Book Summary: 

He’s been her ride or die since first grade… will her growing crush crash their good thing?

The one constant in my life has been my best guy friend, Cam. He’s trustworthy, sweet, and his no-occasion, literary gifts blow every romance hero’s grand gesture out of the water.

Still, he’s my best friend. And while he’d make the most swoon-worthy love interest for another girl, I don’t see him that way. Until he shows up at my library book club meeting and reads the role of the hero in the best book series of all time.  

When we reenact my favorite scene, all the book club ladies think I fainted since my mail-order corset was one-size-too-small. The truth is, when Cam touched my arm, my heart stopped. 

And when I discover he has a spicy romance novel by my all-time favorite author hidden next to his bed? Now I can’t look at Cam without imagining him as the hero of my own love story. I crave to role-play just one steamy scene with him, but how can I justify indulging when it could ruin this almost perfect thing we have?

Mini Review (Spoilers):

While I wanted to love “Check Out That Billionaire” as much as “Shelve That Billionaire,” there were a few things that detracted from the story. The summary states that Cam is the one who reads for the Duke in the book club, causing Tabitha to swoon; however, it is actually Tabitha who reads the part, not Cam. Fortunately, the scene maintains its impact since Cam scoops her into his arms, reinforcing her attraction to him. Nevertheless, the narrative becomes somewhat messy starting in Chapter 7, making it difficult to follow. We see Tabitha wrestling with her undeniable attraction to Cam, which has reignited the crush she once had. We infer that she fears he can see her feelings and will reject her as he did “Christie”.

The confusion arises when she thinks he is “going to ruin everything” and refuses to let him speak. It’s unclear exactly what she fears he is going to say. We can guess she believes he’s noticed her feelings and is about to let her down gently, but then her thoughts shift to the possibility of a physical connection or more, and she starts to spiral. It becomes incredibly unclear how exactly he would ruin everything unless, in her mind, any admission would make their friendship awkward. Clarification from the author would have been appreciated, as the reader is left to fill in many blanks. When reading from a dual point of view, especially while being in Tabitha’s head, her fears and assumptions should be transparent.

Another point I didn’t care for was the bizarre transition between their first intimate moment and the subsequent fallout. We go from scenes of them being together for a second time, with Cam reenacting their first encounter, to suddenly being two weeks in the future, hearing about the fallout second-hand. I understand the necessity for brevity in a novella, but experiencing the fallout second-hand instead of in real time left a significant gap in the narrative.

“Check Out That Billionaire”, while interesting and adorably sweet, left too much to be desired. The odd leap of Cam suddenly being a billionaire with no one being the wiser felt far-fetched and unrealistic. If this series is to be revisited, I hope it recaptures the magic of “Shelve That Billionaire”, which was truly memorable.