SWIPE RIGHT FOR THE ONE?

Event planner Marissa can’t afford distractions—certainly not strangers she’s set up with against her will!

Accidental date, Rory is heart-poundingly handsome but extremely unamused by the mix-up. At least she’ll never see him again… Only it turns out he’s her fledgling company’s first client!

Marissa just has to stand the buttoned-up billionaire long enough to plan a glamorous charity gala, then they’re done. Yet as she sees beneath his stern exterior, dislike melts into something more dangerous…and she’s soon wishing their contract could last forever!

~Standalone~ Yet there is a connection to Accidentally Dating the Enemy with characters using the same dating app.

This is a no-spice romance with either closed doors or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved 🙂

Title:  Cinderella’s Bargain with the Billionaire
Series:  Standalone (connection to Accidentally Dating the Enemy)
Author:  Mariah Ankenman
Published:  November 25, 2025
Publisher:  Harlequin Romance
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Marissa’s younger sister has decided that she needs a date since she’s (in Abby’s opinion) uptight and works too much to find one on her own.  Sisters!  So when Marissa thinks she’s meeting Rory at the coffee shop for a different reason… the man waiting for her is most definitely not amused at all.  She might have shrugged off the encounter if only she hadn’t just been hired by Rory to set up a charity gala.  Talk about awkward!  But her business is just taking off, and Marissa cannot afford to lose this client, and it’s only for a short period of time that they’d be working together.  She can handle that, right?  Maybe, if she hadn’t begun to get a glimpse of the man beneath the grumpy exterior that he shows the world.  Falling for the client was not in the plan, but walking away from what could be is nearly impossible to think of.

I enjoyed Cinderella’s Bargain with the Billionaire by Mariah Ankenman so much.  I’m familiar with and have enjoyed Mariah Ankenman’s previous work, and I’m so glad to see that she’s writing with Harlequin now.  I’d highly recommend checking out her backlist if this is your first encounter with this author.  I need to go back and pick up Nora’s story in Accidentally Dating the Enemy, which I somehow missed.

Marissa and Rory are definitely a sunshine-and-grumpy kind of couple, and despite how they began, they really do match up perfectly, each bringing out the best in the other.  Isn’t that what love does for us all?  There are some serious issues within their story that add the realistic, real-people touch I’m accustomed to seeing from this author.  The banter, the challenges, and the connections between the couple and the various secondary characters really made this story shine.  It’s well-written, emotional, with a combination of laughter and tears that felt real.  If that sounds like your kind of romantic adventure, then you’d love Cinderella’s Bargain with the Billionaire by Mariah Ankenman.  I would not hesitate to recommend this one.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley, and I sincerely thank the author or publishing house for their trust. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

This title is available at Amazon