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My Fair Billionaire
Henry Higgins she's not!
Back in school, stuck-up Ava Brenner may have been Peyton Moss's personal mean girl by day, but different kinds of sparks flew at night. Now the tables have turned, and Peyton's about to make his first billion while Ava's living a bit more humbly--to put it mildly. He needs her to teach him how to pass in high society, if they can manage to put old rivalries to bed. Soon, that's exactly where they end up! But will Peyton still want her when he learns about the scandal that sent Ava from riches to rags?
Back in school, stuck-up Ava Brenner may have been Peyton Moss's personal mean girl by day, but different kinds of sparks flew at night. Now the tables have turned, and Peyton's about to make his first billion while Ava's living a bit more humbly--to put it mildly. He needs her to teach him how to pass in high society, if they can manage to put old rivalries to bed. Soon, that's exactly where they end up! But will Peyton still want her when he learns about the scandal that sent Ava from riches to rags?
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First published June 1, 2014
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About the author
Elizabeth Bevarly
372 books155 followersElizabeth Bevarly was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky and earned her BA with honors in English from the University of Louisville in 1983. Although she can’t recall ever wanting to be anything but a novelist-oh, all right, she toyed briefly with becoming an archaeologist, until she realized how awful she looked in khaki and flannel, and there was a brief fling with the interior decorator thing, until she realized she had trouble distinguishing chintz from moiré, and… (Where was I? Oh, yeah. My brilliant career.) Anyway, her career side trips before making the leap to writing included stints working as a bartender, a waitress, a movie theater cashier, a soap-hawker for Crabtree & Evelyn, an apparel-hawker for The Limited, and a bridal registry consultant for a major department store. She also did time as an editorial assistant for a medical journal, where she learned the correct spellings and meanings of a variety of words (like microscopy and histological) which, with any luck at all, she will never use again in this life.
She wrote her first novel when she was twelve years old. It was 32 pages long-and that was with college rule notebook paper-and featured three girls named Liz, Marianne and Cheryl, who explored the mysteries of a haunted house. Her friends Marianne and Cheryl proclaimed it “Brilliant! Spellbinding! Kept me up past dinnertime reading!” Those rave reviews only kindled the fire inside her to write more.
Since sixth grade, Elizabeth has gone on to complete more than 60 works of contemporary romance. Her novels regularly appear on the USA Today and Waldenbooks bestseller lists, and The Thing About Men was a New York Times Extended List bestseller. She’s been nominated for the prestigious RITA Award, has won the coveted National Readers’ Choice Award, and Romantic Times magazine has seen fit to honor her with two-count ‘em TWO-Career Achievement Awards. Her books have been translated into two dozen languages and published in three dozen countries, and there are more than ten million copies in print worldwide. She has claimed as residences Washington, DC, northern Virginia, southern New Jersey and Puerto Rico, but she now resides back in her native Kentucky with her husband and son and two very troubled cats where she fully intends to remain.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 6, 2021
Heroine was a mean girl at the Chicago prep school she and the hero attended. He went on to become a billionaire. She had to drop out her last year because her father went to prison for fraud and her mother entered a mental hospital. She was humbled at the time and is still humble as she runs a consignment/rental shop for designer clothes and barely eeks out a living.
She saves the hero from being kicked out in the street from a fine restaurant because he’s drunk and rude to the bartender. She takes him home where he passes out. When he wakes up, he is rude to the heroine and is still convinced she is a mean rich girl.
So, the hero lost me when he was rude to the bartender. Drunk or not, a hero doesn’t act that way. Same with his subsequent boorish behavior as the heroine tries to “civilize” him so he can win an important deal for his company.
I just didn’t believe that a prep school graduate, a college graduate, and someone who is now a CEO wouldn’t know how to dress, talk, eat or act in a public setting. We’re all socialized by our peers and his peers have been the upper crust since he was in high school.
Also, google would tell him about heroine’s dad, the matchmaker would have known it as well.
The showdown at the charity ball with the other mean girls from high school would have worked in a Regency novel, but not in a contemporary. Still, if you like social ostracization as a point of angst, you would probably like this story. I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief.
She saves the hero from being kicked out in the street from a fine restaurant because he’s drunk and rude to the bartender. She takes him home where he passes out. When he wakes up, he is rude to the heroine and is still convinced she is a mean rich girl.
So, the hero lost me when he was rude to the bartender. Drunk or not, a hero doesn’t act that way. Same with his subsequent boorish behavior as the heroine tries to “civilize” him so he can win an important deal for his company.
I just didn’t believe that a prep school graduate, a college graduate, and someone who is now a CEO wouldn’t know how to dress, talk, eat or act in a public setting. We’re all socialized by our peers and his peers have been the upper crust since he was in high school.
Also, google would tell him about heroine’s dad, the matchmaker would have known it as well.
The showdown at the charity ball with the other mean girls from high school would have worked in a Regency novel, but not in a contemporary. Still, if you like social ostracization as a point of angst, you would probably like this story. I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief.
May 27, 2014
Fantastic book - I loved the parallels to My Fair Lady. Ava was stunned to see Peyton back in Chicago. Back when they were in school he had sworn that he would never come back. She rescues him from a sticky situation and finds out why he is back.
I really liked both Ava and Peyton. Ava had been a true mean girl when she and Peyton had attended an exclusive private school. Her parents were rich and Ava had everything given to her. She was snobby and snotty and made life hell for those she saw as not fitting in. Peyton was a scholarship student from a bad part of Chicago. He was the star of the school hockey team, but other than that was not accepted by the other students. They had a short time when they were assigned to work together on a school project and spent time together. At the end of that project the heat that had been building propelled them into one incredible encounter, which they both called a mistake. At the end of the school year Peyton graduated and left town. Shortly after that Ava's circumstances changed and she was suddenly walking in Peyton's shoes.
I loved the changes that Ava had gone through and how she came out the other side. Spending her senior year at a different school in a different state as one of those scholarship students she had despised opened her eyes to a whole new world. Instead of going to an exclusive college, she worked her way through community college, earning a business degree. Then she put that degree to use, opening a store that carries high-end fashions that ordinary women can rent when they have need of them. She had seen the need and filled it. She is also one of her own best customers. She has become a much kinder and more sympathetic person.
Peyton left town and put his ambition to work for him. He is now the owner of a multimillion dollar business. But he is also still very rough around the edges and is ruthless in his business dealings. The members of his board of directors have told him that he needs to come to terms with his past and learn how to handle himself in the world he's now part of. But facing those memories sent him on a drinking binge that brought him together with Ava.
I loved the scene in the bar as she talked him down out of his obnoxious behavior then took him away. His confusion the next morning was fun to see. Seeing Ava reminded him of all his old insecurities and he was pretty obnoxious in his comments to her. He told her why he was there, then left, not expecting to see her again and glad to get away from the memories and the feelings that were still there.
It was fun seeing him show up at her store, basically begging for her help. He needs lessons on how to behave and the "Henry Higgins" he had hired just wasn't working out. I loved seeing their exchange as he tried to talk her into helping and she was trying to resist. Once she said yes and the lessons started it was great. The parallels to My Fair Lady were so much fun. It was funny watching her try to get him to stop cussing, especially since he admitted to himself that half the fun was watching her get all worked up. The scene in the matchmaker's office was hysterical, especially with the input that Ava had. It was also fun to see how much Ava was enjoying being with Peyton, even though she had started out just wanting to make amends for how terrible she'd been to him in the past.
The interactions between the two them during the lessons was wonderful. They really got into challenging each other over everything, but not in a nasty way. I loved seeing how their opinions about each other changed as they really got to know each other. The culminating scene at the ball was absolutely one of the best I have ever read. Ava and Peyton had finally grown into the people they were meant to be. The epilogue was a terrific wrap up.
I really liked both Ava and Peyton. Ava had been a true mean girl when she and Peyton had attended an exclusive private school. Her parents were rich and Ava had everything given to her. She was snobby and snotty and made life hell for those she saw as not fitting in. Peyton was a scholarship student from a bad part of Chicago. He was the star of the school hockey team, but other than that was not accepted by the other students. They had a short time when they were assigned to work together on a school project and spent time together. At the end of that project the heat that had been building propelled them into one incredible encounter, which they both called a mistake. At the end of the school year Peyton graduated and left town. Shortly after that Ava's circumstances changed and she was suddenly walking in Peyton's shoes.
I loved the changes that Ava had gone through and how she came out the other side. Spending her senior year at a different school in a different state as one of those scholarship students she had despised opened her eyes to a whole new world. Instead of going to an exclusive college, she worked her way through community college, earning a business degree. Then she put that degree to use, opening a store that carries high-end fashions that ordinary women can rent when they have need of them. She had seen the need and filled it. She is also one of her own best customers. She has become a much kinder and more sympathetic person.
Peyton left town and put his ambition to work for him. He is now the owner of a multimillion dollar business. But he is also still very rough around the edges and is ruthless in his business dealings. The members of his board of directors have told him that he needs to come to terms with his past and learn how to handle himself in the world he's now part of. But facing those memories sent him on a drinking binge that brought him together with Ava.
I loved the scene in the bar as she talked him down out of his obnoxious behavior then took him away. His confusion the next morning was fun to see. Seeing Ava reminded him of all his old insecurities and he was pretty obnoxious in his comments to her. He told her why he was there, then left, not expecting to see her again and glad to get away from the memories and the feelings that were still there.
It was fun seeing him show up at her store, basically begging for her help. He needs lessons on how to behave and the "Henry Higgins" he had hired just wasn't working out. I loved seeing their exchange as he tried to talk her into helping and she was trying to resist. Once she said yes and the lessons started it was great. The parallels to My Fair Lady were so much fun. It was funny watching her try to get him to stop cussing, especially since he admitted to himself that half the fun was watching her get all worked up. The scene in the matchmaker's office was hysterical, especially with the input that Ava had. It was also fun to see how much Ava was enjoying being with Peyton, even though she had started out just wanting to make amends for how terrible she'd been to him in the past.
The interactions between the two them during the lessons was wonderful. They really got into challenging each other over everything, but not in a nasty way. I loved seeing how their opinions about each other changed as they really got to know each other. The culminating scene at the ball was absolutely one of the best I have ever read. Ava and Peyton had finally grown into the people they were meant to be. The epilogue was a terrific wrap up.
February 27, 2023
Nesu itin didelė romanų mėgėja, bet prisiverčiau paimt ir perskaityt. Ilgai ne užtrukau, nes knyga plona, ir skaitėsi greit. Man pasirodė per daug banali, ir per daug pagražinta istorija.
December 31, 2015
This book is the 3rd in a trilogy - not named by anyone, anywhere. I accidentally downloaded this one from my library's digital catalog and the author lists two previous Desire titles in which this 3rd book's heroine appears. I call them the Talk Of The Town trilogy, but they could be called The Billionaire Trilogy. No matter which, the book was wonderful! Bevarly is one of my favorite category authors, and her single-title releases are pretty darned good, too.
August 10, 2022
Entre 2.5 y 3.
La historia sale del típico cliché de CEO todopoderoso.
Es una historia de segundas oportunidades con un montón de buenos elementos. El chico pobre que se enamora de la chica rica, pasan años y ahora los papeles están invertidos.
Pero le faltó intensidad. No sé cómo más decirlo.
El final fue flojo y el epílogo simplemente meh. Yo amo estos libros porque me llevan siempre a emociones a flor de piel y en este caso tenían esos ingredientes para armarlo, pero no sé qué es lo que no acabó de dar en el clavo.
¿Salseo? ¿Celos? ¿Un prota más prototípico? No lo sé. Con estos libros soy pura emoción y racionalizarlos nunca me lleva a algo bueno. Así que aquí, desde la emoción, lo dejo en 2.5.
La historia sale del típico cliché de CEO todopoderoso.
Es una historia de segundas oportunidades con un montón de buenos elementos. El chico pobre que se enamora de la chica rica, pasan años y ahora los papeles están invertidos.
Pero le faltó intensidad. No sé cómo más decirlo.
El final fue flojo y el epílogo simplemente meh. Yo amo estos libros porque me llevan siempre a emociones a flor de piel y en este caso tenían esos ingredientes para armarlo, pero no sé qué es lo que no acabó de dar en el clavo.
¿Salseo? ¿Celos? ¿Un prota más prototípico? No lo sé. Con estos libros soy pura emoción y racionalizarlos nunca me lleva a algo bueno. Así que aquí, desde la emoción, lo dejo en 2.5.
January 14, 2023
Puikus romanas apie du skirtingus žmones iš skirtingų visuomenės sluoksnių.Šiame romane labai patiko kaip yra pateikti istorijos veikejai.Vyras kilęs is vidurinės klasės,o mergina kilusi iš aukstuomenės,o laikui (gyvenumui) einat jų likimai asiveria aukštyn-ji tapo paprasta mergina,o jis vienas turtingiausiu vyru.Idomu stebėti iš šono kaip ji padeda jam prisitaikyti jos buvusiam pasaulyje nors nevisada tai pavyksta.Ir galiausiai kažkada du besipykstantis jaunuoliai,suauge tampa vienas kitam neabejingi.
December 30, 2018
De rápida lectura, entretenido... un reencuentro de manera casual que parece predestinado a que dos jóvenes amantes que cambiaron sus vidas con los años, se reencuentren 16 años después, pero que esa química que tuvieron antes vuelve a prenderse... aunque en realidad, nunca se apago. Recomendado para leer en un ratito a la noche.
May 12, 2019
Funny, sweet, adorable. Finished in 90 minutes. A light-hearted read that recharged my engines. Much better that Ms. Manners book on etiquette. Society girl meets boy from the "wrong side of the tracks" but this time her society status has been reversed but he's still from the wrong side.
May 31, 2019
A single-morning in-bed vacation read. Not bad, although the major anticipated revealing moment was a bit of a let down and the overall character development was poor (too much discussion of who the characters used to be instead of showing why and how they've changed in a believe able way).
December 31, 2018
Fun read i could not put down
March 16, 2021
Εκπαιδεύοντας τον Πέιτον - Elizabeth Bevarly, Bianca, 1330
August 25, 2024
Una trama muy original que no me hubiera importado que tuviera más paginas para seguir disfrutando de este reencuentro entre antiguos compañeros de instituto
February 9, 2017
I was initially excited at the idea of a high society woman taking a nouveau riche lower-class man and teaching him the ropes. A woman teaching a man to behave like a gentleman? What a novelty! But the situation is complicated by a previous sexual encounter and the fact that Peyton Moss has—let’s face it—the stubborn, mulish, willful charm of a sullen ten-year-old kid with a snot nose and scabby knees.
While the original Henry Higgins was able to wrestle Eliza Doolittle into a semblance of a lady, Ava Brenner is at a distinct physical disadvantage. When Peyton digs in his heels, he resorts to crude, nasty behavior that leaves her frustrated and in despair. He takes jejeune delight in swearing like a sailor, acting coarsely to people and needling her just to get a reaction out of her.
He also forces himself physically into her life. He follows her on the streets, yanks at her arm to get her to stop, refuses to leave her alone, forces his way into her apartment and refuses to leave when she indicates that she doesn’t want him.
I’ve noticed this type of behavior in other romances. When the man wants to restrain a woman physically, he does it, regardless of her uttered protests and struggles. It stops short of rape but it gives an ugly tinge to their encounters. If a man struts into a woman’s home and refuses to leave, she can’t force him. He can ignore her shouted protests and simply push himself unwanted into her life and bed.
Of course, by the time the romantic hero gets around to caressing instead of pulling at her, she’s melting into his arms and the ensuing sexual monkeyshines are supposed to make up for all his crass behavior. We’re supposed to find this seductive, tender and romantic.
How is this supposed to be romantic?! It’s vicious, awful and borders on abusive behavior. If a romance is supposed to be a story where all the answers are “yes”, in such stories it clearly means that a woman isn’t allowed a “no”.
While the original Henry Higgins was able to wrestle Eliza Doolittle into a semblance of a lady, Ava Brenner is at a distinct physical disadvantage. When Peyton digs in his heels, he resorts to crude, nasty behavior that leaves her frustrated and in despair. He takes jejeune delight in swearing like a sailor, acting coarsely to people and needling her just to get a reaction out of her.
He also forces himself physically into her life. He follows her on the streets, yanks at her arm to get her to stop, refuses to leave her alone, forces his way into her apartment and refuses to leave when she indicates that she doesn’t want him.
I’ve noticed this type of behavior in other romances. When the man wants to restrain a woman physically, he does it, regardless of her uttered protests and struggles. It stops short of rape but it gives an ugly tinge to their encounters. If a man struts into a woman’s home and refuses to leave, she can’t force him. He can ignore her shouted protests and simply push himself unwanted into her life and bed.
Of course, by the time the romantic hero gets around to caressing instead of pulling at her, she’s melting into his arms and the ensuing sexual monkeyshines are supposed to make up for all his crass behavior. We’re supposed to find this seductive, tender and romantic.
How is this supposed to be romantic?! It’s vicious, awful and borders on abusive behavior. If a romance is supposed to be a story where all the answers are “yes”, in such stories it clearly means that a woman isn’t allowed a “no”.
August 28, 2016
I loved this book and I gobbled it up! I loved the twist on My Fair Lady, as the hero is the one who needs refinement and the heroine is the one who tries to provide it. They have a history that goes all the way back to high school and it is fun to watch it all unfold. I couldn't put it down. I laughed out loud a few times, especially when she went with him to the professional "matchmaker" appointment! I won't spoil it for anybody but I highly recommend this book!
Disclaimer: this was a freebie sent to me by the author..Thank you!
Disclaimer: this was a freebie sent to me by the author..Thank you!
June 10, 2015
Although the the story is a tad unbelievable - it is a romance after all - Elizabeth Bevarly's books are always well worth reading. I especially liked the heroine of this book. She was able to rise above tragic circumstances to become a successful business woman. She learned the hard way that money doesn't buy happiness. The hero is the "bad boy" type which seems to be a big draw for some women - Sandra Bullock comes to mind - but he needs to change his ways to reflect better on his million (soon to be billion) dollar corporation.
June 5, 2014
As always, Elizabeth Beverlay delivers a lovely romance with relatable characters and witty, realistic dialogue. I have been reading her novels for years and she just keeps making me smile book after book. You cannot go wrong picking up one of her romances.
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January 12, 2016"An exceptional storyline and great characters, dialogue and humor make My Fair Billionaire one not to be missed. The tea room scene alone is priceless (RT Book Reviews)!" 4 1/2 stars
July 16, 2014
My Fair Lady in reverse. Former bad/poor boy asks former mean/rich girl for help in changing his image so he will be acceptable in high society.
July 24, 2014
4.4* Magically written,it`s a lace of words put together splendidly... One of those books,not perfect,not my 5 star read but makes me want to knock off a star from others I rated...
April 20, 2015
Me enamore.
September 1, 2014
I really like Bevarly's voice in her writing. Nice reunion story.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews