Review: Immortal Billionaire by Jane Godman

Title: Immortal Billionaire

Author: Jane Godman

Release Date: November 1, 2016

Publisher: Harlequin

Category: Contemporary Romance (Time Travel)

Type: Digital/Paperback

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Jane Godman Website

Blurb:

Dark secrets and unquenchable desire collide in this captivating paranormal thriller…

Connie Lacey lives a nomadic existence. Alone. Safe. She can't risk being found by the stalker who haunts her waking nightmares. Until an invitation from billionaire Sylvester de León—to spend thirty days with him on his private island, Corazón—proves impossibly tempting. But one look at the gorgeous host's deep blue eyes, and Connie knows there is nothing safe about this paradise and the aristocratic man who calls it home.

The island is cursed…as is Sylvester himself. Yet something in him calls to Connie, ignites a desire that's filled with raw, timeless need. But Corazón has many secrets, each more dangerous than the last. And in a place where everlasting love, the past and fate intersect, even death is only a beginning

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Favorite Line(s):

“You are an inconvenience. A goddamned awkward, ill-timed, distracting...wonderful inconvenience.”  ~  Sylvester

Dialogue Highlight:

Restlessness surged through him and there was only one place he could feel at peace. The place where it all began. His guests were planning a tennis tournament for the afternoon and seemed content to spend the morning pursuing their own activities. Slipping out of the house—the good thing about having a reputation for being solitary and enigmatic was that people assumed you wanted to be alone and didn’t offer you their company—Sylvester made his way toward the cottage in the wood.

 As always, just the sight of the wooden bridge and the tiny dwelling soothed him. It was incredible how this place had the ability to take the sting out of any situation.

Crossing the bridge with quick strides, he entered the place he had come to think of as his personal haven and stopped short in shock to find Connie sitting on the bed.

“What the hell are you doing here?” The words had left his lips before he’d known what he was going to say.

 She visibly gulped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was private.”

Seeing her there, on that bed, aroused a storm of emotions so violent Sylvester was helpless to withstand them. For the first time in his life, he acted without thinking. Going over to the bed, he sat on its edge and gazed down at Connie’s face. He took in her look of shock, the signs of her recent tears, but his eyes lingered most on the soft invitation of her parted lips. Taking her face between his hands and smoothing a few stray strands of hair away from her cheeks with his thumbs, Sylvester bent his head and

succumbed to the impulse that had been tempting him since he’d first seen her.

The initial pressure of his lips on hers scorched him, burning its way from the mild connection of their mouths into his bloodstream and sizzling through to his groin. One touch and he was iron hard. It was exactly the effect he knew she would have on him.

Powerless to resist, he deepened the urgency, snaking his tongue between her parted lips. Connie’s response was instant, her hand coming up to clasp the back of his neck, drawing him closer. The heat that had existed between them since the first moment they’d met grew and intensified so they were caught up in their own shimmering maelstrom. Minutes flew by in an exchange of crushed lips and exploring tongues.

Triumph surged through him. This. How long had his body been waiting to feel like this again? This tumultuous half pleasure, half pain sensation? It felt like his very soul was burning up in the violent flames of the passion that melded them together. The ache and sorrow that had been pent-up inside him for so long, the same feelings he had seen reflected in Connie’s eyes just now, were ashes in the scorching desire that screamed at him for release.

Consumed by his need for more, Sylvester reached for the buttons at the front of her blouse, his fingers uncharacteristically clumsy. Tugging aside the lacy cup of her bra, he covered her breast with his hand.

Her flesh was so soft, so incredibly sweet to touch, like cushioned silk. As he rubbed his thumb over her nipple, Connie moaned into his mouth. The soft, insistent sound brought him back to reality with something resembling a thud. What the hell was he thinking?

Breaking the kiss, he sat straighter, trying to ignore the look of hurt in her eyes.

“That wasn’t meant to happen...”

Excerpt:

“No!” Connie jerked bolt upright in the darkness, sweat cooling on her limbs while her heart raced wildly.

Strong arms were around her instantly and, with relief, she remembered Sylvester’s presence. Leaning against him, she allowed reality to wash away the horror of the nightmare.

“What scared you so much?”

“It was another of those vivid dreams. I can’t explain how real they are. It’s as if my senses are more heightened than they are in reality. This time, King Yargua was arriving on this island—before it was known as Corazón, of course—to decide if he wished to take me—take Cariña—to be his bride.” She shuddered. “My father, the chief, led me down to the water’s edge to greet the royal canoe. I didn’t want to go. By then Cariña was already in love with Máximo.”

Sylvester’s arms tightened around her. “I know. I was there.”

Connie gave a shaky laugh. “Of course you were. When we reached the water, the king stood up and I forced myself to look up at him.” She felt the words freeze in her throat, remembering the sheer terror she had felt, and forced herself onward. “I knew him, Sylvester. He is my stalker.”

“What?” Sylvester sounded stunned. His hand fumbled for the lamp next to the bed so he could look at her. “Are you sure? You said you’ve never seen your stalker’s face.”

“I just knew. The same way you recognized me when you first saw me.” She lifted a hand to touch her scars. “Even though I never saw the face of the man who slashed my throat, I know with absolute certainty he was the Calusa king in the past life we shared.”

“My God.” Sylvester was silent for several minutes, allowing the meaning of what she had just said to sink in. “Do you realize what this means? He never targeted you because of anything that happened in this life.”

She nodded. “He came after me to get his revenge on Cariña. Because she left him for Máximo.”

“But how did he know who you were?” 

“The same way you did. He recognized me. I was a model, remember? I was becoming successful, so my pictures were in magazines that were widely distributed.”

Sylvester nodded. “If he saw your picture and identified who you are, he could easily have tracked you down. Or perhaps he was always looking for you?”

Connie plunged on. “When I first came to Corazón, I sensed he might be here, but I told myself I was being overimaginative. Everything on this island felt strange. There was the story of the curse, the things that were happening to the guests...how I felt about you.”

“That wasn’t strange.” He kissed the top of her head. “That was wonderful.”

She managed a smile. “Strangely wonderful. Nevertheless, I blamed all of those things for my perception of danger being thrown off balance. I’m so used to being scared, I decided I didn’t know how not to be scared. Does that make sense?”

She raised her eyes to his face and the flame of love and sympathy she saw in their blue depths almost made her cry out. “I wish it wasn’t true for you, but, yes, it makes sense.”

“Now, after that dream I had just now, I know I was right. He is here on Corazón.”

“Do you know who he is?”

“I wish I did, but I don’t. I feel his malignancy, his evil intent, his hatred toward me. All of those things. I just don’t get any feel for him as an individual. But this doesn’t make sense. I know how Yargua looked back then. So do you. We’d both know him in an instant if he was here on Corazón today.” She frowned fretfully. “Why doesn’t he look the way he did back then? You are Máximo. You haven’t changed over time. I am Cariña born again. I look like her. I get that. But this man looks nothing like the Calusa king. There is no one on the island who even remotely resembles him.”

“As I’ve said, my credentials as a reincarnation expert aren’t proven, Connie, but I don’t think it works that way. It’s the soul that survives to the next incarnation. The body dies. What body the soul inhabits when a person is born again is immaterial. The chances of you looking exactly like Cariña are, I think, remote and rare. Your looks seem to be one catalyst for why ours has become such a dramatic situation.”

Sylvester seemed to be following a particular train of thought. “Whoever this man is, I wonder if he even knows why he has these feelings of hatred and revenge toward you. Does he know who he was and who you were, or did he see your picture one day and just feel compelled to hurt you?”

“Dear Lord, that’s a scary thought.” Connie shivered. “How many stalkers and killers have a motive that has nothing to do with this life? How many people are committing horrible crimes to avenge a wrong that happened centuries ago without even knowing it?” The trembling intensified. “Did my mother die because you and I fell in love all those years ago?”

Sylvester held her, warming her with his body, running his hands up and down her arms and shoulders until the tremors ceased. “At least we now know why we are stranded on this island.”

“He means to kill me this time.” Connie knew it with a fierce certainty. “Will he also try and kill you?”

“He can try.” Sylvester’s mouth was grim. “Immortality doesn’t have many compensations, but defeating this bastard is the one I plan on enjoying the most.”

Review:

Connie Lacey has had one heck of a ride in life. Brutally attacked a few years ago, she sustained lasting damage. It didn’t stop there, her attacker continued to taunt her periodically just to remind her who held the control. But fate seems to have intervened finally and she has been invited for a chance at a fortune on a remote island thanks to her distant relation to the Billionaire who owns it. However, nothing on the island is as it seems and a tangled web of spirits, legends, and secret identities begins to unfold in the most brutal of fashions. Through all of the life-threatening drama, Connie and Sylvester and drawn to each other and a past life may be to blame – it also might be their saving grace, if they can unravel the mystery hidden in the legend.

Sylvester de Leon has led a helluva life. He’s been around for ages and currently holds status as a paparazzi schmoozer, Billionaire recluse, private island owner, and last individual to the family dynasty. He knows exactly what is happening on the island and exactly what he has to do … but explaining the truth wouldn’t do him any good. No one would believe him anyway. He has to find an heir for his fortune and island since he has none and then he has to disappear into the past to repeat his existence again. He’s stuck in a loop, the chosen protector of the island, trapped in his immortality. A curse. He’d love nothing more than to break it, but he’s accepted his fate and knows there is no way out – but Connie has another theory and she’ll do her best to save him and their future if she can – if she can escape the murderer on the island, hell bent of killing her.

I really had a difficult time with this story initially. I think there was just so much information to begin with and then this crazy scenario that only happens in dreams, followed by the introduction of several supporting characters all at once. It was just a lot to take in. I was thinking of not finishing the book, but then it snagged a bit of interest. Somehow I had mistakenly thought the immortality was in relation to vampirism, but it did not. I’m not sure how I came up with that, but the paranormal aspect doesn’t have anything to do with creatures. Anyway, I ended up continuing and wanting to find out what was happening – the reason all of this past-life mojo came in to play. I can’t say I was completely surprised, having figured out much of the end of the story on my own … but some of it was surprising and ultimately, I ended up enjoying the book.

I think part of my issue with this book is that I, personally, don’t believe in past lives, so from that point, it was farfetched. Not that I don’t enjoy fantastical situations in my books, but I just had a hard time with this one. And Sylvester was this bigger than life personality, but just didn’t strike me as such. As an immortal, you’d think he’d have quite a lot of tricks and contacts up his sleeve, but he seemed to lapse in that area. Additionally, Connie bought in to the past life explanation rather quickly. I mean, personally, I may have eventually figured it out if I was experiencing the same circumstances, but I for sure would have taken quite a lot more processing and convincing. But hey, it’s fantasy, so I’ll just roll with it, right? 😊 Also, with everything the characters dealt with, I found it odd that they lacked depth. The opposite should have been true for an immortal and a woman who had survived a brutal attack.

I read through the story relatively quickly, so if you have an afternoon to kill, you would likely polish this book off within the afternoon. The chapters are short, so you have to get past maybe 6 or 7 chapters before you get into it. But maybe not. Some of you might not have any issue, but I had to work at the initial assimilation. If you hang in there, I’m pretty sure you will find the book entertaining. If you don’t mind suspense, past lives, and a touch of time travel with a happy ending, then you’ve come to the right place. Overall, I wasn’t in love with the book, but I did enjoy it. I’m not completely sold with this author as a first read with her, but I would definitely give her another shot to see what I thought of her other work.

Kindle version provided by Author/Harlequin in exchange for an honest review.