“Sexy, emotional, and pitch-perfect”–NPR A marriage of convenience and three nights a month. That’s all the sultry, self-made billionaire wants from the impoverished prince. And at the end of the year, she’ll grant him his divorce…with a settlement large enough to save his beloved kingdom. As a Latinx woman, Roxanne Medina has conquered small-town bullies, Ivy League snobs and … Medina has conquered small-town bullies, Ivy League snobs and boardrooms full of men. She’s earned the right to mother a princess and feel a little less lonely at the top. The offer she’s made is more than generous, and when the contract’s fulfilled, they’ll both walk away with everything they’ve ever wanted.
Principe Mateo Ferdinand Juan Carlos de Esperanza y Santos is one of the top winegrowers in the world, and he’s not marrying and having a baby with a stranger. Even if the millions she’s offering could save his once-legendary wine-producing principality.
But the successful, single-minded beauty uses a weapon prince Mateo hadn’t counted on: his own desire.
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Awesome story. Funny, emotional, and super sexy. Highly recommend.
I really enjoyed this story from beginning to end. I loved the way it takes tropes and turns them on their head to create a modern fairytale. The connection between the hero and heroine was great to see develop. Love it!
Lush Money was nothing I expected and everything I needed. It took the billionaire and marriage of convenience tropes and flipped them on their heads. A bold, millionaire heroine, a sexy prince of a hero, an exhilarating power struggle and off-the-charts chemistry and passion that had my Kindle smoking. It’s the perfect dirty fairy tale.
Sweeping, sensual, and rawly emotional, Lopez crafts a debut that matches a strong, complicated heroine to a beautiful, tortured prince, and spins a swoon-worthy fairy tale for the 2019 reader. Lush Money is a gorgeous story full of heat and feels u2060— and tons of sexy, royal fun!
I so enjoyed this book and it came during a very difficult time. Unplugging for a few hours and reading…yea, that helped. Anyway…Roxanne wanted a fairy tale and she was going to get it even if she had to buy it and that is what she was determined to do when she set her sights on Mateo, the Golden Prince, of an impoverished Spanish country. All she wanted was marriage and 3 nights a month in order to conceive a child and she would pay enough to save his country and then give him a divorce. Sounds simple, that is until temper tantrums and changes and, oh yea, those pesky hearts get involved. Will they be able to survive it all when it turns out they actually like each other and then fall in love. Definitely recommend this one!
Give Me Love Not Fairytales
Lush Money is a magnificent romance. This isn’t your typical royal romance or marriage of convenience. This story is a modern take on both of these tropes. I loved the fact that Roxanne is a self made billionaire. She is intelligent and compassionate and loyal and determined and powerful. She has a goal. A plan to execute and nothing will stop her from turning her fairytale a reality.
Mateo is a prince, but more importantly he is a wine grower/cultivator. He loves the land and the people of his kingdom. His every waking hour is spent trying to keep his beloved Monte from perishing. Even with all of his effort, his father is undermining him in order to feed his own greed. When faced with daunting circumstances for his people, Mateo agrees to marry Roxanne.
I loved that although their relationship starts out hostile and a bit sterile, things start to change rather quickly. The conflict and lust and eventually friendship builds embers of hope and then love. The growth of both characters was beautiful to read and experience. The vulnerability of both Roxanne and Mateo further endeared them to me. These two people carrying varied burdens learn to lean on each other. The support and passion between them blossoms beautifully. I also enjoyed the bits of suspense and invigorating plot twist. They amplifed the urgency and emotion of the story. Huge feels!
I enjoyed this story from the moment I started listening to it, once I started I didn’t want to stop. Roxanne and Mateo had red hot chemistry and I loved both characters. This book was also full of characters you love to hate and I enjoyed listening to the story unfolded and learning more about these characters. Scarlette Hayes did a wonderful job narrating this story.
Lopez sucked me in at bedtime with her tale of a female billionaire who coerces a prince into a marriage of convenience, so if this review is a bit mushy, blame her: These hot characters, their fiery hate-to-love sexy times and Lopez’s gorgeous writing kept me up way, way, way into the night for the best of reasons: At 2:00A, I bought and dove straight into the sequel!
This was my first book where I read the marriage of convenience trope. At first, I kinda hated it, it felt so severe and cold. But Prince Mateo from Spain kept me engaged. He seemed like a good (and smoking hot) man despite his upbringing.
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As the story went on their relationship heated up and, as the reader, I followed Mateo’s experience in falling in love with Roxanne Medina.
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On a Latinx note, the story focuses on more the European/ Spanish lifestyle of Mateo which most wouldn’t call Latinx. Roxanne herself is half-white and half Mexican. Roxanne plays up her Anglo side (aside from her last name); she makes conscious decisions about her image to make herself more palatable to the mainstream white American business world. That was the only cringe-worthy moment. And it’s a big one. It was published in 2019, so this isn’t an antiquated view of how racism both internally and externally can operate. I appreciated the straightforwardness with which Roxanne talks about it in the book. She’s not really in touch with her Mexican roots because her father was absentee— save for her connection with Father Juan, who often saved her from an abusive mother. Father Juan teaches her Spanish and acts as a mentor which seems to keep her from hating the Mexican part herself completely.
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As the novel goes on, she shows her true colors (literally) to Mateo – and I have to say these were some of the steamiest love scenes I have ever read!!! At first, it was the HATE that fueled them and by the end of the novel, I was so in lust with the way Mateo pines after his wife and describes making LOVE to her. Also the car scene way sooooooo HOT. Must read.
This book was so unique and great. Loved the characters and settings. Loved how fun it was. Great super steamy scenes and then would have me crying. Love the powerful women.
I loved this romance, which turns the tables on the billionaire trope with a female billionaire out to get the one thing she doesn’t have: a baby. But Roxanne isn’t quite prepared for the fact that Principe Mateo, who reluctantly agrees to her lucrative offer to save his family vineyard, isn’t a pushover, in bed or out. The two of them start out on the rockiest of terms, with sex more of a battle of wills than a consummation of bodies (though the sex scenes are still sizzling). As they get to know each other, everything about their encounters is heightened, from a loved one in Roxanne’s life falling ill to Mateo battling his father for control of the land, while each of them are trying to figure out how much they can trust each other. This is a super sexy contemporary romance about two strong, stubborn, scarred people who are scared to commit to each other beyond the confines of their contrived marriage, but also scared to go back to their pre-marriage lives. Lopez does an excellent job of keeping the tension high, and even her villanous characters, like Roxanne’s mom, are fun to read about.
This book has all of my favorite things. Angsty royal hero. Badass “unlikeable” heroine (who I, of course, ADORED). Hate sex! A marriage contract that stipulates 3 nights of sex in order to make a baby happen! A prince who just wants to make wine and save his kingdom. A self-made billionaire lady who knows what she wants and goes after it without hesitation. It’s a totally indulgent read in the best way possible. Loved it!
This was worth all my time . Roxanne is a woman after my own , she wants what she wants and she goes after it, and that gets all my respect .
Mateo is bae goals, and dedicated to his craft and legacy. He’ll do what it takes to continue what was handed down to him no matter what.
Thing is, they both underestimated each other, themselves and the heart . Sparks fly, angst rolls in and tempers heat .
I enjoyed this rollercoaster ride of personalities, and I think you will as well. I received this as an arc for an honest review, and I honestly looooved it .
This one is hard for me to review. I had high hopes for Angelina M. Lopez’s Lush Money, and I really did enjoy it for the most part. But I also found that there were one too many side plots that overshadowed the romance for me.
Like other reviewers have noted, there is a dubcon scene right out of the gate. I could see why it happened that way with Roxanne’s personal journey, but it’s important to note. Roxanne definitely has a take-charge personality, and I liked the swap of the self-made billionaire Roxanne saving the impoverished prince.
I loved Mateo as a character, too. He has a lot of responsibility, and he’s definitely not 100% on board with Roxanne’s plan, and I loved how Mateo isn’t afraid to speak up and check Roxanne’s actions. They played off each other really well.
The sex scenes are plenty and super spicy which I really, really liked. These two have explosive chemistry. What I didn’t enjoy was all the extra plot happening. Roxanne and Mateo have plenty of inner demons to slay, that all the extra characters took away from that. It felt unnecessarily drawn out, and I just wanted things to come together a little quicker.
That said, this romance flips the script. We get two stubborn and driven individuals who clash, but challenge each other in all the ways that matter. Its tense atmosphere keeps readers desperate for each moment of temptation and heat as well as its threads of affection and acceptance.
Recommended for billionaire lovers with a love of high heat and enemies-to-lovers plotlines.
3.5 stars!
Lush Money is a debut novel by Angelina M Lopez. It’s a classic marriage-of-convenience romance, between a head-strong, brilliant, self-made billionaire heroine and an honorable, intelligent, impoverished prince hero.
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Roxanne had worked hard her entire life to build up her own multinational empire, to overcome her sad and neglected childhood. She always knew what she wanted and would make it happen. And what she wanted right now was to have a blue blood baby, a fairy-tale princess, without any complicated mess from having a husband. She thought Prince Mateo would be her perfect candidate, considering his financial struggles…
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Prince Mateo was a world renowned viticulturist , running his own research group at UC Davis to improve the quality of a special grape vine from his home country. He had put in his sweat and blood to rescue their dying traditional winemaking business that was on the verge of bankruptcy due to his parents’ negligent and extravagant lifestyle. The contract Roxanne had offered and the money to go with it seemed like a temporary solution to buy him some more time until he could finish his vine development.
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Their relationship started off on the wrong foot: she was stubborn, self-centered, and presumptuous, he was unyielding and upright. But they had one thing in common: their flaming desires and mutual attraction to each other. Slowly Mateo has discovered the real brave, kind, and compassionate Roxanne. They had stood and fought side-by-side, gone through many obstacles to finally be true to themselves, to one another.
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I really enjoy the story, the character development and their chemistry throughout the book, I’ve also learned more about viticulture and winemaking process. Although the writing sometimes seemed slightly hard to follow with very long sentences and some parts were a bit dragging, that did not take away my satisfaction! And I’m really looking forward to Princess Sofia’s story next! It’s a 4-and-1/2 , steamy hot , off-the-chart sexy , will leave you blush and fan yourself!
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*ARC received from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.* Release date October 14, 2019!
Unusual contracts, sexy main characters and skulduggery. That’s what readers have to look forward to in this book.
Mateo couldn’t believe his father expected him to sign this contract. But what choice did he have? He was desperate to save his wine-growing principality in Spain, Monte del Vino Real. His father, the king had mismanaged the principality and practically bankrupted it. So, yes, he felt he had to sign this contract that stated he had to spend three nights each month for a year with billionaire Roxanne Medina and do his best to impregnate her. She wanted to bear a royal child. The contract was valid for one year and at the end Mateo would receive a large amount of money, enough to save his land and his people. He had to be crazy to go along with this. He just didn’t have a choice and he was attracted to her. So…..
I have to admit that while I was reading the beginning of this book I started feeling grouchy as I read. I read to escape and be pleasantly entertained, not to feel grouchy. I really didn’t like Roxanne Medina in the beginning. She came across as very cold and unfeeling. The author did an excellent job of redeeming her in my eyes. She also has done a good job with her other characters. She made them seem very real. The flow of the storyline was realistic. No boy and girl meet and instantly fall in love. There is lots of conflict throughout the book and I liked how Ms. Lopez resolved everything. There were plenty of surprises as she resolved the conflict. I enjoyed that.
So there are realistic characters, an interesting storyline and, oh yeah, lots of sex scenes. If you like hot sex scenes, you’ll really like this story. These scenes are well-written and advance the story. At the beginning of this story I was prepared to not like it at all. Ms. Lopez made a believer in her storytelling ability out of me and I ended up turning the pages as quickly as I could because I liked the book so much.
I was glued to this book with the opening of Prince Mateo, heir to Monte del Vino Real in Spain, has shown up in person to tell Roxanne Medina–No. But before he could say much, he had his hair yanked out of his head, quickly followed by a needle shoved in his arm.
Behind Mateo’s back, Roxanne, a billionaire, arranged a contract with King Felipe where she and Mateo would be married where the outcome would be a child in exchange for a settlement to save Monte. After a year, then they would divorce. The contract had everything spelled out.
Roxanne has no desire for a husband and she’s used to getting her own way. Mateo doesn’t see things quite the same way, and although roped into this arrangement decides to try to get to know Roxanne better. What Mateo thinks of as a first date that is going horribly wrong, turns out to be his wedding day.
Roxanne believes that she has to buy people’s loyalty and Mateo feels that he is a failure. Roxanne keeps her feelings closed off but Mateo is intrigued enough to try to get Roxanne to open up to them. Despite a marriage of convenience, both start to care for the other but when one professes their love, riding on the coattails is a blow that rips a deep wound. Mateo is going to get some advice from an unlikely source, while Roxanne will have a visitor of her own, but will it be enough to get them to listen. The Monte and their relationship hang in the wind.
I thought Roxanne’s strict three-night rule was ridiculous! Despite how the two became a couple, there was chemistry from the get-go. I liked how neither was really looking for love but each was driven towards their end goal not realizing that the goals could meet what they both needed. A terrific alpha male with a strong heroine story!
This was my first try at Angelina Lopez, she did a really great job of keeping me interested in the story line from start to finish.
Angelina certainly reversed the roles here. Most Millionaire/Billionaire, arranged marriage books have the MMC as the rich dude looking for the wife. But in Lush Money, Roxanne is the more dominant one and the seeker of the arrangements. She seems cold and distant, while Mateo is warm and the one wanting to “get to know her” first.
I really enjoyed watching their relationship evolve and feelings develop.
Although this is a series, each book is a standalone of different main characters. I definitely plan on reading the rest of the series.
The reason this lost a star was due to the audio ARC I received. I know it’s my personal preference but I think if the book is going to be told in dual POVs, then the narration should follow suit. Other than that, I enjoyed the narration as well.
Lush Money is a page-turning wild ride with the best female CEO I have ever read. Reading Mexican-American main characters in romance means I read a lot of lower and middle-class stories. Those stories are important. But reading a success story, one of a high-achieving Chicana owning her power, is extremely rare. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever read this type of character before Lush Money. As for the reviewers who find Roxanne unlikeable, it’s one hundred percent because of her power and the ruthlessness required to achieve what she has. If Roxanne were the male, billionaire CEO, the criticism wouldn’t be there. She is flawed, like all humans, but her cojones are inspiring. #JefaMoves
I picked up this book when it first came out, and only just had a chance to read it. After chatting with the author on Clubhouse (her regular Thursday chats are awesome), I was really curious about the story and her writing. There are so many things to love about this book, it really is a lush reading experience. The setup of the plot allows for an episodic story in which you A. learn a lot about each of the leads, dispersed in small amounts in order to tantalize you, B. Get all the sex, so much sex, so much different sex, with a variety of vocabulary that was refreshing, and a spectrum of emotion and meaning that made the scenes integral to the plot and C. Did I mention sex? OH and the world building! Outside of fantasy/sci fi/ paranormal you don’t often get this level of creation. I mean, she invented a whole kingdom in the mountains of Spain that was so real I swear I’ve been there! I highly recommend this book for readers who like their characters flawless on the outside, but messy and real on the inside, who like scandal and secrets, but who also love to see a fake relationship turn so very real and deep and meaningful. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series! Brava Angelina!