't say I like him more than Edward from the author's Slay series because Edward still remains my #1 out of the books I have read by the author, but Holt is up there.

The only thing I think Holt truly "lacks" compared to Edward is the danger factor. Holt is a billionaire, but while he mentions he could probably find someone who can murder Michael if Brystin wanted him dead, I feel like Edward has him beat because Edward definitely knows people who could do take care of the problem and he wouldn't have to think about how to go about finding someone to do the job. Or, he'd just do it himself if he felt like it was in his interest to do so. But I do like Holt and he's at least a little self aware about his power over people, not only over Brystin but his position at his family's company as well. He also has a good relationship with most of his siblings and it's funny how he bickers with his siblings and his (many) cousins.

The Sebastians are a big family, and I do question if they’re really billionaires? I’m just skeptical because the math isn’t working for me. Sure, it sounds like they run a billion dollar empire. I do believe THAT. But they’re so many Sebastians in this family, I just have a hard time believing Holt or any of the other Sebastian grandkids (Grandpa Irving who started this whole empire is at the very top) are billionaires. I could be wrong because I’m listening only on audiobook but it sounds like the kids only get access to their $100 million trust fund when they turn 36, and sure they’re VPs and CEOs of difference branches of the company, but I would easily call them millionaires rather than billionaires.

So, I think Laurelin Paige is one of the few authors I've read who can say a book can be read as a standalone and actually mean it. She sprinkles in characters from other books into the mix, but you don't ever feel like you're missing out on some grand backstory or having to play catchup to figure out who is who. This book is set in the same world as the Dirty universe of books more so than Fixed/Slay, but other than a few mentions of how Holt did Donovan Kincaid dirty over releasing news about a merger or deal (which was an absolute scandal apparently) it's not a necessity to drop everything to find out what happened or who that is. I know who Donovan is because I did read the first book he was in, but, unpopular opinion, I just don't care for him at all so if Holt screwed him over somehow that's all I need to know and kudos to Holt. I don’t need anymore info about Donovan or any of those books.

There was a mention about a fancy dress shop owner, Mirabelle Pierce, is married to…someone and I know I’ve read her before in another book but I cannot for the life of me figure out WHERE (I can only assume she’s in the Fixed series) or if she had a story of her own already. I guess it’s not important but that’s the only character where it’s mentioned has been paired off, and I would want to know more. If anyone knows, please tell me.

I think all of the author's billionaires (I guess I’ll keep referring to Holt as a billionaire because it’s in the book and series title), are in the media business in some way, and I think that's interesting because how much money is there to go around if they're all in the same business? I guess it’s possible, but that's just me wondering about all the logistics and I don't know how many people care about that besides me when that's definitely not the main focus when reading a sexy dark romance book. Ignore me.

This book if very high heat and very steamy. I was surprised? I feel like so many books I've read lately have been so low heat I would be shocked by anything, but this was a very sexy book and it didn't feel like it was taking over the story or anything. I appreciated all the sexytimes between Brystin and Holt. There's a slow build too because they're just teasing each other at the beginning, but when things ramp up, they RAMP up. Holt calls Brystin "good girl" a lot during their scenes together and I swoon every time.

There’s one particular scene when Brystin says she doesn't work out her abs enough for the sexual position Holt has her in for a prolonged amount of time was so funny to me? Because, yes, girl, I totally understand. For all the tension in this book, Brystin and Holt have some very funny moments together, both in and out of bed. I loved it the most when Brystin calls Holt "a**holt" and it just grows on him throughout the book to the point where he has to tell other people that's what she calls him. It's very endearing.

I really like Brystin's friend and makeup artist, Zully. She's the best and I think it's fun that Brystin and Zully are besties and Brystin isn't isolated from talking to other women or limited to only the hero's female family members or anything like that. I do like that. The best scene with Brystin and Zully are when they're signing to each other as only best friends can and Zully makes a universal sign for Brystin to “call her” and Brystin replies back to Zully with a "pray for her" sign. I don't know, that was a great moment between them. I also love how supportive Zully is of Brystin and Brystin also does what she can to get Zully high paying jobs and brings her with Brystin to SNC.

I really hope she winds up getting her own HEA too and I think it's best the author kind of lays out that Zully might have a thing for her next door neighbor and it's a cute mention that doesn't really require another book. Because I have to be honest, I really enjoy the author's books but I don't think she'd be good at writing any BIPOC character as a main character in her books. Zully is ever just vaguely mentioned as an all-encompassing "Middle Eastern" and the best way the author could describe Zully wearing a ponytail is calling it a "genie-style" ponytail. I do not trust the author to write BIPOC characters even though I’ve since learned the author has a BIPOC friend group in the Man in Charge duet. If she says Zully has a love interest who gives a whiff of a happy ending for Zully, I'll take it. I appreciate her trying to include a more diverse secondary cast of characters, but maybe a little more care is needed as well.

The author also includes mentions nonbinary people in these books, and I think that’s cool to even acknowledge nonbinary people in these books (but I mean, the bar is very, very low). I think they only part about this I found…maybe a little odd is that it’s mentioned women and nonbinary folk work at a new streaming service called SHE (I’m listening to this book on audio so I’m not sure if that’s SHE or S.H.E. or some other spelling), but it’s weird, right? I don’t know. Thought I’d mention it.

The naming for these network shows and streaming services is a bit strange because the show Brystin and Michael are trying so hard to get started is called Our Nation Now, and the acronym for that is a little too close to a certain…very terrible network in real life so it would’ve been better to see it called something else. Anything else. Only upside is that Brystin’s show is never abbreviated in the book and called by its acronym.

There is, of course, a moral dilemma to this story where Brystin obviously has sex to presumably get the job Holt keeps dangling in front of her. The threat of having all of that taken away is an intoxicating threat to Brystin, but it's also sexual harassment and making it seem like Brystin is trading sexual favors to get to the top. This is especially a bad look considering how many people assumed that's how Brystin moved up in the local news scene by chasing and eventually marrying Michael. The way the book ends and resolves this REALLY works for me. I was surprised by the ending because we see the CEO/employee power dynamic break down and gives Brystin agency to do her own thing. It's what brings this book from a solid 4-stars to a 5-star book for me (despite the other quibbles I’ve pointed out).

I know people don't agree or even like a third act break-up (and I usually don’t like them either), but it was NEEDED in this case. Brystin, at this point, is still married to Michael and she is still working at the job Holt put her in at his family's company. Brystin and Holt also hadn't admitted their true feelings to one another. I think how things worked out in the end and the very BIG gesture moment from Holt was needed for this story to end on a more satisfying note. We can see how Holt grows up at his big age of 37, and realizes that he needs to actually show what he's willing to do for Brystin that isn't tied to TV ratings and what may or may not look good for PR. I love that he doesn't do things by halves either once he realizes what he needs to do to win her. He is ALL in on this relationship.

I’m not going to spoil the big gesture moment he has with her, but I will mention a smaller detail after that. I think the little moment when Brystin realizes what he's done to his home to allow her space into his life is very sweet. I don't know if it really requires his mattress thrown on the floor and immediately getting rid of half his furniture when nothing new has been ordered to replace any of it, but it's the thought that counts.

Like I said at the start of this review, I had high expectations for this audiobook, and Elena Wolfe and Jacob Morgan did not disappoint. Elena Wolfe does narrate the majority of this book simply because there are more chapters from Brystin’s POV than Holt. It was always a nice surprise when Holt’s chapters came up because I never knew when to expect them.

I will say the only fumble with the audiobook narration between the both of them is where Michael is concerned. The book mentions Michael has a German accent, and I don’t think Elena nails it and Jacob didn’t try? Also, they both pronounced Michael’s last name of Endlich differently, so what’s the correct way to say it? I will never know. Again, these are minor things, but I noticed.

I will give props for reading the book blurb at the beginning of this audiobook to remind listeners what the book is about, because I definitely tend to forget what a book is supposed to be about by the time I decide to start reading it. More audiobooks should read the blurb before diving into the story.

This review is already absurdly long so I’m just to bullet point the rest of my thoughts:

-I thought it was weird for the book to mention Anderson Cooper only got a lavish lifestyle from his move up in broadcasting as if he’s not a literal Vanderbilt
-If Brystin has such good signal enough to send a text to Michael while she was lost in the woods, why didn’t she try to open a compass app on her phone or even a map app to find which direction she should go to travel back to the estate
-Might’ve just been missed in edits or I misheard on audiobook, but did the book say Eurydice accidentally turns back and looks at Persephone? The whole story is Orpheus turning back and looking to see if Eurydice is following him
-The author was into Hadestown when writing this book because there’s a second mention of Hadestown, but it’s only because Brystin and Holt winded up having a sexual moment (it’s only mentioned in passing) during the second act of Hadestown. As someone into musical theatre, this seems like a step too far. PAY ATTENTION TO THE SHOW. And during Act II? I can see why you’d get the characters all messed up in this book in that case…
-Tessa and Scott show up in this book a few times and they’re the main characters in the Man in Charge duet, but it’s weird their names are basically the names for the very famous Canadian ice dancing gold medalists, right?
-I didn’t love all the talk about characters having to keep things “PC” or how they kept mentioning “cancel culture”. Made me roll my eyes because 1) these are all rich, white characters, and 2) it’s just really unnecessary to try to minimalize sexual harrassment in the workplace despite the fact this is a romance book and can definitely be argued is sexual harrassment. So. All that was unnecessary on the author’s part to add that in.
-It’s mentioned Steele (Holt’s younger brother) has a girlfriend Jessa? But isn’t that the same name as the main woman anchor mentioned in this book (Jessa Jones?) I’m confused by all the names at this point
-People who read this book in text says Reid (one of Holt’s cousins) and a Sebastian is getting his own book next, and we know there’s 5 books in this series based on the author’s website so my theory is that we get books for Adly (Holt’s younger sister), Alex (another cousin), and Hunter by the end
-I feel like Hunter is bad boy enough and have enough daddy (and mommy) issues that it’s going to be a LOT to unpack and he’ll be the last book in this series. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking but I just really want his book even though he’s a sort of “villain” here towards Brystin and Holt in this book
-Do we think Grandpa Irving, the head of the Sebastian empire, is going to survive this series? I have my doubts. He’s in his late 90s and I just have a feeling he’s going to…not be around by the time Hunter gets his own book because that would be extra angst and pressure for Hunter and whatever he’s supposed to do in the family business. I’ll be sad about it though because unlike his sons (like Holt, Scott, and Hunter’s fathers), Grandpa Irving seems pretty chill

Obviously, I had a lot to say about this book, both good and bad. But the thing is I still really enjoyed this book and I want to read all the books about all the Sebastians. I really enjoyed this new universe of books over the Dirty universe. Those books just didn’t work for me, but this one pulled me back into wanting to read all of the new books from Laurelin Paige. I think the next book is a novella about Steele Sebastian and I can’t wait!