Cruel Money

K.A. Linde

Jan 2019 · Cruel Book 1 · K.A. Linde Inc.

About this ebook

A new second chance billionaire romance set in the dark and glamorous underbelly of the Upper East Side from USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde.

Natalie Bishop was just supposed to be a one night stand. Until she steps out of the ocean at my summer home in the Hamptons completely naked.

The minute I see her, I know I can't walk away.

She claims that she's just here to watch the house while it undergoes renovations. That she has no interest in rekindling our fire. But every weighted glance says it's a lie.

I don't care that I'm Manhattan royalty and she's the help.

Only that she's living in my summer home. With me.

And I want more.

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Ratings and reviews

4.5 stars--CRUEL MONEY is the first full length instalment in K.A. Linde’s contemporary, adult CRUEL erotic, romance series focusing on twenty-nine year old, philosophy professor Penn Kensington, and twenty-four year old, writer / house-sitter Natalie Bishop. NOTE: For history and background, I recommend reading the prequel novella ONE CRUEL NIGHT where Natalie Bishop first meets Penn Kensington. Told from dual first person perspectives (Penn and Natalie) CRUEL MONEY picks up six years after Penn and Natalie’s one-night stand in Paris France. As a struggling writer Natalie works full-time as a house sitter for the rich and famous but never expected to come face to face with her past, a man she hates for his ‘hit it and quit it’ one-night affair. What ensues is the rekindling romance between Natalie and Penn, and the fall-out as betrayal, heart break, secrets and lies push our heroine out of Penn Kensington’s life CRUEL MONEY is an emotional story of heartache, pain and deception. We are witness to the manipulation and gullibility of a young woman as she is unprepared for the cruelty and vindictiveness of the privileged and uber-rich. An unsuspecting and oblivious pawn, Natalie is the ultimate loser of both her head and her heart. The secondary and supporting characters are numerous, colorful, manipulative, insensitive and calculating. We are introduced to the ‘Crew’, a group of well-to-do, privileged, and spoiled twenty-something adults who play games with other people’s lives and hearts. K.A. Linde pulls the reader into an intoxicating train wreck and the emotional fall-out as one woman loses everything and more. The premise is gritty; the romance is fraught with secrets and lies; the characters are animated but broken. CRUEL MONEY ends on a cliff-hanger-you have been warned.

Wow what a start to a trilogy it had it all, love Natalie meets Penn on her last night in Paris and loses her virginity and in the morning, he is gone without a word. To appreciate how that made Natalie feel, and how special it was I advise you to read ONE CRUEL NIGHT which is free at the moment. It will give you the insight to how Natalie feels when they meet 6 years later in Cruel Money. Let’s get back to Cruel Money, Natalie is housesitting in the Hamptons when Penn arrives with his friends. All rich and entitled with too much time on there hands. When Penn is shouted at by what they call the help his friends find it entertaining. They set into motion unbeknown to Natalie a disaster in the making. Natalie is an author and is writing hopefully a bestseller, with plenty of hot romance. I loved Natalie independent, mature a mistrust of men because of Penn. Penn was straddling two worlds which was stopping him living completely in one. Happiest with just Natalie and Aristotle. This first installment of the trilogy has all the ingredients to pull into the story. A hot guy, a romance writer in the making. Natalie and Penn were great together, but we have angst waiting to happen. I thought Natalie is great strong mature for her age, being only 23 and when Penn took her virginity she was only 18. It was very special for Natalie, and you can read about in One Cruel Night a prequel to the trilogy. There is nothing stopping just reading Cruel Money, but I think it gives you a greater understanding of Natalie’s actions when she meets Penn again.

First let me just say that this being only the 2nd book I’ve read in 2019, and the 1st being this books prequel, I must say that I am beyond blown away with the world Kyla has laid out in the Cruel series thus far. If this is any sign, 2019 is going to be a good book year! I was pulled in with One Cruel Night and fell in love with Penn instantly. In Cruel Money, I was right by Natalie’s side while she navigated the world of The Crew and sought after her place in their society. While One Cruel Night can be read at any point during this series, per the Author, I say you start with One Cruel Night and prepare to jump feet first down into the rabbit hole and venture into Kyla’s very own wonderland. In Cruel Money, we jump ahead 6 years from the end of One Cruel Night, the Prequel that the author has so graciously surprised us with before Cruel Money released. Natalie is back in the states, working on her first book, and doing so by taking up a career in house sitting for the wealthy. Her adventure takes her to the Hampton's where she runs into the LAST person she ever thought she would, Penn. What she doesn’t realize is that Penn is a very different person from the one she met and fell in love with in Paris that one night, so many years ago. Yet, he is still the same. As the two begin to see their lives weave together, I was reminded of one of my favorite movies of the late 90’s, Cruel Intentions. It is unpredictable and snarky and uber provocative at times. This book will do things to your mind you didn’t know a book was capable of. It’s sexy, and feisty and filled with so much drama you would think it’s set on Broadway. OK, can it be April yet!?! I need more Penn on my Kindle.

About the author

K.A. Linde is the USA Today bestselling author of the Avoiding Series, Wrights, and more than thirty other novels. She has a Masters degree in political science from the University of Georgia, was the head campaign worker for the 2012 presidential campaign at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served as the head coach of the Duke University dance team. She loves reading fantasy novels, binge-watching Supernatural, traveling, and dancing in her spare time.

 

She currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her husband and two super-adorable puppies.


 

Visit her online at www.kalinde.com and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @authorkalinde.

 

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