Recent Release Review: Poor Little Rich Boy by Katey Hawthorne

09 January of 2021 by ButtonsMom2003

Poor Little Rich Boy By Katey Hawthorne

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Tropes: Marriage of convenience, friends-to-lovers

Released: December 30, 2020

Publisher: JMS Books LLC

Length: 160 pages

Cover Design: Written Ink Designs

Synopsis

Ted MacTaggart’s overbearing father is still trying to control his life, even from the grave. His will insists that, in order to inherit the family company, MAC Superior, Ted must be married by his twenty-fifth birthday — and the marriage has to be “real.” As in the board of MAC has to sign off on it.

Ted could fight the will, but then the handsome, artistic Ryan Costa, an old friend from school days walks back into his life, offering to be his groom-of-convenience. Ted draws up the contracts and Ryan, who has family medical bill problems, agrees gladly to the terms. Ted, emotionally walled off and afraid of his attraction to Ryan, also suggests they should keep their relationship strictly professional. Caring for people has always proven a weakness for him. Now isn’t the time to start.

It’s not long before Ryan’s charm breaks through Ted’s walls, but Ted isn’t his own worst enemy in this case. Other forces are vying for MAC Superior, and even when their relationship is becoming the real deal, its shaky foundations land Ryan and Ted in trouble.

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

I liked this a lot.

Poor Little Rich Boy is only my second book by Katey Hawthorne and I liked it a lot. Take a look at the blurb because it explains the story well.

When Ted proposes a marriage of convenience to Ryan, he doesn’t know that Ryan had a crush on him back in high school, and he hasn’t really admitted to himself that he also had a crush on Ryan. I always enjoy the marriage of convenience trope and this one was really good.

Ted is a jerk at the beginning, and we learn he has fairly good reasons for being one. Ryan quickly figures out how to cut through the walls that Ted has surrounded himself with and the marriage of convenience turn in to more fairly quickly.

In addition to the Ted and Ryan story line there’s an underlying one with Ted’s brother Wyatt. Wyatt is really a jerk but Ryan soon realizes what Wyatt wants and needs from Ted. I don’t think this is planned as a series but I wouldn’t mind reading a book for Wyatt someday.

I loved Katey’s descriptive writing about Ryan’s artwork and especially about the time Ted and Ryan spent in France; kind of makes me want to visit there someday. I also enjoyed the many secondary characters in this story who helped to support Ted and Ryan.