Blog Tour: Review & Excerpt of Penthouse Player by Tara Leigh

Author: Tara Leigh

Release Date: September 5, 2017

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, SWERVE

Series: Billionaire Bosses #1

Genres: Romance

Word Count: 80K

Format: Digital

ISBN: 9781250138507

Abandoned by her mother and spurned by her father, Reina St. James is tired of being treated like a dirty little secret. It wasn’t easy making her way into the high-risk, high-reward Wall Street world ruled by financial kings and trust fund tyrants. But now that she’s got a

stiletto-clad toe into one of the swankiest firms in Manhattan, Reina is determined to prove she’s more than just a pretty face hiding an ugly past.

For Tristan Xavier Bettencourt IV, escaping the shadow cast by generations of family fortune has been difficult, and success hasn’t come without sacrifice. Tristan has always put business before pleasure… Until Reina’s curved lips prove an invitation he can’t resist.

Walking away from their explosive night together won’t be easy, even if the heat between them might consume both of their careers. Will Reina and Tristan risk everything by betting on each other?

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Penthouse Player is the latest in the billionaire bad boy genre and the debut for this author.  Tristan is in the family business, but has made a name for himself in the hedge fund world.  Reina has worked very hard to make it into his world. But she has been living with a secret that could ruin her future.

For the most part, I enjoyed the book. I did like the fact that I didn't really need to know much about hedge funds or Wall Street to read the book.  I never felt like the story got bogged down in those details.   I liked Tristan a lot and enjoyed watching him fall for Reina. FOr me, he was the best part of the book. While I didn't love Reina at first, she slowly grew on me. I was happy to see her grow a pair in the end.  I couldn't for the life of me figure out why she would not reveal her secret to the world, especially after the way her mother treated her. The romance for me was just OK.  I didn't feel the heat between the two in the beginning. But I bought into it more as their relationship grew.  It just felt forced at times.

I think this is an decent debut and I look forward to seeing what comes from this author in the future. 

Excerpt #1

My eyes skipped over a blonde in a red dress, and then quickly returned. I hadn’t realized I’d started walking towards her until a waiter nearly spilled my drink. She was gorgeous. And when she tipped her head back to laugh at something the man beside her said, I decided that word was entirely inadequate. Stunning was much more apt. Exquisitely stunning, actually. Her creamy skin was flawless. And she was tall. I looked down, or at least she appeared tall with the five-inch stilettos on her feet. When her open-mouthed laugh faded into a generous smile, her wide eyes met mine. If she’d been an investment, she would have been labeled high risk, high reward, with a warning—Don’t buy if you can’t afford to lose.

Her lips closed around the edge of the glass in her hands, our stare unbroken. Her eyes were the bright shade of freshly cut, well-tended grass. And after she took a sip, white wine by the looks of it, she didn’t look away. Her open appraisal was a lure, and I took the bait. She could have been a model on a billboard in Times Square, or in the GQ magazine I subscribed to but never had the time to read. I know I should’ve turned away. This girl was clearly trouble with capital T, something I needed as much as a hole in my head.

After doing well with the first fifty million I’d been able to raise, I was just about to open my fund up to new investors. I didn’t have any official commitments yet, but I had no doubt my fund was about to grow to at least $500 million. I had a lot to consider, and a ton of work to do. This was the most important time in my career and I couldn’t afford to fuck it up by becoming a lovesick fool over some girl, exquisitely stunning or not.

I stopped in my tracks, maybe ten feet away, although I couldn’t tear my eyes from her face. She was young. Maybe too young? But then she smiled again. And not just any smile. This one wasn’t polite, or friendly, or casual in any way. No, her smile was so bright it heated the drink in my hands and blinded me from seeing anyone else in the room. Her curved lips were an invitation I couldn’t resist. Even though I knew I should.
Copyright © 2017 Tara Leigh

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About Tara Leigh:

Tara Leigh attended Washington University in St. Louis and Columbia Business School in New York, and worked on Wall Street and Main Street before “retiring” to become a wife and mother. When the people in her head became just as real as the people in her life, she decided to put their stories on paper. Tara currently lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut with her husband, children and fur-baby, Pixie. 

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