Black Sheep Billionaire

Ten years ago Declan Gates roared out of Blackrock, Maine. Away from a town that treated him with disdain and ire. Away from Lily Wharton, the one girl he’d never get over.

Today Lily Wharton is a successful business woman in her own right. With a charming line of draperies, wallpapers and their attendant ensembles she’s made a name for herself. Always caring, always doing the right thing, Lily made one mistake in her life. A big one. She betrayed Declan Gates. Not out of malice, but out of fear and family dictate. Now, as the town of Blackrock stands to crumble, much like the Gates’ family house, a rock edifice on a hill overlooking the ocean, Lily seeks to restore the town before it is too late.

There is one problem. She needs, after a fashion, Declan’s help. She needs him to sell her his family’s home and the mill they once ran. But it’s not that easy. Declan’s family bought their house out from under the Whartons, knocking them off the pedestal of the number one family in the town and Declan never got over Lily’s betrayal. While Lily has found ways to do right by her friends and family, Declan has become a cold hearted, cut throat businessman. The price for the house on the hill may be more than Lily can afford.

In a note to her readers at the beginning of BLACK SHEEP BILLIONAIRE Jennifer Lewis describes her book as a bit of Romeo and Juliet meeting Wuthering Heights. What Ms. Lewis didn't include is this is not only the kind of romance a reader will want to curl around, she gives each of us a chance to go back, at least in our minds, to that one person we will always have in our hearts. The high school crush, the first love, the guy or girl that you’d do anything for. While the book itself is an easy read; this reviewer sat down in the morning and read the entire book in one enjoyable sitting, there were any number of times to stop and think back at a personal one that she wished there would be one more chance with.

Declan is well formed as the bad boy who really wants to be a good guy but has no one to show him how. For so long he’s achieved his goals by being cool, calm, collected and cut throat in business. Ms. Lewis gives her readers a two-fold conflict with Declan. Internally he feels he needs to hold on to the anger that drove him from Blackrock and keep himself from falling in love with…or admitting his love for…Lily. Externally he has to work through the same issues. They are the same, yet different because one pulls at his heart while the other rules his head.

Lily drives Declan. She’s definitely her own person and in a moment of huge personal growth she confronts her own deception. It’s that element that, if we could go back and have our own do overs, we may well also have to confront.

BLACK SHEEP BILLIONAIRE is the perfect read for one of those days when you just want to curl up with a heartwarming story. Pick it up today and give yourself time to think back on your own that got away…maybe he didn't.

December 2007