Review of Runaway Heir by Ruth Cardello

When a woman runs from family, fortune, and secrets, love follows in New York Times bestselling author Ruth Cardello’s dazzling romance.

The Boston Westerlys are reuniting for a wedding—a longtime wish for its matriarch. If only Nicolette, the youngest of the clan’s siblings, could find love. With her true parentage suddenly in question, she feels like more of an outsider than ever. It figures that the one guest of any comfort is her grandmother’s greatest enemy. Now, Nicolette’s only impulse is to run. Disappearing to a small Iowa town, she can build a future on her terms without the Westerly name or money—or the secrets that have divided the family for years.

Despite his damning history with the Westerlys, Bryant Taunton recognizes a kindred spirit in Nicolette. He is drawn to the beautiful loner. When she vanishes, he follows. But Bryant has his own secrets, and gaining Nicolette’s trust won’t be easy. It might even require the help of the family she left behind.

Now, for Nicolette and Bryant, coming to terms with the past is the only way to make both their dreams come true, and to finally find a way home.

Available on Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited with audio.

The sixth and last installment in the Westerly Billionaire series. It works well as a stand alone, but even better as the series finale.

The audio: Once again narrator Teri Clark Linden does an excellent job of bringing Ruth Cardello’s story to life. There is excellent differentiation between male and female characters; and very good differentiation from one female character to the next. Delinda’s voice was kept constant from pretty much book 1 to this last one. Bryant’s voice is notably unique compared to his best friend’s and different still from King Tadeas. Overall, the production was excellent and I noticed no blips in the audio-text syncing.

The story: Nicolette was probably my least favourite of the Westerly siblings. She acted spoilt, bitter and unappreciative. Even for the first third or so of this story, I didn’t much care for her. However, a good writer can really bring you around to a character, even one they’ve set up as a brat! Somewhere along the way I really began to like Nicolette and got invested in her journey, struggles and triumphs. By the end of the story I felt like this was one character that truly and understandably evolved.

Bryant, meanwhile, is pretty likable from page one. He’s good-looking (of course), patient, attentive and determined. His own family isn’t much to rely on and his father is hardly going to be winning any parent of the year awards. That, however, doesn’t stop him from helping Nicolette find a way to reconnect with her own family.

Through that reconnection, we see the full rebuilding of the Westerly family. Delinda is still a force to be reckoned with, but one that has also learnt to show her love in less ‘tough’ ways. Her family now understands that she really and truly loves them.

This story also finds a happy ending for two other couples. I do wish, however, that we could have gotten some more into the Westerly parents’ psyche and see some more into their reconciliation and development.

Overall, this was another steamy, fun and sweet addition to the series and a fitting end.

I give this book 4/5 runaway espresso shots.