It was okay. Bit predictable and didn't hold my attention. Not very long so could fly through it. Front cover is typically mills and boon.

Reclaimed by a Ring is written by Louisr Fuller and is part of the Mills & Boon Modern Diamond Club mini series.
Trip Winslow has returned to New York and his multi billion dollar empire in New York after experiencing 5 weeks of captivity in Ecuador. He was kidnapped after going there to try to find his father’s mistress. His business advisers tell him that his stock holders have lost faith in him and he needs to bring stability into his life otherwise he won’t regain control of his company. He announced that he is engaged to Lily Dempsey, a senator’s daughter who he was seeing for 2 months before his disastrous trip. Unfortunately they split rather acrimoniously. He gets Lily to agree to a fake engagement/ marriage by kidnapping her. He uses Lucas, her fragile brother, as leverage to blackmail her into cooperating. Slowly the fake engagement feels real but can their relationship survive their insecurities?

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, I really like the author’s books but this one dragged. There was too much dialogue. It would maybe have been better to publish it as a True Love novel as they seem to focus more on dialogue between the characters. Trip and Lilys’ background stories seemed too busy and she didn’t build on them. Trip, for example, had ADHD, was very much the younger spare until his much older brother Charlie died. His mother ignored him and he discovered his “perfect” father had been having an affair. Lily had even brought up under the glare of social media as her father was a Senator. Her looks were crucified and she retreated from public life. Her first love had also taken advantage of her insecurities. None of these themes developed through the book but were just touched upon and never mentioned again. It was a book with a potential and if I hadn’t read several of Fuller’s book I would have though it was great but comparing it to them it was just good but I wouldn’t rush to reread it.

The author uses a good mix of romantic tropes in this billionaire category romance. From outward appearances, Trip is the quintessential billionaire, wealthy, a romantic player and a successful CEO. While this is true, his more emotionally insecure self, which he denies, attracts Lily. Trip's behaviour towards Lily is controlling, but as they spend more together, he realises he has deeper feelings for Lily and needs to make amends for his behaviour. The passionate attraction sparks their interest, and their emotional commitment grows when they learn to trust each other. I like this story's flawed characters, the romance and the romantic settings.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

This is a book of two halves. The angry, push and pull first half where Lily and Trip lay down boundaries, fight and work out who they are. Then a more gentle second half, that is romantic and softer and focused on the couple rather than the press and wider world. The characters are attractive and real, although it is hard to like Trip at the beginning which meant I took time to get into the book as his dominance was read as agression. A solid read.

I received an ARC from Mills and Boon and NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I am a great fan of this author and have enjoyed most of her books - interesting and engaging characters, great use of tropes and beautifully executed. Usually, I finish one of LF's books with a happy smile on my face.

So I am gutted to say that this one was a disappointment. It's beautifully written but the characterisation and plotting seemed off to me.

Trip kidnaps Lily and insists she will marry him. Not for a romantic, 'I can't live without you' reason but for his business needs.
Before his disappearance, they'd been having wild passionate sex for months but he'd finished with her after discovering something about his dead father and then got lost in Ecuador.

For pages, upon pages upon pages, we had nothing but interior thoughts and sharp dialogue. I got bored very quickly and could not have cared less whether the two of them got together. There were some great set pieces in here and the sex scenes were good but I could not engage with the characters. Sorry, this was a two and a half star read and not the usual 5 star that I expect from this author.