THE UNDERCOVER BILLIONAIRE - Jackie Ashenden

#3 in the Tate Brothers romance series

HOT SCENES! - 3 stars

Plot - 4 stars - Wolf, the youngest brother, has a self-imposed mission to kill the Tate enemy Cesare de Santis, finally ending the feud. In order to do that, he has kidnapped Olivia to get information to trap him. But things don't quite work out as planned.

Writing - 2.5 stars - This series has been a winner for me, but this book didn't quite measure up to the first two. There seemed to be quite a bit of repetition as Wolf reiterated his reasons for kidnapping Olivia, and he kept reviewing what he wanted to do and how. It took forever for them to get together, then more rehashing of the mission and why Wolf needed to finish it. Not enough meat to this story, I'm afraid.

Characters - 3 stars - Olivia is a strong woman, and it was very believable that it would take her some time to recognize the dishonesty of her father. Wolf is less appealing than he was as a supporting character in previous books. He is sure of his mission, but he tends to fall back on his insecurities, fostered by his father. He seemed surprisingly gullible to me. And his neediness factor was through the roof!

Title - 3 stars - Self-explanatory. He is one of the wealthy Tate brothers, but he's working as a double agent.

Cover - 3.5 stars - An attractive cover. There's no need for naked abs--the broad shoulders and muscles are well-defined in this clothed view.

Overall - 3 stars - A bit of a disappointment, to be honest. Definitely not as good as the previous two books in this trilogy. Wolf's continued insistence that his mission is to kill Olivia's father was overdone. His need to share "honesty" with Olivia was cruel, kind of like a guy who feels the need to admit his infidelity to his wife--more of a help to the teller rather than the tellee. He came across as high-maintenance rather than the self-sufficient Navy SEAL I would have expected. Yes, he wanted a family, but he was willing to sacrifice everything and everyone around him to obtain it. And even then, he didn't recognize what he had when he finally got it! I found this book to be much too repetitious, with not enough connection to the people in the previous books. Yes, it did wrap up the ongoing story, but it was slow going to get there.

Enjoyed the setup for this story; Olivia's old crush, Wolf, kidnaps her to get back at her father, and throughout the experience realizes that there's more of a connection between the two than Wolf originally thought. I like the whole second chance at love scenario, and that there's a bit of suspense surrounding the situation with Wolf's deception and revenge plot. I wasn't a fan of how easily manipulated Olivia was, and that she didn't really make Wolf work for her forgiveness. I liked the Navy SEAL aspect to Wolf, but he doesn't really have mental strength. Both main characters are on the naive side of things. There's some sweet moments to the romance and a bit of good steam; I liked them together, Olivia is good for Wolf. Overall, an entertaining read; a high 3 rating, I just wanted a bit more strength from the characters. Still a fun read!

Olivia de Santis and Wolf Tate have been friends for years and they always had feelings for one another but never acted on it. In fact Olivia is still a virgin in her 20s, while this isn't so far fetched considering how controlling her father is I did find it rather hard to believe that she had no idea how ruthless her father was.

Wolf is a whole other story, he is a Navy Seal home on special leave because his father passed away. He and his brothers each received a letter from their adoptive father laying things out for them, with a mission they needed to uphold. Upon reading his letter Wolf thinks it's in his best interest to kidnap Olivia because she is the daughter of his fathers enemy. Wolf was lied to and manipulated for the majority of his life and it was really sad seeing how he though he was unworthy of anything.

Unfortunately this series has been hit and miss with me. I liked the story for the most part but for me the chemistry just wasn't there in this one. The sex scenes were hot but there just wasn't any real feelings, it was more lust then love in my opinion.

This is the third and final book in this series and although you can read the books as a standalone I would suggest reading them in the order they were released so you will avoid any spoilers because they do cross over a bit.

Olivia's brothers have their own series, The Billionaire Fairy Tales Series, and I really enjoyed their stories so you should check them out too.

Happy Reading!!!

**I have voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Readers Copy of this book**

A fairly good ending to the Tate Brothers series. Not my favorite of the series, unfortunately. (I think I was a bit frustrated with everything that was going on.)

An action packed, intense read with a lot of twists and turns. The book definitely held my attention with enough action and romance.

The Undercover Billionaire is the third installment of the Tate Brothers series by Jackie Ashenden. I haven’t read the other two previous books in the series. However, from my stand point, you can read these as a standalone.

The Undercover Billionaire is certainly filled with drama, but also with an equal balance of humor, action and some sexy scenes. That being said, I didn’t feel like the characters gave each other the benefit of the doubt. I mean, you can tell they enjoyed being physical and the scene were written with complete trust inside the bedroom. But when it came to other things, especially one scene in particular, I felt like neither of them had trust to give to each other. The plot was interesting, but I wish they had established a base of trust. Which sadly made the story fall a bit short.

The Undercover Billionaire is such a tough book for me to review, the reason is because it didn't live up to expectation, which was honestly such a shame.

One of the reasons is because I didn’t mesh with either Wolf or Olivia characters, and the plot just didn’t really quite make sense to me and that is such a shame, as the rest of the series is so fantastic.

I give Undercover Billionaire 2 stars

I can say "The Undercover Billionaire" is a standalone read as this is my first read in The Tate Brothers Trilogy. Will I go back and read the others? Absolutely! Really good books never go out of style. Wolf and Olivia's story was just great reading with romance, suspense, and showing lots of emotions that connect with readers of this genre. There was lots of action and misunderstandings to be resolved before the HEA of Wolf and Olivia's romance. I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for gifting me "The Undercover Billionaire". My opinion is my own. This is mine. 4.25 Stars!

I've read the other books in this series and really enjoyed them, so i was really excited to get the chance to read this next one. We've spent so much time with these brothers, each of them living out such a dynamic story about how twisted their lives were as a result of their family heritage that i was hoping for the same here. We've been teased for ages about how this one brother was so closed off about things, about how there was so much mystery around what he does, and yet, i'm not sure that we ever get there.

This is where my challenge lies with this installment, and why i'm kind of bummed out about it. We start off on a great note, seeing the manipulation behind Wolf's motives, about how he's had this mixed up history with Olivia, and yet when he's given the moment to take ownership of things and get the answers that he wants, it gets murky.

I got lost. I'm not going to lie. it takes a lot to lose me in a story and to make my mind wander. That happened here. i took some time away from the story for a bit in the hopes that i could come back with fresh eyes and a new POV things and it didn't help.

what we get however is consistency in how the author tells the story. Throughout the series ,we have been lucky to get some great passion and heat. depth and emotion which is really nice to keep things moving a bit. that's where we are lost a little though since there were parts of the story that were picked up and dropped too quickly. I"m going to come back to it though in the future - i think that there's more to the story than i've given it credit for.

I guess I liked this book. It held my interest, but it still annoyed the hell out of me. The heroine was just one big blush--that's all she did. Blush, fidget, fumble, make stupid decisions... I didn't like her.

The hero was sexy, broken, sexy, obsessed with finding his family, sexy, rough, sexy, and...did I mention sexy. Big, broad, and badass. My kind of alpha warrior hero.

The plot was just too...full. There was so much going on that I ended up skipping over parts and I know I missed pieces of the relationship building, but I didn't care enough to go back.

Fun, sexy read that is perfect for summer, a vacation, or just an afternoon by the pool. I loved the premise, thought Wolf was hilarious, and Olivia was absolutely my favorite!

The Undercover Billionaire is the third book in the Tate Brothers series by Jackie Ashenden. I have not read any of the previous books. While those that have will have a better understanding of some of the characters and family dynamics, newcomers will be about to understand the couple focused on in the story.

Navy SEAL Wolf Tate is on a mission of vengeance. He’s willing to do whatever it takes to infiltrate the lair of his arms-dealing enemy—and rescue the mother he never knew. To do this, he’ll need more than his father’s fortunes or his brothers-in-arms. He must find a way to kidnap his enemy’s daughter for leverage. There’s just one problem: She is also one of Wolf’s closest friends—and the only person that ever really listened. For years, Olivia de Santis has been waiting for Wolf to take her in his arms and make her dreams come true. But she never imagined that he’d sneak into her bedroom one night, or take her as his hostage. Olivia knows she should resist him—and stay loyal to her own family. But how can she deny the burning justice of Wolf’s mission, and the blazing desire in his eyes—even if giving into the heat of the moment can put her in grave danger?

The Undercover Billionaire is a book with a decent set up, but one that fell flat for me. Wolf has been told for years that he is just muscle, and despite knowing how cruel and manipulative his father and de Santis can be- he thinks he is somehow not being used by either. Olivia is sweet, and while smart with computers and books seems to be completely lacking common sense and self preservation. She is twenty eight, never been kissed and never suspecting that her father is a weapon dealing nightmare willing to force her to marry a man that she does not want- but she is almost willing to do so. I really wanted her to have a little backbone and stand up for herself. She does, for about three seconds, but is way too willing to trust her father and Wolf way more than a person should in her circumstances. Wolf is just stubborn and while at times caring, other times he is just as willfully blind as Olivia. The sex is steamy, but the characters were too lost in their own versions of the world for me to like or care about them.

As always I want to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing us with a copy of this book so that we could bring you this review.

I have to say after many books and 2 series I loved that DeSantis finally got what he had coming to him. And all this through Wolf's hand. The man that at the end of book 2 in the Tate Brothers series we were left wondering if he was actually working against his brothers. The fact that Olivia has always thought wonderfully of Wolf did great things for helping them work together against De Santis. I was sad to see the end of this series but happy to see the end of DeSantis.

I gave this book 4 kisses

Happy reading... Adri

It was an ok book, not one of the best that I have read. Kind of confusing for me. Had a hard time following the storyline.

Wolfe is a little rough and Olivia is a little sheltered, and then he kidnaps her. enjoyed the characters and was a fun read!
*arc provided by netgally for honest review

The Undercover Billionaire:

A Billionaire SEAL Romance

The Tate Brothers

Jackie Ashenden

St. Martin’s Press, Mar 2018

336, ebook, paperback

Contemporary romance

✮✮✮

This was provided to me as an eARC by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley. This is my honest review for which I receive no compensation of any kind.

And now the reveal…

The cover didn’t really do anything for me. Another muscle-bound guy. They are getting very common on covers these days.

The story was actually very sad, and if it’s what ties up a three-part series, I don’t want to read the others.

The characters were all sort of stiff and I don’t know of a Navy SEAL who whines like Wolf does, all the time.

The pace was a bit off throughout the book. It’s like it sort of didn’t know what it wanted to do next each time. The book was awkward.

The tension just really didn’t seem to want to stay with the story. It only popped up during the dangerous parts.

Wolf Tate just wants to rescue his mother from Cesare de Santis. To do that he needs the leverage of Cesare’s daughter, Olivia, who just happens to be his best friend and the woman he’s in love with.

The first time he kidnaps her and takes her to a hotel. The next morning, she’s gone home. The second time, she goes with him willingly from a luncheon engagement with the man her father wants her to marry. In spite of what they say they mean to each other and all the sex they have, she gets on his laptop and into her father’s coded files and then sends a message to her father that basically blows the whole situation out of the water. She also finds Wolf’s mother’s death certificate showing that his mother has been dead for a very long time.

This is a story with no real resolution. I really can’t recommend it.

The third book in the series and the third brother. Wolf Tate is wanting to complete the assignment that was given to him by his father in the letter and his passing, but in order to do so he must kidnap the women whom he has always craved and then destroy everything he has worked on overcoming and becoming a Seal. The first part of grabbing Olivia Tate goes off without a problem until she escapes and he must do it again. The second time they begin to go over their past together. Having spent most of the childhood together she was destroyed when he walked in when day and told her he was enlisting and then was gone. Not wanting to share any part of himself then she is still having trouble getting through to him, and when she agrees to listen about her father he tells her about himself. Everything unravels for Wolf when he begins to realize how many things were not as they appeared and begins to believe what he was told by his father that he is only a weapon. Now his brothers must come in and help to save him and he must find a way to help Olivia the only women he has ever loved, it only takes his brothers to point this out to him. Wolf has many issues to work through and you really see in all three books how their father controlled each and every one of them. All very good books.

Jackie Ashenden writes with a mix of hot-damn and omigosh! Loved The Undercover Billionaire, a wonderful Seal story with Wolf and Olivia. Fast paced action mixed with hot damn hahahah. Lvoed it!

This is the third book in the “Tate Brothers” series by author Jackie Ashenden. This story was an enjoyable read with its sizzling passion, the emotional plot twists, and danger. But for some reason this just didn’t do it for me as much as the first book, which is definitely my favorite in the series. I wasn’t feeling the chemistry between our hero, Wolf, and the heroine, Olivia” I just felt like his passion for his mission was number one. I was also having a hard time with how naïve Olivia was but at the same time it worked because she wants to believe the good in her father and in Wolf. Even though it didn’t work 100% for me, that doesn’t mean I didn’t like. I just have a mind set on how a hero should be and I love sassy heroines. The story did have some jaw dropping moments for of “I can’t believe he did that” but you’ll have to read it to see what I mean. If you like SEAL story’s than this is for you.

***I voluntarily reviewed this ARC for an honest review from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley, this is my honest opinion and has not been influenced by the author, Publishers or NetGalley in anyway.*** Thank you!

Not my fave from this author - find she is hit or miss for me. There was lots of potential but just somehow missed the mark.