SPOILER ALERT! I'm not in the business of ruining books, so if you haven't read this book yet, turn back now!
Author: Rosa Lucas
Series: Billionaires in Charge Series book #2
Category: Contemporary Romance
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
"Is it worse to be forgotten or to be hated? That's the million-dollar question." - JP
Billionaire + Workplace Romance + Amnesia = A lot going on
I don't recall having ever read or reviewed a book with this combination of tropes, and for originality alone, I wanted to love this one.
The book starts out with a little prologue to introduce us to Lucy and JP, aka awkward people pleaser and her asshole CEO, before we jump ahead to Lucy in the hospital with a year's worth of memories missing.
Lucy was a good character, but immature (and no, not just because she liked comic books!) Her default was to duck her head in the sand to the detriment of her relationships and career, but then be annoyed that her complacency wasn't getting her anywhere in life. After her amnesia, Lucy finally started to grow and rediscovered newfound strength within herself.
"How could I erase an entire year of my life? The idea of being a stranger to my own life story sends chills down my spine." - Lucy
Due to the book's setup, JP is already madly in love with Lucy when we meet him but takes the advice of her doctor and chooses to not reveal to her that they have been in a relationship during the year she no longer remembers. While seemingly noble, JP admits that this deception is selfish because he and Lucy had a horrible break and he wants her back. This do-over in his mind is worth the malicious lying in the long run, and he sets out to make Lucy fall in love with him all over again.
"How did I end up here? At the top of the world, surrounded by wealth and power, yet feeling so fucking empty. Lucy was my ray of sunshine. But I let my demons consume me, and in the process, I lost her." - JP
While salacious things we learn about JP and his past pile up, we are left in the dark about the exact details until, predictably, Lucy puts the clues together herself and remembers.
Why did JP and Lucy break up in the first place? A few weeks before Lucy's accident, they had a horrible fight and JP threw a party, drugs and naked women galore. Lucy walks in on this and he dismisses her while coked out, essentially making her feel as unimportant as she always thought she was to him.
Days later, JP apologizes going as far as to say even under the influence of drugs he could never have cheated with any of those naked women. Assuming that he was truthful about staying faithful, it didn't really matter and Lucy left him, and the company, for good.
All until a terrible accident down a flight of stairs causes her to forget everything.
For all the angst, the conclusion of the book was very rushed. Although we finally get the reveal of the secrets JP was keeping, there isn't much time for groveling and the rebuilding of the relationship. In accordance with most romance books, a grand gesture and promises to do better over a couple of weeks are the only things he does to win Lucy back. For her part, Lucy seems to be more upset about the initial betrayal and less about the fact that his man wooed her methodically back into his bed while never telling her she had been there before.
I'm more than okay with a morally grey leading man, but I think JP may be unredeemable. He may have been working at changing the man that he was, but in the end, it felt like he just replaced his drugs and gambling addictions with an obsession for Lucy - damn what was best for her. There were parts of Lucy and JP's story that I enjoyed, but the overall plot and pacing were off as a whole.
Tropes and Themes: Workplace Romance, Billionaire, Amnesia.
Blurb
I wake up in the hospital with no memory of the past year. The last thing I remember? JP Wolfe, my brooding billionaire boss, threatening to fire me in front of the entire tech team.
But now, as I return to work, fumbling with amnesia, something’s changed. Wolfe’s intense gaze lingers on me, making my heart race and my cheeks flush.
I’m just your average tech girl with a serious comic book addiction while he’s the infamously cold, ruthless co-founder of a hotel empire. And let’s not overlook that he’s the kind of smoldering hot that makes you forget your own name. There’s no way a man like him could be harboring secret feelings for someone like me… is there?
As I scramble to rebuild my lost memories, I realize Wolfe is hiding secrets he doesn’t want me to uncover. What happened during my missing year? And why is Wolfe determined to stop me from finding out?
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