I wasn't a massive fan of this book, there wasn't anything overly wrong with it, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

This is the story of Lauren and Dominik and is told in 13 chapters. Although I had trouble getting into this story, I did enjoy it and find it was very well written.

This story did not ring true to me in so many ways. I know that a good PA will do their utmost to help their boss. ( be they male or female) but for a PA to put herself in danger venturing into a jungle many miles away and, also, to be prepared, at her boss’ behest to marry a stranger! No, I’m sorry. I just could not continue reading it!!

Untamed Billionaire’s Innocent Bride is written by Caitlin Crews and published by Mills & Boon Modern. Lauren Clarke is the PA to Matteo Coombes. She has been given the task of tracking down his long lost brother in Hungary and bringing him back to London in order to avoid a PR disaster. She tracks Dominick down to the woods, where she assumes he is living hand to mouth in a shack whereas in reality he is a billionaire! In order to avoid a scandal she marries him, but will they get their HEA?

This book is based upon the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. In the opening pages Lauren is depicted as walking through the woods in her high heels and red outfit, whilst Dom is depicted as the big bad wolf. Although the imagery is cleverly done, I just found this book hard to get into and it didn’t capture or hold my attention as other Crews novels have done.

I received this book via Netgalley and Mills and Boon in exchange for a honest review. I am a #MillsAndBoonInsider #netgalley

Lauren Clarke is personal assistant to Matteo Combe, president and CEO of Combe Industries. She believes herself to be in love with him. She is shaped by her childhood of being unwanted when her parents divorced and moved on with their individual lives, forgetting all about her. She is desperate to be indespensable and likes to be in control of herself in any situation.
Dominik James is the elligitimate brother of Matteo Combe. He is self made, independent and has no interest in meeting his long lost family, who abandoned him when he was a baby. He is a mystery who likes to be alone in the forest.
Lauren is tasked with tracking down Dominik, get him media ready and persuade him to come back with her. Their first meeting is full of explosive chemistry and you can tell this story will be one to remember.
The reference to fairy tales, specifically Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf was very cleverly integrated into the story and worked well with the characters.
This book was received free from NetGalley via Mills and Boon Insiders, but that does not influence my opinions.

Lauren Clarke does whatever her boss asks her to do so when she is tasked with tracking down his long lost brother she travels to Hungary to locate him. This is where the fairytale begins, with elements of red riding hood woven into the story. Lauren is an innocent and trades kisses with Dominik to convince him to return with her. Her first opinion of Dominik is that he is a poor woodsman but in reality he is a billionaire who is excaping from the rat race. Whilst at times throughout the story it is a bit far fetched for instance agreeing to marry someone because your boss asks you to, it was an easy book to escape into and I enjoyed the romantic elements.

This is only my second book by Caitlin Crews, and I really enjoy her easy and fluid writing style, there is a real fun and classic feel to her stories. This is the first Modern/Present’s of hers I have read as the last book of hers was a Dare and you can really see, that this lady has got talent, I am in awe of any author who can so easily change lines like this, to be able to jump from Dare to Modern/Presents and back again, is a real skill.

My first impression of this was “It’s Little Red Riding Hood!” which is one of my favourite Brothers Grimm stories, I love how that dark fairy tale has been given a real fresh twist.

You have innocent, sweet little Lauren walking into the woods in very insensible shoes looking for the big, bad wolf; which finds her, and literally tries to eat her from the first moment. Dominik, is very much that big, very bad wolf – oh, be still my furiously beating, bad boy loving heart, swoon!! He is more then welcome to devour me anytime 😉 Dom, when you’re ready to leave your little cabin in the woods, you know where I am…I’m happy to let you chop wood as I ogle you through the window.

Honestly, I best get on with this review, before I start lamenting about Dom’s perfectly formed rear-end and well sculptured torso….sigh, stop me, please someone! So the story opens with Lauren stomping through the Hungarian woods, in pretty heels and in a bit of a huff, as she has been sent to track down the estrange brother of her boss, she is a loyal and dedicated PA and will go above and beyond to do her job, which does include stomping about the woods looking for a wolf. She must find this brother to prevent a huge scandal, the only way to avoid scandal is for the reclusive Dominik to marry her – an odd twist on the story, but believe me once you start reading it, everything becomes clear.

Only problem with this plan is the man himself; Dominik isn’t exactly what she would have thought him to be, he is far larger, broodier, wild, fierce and he has this dangerous aura about him, that makes her want something that she has never wanted in her life, it has awakened her desire and her more baser urges and needs…in other words, she wants to tame the big bad wild wolf, preferably in bed 😉

I do love the story, I love the take on the old fairy-tale and I loved how their very intense relationship is covered over a few days, as the reader we are thrown right into their world. The sexual tensions between then is off the page, it’s hot, fierce and but not so much that the story is lost amongst sex, it’s a good balance of the two.

The only thing that I have against it is at times both Dom and Lauren can be a little off putting, Lauren can be so selfish and a little in your face, she doesn’t really take into account Dom’s feelings. Whereas Dom is so brooding and wild he can come across as a little harsh, I felt at times that he did humiliate her. But, really my personal misgivings didn’t take anything away from the story in it’s entirety, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Dom and Lauren, they are as different as you can get but surprisingly once they get over their personal issues, they are a very likable couple.

Overall, a fun and quirky read, for those who have read and enjoy the Modern/Presents Line then you will have an idea of what you will expect, definitely recommended

Lauren is a P.A who does anything her boss ask her to do including looking for his long lost brother whom his mother gave up as a baby. She found Dominik living in a wood and assumed he was poor and down on his luck. She tried to entice him with his heritage and what his mum left him in her will.
The story line became boring in the middle and towards the end.

This book starts similar to a fairy story, a girl dressed in red going through the forest to meet a man in a hut, but is he the big bad wolf?

Lauren has come to tell Dominick that he is the illegitimate heir and half brother to her boss, Matteo

Lauren is the perfect PA who always says yes to whatever demands her boss puts upon her, even if that means trecking through the forest to find Dominick and then being tasked to marry him and tutor him in the ways of his long lost aristocratic family so he is "presentable" in public at all the functions and events he has to attend

Lauren thinks that sex and romance is over rated and something to be avoided but when Dominick only agrees to leave the forest if she meets his demand of a kiss whenever he asks for one, both of them being more affected by their kisses than they are willing to admit, Lauren agrees.
Will Dominick be able to change Lauren's mind about sex? They both have secrets and fears but can they overcome them to be together?

I enjoyed parts of this book but struggled with others, Lauren and Dominick went through times that just didn't feel right (walking through the forest in stilettos...) and other parts of the story

I'm really glad I was able to read this book, even if it wasn't fully for me, and would recommend it to anyone who likes their fairytales with a bit of a twist!

Untamed Billionaire's Innocent Bride is the second book in The Combe Family Scandals series by Caitlin Crews.

This book gives a lot of references to fairytales, especially Little Red Riding Hood, which gives me hope that this book was written tongue in cheek as a fairytale and not to be taken too seriously. If that assumption is correct then it makes the book enjoyable rather than just unbelievable.

Lauren Clarke is a PA tasked to find her boss' half brother, Dominik, who was given up at birth, to tell him who his family are and that he is an heir to their fortune. Information that was discovered in his recently departed mother's will. She finds him in a secluded cabin in Hungary and sets about convincing him to go back to England with her. She is to prepare him for life in the media's eye and make sure he isn't an embarrassment to the family. Not that she put it that way to him.

He agrees to go with her, letting her believe that he is just a reclusive man, and doesn't let on that he is a billionaire who is just escaping the rat race. His payment, she has to let him kiss her whenever he demands it. And this is where the story just goes into a fairytale scenario for me. Lauren is a virgin, she also believes that she has no sexual urges because the men that she has kissed in her past have done nothing for her and she has even been accused of being an alien because she didn't want to have sex. Dominik kisses her and makes her realise that maybe she does have urges after all. So, they return to England with her agreeing to his terms.

Now her boss decides that she must marry Dominik so that gold diggers won't chase after him when he is announced to the world. Lauren doesn't think twice about it and tells Dominik the latest plan. He agrees because he gets more kisses and the promise of at least a proper wedding night.

So, they marry and Lauren teaches him how to behave in a rich society, and he teaches her that she is a very normal woman with very real urges that he is happy to fulfil. They have until the will is leaked, which they expect it will be, to get Dominik ready for what will happen when the press find out who he is. During that time the more time they spend together, the more they find themselves falling for each other, though neither wants to admit it not even to themselves.

When the proverbial hits the fan things don't go as planned. But I don't want to tell you what happens, that falls into spoiler territory.

As I said, I found this book to be like a fairytale, not believable in quite a lot of the plot, but it was still an OK read. The kissing and the sex scenes were well written and you could definitely believe that Dominik made Lauren realise she was a very normal woman with very normal urges. I liked the idea of Dominik being the big bad wolf, and Lauren being his little red riding hood. That was a fun, sassy part of the book. I also really enjoyed the epilogue which along with the last chapter of the book was not only a happily ever after but more believable that most of the story.

Would I recommend this story, actually, yes I would but only if you like a good fairytale!

Once upon a time…a reader raced back to Caitlin Crews’ Harlequin Presents / Mills & Boon Modern because she craved a strong Presents’ voice.

Luckily for her, this one fell into her lap via NetGalley / Mills & Boon Insiders. And if she’d known this was a fairytale Presents, and the one with the big bad wolf, then let me tell you she’d have been walking through the deep, dark woods all the sooner….

My first impression of the heroine was that Lauren is strongly characterised and her voice and personality really shine through.

It’s impossible not to enter the story in her unsensible shoes.

Even before I discovered the fairytale element—I’d also, unknowingly, been craving—from the heroine walking through a Hungarian forest alone and how my imagination was conjuring up wolves when the writer had given them nary a mention.

Hero first impression: Dominik promises different, promises intelligence, promises bad boy. .

I loved the sense of place and how the setting isn’t a generic, tick-list rich-man’s world. Loved the foreboding and anticipation of the first meet and discussion of fairytales.  

Loved the relationship intensity of the book’s first half condensed over a few days.

I so wanted this to be a five-star read, and didn’t want to fall out of love with the heroine; but there were times reader when I really wanted her to think about how the hero was feeling. At the same time, understanding why she enthusiastically embraces her boss’s orders. I hated how she assumes she has to teach Dominik how to navigate a formal table setting, and hoped it would come back to bite her.

The motivation for the marriage doesn’t come from either character and denies them some agency. But Dominik uses the situation to his advantage whilst at the same time not to his advantage. The transaction he stipulates, and she agrees to, felt a bit...off, but that’s not the only motivator and it’s a reason to give both characters what they want….

The bits that gave me pause do have that dark fairytale vibe and he is the wolf after all.

Dominik humiliates Lauren here and I didn’t like it whatever their true motivations, and that she probably deserved it.

Beware keeping a wolf on a leash, all the better to bite you.

So they each have flawed/unheroic moments where I fell a little out of love with both of them from but never quite stayed that way. One minute I was feeling slightly disconnected from how Lauren was feeling and the next I was crying for her!

The Black Moment is emotional and the Happily Ever After put a smile back on my face. I was wary that the epilogue takes place 12 years later, but I needn’t have been, it’s absolutely gorgeous.

Because it's Caitlin’s voice, because Red Riding Hood, because wolves, because I got the San Giacamo estate in the epilogue and the epilogue is fairytale-worthy, because it’s a devour-in-one-sitting read and mostly because this feels like it’s written just for me and is most definitely a keeper:

Five fairytale Presents stars

A fairytale inspired billionaire romance with great chemistry between the couple, a refreshing role reversal in the 'Cinderella' fairytale storyline, and a sexy yet fun take on 'Red Riding Hood.

Initially, Lauren is portrayed as someone with little sense of self-worth, who is willing to cede to all her billionaire boss' demands because she believes herself in love with him. Meeting Dominik in an enchanted Hungarian forest reveals the true woman, intelligent, independent and ingenious. This strength contrast with her innocence in matters of the heart.

Dominik is not what he seems, but everything he has achieved stems from his tragic childhood. He doesn't want what Lauren has been tasked with achieving, but he does want her and is prepared to barter as only a man with a wolf nature can.

What results is a humorous, sensual adventure for Lauren and Dominik, which reveals why they are so emotionally damaged, and provides the possibility of a happy-ever-after, for them if fairytale magic really exists?

Lighthearted, and fanciful, this a modern fairytale marriage of convenience story, with strong characters and a quirky plot, perfect Summer escapist reading.

I received a copy of this book from Mills and Boon via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Sweet romance for the fairytale believers, lovely chemistry, great humour, entertaining and with plenty of touching moments , I wasn’t as happy with the ending though would have liked a little more. Lovely entertaining read.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I adored the chemistry between these two, there is no denying that sparks are flying whenever these two are on the page. Lauren absolutely rocked my world in her high heels and no-nonsense attitude and I had a lot of respect for her, being able to stand up like that for herself. Yes, she wasn’t perfect, bending to her boss’s wishes and whims, but she wore her flaws like an armour. The image of Lauren striding through the forest in her tall heels, ignoring the pain because she does not believe in flat shoes will forever be etched in my mind, and I wish I’d be a little more like her (unfortunately I like my flats because being comfortable is my thing).

Now Dominik is just like the big bad wolf come alive from the fairy tales and she’s his little Red Riding Hood. He’s got all the attributes of my favourite heartthrob: tall, dark and handsome, but his wit and attitude are a great added bonus. Dominik is not the usual type of billionaire, he’s living a simple life in the forest, away from people until Lauren arrives at his doorstep and he is too tempted of her to resist the offer.

I lapped this story up with so much hunger it’s unreal. I swore myself a long time ago that no more reading until late at night on a work night… well, that went out of the window because I couldn’t and didn’t want to put it down.

By no means it’s not a perfect book, I wished for the ending to be a bit more different, I wanted Dominik to be more active since he demanded so much of her, but in the end I was still happy, especially after reading that epilogue. I also reallllly loved the Red Riding Hood references and the dark vibes.

If you are a fan of romance, totally recommend this one!

Ah I did enjoy this book.

Well written, amusing, sexy, emotional, with touchingly tender understanding moments of clarity about feelings of lust, dares, desires and love.

Discovering love and finding a way through certain circumstances that life has thrown their way, but forging ahead to find true enduring love and happiness.

Like any true fairy tale, love always comes through in the end with a happy ever after love and romance grand finale.



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Unapologetic Fairytale, 4 Stars 🌟

When Lauren Clarke sets off on her bosses latest errand, to find his estranged brother in the depths of the Hungarian forestry; she doesn't expect to find Dominik James's beautiful secluded forest hideaway so enticing. For a city loving women it shouldn't appeal to her or make her think of romanticised fairytales, but something about Dominik's untamed darkness and his enchanting home draw Lauren and awaken her longing for something more than her job and being needed by her boss; but can Lauren show Dominik he is wanted and has a place in this world with both her and his family and in doing so can they save each other for a fairytale HEA!

Ms Caitlin Crews 50th book is an unapologetic fairytale for true romantics, although the premise of the book is a little hard to believe! Once you embrace the fairytale, the exceptionally written emotive closing chapters make for a HEA for even the most hardened of hearts. So if you are a fan of romance and enjoy an element of make-believe then Untamed Billionaire's Innocent Bride is a must read and for more from the Combe Family Scandals mini-series then I would also recommend The Italian's Twin Consequences (and His Two Royal Secrets coming soon) also written by Ms Caitlin Crews.

For your information, I received my copy from Netgalley and Mills and Boon via Mills and Boon Insiders however, this does not influence my opinions as all opinions are my own.