Raylin Marks

I choose to believe that this sort of thing—a romance with, maybe not Literally Billions, but more money than we imagine possible most of the time—is more accessible than we usually imagine, so it’s alright. Of course, Mr. Billionaire isn’t quite what I imagine I’d like to be—even though I do have a, I don’t know, brooding side I feed too much sometimes—kinda a dark-minded and moody intellectual; I mean, that’s certainly one way to flirt. I’d prefer a bright and bubbly person with new age positivity and an inspiring business/investment firm mission statement, you know. But obviously, I shouldn’t be too critical. Most “intellectuals” write books going goo goo gah gah over historical trauma on the border of memory, long enough that we’ve forgotten how it feels, not so far that it feels irrelevant, which, you know. I mean, sometimes smart people are smart; other times they’re dumm-da-dumm-dumm-dumb! “I keep forgetting: you are so smart and yet, so not smart!” (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend). And most explicitly new age fiction is wizard stuff about going into the white light—some of it poorly written—and not about how to have an excellent life that might seem only moderately non-ordinary, you know. I mean, there are plenty of rich people, most of them not famous, and plenty of people who don’t really know them might kinda brush them off casually, in and/or out of their presence, you know.

Anyway…. Money: it’s alright, Jack. 😎

…. Somewhere in-between the Regency earl who has someone else beat his slaves in the Caribbean, and the giving, inspirational leader who builds a network of people who love him/her, is the modern materialist who works hard, stresses, and is a moody intellectual, you know.

Well, at least it was all based on inherent attraction, and NOT being a mystic Caucasian, you know.

…. I don’t think this is really outstanding or anything—not because it’s popular, and not because it’s romance, and not because Jake has X-rated thoughts, you know…. but just because I don’t like him. I don’t dislike him, but.

On the other hand, I remember when I first started to read mass market paperback romances (several months ago, maybe, although it’s started to matter more to me more recently), and I was like, you know, It’s funny how reading this will take about as long as a “real book”, you know—even though it’s just Mary Balogh…. But then, switching (I switch books several times in one sitting, before I get up and do something else entirely, like eat exercise meditate or go to work lol…. I also take calls from family lol…. I used to have a friend but he was such a head-person you know, LOL….) from this to the Adult Children of Alcoholics’ Red Book, I’m like, you know, in a way this is a good book; it’s even “better”, you know. But it would have been twice as good had it been 250-300 pages (and they’re Large Pages) instead of 650, right. I mean, with most things, materially considered, there is a law of diminishing returns at some point. Understanding psychology or spiritual psychology or whatever is good, understand Important Things about your upbringing. But after awhile, you get it, and fuck!—is it boring, after a certain point, you know.

—(me reading an Important Book)
Ash: (swings hair and half-turns back or whatever models do just for show) Wanna go to the beach.
Jake: (narrator voice) (starts narrating his generic yet mildly interesting sexual thoughts)
Ash: You’re speaking out loud. I can hear you.
Jake: (let’s loose a stream of ten curse words)
Me: (slams shut Important Book) Yes. Let’s go to the beach.

…. All stories involve danger and such, otherwise it would be poetry or music or a painting or something, so when the media ruined dinner I thought it was good plotting, but now it comes back again and the Main Danger is like, people going hashtag-gorgeous-doctor-Jake or whatever, and it’s like…. /well/…. Maybe there could have been an interpersonal dispute, like the brother and the girlfriend didn’t like each other, catching Jake in the middle? I don’t know, I LIKE social media, even though people are flying monkeys on it sometimes, you know.

…. Money is good if it’s open to people who can get to that level, and not just “certain people”—Jupiter knows it wasn’t for the Slaves of the Mediterranean in Roman times, maybe they could make an RPG about that, and translate it into Latin—so I guess there’s some value in the “bro” rich guy thing…. And eventually, he shows a LITTLE vulnerability, you know. 😸

…. I’ve never liked picking sides in scandals, you know. Even when you “know whose fault it is”, you never really know, right.

But it’s nice that /somebody/ believed in him, at any rate.

…. Of course, it is irritating that the guy says, “I am not worthy of good things, a good life, a good relationship” so much—such cliche and cheap-minded thoughts—but it is realistic that someone with an above-average income (although we don’t know that he has made good investments!) has vestiges of poverty thinking, and hasn’t entirely shaken the beat-yourself-to-a-pulp school of false humility, you know.

(And he’s probably NOT a billionaire, you know; it’s just like a label from REALLY self-punishing people, you know: oh, that billionaire! EYE could NEVER be like THAT!!!)

…. And it’s nice that sometimes they can make fun of each others driving and talk about family, you know; those sexy days and sexy nights turn into aimless little tussles and fussing, you know. I think I learned that in my developmental psychology class, right. Just kidding; that class was bogus. The professor literally got up and showed us this slide where he summarized the different theories—and humanistic psychology (Carl Rogers etc) was “Crap”—one word. Like we were in a country concert or something, if that’s what it takes to be a real man—a real, cynical New Yorker, right! Don’t ask yourself if being a real man and defecating on ‘women and lovers of women’ (Gogol, the Cossack story) turns your values inside out, right. Just withdraw from life and charge! Oh, God. The punks and the crackers or whatever they were were thrilled, you know. Some stupid student was like, Can I take a picture of that slide?…. Do I get to insult my mom now, too? I’m very advanced, you know!

…. Just to take it from my own angle—I’m far more intellectual than “bro”, you know—even our “romantic heroes” veer erratically from legalism to anger to back again when life gets difficult; we’re a very legalistic civilization, and “the law brings wrath”, right. And the people who press for more legalism are the pampered elites, the people who get angry on TV are popular and folksy, and Carl Rogers, you know—“crap”.

Sometimes things work out; sometimes people are productive and well-rewarded; but certainly sometimes people are afraid of what’s best about themselves, you know—which isn’t legalism and wrath. “The greatest tragedy in life isn’t children who are afraid of the dark, but men who are afraid of the light.”

…. I really feel unsatisfied about not having this like, rich-people-who-lifted-people-up-in-inspiring-ways-and-had-great-sex story, like Victorian or new age philanthropists, right; but, failing that, I guess a weird “better a dinner of herbs story” is okay, right.

…. Now, intellectuals can be petty, and just as macho as athletes, if not more so; but I don’t like Jake—he’s like an athlete, the stereotypical athlete. I’m waiting for him to explain to somebody that “to live in this neighborhood, ya gotta be Tough”, or to admit that he works with the mafia or something—like he’s the Godfather’s doctor, you know. He doesn’t just need an undertaker…. 😲

And drama isn’t bad, in a way—to hell and back again again Can make things stronger—but they’re so petty, you know. They could’ve adopted an international student or bailed out their gay friends out of a serious jam, instead of just dropping in Adam and Steve or whatever their names were as token characters, you know….

I’m not an Eight, though. Seeking justice, fearing betrayal isn’t my M.O. I’m such an ass, when I hear that Eight wants to hear, “You will not be betrayed”—I want to say, “Yes, you will; you’ll be betrayed—EYE will be betray you”—just to set ‘em off, you know. Just to fuck with them, the fuckers. Ah, that’s terrible, I know. 🧛‍♂️

…. I don’t know. It’s like you try to write a contemporary popular romance you’ve got two or three points against you before you start; it’s like, the great people, the wise people, they don’t write books about people frankly having sex and enjoying life, so nobody knows how to do it, really, really well, right….

“Ah, ‘nobody knows me; nobody understands’—I’m a victim in life because I’m a Calvinist! No-one understands that the Truth matters more, that being better than other people, matters more than happiness! No-one Understands Theology like I do, so the bastards can’t appreciate my delicate, superior mind!” “I’ll read your theology books with you, babe. You don’t have to be alone.” (afraid) “Woman—no! This is white man’s work.” “‘Ah, these little people were good to me; ah, I want to shake some hands! Line ‘em up; line ‘em all up; somebody line ‘em all up….” “What song is that?” “It’s the song you were singing. It’s about Richard Nixon.” “Ah, Nixon, you know, he was a bad man—but very smart; he was a cunning operator….”

…. (The Fray)

Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
Be!, my baby….
I’ll look after you….… (meer)

Aaah, not sure about this one, even though it had some hot moments. These billionaire/millionaire novels are not my favourite species of romance. At the risk of stating an oxymoron, they are too close to fantasy! which holds no appeal.

Jacob is painted as the richest hottest guy on the planet - it's a bit much! And Ash is this strong, grounded, size 4, gorgeous woman. It's full on. And then on top of that Jake is the best heart surgeon in the world and Ash's father needs a heart operation....… (meer)

I did not love this one. This was one of those books where not a whole lot really happened. We watch these two attempt to have a relationship after finding each other again a year after they shared a one night stand. Because of Jake’s man whore past, Ashley didn’t take him too seriously. But they both end up falling for each other. But when his man whore past catches up with him, things get too much for Ashley and she bails on him.

I didn’t care much for these two as a pair. Jake really loved her, but she was too wishy washy about the strangest things. In some ways, she had all the faith in the world and him and their love. But in other ways, she was very quick to give up on him. She was very quick to judge him. This was one of those books where the ending was a bit disappointing because I think that she needed to do some work to win him back. When he was the one who ended up doing all the work for her. But I was very glad to see that the villain got what they deserved. In this instance, the punishment definitely fit the crime.… (meer)

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I did mostly enjoy this book - it was steamy, with an interesting take on vampires and that world as a whole. What constantly distracted me from the plot was the main character's (Ellie) ever-present immaturity. Yes, we'd all become a little shy at the concept of four smoking vampires suddenly devoting themselves, but for a girl who grew up essentially caring for herself and her drunk mother, she lacked any real spine. Any time she actually showed a little strength (which was usually in demanding one of the guys bend to her will in the heat of the moment), it was almost done in a way that resembled a toddler stomping their feet to get their way. I hope that some of that dissipates as the series continues, because I did find it otherwise enjoyable.… (meer)