REVIEW: Cinderella and the Outback Billionaire by Kelly Hunter
A connection so strong…
it’s impossible to hide from!When his helicopter crashes in the Outback, a captivating stranger keeps Reid Blake alive. Under the cover of darkness, a desperate intimacy is kindled…so when Reid is rescued and she disappears, he won’t rest until he finds her!
Ari Cohen hasn’t forgotten Reid, but she’s learned the hard way that happy endings don’t exist. Helping at his family’s annual ball, she doesn’t expect the shocking thrill of his recognition…or the sensational kiss they share. But can this guarded Cinderella have faith he’ll still want her once the clock strikes midnight?
Dear Ms. Hunter,
I had a feeling that we’d be getting the story of younger brother Reid Blake in a sequel to “Return of the Outback Billionaire” and here it is. Over a decade after the events of that first book, Reid and his brother are managing the Blake billions – those that they already had and those that Reid has gone out and earned for himself. Hoping to outrace an oncoming dust storm, Reid sets out for home in his light prototype helicopter. Luck is definitely with him as, even though he crashes, help is there.
Ari Cohen sees the craft fighting the winds but knows it’s going down. Tossing her stuff into her battered old ute, she heads towards it, determined to do her best. Her best is needed as Reid Blake has suffered severe injuries but Ari’s gutsy and steadfast and deals with each issue as best she can. Most of all, she provides a warm hand to hold as Reid battles his temporary blindness. Having driven for help, she’s not there when help does arrive and for six months, Reid and his brother Judah try to determine who Reid’s mystery savior is. Turns out they both know her and of course when he hears her voice, Reid’s fairly sure she’s the one. Judah talks Reid out of his method of being sure – getting Ari alone in a dark room and clutching her hand while she talks but the two do talk.
Why didn’t she come forward? What can he do to thank her? And what will Reid decide to do once they’ve had a five day sex-fest and he gets some medical updates?
I bought this a few months ago and had frankly forgotten that it’s from the “Presents” line. But huzzah that Reid isn’t an asshat. In fact, he’s remarkably wonderful for most of the book. Ari is an independent woman who has had to stand on her own two feet due to first, having a single mother and second, her mother marrying a mean drunk who didn’t like Ari. TW – she did not have a happy childhood once her mother married and there was mention of drunken rages and beatings. Ari has forged her own way and has almost finished her degree – while waiting on the storm to pass, she soothes Reid by reading to him from one of her horticulture textbooks.
I liked that Reid comes up with a wonderful way to thank Ari and that is by helping get her started in her own business. His (award winning) sister-in-law supplies photos of Ari’s work and talks it up on her social media. There’s no overwhelming display of vulgar money or pressure on Ari beyond asking her to do her best and letting her get on with that. Reid does offer Ari a “Pretty Woman” Cinderella experience but beyond letting him buy her some lovely loungewear, she turns his offer down. Because yes, there is the difference between their social standing. However, none of the Blakes are shits and all are delighted and thankful that Ari was there to help Reid.
Reid is the main one with outsized health issues to be dealt with. For most of the book, Reid is, as I have mentioned, a great guy. He’s intelligent, driven, wants to make a positive difference in the world, and has built his ideas into lotsa money. I guess I can see why he’d balk at letting people see any physical weakness and turn this into a reason to be a martyr in love. But that felt more plot driven than character driven. His volte face comes too quickly but once he’s decided he can’t let Ari out of his life, he does go all out to get her back. Ari has a few issues of her own to face and settle but again, these felt as if they were sorted a bit quickly and only referred to as things already done rather than letting us see much on page. But I did like the book, the characters, and Fluffy-Wuffy – young Piper Blake’s cat who appears ready to rule the Blake roost. B
~Jayne
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I really enjoyed this one. Kelly Hunter is one of my HP queens—although not quite as angsty as Caitlin Crews, Maisey Yates, or Jackie Ashenden—and I really like how she leans into the set-up of the story. It’s been a while since I read it, so I can’t say the actual amount, but I remember the crash and Ari’s rescue of Reed take up a significant amount of the first half of the book. I also like how Hunter doesn’t always fill in every space: she assumes the reader’s ability to get from point A to point B without being managed. If you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend Hunter’s MAGGIE’S RUN, an excellent book about a woman determined to refurbish a run-down outback sheep station she inherited from her aunt. So, so good.
@DiscoDollyDeb: “Maggie’s Run” — Oooh. oooh I have that one! I have it already. I just need to eventually get to it.
It’s rare that a Kelly Hunter book doesn’t work for me. I think a lot of that is down to what you mentioned. She has faith that her readers can follow the plot and she doesn’t load on the angst.
I’m shocked that the heroine’s name is Cohen (especially with antisemitism skyrocketing worldwide). I think this is Harlequin first Jewish heroine.
@Amy: I noticed her last name, too, but there was nothing said about her being Jewish. Yeah, strange.
Actually I reviewed a Harlequin a few months ago with Jewish characters and it centered on faith. There are supposed to be two more books in the series.
https://dearauthor.com/book-reviews/overall-b-reviews/b-plus-reviews/review-home-for-the-challah-days-by-jennifer-wilck/
I read another series from another publisher about Jews in St. Louis that I thought was overall pretty good.
https://dearauthor.com/tag/orchard-hill-series/
I remember reading a category I really liked in the late 1980s or early 1990s, I believe it was a Harlequin Temptation, Rule Breaker by Barbara Boswell, that I really liked. Among the things I appreciated was that the heroine was from an Italian background and had an Italian surname. It says something sad about the romance landscape in those years that that was so novel. You wouldn’t think something like that should be impressive but the books were SO white. Unless it was a sheikh hero which ugh for orientalism, most of the time.