I enjoyed the premise of the story and I really liked both of the main characters. There was almost too much drama, though. I don't mind a good romance trope, but there were too many - hidden identity, he's my boss, accidentally pregnant, both were given up by birth parents, etc. I still can't figure out the timeline and when he found out he was adopted. At some points, it seemed like it was after they died, but then why did he leave while his parents were still alive? Why would a lawyer have told him if his parents were alive? Super confusing. Overall, I enjoyed reading it for the characters, but there was too many convoluted plots for me.

Mr. Big by Delancey Stewart
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 3/5 stars
My Review:

Oliver has never been particularly spoiled, but he’s also never wanted for anything. To be fair, Oliver earned everything he has. As a young elite athlete looking to improve his performance, Oliver and his dad developed soft and hardware to aid athletes. The inventions revolutionized the sports industry and Oliver and his dad became incredibly wealthy businessmen. Now in his twenties, Oliver has become restless and with the blessing of his parents has taken a leave of absence to see where he wants to next phase of his life to be. Life on the beach and in the bar is pretty fantastic and Oliver has no intention of coming home until he has to.

Oliver’s homecoming is under the worst of circumstances and he spirals down into a pit of denial and depression. As he’s drowning his sorrows in liquor and denial, his company is in trouble yet no amount of begging and/or pleading on the part of his executive team can pull him out of his funk. What does pull him out of his funk is the sassy woman in the company coffee shop who not only tells him off, but is secretly working on a new design that will single-handedly pull his company out of its own downward spiral. Her idea is excellent, but she needs a technical expert to help her clean up the design. Oliver is both willing and able to help her out as long as she continues talking to him and helping him come back to life.

Holland O’Dell is about as motivated as a girl can be. Her life is literally planned on paper and every step, every action is calculated and geared toward achieving her goals. If she can pull off this secret project, she stands to advance her career in a huge way. Holland is smart enough to know she needs help with certain aspects of the project, but it rankles having to ask for help. When help comes in the form of a mystery man with some serious skill, Holland sees him as the lesser evil and accepts his help. It isn’t until she’s in serious lust with Oliver and ready to pitch the project that she finds out who he really is and the situation becomes, shall we say, complicated.

Oliver’s return to work, his desire to see his company succeed, the success of the “secret” project, and his budding relationship with Holland revive Oliver in a way nothing else could. He’s tired, he’s burning the candle at both ends to fix problems at his company, but he’s also ridiculously happy with Holland and their life together. Right up to the moment it all goes to hell, Oliver is convinced things in his world are perfect. For Holland’s part, she likes Oliver a great deal, and her new promotion is a sweet deal, but she just can’t get past the feeling she really didn’t earn the position. To be sure, for the first few weeks are pure bliss, but Holland allows her old doubts and fears to creep in and override her logic and reasoning, not to mention, her heart. Before she even really understands what she’s giving up, Holland cuts all ties with Oliver. Unfortunately, as Holland quickly discovers there’s more at stake than just two broken hearts.

The Bottom Line: I am well and truly on the fence with this read. I think my hesitation at truly liking this read revolves around Holland and her attitude. From the very beginning, Holland’s attitude is somewhat ridiculous with her deep-seated need to do and accomplish absolutely everything on her with no help from anyone else. Rather than behaving like an adult, Holland allows her doubts and fears to override everything else which leads to some very poor decisions. Quite frankly, Holland is an off-putting character who I disliked more and more as the story progressed. Conversely, even with all his problems and questionable judgement, I really liked Oliver quite a lot. He was dealt a tremendous amount of crap in a short period of time and just did the best he could to deal with everything, even Holland’s crap. In the final analysis, Mr. Big is an all right read which probably doesn’t need to go at the top of your TBR list, but probably shouldn’t fall off the list completely either.

Oliver Cody had a brilliant life. Had being the operative word. That was before. Before his parents died. Before he discovered their lies. Before he went numb and decided he was no longer the man for the job of CEO of Cody Technology. For the past months he's been completely lost. He drinks to oblivion. He doesn’t work. He doesn’t do much really. Until, Holland O'Dell calls him on his crap and sparks his interest in her and on her project. Holland is a beautiful woman with a brilliant mind. With her Oliver finds himself enjoying all the things that he once loved about his job. With her he starts to want to live again. Until, it all falls apart, but this time the stakes are much higher. In life there are no do overs, but maybe, just maybe Oliver and Holland will get a second chance… Mr. Big is a sexy, sassy, funny and sweet love story about finding oneself, love and forgiveness, while fighting for all the things that really matter in life.

This is my first book by Delancey Stewart, and I am so happy to have gotten a chance to read it. A story of second chances; and trying to find oneself after your life is shaken up, Mr. Big makes for a heart felt read. Holland is relatable on so many levels. So much of her thought process reminded me of myself: needing control and planning ahead for fear of failure and of the unknown. When hers and Oliver's paths cross, it is definitely is kismet. Sharing in such similar life experiences can bring two people closer. Yet, how those experiences are taken in can make for quite the tumultuous journey. The manner in which these two come together and attempt to conquer their differences, makes for the story's gravitating struggle. I cheered on Holland's moments of strength and covetted Oliver's tender spells. Their inner struggles with their beliefs were at the core of this book's angst; and provided fuel for my curiosity. Mr. Big really grabbed my heart. Getting a glimpse into Holland's and Oliver's reality left no feeling unfelt. This story is with out a doubt worth the read, and I implicitly recommend it!

This book had me torn simply because I couldn't decide throughout the whole book whether or not I liked Oliver Cody. There were parts when I loved him and then there were parts where I despised him with my entire being. That being said overall the book was a fun read and after thinking more about it I have decided that Oliver is ok in my book.

Great story, enjoy reading it. Planning life need spontaneous decisions and some times is the heart who make the important ones. I recommend this book.
I received a ARC from Netgalley for a honest review.

love the cover, a must read i had to buy 2 copies, one me to keep and one to give a friend.

Wow! Just wow! I'm rendered a little speechless just finishing this book. It's good, but boy do I have mixed feelings about our boy Oliver. You read the blurb so I'll spare you the repeat.
Oliver and his father run Cody Tech, Oliver is CEO until the day he decides he's done and takes off to surf around the world. Gone close to a year he's called home due the death of his parents. During the same time he also learns some other things he didn't know and he's an angry, bitter, self entitle little pis pot drunk. He goes on a bender that lasts for months, leaving the CFO his best friend in charge, he lashes out at everyone he sees and simply put, pathetic. It's not grief. He's angry because he feels like his whole life is a lie.
Holland works for the company on the other side of the tower in sales, a job that is far beneath her MBA in tech design and her skeevy boss who likes to prowl around her desk. One of her friends at Cody is Oliver's secretary. She slips Holland the schematics for a new product that Holland has ideas on and after a shouting match at the coffeehouse between her and Hale (Oliver); they're sitting together going over her ideas and he's adding his. She mistakes him for some homeless sort of guy, she doesn't know Oliver and he doesn't tell her who he is. They actually go out, he's still withholding.
Meanwhile she takes the design into work, meanwhile Oliver has to come clean and they present it to MLB. All the time Oliver spent away, plus his time off on his pity party has put the company in jeopardy, the company he and his father started and built. Oliver's still hanging on to his anger.
Yet being with Holland helps temper that and she's good for him. I would have liked her with a little more backbone, but when the rubber hit the road with Oliver during a pivotal scene, as painful as it was for her, she stood her ground. Meanwhile she are Oliver are now apart yet working in the same building, he started to drink again, but managed to rein himself in. I think Rob threatening him helped. He's still a whiny baby through all this. All the crap he puts Holland through and his concern is about himself. Yeah, no you'd suck as anything other than who you are right now. Delancey did a great job writing Oliver, I wanted to seriously throat punch him several times. He didn't garner any pity from me. His mood changes and mind changes gave me whiplash. There is no one clear cut moment that wakes this man up, but he does. Then he nods off again. Wakes up. Finally puts his big boy pants on and man's up. But is it too late? What will Holland say or do? Holland's been alone for months. And the big question can she trust him? The jury is still out on that one.
I liked this book despite wanting to smack him hard more than once, but truthfully I'm sure we all know or knew someone who's pretty much like Oliver and a woman like Holland. The story is solid, the writing is flawless and the supporting characters are great. The steam factor is present and hot.
I'd hoped for more of a connection with Holland and Oliver, but given their circumstances I can see why at times things seemed to skim the surface.
All in all a great read. Nice work Delancey!!
4.5 from me.

**arc from NetGalley and Loveswept in exchange for a fair review***

This was an ok read. I did not find Oliver an appealing character, he seemed spoiled, selfish, rude. Holland's character was ok. However, the premise, I have read this before in other books and it seemed very similar to the entire moneyball premise. In addition the entire pregnancy subplot was very contrived.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. I was not obligated to leave a review.
I did enjoy this story, but it was somewhat hard to believe. The main male character was a bit too humble/shy. I didn't buy the whole, giving up on his job thing. I also didn't buy that the main female character would be willing to have sex at her place of employment if she was so worried about keeping her job.

Love at first sight, has never been this intriguing as Delancey makes it out to be...

After being separated from the real world, the world of business, relationship bursts, playboy actions, and the handling of his father's business, Ollie is needed immediately when he hears the terrible news of his father's death. The running away times are over, and now Oliver needs to take responsibility towards the company's assets.

Holland on the other hand, is an individual with qualities that she does not shine due to her gender. However, with Oliver keeping his identity away from her at first, he does everything he can, with all his power, to let her believe in herself and the beautiful, and intelligent woman she truly is. The attraction of course is there, but he tries to put that aside and focus on her qualities that internally make her a beautiful business women.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story due to its actions of equality in genders, and how we should ALL be treated in the world of business, the world of love and romance, and also the world of attraction towards someone whom you are truly attracted to in an emotional aspect as much as Oliver is towards Holland.

I liked Mr. Big by Delancey Stewart, but it had a very slow pace. The story begins with a young man named Oliver. He lost both of his parents, and is still reeling over their death. But secrets keep coming out, and his life is in a nutshell. The only way to forget it all is to numb the pain, until Holland comes into his life. She brings out the best in him, but he doesn't know how to act about a girl who cares so much about him..... so he pushes her away.

Mr. Big had me laughing! Loved this story. This author captured me right from the start.

This was my first book by Delancy Stewart and it won't be my last. Great story and strong characters with real world problems that drew you in.

Sexy and angsty! Plus, who doesn't love a CEO romance?

I received this arc from Netgalley for an honest review.
Bad cover, bad title, decent book.
Typical romance book with a bit if grit. Really liked both main characters and supporting characters too.

couldn't connect with the characters nor the story.. and to be honest it seemed flat and boring

„A year ago my life was perfect“ - Oliver Codys world is now upside down and he struggles with the incidentsn happened to him.

„I was a girl with a plan“ - that´s Holland O’Dell – a girl who wants to be successful and to work hard to reach her goals.

Both met at a coffeeshop – Oliver the CEO, Holland unaware of his position.

While I enjoyed some of the interaction between the characters and had some good laughs too I more often I thought, Oliver was a whining little boy, missing his favourite toy. It was implausible for me that he was able to lead a company but not able to have a relationship.

Holland was a very likeable main character – and my overall rating of the book is a solid 3 star, because I had fun with most of the book and the supporting „characters“.

Grrr...I wanted to love this book so much and just never got there. The story starts out great and I was drawn into Oliver's story and his pain. I didn't fall in love with Holland right away but thought that over time I would warm up to her more. Sadly that never happened and I just was pulled further and further away from liking these two as a couple. There was so much of her inner dialog and ever thought she had but none of her thinking made any logical sense to me. Why would you share your super secret product idea with someone you don't even know who claims to work (or used to work) at the company all because some coffeehouse guy says he is a "good guy"? Wouldn't you demand to know who he was? Why would you trust someone who won't answer your questions with something so important. I just couldn't help but roll my eyes so much during this book. Hoping that things would improve I pressed on and although there were some good moment along the way overall I just never felt the connection between these two characters and struggled through finishing a lot of this book waiting for something more to happen.

The story was written well, but lacked some power to hook you into it. I had trouble getting to the end...

Oliver is supposed to be this vibrant and smart young man who started Cody Technology with his father. However, he suddenly decides he wants something else and goes surfing. Eight months later, his parents die and he is back to being CEO. But Oliver doesn't want to be. He is angry and hurt. Because his parents - who lovingly raised him and gave him all their love - failed to tell him he is adopted. And he can't forgive them. Like a toddler, he lashes out to everything and everyone. Almost sinks the company.

Until Holland, smart cookie and new employee at Cody's, enters his life and shares her idea for a new programme. They work together and .. well...

I actually disliked Oliver. A lot. I thought him spoiled, bratty and immature. The events in the book kept coming back to his immaturity. I did like other characters like the secretary and Holland's sister. But Holland and Oliver together were a bit meh. Who likes a guy who chickens out of a relationship because she is pregnant? And this is not really a spoiler as I sensed it early on.

On a positive note: this is not a bad book. It is written in a pleasant style but with less annoying characters and a better pacing it would be much better.