Title: The Billionaire’s Christmas
Author:  J.S. Scott
Publisher/Year:  Amazon Publishing 11/27/18
Length:  112 Pages
Series: The Sinclairs #0.5

Overview

Called an eccentric beast by the citizens of Amesport, Maine, handsome, sensual billionaire Grady Sinclair stays isolated in his mansion on a private peninsula. The arrangement suits Grady just fine—until an unassuming woman rings his doorbell, awaking his long dormant passion with her fearlessness. All he wants is to make the fiery blonde his forever. But will he have to become the monster everyone thinks he is to get his Christmas wish?

Emily Ashworth is desperate. The Youth Center has been robbed of all its money, and as the director, she has to find a way to give the town’s needy children the Christmas they deserve. With nowhere else to turn, she ventures to the mansion of a mysterious billionaire to ask for help. Warned to expect a beast, Emily is shocked to find Grady Sinclair a handsome and very sensual man. With steamy kisses under the mistletoe and seductive whispers while hanging the wreath, Emily finds there’s more to Grady than meets the eye. Is this misunderstood billionaire just a lonely soul who needs the gift of love for Christmas?

My Thoughts

While I know that i’ve read this one out of order of things, I felt the need to see what shaped the beginnings of Grady and Emily’s romance since they clearly laid the groundwork for Dante and all other Sinclairs to follow. What we have here is the prelude to it all, and a better understanding of how the family works from the inside.

We start this novella with a moment in the past when Grady was still awkward in life and not at all what his father wants him to be, actually quite an embarrassment to the family in his father’s eyes, and all this happens at the annual Christmas party. He’s shamed into going, and forced to be ridiculed, and thankfully his sister and brothers are there for his support. What they didn’t know going into the event was that it would be the last as their father had a heart attack and died that night.

Fast forward to ‘present days’ and we get to see what Grady has grown into. Without the disdain of his father, he’s thrived in business, making a name for himself in programming and tech. What he lacked when he was younger in social prowess is still a huge issue for him now, and that’s how he came by his moniker in Amesport. He’s a recluse and likes it that way, but he doesn’t realize that one snowy night, all that will change.

Emily on the other hand is the town angel – she’s overseeing the Youth center which is a savior for kids not only in their town but all around as well. When she’s conned by a man that she felt was interested in her, but who was only after the money that she was fundraising for the center, she finds that she has no choice but to go to the one person who’s local with pockets deep enough to save things for the year.

She slips and falls on her butt on his front steps, he falls for her at the same moment and their story is written from there. She quickly sees that he’s misunderstood and that he’s got a heart of gold, and at the same time, works to negotiate a means to get the money that she needs from him to make the center thrive. They agree that she will stay with him for a week and show him that Christmas isn’t dead, and in exchange, she gets a million dollars for her center and a friend for life.

I think they both knew that they were ‘done for’ when they locked eyes for the first time, and we get to watch the journey of both of them coming to terms of what’s not spoken but what is going to be their forever future. We watch the other Sinclairs come into play a bit at times, potentially messing up things for Grady and Emily for good at one point, but we know that they all come from a good place so it’s just a ‘sit back and watch this play out’ kind of story.

Similar to the heat and tone of just about all JS Scott books, we see their passion come undone with this socially awkward guy an incredible master in the bedroom. He shows her facets of her sexuality that she had no idea about, and at the same time he is able to fulfill every fantasy he’s had about her since the first moment.

Now that i’ve read this and the first official book about Dante, I guess it’s safe for me to read on about Jared – so i’m off to do that now. Enjoy!