I was so excited for this book. I loved the first two in the series and was greatly looking forward to more Xander and Penelope. Sadly, this book ended up being a huge disappointment and a total miss for me. A complete miss to the point I honestly wonder if this book was written by the same author. While the first two books contained seamless narratives and great prose, this one felt so silted. It took me months to read this book while the first two only took a few days. I kept picking I up and putting it down with zero intent to go back. I had to force myself to keep reading off and on. I wanted to DNF (and should have) from 30% onward. I kept thinking it would get better based on the first two books and that never happened.

The writing was awful. I hate when authors tell more than show and this book was full of telling. We were told the background between the two instead of being shown. We were told about about Penelope’s childhood. So much time was spent on the business side of things in the beginning instead of focusing on the couple. Then the ending felt rushed as meetings happened and the “bad guy” was dealt with in one go. This felt more like a very, very rough draft instead of a final book.

In the end, my biggest problem is that I didn’t buy into the romance. While I believe Xander loves Penelope and has loved her from afar, I in no way what so ever believe she loves him. Her actions at the end and needing him to “prove he loves her more than he is afraid to lose her” weren’t love. She puts everyone’s needs (including her family that wrote her off for years) above him. She expects him to just follow her around like a love sick puppy instead of having adult conversations. I spent a lot of the last 20% of the book commenting out loud about how much I hated what was happening and Penelope as a whole.

An adorable, fun read about two people in the same friend group in a contract marriage of convenience. That’s only supposed to last a year.
Read if you like:
~ marriage of convenience
~ he falls first
~ friends to lovers

Penelope Chen-Astor asks Xander Sutton to marry her for a year so she can claim her inheritance from her grandfather's will stipulation. What begins as a financial transaction quickly moves to something more. Neither is sure if they should pursue a relationship or if the other person is really interested.

I have been given the opportunity to read this book by NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Read This Book If…you love a fake marriage, but it’s not fake to him!

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫/5
The Charmer by Ava Rani

Genre: romance
Series: Biotech Billionaires # 3
Spice Level: 4/5🌶, 3-4 explicit scenes
Setting: NYC and Singapore
POV: dual, 1st person, past tense
Tropes: billionaire, marriage of convenience, he falls first, sex bucket list, “my wife”

My Thoughts:
Overall, I enjoyed this one, but it wasn’t my favorite of the series!

However, this is definitely the spiciest of the series, which was very fun! These two are both very independent and their banter was really great.

Other the other side… In a marriage of convenience where he falls first, I expect a ton of yearning, and that felt like it was missing. The last third of this book dragged for me; there was a lot going on and I hated the main conflict. There’s also a lot more business stuff happening in this book compared to the first two!

Again, very much enjoyed this book, but it didn’t grip me like the first two!

Memorable Quote: “It’s hard to destroy poppies, they’re tenacious.” Mine certainly was.

Thank you to the publisher for my advance copy! Available everywhere NOW!

really enjoyed this book and the journey of the main character and all that they went through. It kept me on my toes and what would happen in the story.

Ava Rani delivers another addictive romance with The Charmer. The writing is smooth and the chemistry between the characters is undeniable. I really enjoyed the witty banter and the way the story explored charm, vulnerability, and what it means to truly let someone in.

That said, while I liked the book overall, it didn’t completely sweep me off my feet. Some parts felt a bit predictable, and I didn’t always connect as deeply with the characters as I wanted to. I think readers who love lighthearted romance with a hint of angst will absolutely adore this one, but for me, it landed in the “enjoyable but not a new favorite” category.

If you’re in the mood for a charming, easy-to-binge romance, this one’s worth picking up.

The billionaire romance trope is one I rarely get to read, so I was extremely excited to read this one. I think Penelope and Xander's relationship was the perfect speed for the two of them to truly understand their feelings for each other and act on them. They've always had some type of feeling for each other and it only took them an arranged marriage to help Pen with her inheritance stipulations for them to figure it out. It was sweet, romantic, steamy, and held a great set of side characters to bring it home. What gave me the biggest ick, however, was the dress ripping. Anytime they got steamy, it would involve an incredibly expensive dress being torn to shreds. I found it careless and, to me, not really something I liked. (no hate if that's what you like, to each their own). It just didn't work for me. But I did enjoy this book and I know if I started this series with book 1 I would have loved it even more.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for giving me an ARC!

This is the story of MMC Xander and FMC Penelope. This is final book in the Biotech Billionaires series. I had not read any of the prior books and didn’t feel I was missing anything by not having the background details. Penelope is on the fringes of Xander’s friend group. Xander isn’t looking for a relationship but can’t get Penelope out of his head. Penelope finds out that stipulations on an inheritance require her to get married very quickly, and she does not like the plan her family has set out for her. She quickly turns to Xander to become her fake husband. I love a marriage of convenience/fake relationship story and this one didn’t disappoint!

"There isn't anything broken that can't be fixed."

I enjoy a fluffy romance as much as the next person, but I LOVE when authors can write something a little deeper.

Penelope has everything planned out. Her spreadsheets are in order and she is on top of her to-do lists. The only thing holding her back is a tiny hiccup in her inheritance that says she has to get married...

Xander is our laid back, golden retriever who's been pining over an woman set to marry someone else. One thing leads to another and suddenly he's being asked to fake marry her so she can get her shares and get on with her life.

While our MC's appear fine on the surface, they both carry some baggage that keeps them from fulling trusting people. But when you find your person, those broken pieces don't feel as big anymore.

I really enjoyed this book and think Xander has officially taken the crown for my favorite MMC in this series. He was patient and kind, but also completely obsessed and demanding in the bedroom.

If you're looking for a billionaire romance book with Crazy Rich Asians vibes, this is the book for you and if you haven't already, make sure to start the series from the beginning with The Spare!!

Book Rating: 4/5
Spice Rating: 3/5

This was the first book I read from the Biotech Billionaire Series, but I will be going back to read the others.

The Charmer is a page-turner of a romance. A marriage of convience is my favorite way to start a love story!

Thank you Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for a copy of Ava Rani's fantastic book in exchange for my honest review.

The saagari

All hai in love and pickles






The Charmer is the third book in the Biotech Billionaires series, but it can be read as a standalone.

Penelope Aster-Chen needed to get married in order to gain her inheritance. Xander Sutton, a billionaire of an investment group, always changed everyone <i>except</i> Penelope. So when he heard she needed to be married, he readily agreed.

I loved when he falls first and hard, and that was exactly what Xander did. He was so down bad for Penelope, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. And he was so sweet and swoony.

The beginning was great, but I kind of started losing interest in the second half of the story. There was just a lot going on.

I haven’t read the other two books in the series, but I will be going back and reading them.

Full disclosure, I didn’t read any of the other books in this series. This is the third so there were quite a few characters that I didn’t know but it’s definitely an interconnected standalone. It would’ve been nice to know more of the backstory but the author does a good job of filling the new reader in.

This was a billionaire romance and that’s kind of all you need to know. I am not typically a big fan of the “billionaire” trope because it’s such a cop-out for a good plot. You can just fill in any holes with travel or huge expensive surprises. There was a lot of dress ripping in this one, for instance. I think he ripped at least 3 really expensive couture dresses which, honestly, just annoyed me. Someone labored over that dress for days and probably put hundreds of hours of work into it and you couldn’t be bothered to undo a few buttons???

This also felt a bit too long. There were two or three little epilogues which was unnecessary. It’s okay to leave a little to a reader’s imagination.

I think this would be a good series for those who like billionaire romances. I will probably take a pass on the rest of the series but not because of the writing; it’s just not for me.

I enjoyed reading the next installment in the series. Don't think it was as good as the first one, but since I was already invested, I was happy to read the book and connect with the characters I already knew.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Avon for this e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

This is book 3 in a series, and although I think it was fine to read on it's own - I would suggest reading the others first. This is a billionaire romance with a marriage of convenience, and some intense Crazy Rich Asian vibes.

I found myself just absolutely loving Penelope and Xander - he acts like a bit of a lost puppy following her around, and it's pretty cute. He is so far gone for Poppy and well - it makes for a much more of an enjoyable read. The last third of the book was a mess of pacing, and the dreaded 3rd act breakup was just pointless - at least if there had been some angst perhaps I'd consider it to be at least slightly more well done; but what instead resulted was this odd feeling of being rushed. Not sure how that happened as the first 75% was amazing, the pacing was on point, and the angst and longing (On Xanders side) was there.

Overall though this one was cute and I did enjoy the billionaire workplace romance.

It was a good story for how Xander and Penelope get together. There is still a lot of mentions of the previous couples. I think I would have liked to see a little more of wooing from Xander to Penelope. Like, I get the gifts, but it would have been nice to have seen more dates and adventures.

Acabo este libro con una sonrisa en la cara. Las historias de familias construidas con cariño, amistad y amor son mis favoritas y tan solo leyendo el último libro de esta trilogía la autora ha conseguido transmitirme todo eso.
Como he mencionado The charmer es el tercer libro de una trilogía Biotech Billonaries que cuenta la historia de Pen y Xander (🛐), que por cosas del vida tienen que casarse.
¿Quién no ama un matrimonio de conveniencia? Yo si.
Ya con los clichés del libro había conseguido engancharme pero encima dentro del libro me he encontrado con personajes que se han ganado mi corazón, momentos que me han emocionado, hecho reír y chillar (mucho).
De verdad que me ha gustado la historia y me da pena no haber podido leer del tirón los tres, pero no pasa nada porque evidentemente me voy a leer los dos primeros en nada.

4.5 stars! Such great yearning!! “A piece of you was better than nothing.” Ahhh just loved it! Truly a great read and highly recommend for those who love marriage of convenience, men who yearn, and billionaire romance!

Ava Rani has my heart and I LOOOVED this book! A marriage of convenience between a cinnamon roll who just wants to be with her and calls her "poppy"!! I'm a sucker for a "my wife" moments and this was filled with them <3

Absolutely my favorite book in the series and my favorite brother. I would recommend this series to any romance reader.

Penelope runs away from her wealth and runs into billionaire Xander. Always the golden retriever good guy, Xander is instantly likeable and you’ve been rooting for someone to meet him since book one.

Loved this series - I can already see spinoffs if Ava wants to continue!

The Charmer by Ava Rami was such a fantastic read! A story about high society arranged marriages goes awry when Penelope realizes that she doesn’t want the life that has always been set up for her. When she needs to get out of marrying the guy set up for her, she turns to one of her best friends, Xander, to fake a marriage. Will this marriage become more than just a ploy?

This book kept me on my toes! It had me rooting for the main characters the entire time, and also highlighted so many themes and plot lines of friendship and rekindling lost familial relationships. Definitely recommend to anyone who loves any of those tropes or plot lines!