Hiding with the Billionaire

Written by Donna K. Weaver

Narrated by Vicki Pierce

Ahri Meisner’s on the run. Her hiding place may keep her safe from her husband’s murderers, but what about her heart?

***A clean billionaire romance***

When Ahri's estranged husband leaves her in the lurch, he does so with an obscure warning that neither of them is safe. Alone and not knowing who might be after her, she flees across the country to her brother. When her husband is murdered, she finds she must assume a new identity and stay in hiding, working for her brother’s too-handsome business partner. And she has no idea how long before the murderers will find her.

Rafe Davis has gone from being a poor scholarship boy to billionaire CEO of REKD Gaming. The only child of a loving mother and an emotionally abusive father, things haven't come easy for him. When his business partner asks that he help his sister, Rafe agrees. He finds himself attracted to Ahri, but his business is his life. That's about to change.

Books in the Billionaires of REKD Series

• Hiding with the Billionaire
• Luck of the Billionaire
• Three Fortunes for the Billionaire
• A Lass for the Billionaire

• Language: English
• Publisher: Emerald Arch Publishing
• Release date: Oct 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781946152138

Reviews for Hiding with the Billionaire

[chirikosan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

DNF at 44%

I think this book has a lot going for it with a more cuddly slow burn romance between the good natured CEO of a gaming company and a university acquaintance he always loved named Ahri (who just happened to be married to a real D-bag. I really hated Zed even though he only appears for a few scenes of the story at the most).

The mystery of why someone ransaked Ahri's apartment the day after Zed ran off with a cryptic message is the one true thing that kept me going. I think the mystery is the best portion of the book and the main reason I gave it 3 stars.

I didn't dislike the characters or the slow burn romance, it's more like I couldn't really get into the author's writing style. Too much exposition like "he joustled his hair" in the middle of a speech continuously pulled me out of the story. I believe this is an issue of personal reading taste and by itself it was not a deal-breaker to me, just an additional symptom of the things I didn't enjoy about the book.

One issue that soon became apparent in this book is the fact that well, everyone was too nice and didn't seem flustered or furious about the trashy way Ahri was treated. They sort of shrugged their shoulders and she just sort of simpers in misery in a room. Like, they were "nice", but that sort of fake nice that gets on your nerves. Crazy nutjob just stole her property when she planned to move out? No big deal. Ahri fed up living in a small apartment in the gaming company complex with the desire to have her absent brother Kayn console her? Okay, so he is busy at work doing a mega urgent project, but the book doesn't really offer any reasons why I should root for Kayn.

We don't see Ahri's frustration on her face as she marches in circles in the gaming company apartment, wondering if her life was in danger or how to get a new job. For the most part, the book sort of tumbles on without caring about fleshing out her personality. But it does a LOT OF TELLING. Loves to talk about how the CEO guy's family is so picture perfect with the most (grating) toddler nephews and wonderful (boring) potential mother-in-law. Either I felt they didn't seem like real people (Ahri is pretty much supposed to be a stranger to them), or the fact they were devoid of major faults made the family life chapters of the book to be utterly and irreparably dull.

That's it! I felt bored. I think the idea was good, just that well, there was no tension. And I pulled along because the mystery is what really drives me forward. I didn't care much about whether Ahri and CEO guy ever hit it off, I just want to know why Zed left.

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Billionaire romances are not usually my thing; they often feel especially artificial. I can't necessarily claim this one is grounded solidly in reality, but I like the characters. They, including the four billionaire friends, seem like real, credible, likable people.The basic background: A few years ago, some Harvard students, while still in grad school, created a game which hit it big, and sold it for millions. With that money, they started their company, REKD, and created a new game, a competitive arena type game, and went big into esports. Our first billionaire, Rafe Davis, is the CEO of the company, and persuaded his friends to locate in his native North Carolina, to be near his mother, stepfather, and younger siblings. Another of the friends, Kayn, has a sister, Ahri, who got married three years ago, to a guy Kayn never approved of.For the past year, their marriage has been getting steadily worse. Then one day he comes home, tells her he's leaving, and oh, by the way, she needs to get out, too, because otherwise she'll be in real danger. Go to her mother, or her brother.Well, their mother moved back to Korea, so really, her brother is the only option.And thus she is thrown together with Rafe, and with Rafe's family, because they're coming up on a new release, and staying in Kayn's condo while hiding from the people who are definitely chasing her is just too isolating. Rafe's mother could use some extra help around her B&B, she says, and soon Ahri is settled in, helping with Rafe's younger siblings and the vegetable garden, in addition being installed at REKD to cover the maternity leave of Rafe's office manager.Rafe, like Ahri and Kayn, grew up poor and was a scholarship kid, before he, Kayn, and the others got rich in gaming. Their fathers, in different ways, each abandoned their families. And Ahri is just as much into gaming as Rafe and Kayn.I do really like that she speaks up about some of the stupidities of this type of game--including women warriors going into battle in "armor" that is basically heavy, uncomfortable lingerie, providing no protection at all. Rafe is reluctant to hear it, but she doesn't back down.The tension cranks up with Ahri's ex is found dead, murdered, and again when the truck that was moving her possessions from Arizona, not to North Carolina but to another state, to see if it got followed without telling the bad guys where to look for Ahri, really does get attacked.I'm not saying the plot is actually believable. It's just that Weaver is really good with characters, and with keeping things moving, and with making me perfectly happy to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride.Recommended.I received a free electronic galley of this book from the author, and am reviewing it voluntarily.