Title: The Bunny and the Billionaire
Series: Dreamspun Desire 43
Author: Louisa Masters
Narrator: Peter B Brooke
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 5 hrs, 5 mins
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (20th December 2017)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥ 3 Hearts
Blurb: Spending their fortunes and losing their hearts.
Hardworking Australian nurse Ben Adams inherits a substantial sum and decides to tour Europe. In Monaco, the home of glamour and the idle rich, he meets French billionaire playboy Léo Artois.
After getting off on the wrong foot – as happens when one accuses a stranger of being part of the Albanian mafia – their attraction blazes. Léo, born to the top tier of society, has never known limits, and Ben, used to budgeting every cent, finds it difficult to adjust to not only Léo’s world, but also the changes wealth brings to his own life.
As they make allowances for each other’s foibles, Ben gradually appreciates the finer things, and Léo widens his perspective. They both know one thing: this is not a typical holiday romance and they’re not ready to say goodbye.
Product Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Reviewer: Prime
Review: Alright, so this audio book has left me a bit confused. Having read the book and now listened to the audio of The Bunny and the Billionaire, this book is still the only exposure I’ve had to author Louisa Masters. But I remember enjoying the ebook well enough that I was keen to listen to the audio. Also, I liked the idea that I had to suspend my disbelief for a number of hours while I listened to this almost Mills and Boon type romance with an ordinary guy and a rich European Tycoon.
The story is about Ben – he’s a nurse from Australia (he’s from Melbourne which gave me problems when it came to the actual narration). He was a private nurse who got a shit ton of money from a client who died – you will need to suspend your disbelief for this part of the story. When I originally read the book, I found it just weird and had struggled to relate to the character. However, I knew what I was getting into, so I was more than happy to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the ride and wish I could be Ben. In this aspect I enjoyed the audio more than reading the text.
Enjoying his European holiday of a life time, Ben meets rich French/Saudi playboy Leo Artois. (Am I still the only one who keeps thinking of the beer Stella Artois? Not the point). The point is, Ben meets Leo at a Monaco casino and the two of them just click. There is plenty of sweet romance as well as hot sexy time. I really enjoyed that these two guys got to know each other, and it wasn’t just about Leo showing off his lavish lifestyle to Ben. Or Ben showing off his insanely large inheritance. I really liked how these two tried to merge their lives as they got to know each other. My favorite scene would have to be where Ben made Leo cook chicken parma (aka parmigiana or as we say in South Australia, parmy).
The only issue that I had with this audio was the narration. I very rarely have issues based solely on the narration and I really hate that I have to write this, but it is the truth. While I would probably rate the story a 4/5, I have to bring the overall rating back to 3 purely based on what I can only say was painful narration. I’ve heard Peter B Brooke narrate once before and I absolutely loved it.
However, I found the accents used for many of the characters really hard to get past. The French accent used for Leo, as well as his cousin Malik and best friend Lucian was borderline comical – if you’ve ever heard the stand-up comedians Danny Bhoy and Adam Hills do a French accent that was exactly what I was thinking. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I really struggled with the accent adopted for Australian nurse, Ben and his best friend Dani. The accent for the Aussies seemed to oscillate between American mid-western, some sort of British to a bad impersonation of Crocodile Dundee. Unfortunately, none of these could be passed for an Aussie from Melbourne. (Seriously, when I first heard it all I could think of “You call that a knife?”). I hate to say it, but I really struggled listening to the audio based on the accents alone. It would have been better to have an Australian narrator putting on a bad French accent.