Spotlight & Giveaway: Cinderella’s Bargain With The Billionaire by Mariah Ankenman

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Mariah E Ankenman to HJ!

Hi Mariah and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Cinderella’s Bargain With The Billionaire!

Hello reader!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

When Marissa’s well meaning but meddling little sister sets up a profile for her on the Just Vibes dating site she’s livid. Now she has to break the news to the very attractive man in the coffee shop waiting for her. When he takes the news…less than well she defends her baby sister as any good big sister would. No harm in letting him have it since she’ll never see the guy again, right…wrong! Rory just so happens to be her very first client for her budding event planning business. Now she has to work with the most stubborn man she’s ever met and try not to fall for the soft heart he hides from the world.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

Mr. Darcy coming out of Pemberley Lake had nothing on rain-soaked Rory.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The main character Marissa has POTS just like me!
• There’s a fun catfish element to this book involving a meddling little sister
• The “castle” Rory owns is based of a few different castles scattered along the rocky mountains
• I put a little easter egg in a scene where they play a table top game. It’s my spouses favorite game but I hate it…try and guess the name!

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Their first meet up poor Rory thinks Marissa is who he’s been talking to online, but she’s here to inform him her little sister set it all up to get her a date so the first impression does not go well. However, when they start to work together, Marissa is attracted to Rory’s kind heart hidden under his gruff exterior and Rory falls for Marissa’s strength and determination under so much pressure.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I love the scene where she admits she feels like a fool after he rejects her, thinking it’s because he doesn’t wanter her when in fact it’s because he wants her and knows it’s a bad idea. The way Rory comforts her, putting all the rejection on him, reminding her how amazing she is while letting her take the lead is true hero material.

Snippet:
“Marissa.” He grasped her face again, compelling her to look at him as he explained. “Listen to me because this is very important. You are not stupid. You are the smartest, kindest, most stubborn person I know.”
A sputter of laughter escaped her lips. “That last one isn’t a compliment.”
“Yes it is,” he insisted. “There is nothing I want more in this world than to lay you down on that bed and worship your body all night long.”
He heard her sharp inhale as her eyes grew wide.
“But,” he continued, “as you said earlier, rules are there for a reason. I would not want to do anything to jeopardize your business. I would hate if anyone thought crass thoughts because we were together.”

Readers should read this book….

If you love swoony laugh out loud romance with opposites attract, forced proximity, mistaken identity, a whole lot of banter, and a splash of heat then Cinderella’s Bargain With The Billionaire is for you!

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m currently working on my next Harlequin Romance: Backstage Night With The Billionaire which comes out April 2026 and it’s got an aerialist heroine in it;)
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: $20 Amazon egift card

To enter Giveaway, please share this post (FB – Twitter) and Leave a comment to this Q: Have you ever met someone through a dating site? How did it go, true love or horror story?

This giveaway closes 3 days from the date of this post.

Excerpt from Cinderella’s Bargain With The Billionaire:

IF THE UNIVERSE had any pity for her at all it would open a cavern in the ground and swallow her whole right now.
Marissa waited…. Dang it! No luck. She was still here. Standing in front of the man her sister had tricked. The man she’d insulted not once but twice. The man who held the future of her business in the palm of his hands.
“You’re Mr. Thorson?” Maybe she’d heard him wrong. Or she was hallucinating. Had she taken her sodium tablets today? Perhaps she hadn’t and she’d had a POTS flare, passed out, and this was all a fever dream.
“Yes.” He nodded, face grim. “Rory Thorson.”
“Mother fudger,” she muttered.
His brow furrowed at her censored swear. A habit she’d gotten into to try to keep Abby from getting in trouble at school when she was little and parroting everything Marissa said. What was it they said? Old habits die hard.
“Do you greet all your clients with threats and accusations?” Rory asked, arms crossing over his chest as he stared at her.
No, because she didn’t have any other clients. He was her first. And possibly her last.
Please don’t let him be my last.
She really needed this business to work out. Going back to her old job was not an option. Not after the very demonstrative way she quit. Companies didn’t tend to hire back employees who told their boss to shove it where the sun don’t shine. Not that her old boss didn’t deserve it, but it did not bode well for her as far as references went.
“I apologize, Mr. Thorson. I didn’t realize—”
“That I was who I said I was?” he interrupted.
Taking a fortifying breath, she pasted on her brightest customer service smile. “This house is very large. I could have sworn I heard your voice come from a different room.”
“But I said I was in the library.”
He had her there. She had no excuse as to why she had come in and gone off on him, not realizing he was her client. Of course he was. Looking back now it was ridiculous to think anyone other than Mr. Thorson would be here. Her brain had short-circuited. That was her only excuse.
“I know, and I realize how unprofessional it was of me to raise my voice like that.”
“You mean yell at me?” One pale red eyebrow quirked.
Her temper was starting to rise. This guy really needed to relax. Could he not see how someone could get confused and make a mistake? Mr. Perfect was getting on her last nerve. But she needed him. Needed this event. She swallowed her pride and pushed on.
“I’m sorry. My actions were out of line. Would it be possible to start over?”
A second eyebrow joined the first. “Start over? I’m afraid I’m not in the habit of hiring people who insult me.”
“But you already hired me.” She slapped a hand over her mouth as the words poured out. Play nice, Marissa! Clearing her throat, she put her hand down and tried again. “What I mean to say is, you signed a contract. As stated in the contract, the deposit is nonrefundable.”
Literally, because she had already spent the money to keep the bank from repossessing her family home. The meager deposit helped, but she’d need more. A lot more. That’s why this job had to go well. If it did, it would open so many doors for her. The Thorson Foundation had connections. He could send so many clients her way. If he agreed to keep working with her.
He shrugged. “I can afford to lose a deposit.”
Of course he could, because he was rich. Rich people thought the world revolved around them. They moved through life without a care for who they crushed under their preposterously expensive shoes. He could afford to lose this contract, but she couldn’t. She had to find some way to convince him to keep her on.
“That may be the case, Mr. Thorson.” She straightened her spine, throwing her shoulders back as she spoke with a confidence she in no way felt. “But Pine Creek has a limited number of event-planning companies. And this time of the year, wedding season is ramping up. I’m sure every single one of them is booked solid until fall. Your event is in two months, correct?”
A growl escaped his clenched jaw. She took extreme satisfaction in the knowledge that she had hit the nail on the head. If she was his only option, she had leverage.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

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!
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Meet the Author:

Bestselling author Mariah Ankenman lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains with her two rambunctious children and loving spouse who is her own personal spell checker when her dyslexia gets the best of her. Mariah loves to lose herself in a world of words. Her favorite thing about writing is when she can make someone’s day a little brighter with one of her books.
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