New Book Alert: Accidentally Engaged To The Billionaire (Accidental Engagement Series Book 1) by Bridget Taylor; Predictable But Charming Romance Between Different Social Classes

 

New Book Alert: Accidentally Engaged To The Billionaire (Accidental Engagement Series Book 1) by Bridget Taylor; Predictable But Charming Romance Between Different Social Classes

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Bridget Taylor's Accidentally Engaged to the Billionaire is the example of Modern Romance Wish Fulfillment: The lovers of different social classes meet and arrange an alleged romance. They have to act like a happy couple in front of tongue clicking disapproving friends and relatives. After revealing their differences and arguments, usually an Act 3 Break Up, the duo decide that they love each other for real. Expect a lot of parties inside swank wealthy estates, maybe a vacation to an exotic location or a formal dance at the country club, expensive gifts, and a shopping spree.

There isn't anything in Accidentally Engaged to the Billionaire that hasn't been read or seen before and in some ways, in dark times, that's what makes it comforting.

Romances like this are the literary equivalent of a candy bar or a second can of soda. It's not healthy or stimulating but it's comforting, fun, and entertaining. It's a charming book that gives us pure wish fulfillment and makes for a good escape.

Charles Bentley, the eponymous billionaire, is in a bind. He is due to Inherit his father's money but the will stipulates that he has to be married before his 35th birthday and the big day is looming. There are some family members, such as his avaricious uncle and his much younger trophy wife, who would love to see him not get it. Rather than hit the singles bars, go on speed dates, or check out Match.com, Charles proposes to the woman who just delivered his pizza. 

Jane is confused about this odd proposal, but intrigued by his offer to pay her college tuition and to get her family out of their financial hole, so she accepts. Of course they go through the usual hurdles of faking their engagement, meeting disapproving friends and family, etc, before falling in love for real.

Charles and Jane are a study in contrasts. Charles is a smooth confident man about town, born with money. He is so insulated in his wealth that he thinks money can buy anything, even a potential fiancee. He doesn't want it to be sordid. In fact, sex and emotion aren't even factors. They are to be engaged in name only as though it were a business transaction. 

Charles lacks some of the depth of rich suitors found in books like Courage Jonathan or The Artist and His Billionaire. He is disgusted by the behavior of some of his family members and has enough awareness to be appalled by the money grubbing snobbish antics of his Uncle Jack, Aunt Rosemary, and the family lawyer, Wyatt Tucker. Unfortunately, he doesn't want to leave the family and attempt to make it on his own without his family or to do some charitable philanthropic good with his money. I suppose that he feels that paying off the tuition and debts of one college student is his good deed and teaching a person to fish blah blah blah. 

Charles shows kindness in some of the most unlikely of places. He lets Jane spend the night when a fight with her older sister causes her to get kicked out. He also begins to shed some of his earlier snobbishness and sees more than his wealthy corner of the universe.

Jane is of course the poor woman made good with this peculiar offer. In her story, we get some realism with discussions of poverty and income inequality. By contrast to Charles' world, Jane's is pretty bleak. She is working her way through college but still has student loans looming in her future. Her mother died recently so it's just Jane and her sister, Helena, who works as a bartender in a strip club. Jane appreciates the generous financial offer that Charles is offering and she can't afford to say no. However, she wonders what accepting means to her. She has visions of herself in fancy dress, sitting in a mansion, and turning her nose up at the things and people that she used to like. 

Unfortunately, the bleaker and more realistic that Taylor writes Jane's predicament, the less likely the fantastic aspects of the Romance are. Jane has to agree to Charles' proposal because she is written without any options. She has no choice but to say yes.

Like Charles, Jane also goes through a transformation. She doesn't become the snob that she fears, but she does learn to use that money to change her and Helena's lives and maybe get a better future.

Actually, Taylor writes a better potential couple that almost steals the spotlight from Charles and Jane: Helena and Charles' cousin, James.

James is Charles' closest companion. He is the only one who is in on the Proposal Scheme and speaks for a lot of Readers who probably think "Hey, isn't this idea a little weird?" 

However, he is incredibly loyal to Charles and grows to like and accept Jane. He is usually quick with a wry comment or one liner that sometimes puts him at odds with others, particularly Charles. He is also completely on Charles' side because he can't stand Jack and wants to see him go down.

Helena is also a brilliant contrast to the romance between Charles and Jane. Helena is more cynical about this proposal. She loves her sister and doesn't want to see her get hurt but she also thinks that this scheme amounts to prostitution. She is furious not only that her family has to be put into such a situation where Jane has to accept it but also has a grudge against the Bentleys in particular. It takes a while for her to reveal the reason for the grudge but it shows that sometimes when the wealthy act, the poor suffer and they may not be aware of who is suffering.

Helena and James' exchanges are minimal, but they carry a lot of wit, sarcasm, and repartee that you can see a possible couple emerging from them. Also since they are written to be more experienced than Charles and Jane, their romance won't necessarily begin with a contrived fairy tale like beginning. It would begin with the more gradual "getting to know each other" scenario that many regular couples go through. If Taylor isn't planning on it, she should write a spin off series about James and Helena.

Accidentally Engaged to the Billionaire is the kind of Romance that reality invites a scoff but the Escapist side longing for a dream will enjoy.