Overall Grade: A
Tropes/Characteristics: runaway bride FMC; movie star MMC; close proximity; surprise baby; second chance; small town; found family; opposites attract
Throughout reading Pippa Grant’s The Bride’s Runaway Billionaire, I kept asking myself what is it about her romances that tug at me. At face value, Pippa Grant writes quirky rom-coms. The group of writers I put her in is Penny Reid and Lucy Score. They have a distinct writing voice and presence in their stories. Oftentimes, the face of the story is laden with quirky characters and inconceivable plot points. However, by the end of the romance, it’s clear this is a facade. Beneath cute animals such Yolko Ohno, the one-legged chicken, in Grant’s newest offering and the over-the-top antics of the supporting cast of characters abides a deep, loving relationship between her MMC and FMC. There is always something deep below the surface of Pippa Grant’s romances, and the marriage of the light facade with the depth of character rendering is why I always come back for more.
Throughout Grant’s most recent series, Three BFFs and a Wedding, she’s crafted a small-town world where everyone knows everything and everyone else, and it feels tempestuous at times. In the first two books of the series, she has a big problem: how to handle the upended wedding between Emma and Chandler. Book 2, The Gossip and the Grump, is where she holds us in suspense about Emma’s situation, and she wallops us at the end of that book with a surprise. Crafting this series in this way sets up The Bride’s Runaway Billionaire to be the most anticipated story of the series, which has the potential to cause a problem: what happens if Book 3 doesn’t live up to the hype? Well, you need not fear because, for this reader, The Bride’s Runaway Billionaire is my favorite of the three. Grant definitely saved the best for last, and she fulfilled the promise of creating a series that ends with the cherry on top of the sundae. Why did I love it so much?
- Emma makes her MMC work for it. I love that. I’m not a fan of second-chance romances where the hurt FMC lets go of her pain too easily. It undermines the tension of the reconciliation, and Grant superbly takes her reader through the paces of the MMC’s groveling.
- What this does is make us fall deeply in love with her MMC. Here’s the thing: I am attempting to write this review without naming him. I know others will do it in their reviews; however, I won’t. Grab the book and find out for yourself. Just know that the inclusion of this MMC into this book is pure genius. It connects the Pippa Grant universe (which I’m a particular fan of doing – it shows me that an author has a distinct and intelligent plan for her stories, even if she figured it out at the last minute. Plus it allows us re-entry into a book world that we previously loved). Secondly, Grant has written this MMC to be everything we need him to be for Emma’s journey. He takes responsibility, he recognizes his shortcomings, there is no gas-lighting, and he accepts his reckoning, all while falling deeply, madly in love with a character who has suffered previously. This is the type of heroic characterization that makes a reader swoon.
- The family of friends in this series is pure joy. The needling, the love, the respect – everything with this cast of friends adds another layer to The Bride’s Runaway Billionaire. The reflections and the reconciliations make for a feel-good read.
Almost a week out from reading Pippa Grant’s newest book, and it still swims in my mind. Emma and her MMC were a delight to read, and I’m so thankful that Pippa Grant knows who she is as a writer because her books bring so much light into a world that oftentimes feels dark. The Bride’s Runaway Billionaire is simply a must-read.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 