Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: The Runaway Millions
SERIES: The Runaway Model #2
AUTHOR: Parker Avrile
PUBLISHER: Paris April Press
LENGTH: 261 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2016
BLURB:
They’re the perfect couple until the money runs out…
Kyle, a rising model, is the toast of Manhattan. Bryce, a wildcatter who got rich in the Bakken gas fields, is an inch away from becoming America’s newest billionaire.
But their world is turned upside-down when a competing oil company wrests away Bryce’s business, his personal jet, and even his condo. Bryce has no choice but to scramble to save his career– even though a famous rock star is sniffing around in hopes of claiming Kyle for his own.
When Kyle steps forward to defend another model accused of a terrible crime, he’s deported. The tabloids follow him, happy to spread rumors about his alleged affairs with the beautiful and the famous of Europe.
Can love survive when one man is on his way up while the other is on his way down? When an ocean divides the lovers? When the gossip columns can’t help stirring the pot? The Runaway Millions is Book 2 in The Runaway Model trilogy. This 78,000 word full-length novel complete with a HEA can be read as a stand-alone but if you prefer to read the series in order, please start with The Runaway Model.
REVIEW:
I found this quote from the author about The Runaway Millions and I thought it wrapped up pretty well the change from book one to book two. “I think it’s too easy if the rich hero always has access to an infinite amount of money…so in this story I decided to take it away.”
As I stated in my review of the first book, The Runaway Model, at the end of that book we got a glimpse into the future of what was in store for these two. So I have been waiting impatiently for the next book to find out if Bryce got his almost billion dollars back and if Bryce and Kyle had finally gotten their HEA. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait long at all.
The Runaway Millions picks up right where we left off. Bryce and his personal “vigilante army of four” rescued both Kyle and Stoney, Kyle’s favorite rocker, from the stalker/kidnapper. But, waiting at the airport when they landed were “The Norwegians”, who took possession of everything that Bryce had, because they had bought up his loan that had gone into default. This newest installment is the story of how these men change and the measures they needed to take to survive those changes. Ms. Parker has not only researched the fashion model industry for Kyle, but also the oil industry for Bryce. I have learned a great deal on how chancy the oil industry can be. You can be on top of the world one moment and then broke, and literally scraping the bottom of the barrel, the next. We also learned more on the plight of Kyle’s best friend Michel. His story is so heartbreaking and sad. I won’t say anymore, because I don’t want to spoil it, but it is devastating.
I found that we had even more angst, intrigue and danger in this book and I had some difficulty following along, at times. The moving around from country to country, the different “couplings” of characters…not all in a romantic sense always, and the whole “how to deal with problems without the unlimited funds to simply make it go away”, just made it difficult to keep reading and stay focused.
Don’t get me wrong, I wanted Bryce and Kyle to finally be together and get their well-deserved HEA. But…I could have lived with a bit less intrigue and drama. Some of the scenarios were just a bit difficult to swallow and it was hard to believe that they could actually even happen. I know the rich and famous live by different standards than us commoners but I’m not sure they could get away with quite as much as what went on.
I do have to recommend that you read the first book if you are going to read this one. There is enough backstory in this book to try and keep up, but it would make things much more understandable with the extremely busy story line. Not a bad book, but at times it was difficult to keep track of the goings on and stay focused on the story line and everyone involved.
RATING: 
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