Review: "The Ride" by Martina Dale

THE RIDE: Hot Billionaire Boss Romance by Martina Dale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Billionaire businessman Braxton Blackmoore may be on the verge of turning 30, but he has no intention of settling down anytime soon. His focus is on his career, especially with his parents planning to retire within the next few years and turn control of the family businesses over to him and his three younger brothers. His parents, however, believe that Braxton needs to develop better people skills and get to know a different side of the company before taking over, so they send him into one of their theme parks disguised as a new entry level employee. He'll be learning from the ground up, literally: his job for the next month is to pick up trash.

Meanwhile, British marketing executive Grace Summers recently left her fiance at the altar after finding out that he cheated on her...for the fourth time. Unfortunately, he was also her boss, which means she needs to find a new job too. After applying for a position with Blackmoore Enterprises, she makes it through to the final round and is invited to company headquarters in New York City for a face-to-face interview. First, however, Grace is asked to visit the company's Chicago theme park and create a sample marketing plan based on her on-site evaluation of the property. She's searching for a restroom when she meets park employee "Bradley"; they hit it off but part ways after a whirlwind weekend together, never expecting to see each other again. It's quite a surprise when Grace starts her new job at Blackmoore headquarters a few weeks later and discovers that "Bradley" is actually Braxton, her new boss.

I couldn't help but laugh at Braxton's rude awakening when he arrived in Chicago and got a taste of how the other half lives. At the same time, I could tell how much he genuinely cared about his employees because he was so upset by everything he saw that was wrong and how determined he was to make things right. His efforts to get to the bottom of the parks' mismanagement and take a more active role in how they were run were absolutely my favorite part of the book.

Unfortunately, I wasn't as enthusiastic about the main characters or their romance. I didn't like how pushy Braxton was with Grace after they met up again in New York. It was totally reasonable for her to want to set boundaries, especially after her experiences with her ex, but he trampled all over them at every opportunity. It didn't help that Grace was so annoyingly wishy-washy. For example, she got mad at him (and rightfully so) for embarrassing her with his speech at his birthday party, but by the time they got home, she was practically swooning because of the way he "stood up" for her. Beyond that, the push-pull between them was a lot at times and honestly, I was stressed on their behalf. Bottom line, I had a tough time believing that Grace should be dating anyone given her recent breakup and the resulting trust issues. She needed therapy more than she needed a boyfriend.

Finally, there were some details about the plot and characters that bothered me as I read. Most importantly, was Braxton supposed to be American or British? I know his mother was British, but I thought he and his brothers grew up in New York. However, he says something about "switching colleges" (meaning high schools?) and changing his choice of university after the traumatic breakup with his first love, Charlene. In the U.S., college and university are the same thing, so did he go to school in the UK? It was also strange that he referred to his car's GPS (navigation system) as "satnav" but yet didn't understand that Grace meant "parking lot" when she said "car park." My guess is that the author is British and just didn't realize the differences in terminology, but it was confusing. Aside from that, how did Braxton manage to have drinks with Grace at the airport bar and go to the gate with her at the end of their first weekend in Chicago? He wouldn't have been able to get past security without being a ticketed passenger! Later in the story, they flew to Dallas on Braxton's private jet. While I admit it was kind of funny to think of him being forced to sit in coach, why did they fly commercial back to New York?

I went back and forth on my rating for this book, but I decided to round up to 4 stars because I enjoyed the story and wanted to keep reading. At no point did I consider DNF'ing, though I did yell at my Kindle a few times. I'd recommend it for fans of alpha heroes, who probably won't have as many issues with Braxton as I did. I plan to continue with the series.

*Review copy provided by the author. All opinions expressed are my own.

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