The CEO

• Author: Emily Hayes
• Genre: Romance
• Publication Date: May 7, 2024 
• Publisher: Tantor Audio
• Series: CEO #1

Thank you to libro.fm for providing me with an ALC of this audiobook. I am offering my honest opinion voluntarily.

Can the right woman be enough to thaw the Ice Queen’s heart?

This is an Age Gap, Ice Queen, CEO Romance. It is hot and steamy, sweet and loving and always with a Happy Ever After.

Eva Perez is the CEO of one of the biggest and most successful companies in her industry in the US. She has everything she could ever need or want in life. She is confident she doesn’t need a girlfriend to complete her.

Most women fall at Eva’s feet, so when a young woman turns up for an interview with her, who seems completely unphased by her power, Eva is intrigued.

Madison is captivating and exciting to Eva and sparks fly between them right from the start.

Will Madison ever be able to melt Eva’s frosty heart?

Escape into this hot and exciting Age Gap, Ice Queen romance today.

This was a new one for me. I’ve read sapphic romance, but I’ve never found a book featuring an age gap, ice queen, or CEO romance before. Maybe the sapphic aspect made this one seem more appealing, but it was a short and sweet introduction to these tropes.

To start with, the audiobook clocks in at under 4 hours, making this ideal to dip a toe into  and discover some new tropes. It is narrated by Abby Craden, who does a very good job with the story. She effortlessly captures two women in different phases in their life and places in their careers—Eva is the experienced and powerful CEO of an industry leading company, while Madison is a younger woman working on building her company from the ground up. When their paths cross, there is major chemistry.

I do enjoy a good romance from time to time, even if it isn’t one of the top genres that I read. And reading too much of a single genre often leads me to feel as if they become formulaic. So adding in a novella featuring some unfamiliar tropes was easy for me with this one, especially because it was so short. 

The characters, Eva and Madison, are both strong, independent women. Eva has convinced herself that she doesn’t need a relationship to feel satisfied with her life. She doesn’t have the time to devote to a relationship, and finds it easier to satisfy her needs through no strings attached intimacy. But there is something about Madison that gets into Eva’s head, and I really enjoyed watching the two of them start to warm up to the idea of something more. It is fun to read from both of their perspectives, and I found that I liked them equally. I love to read a story that features women who lift each other up and respect each others sparkle, rather than behaving catty and tearing each other down. 

It was a believable plot, and I like hearing more details of their lives, especially what they both did. While things did feel a bit rushed and I would have liked to see Eva, Madison, and their relationship get developed further, I really couldn’t hope for more in a novella-length story. While this is part of a series, each one seems to be standalone, but I can say that this was a good one, based on plot, characters, romantic development, and the spice level in the intimate scenes between these two women. I can recommend this book if: you enjoy sapphic romance, love the idea of an ice queen thawing out, like some pretty spicy scenes, books featuring strong and powerful women who build a healthy relationship, and any of the above mentioned tropes. 

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