Best Olivia Hayle Books to Read (aka I read 12 Olivia Hayle books so you know which are the best three!)

Full Disclosure, my basis for judgement: 

As usual, I haven’t read everything by Olivia Hayle, but I have read a LOT:

5/6 New York Billionaires (5/5 of the main ones, I skipped the 12 Days of Bossmass because I don’t usually enjoy those novella/extended epilogue type of books): Think Outside the Boss, Saved by the Boss, Say Yes to the Boss, A Ticking Time Boss, Suite on the Boss

3/3 Connovan Chronicles: Best Enemies Forever, The Perfect Mistake, One Wrong Move

1/4 Seattle Billionaires: Billion Dollar Fiance

2/2 Billionaire Games: The Faking Game, The Marriage Bet

Standalones: How to Honeymoon Alone

So... after reading 12 Olivia Hayle books, what are my thoughts? What’s the style? What’s good and what’s not so good?

Olivia Hayle’s stuff always has fun banter, the heroines are spunky, the heroes are very rarely truly damaged (sometimes they’re a tiny bit immature, sometimes they’re spoiled -- understandable, given how many of her heroes are billionaires with a B) but they’re very, very rarely people who have made serious mistakes or serious issues. Meaning these are usually cute, light, fluffy reads. You can read them before bed without feeling like you’re going to get sucked in and have to not sleep, but you’re also happy to come back to it the next day and finish. 

The same-same-sameness of the characters only seems to be broken twice: 

1. Once, there was a flawed character: Hayle has one book where the MMC had been an adulterer (highlight if you want that spoiler, and this is a spoiler because it’s a main plot point: It’s Suite on the Boss, where Isaac had previously had an affair with a married woman and this is of course triggering because the whole thing is that the FMC catches her husband cheating on her in the opening scene).

2. Once, there is a character who isn’t just unwilling to commit but has a genuine concern that feels legitimate and real. That’s Saved by the Boss where you find out what the MMC’s concern is fairly early, but it’s a spoiler, so highlight if you want to know: learn pretty early on that Anthony is slowly going blind.

A lot of Hayle’s stuff is dependent on what-will-people-think when they find out I’m dating my boss/not boss (or boss’s, boss’s, boss) which often means you don’t necessarily feel as though there are huge stakes involved (because Hayle’s done a good job of making sure that the women aren’t direct reports, so there is but also isn’t a power differential). 

But mostly... Olivia Hayle’s characters are people who have micro-issues. Both the MMC and the FMC are always ambitious, but the guy’s always (always, always, always) older and more successful. The woman’s always a little worried if that’s going to make a difference in their relationship/power dynamic, but yeah, that’s usually the stakes. 

This all means that usually the main tension is some third act misunderstanding or where they’re finally going to decide they’re okay having that only kind of forbidden coworker relationship that may/may not be frowned upon. 

The downside to how little stressful drama there is... is that sometimes, it’s all a little forgettable. I had to go and re-read some of the book summaries to remember which one was which even though I enjoyed them at the time.

So... which Olivia Hayle books are best?

For me, the two best were Saved by the Boss and Say Yes to the Boss. Saved by the Boss feels different because the MMC is struggling with a real (and not solvable) issue. His emotions and self-doubt about again, his very Real Concern, felt real and was thus memorable in a way many of the other books aren’t. 

As for the second, Say Yes to the Boss is honestly one of the better fake dating (I guess in this case it’s fake marriage) plots because she works for him for a year before he decides she’ll make the perfect fake wife. Because Victor St. Clair is so walled up (family tragedy from the past, which is consistently alluded to and finally explained maybe halfway through?) that you feel like without the forced proximity/ fake marriage, he really never would have found a way to fall in love.

If you’re a completionist and you need to read the whole series then I actually think the Connovan Chronicles is the best overall series (For me, One Wrong Move (where he’s been secretly in love/pining for his best friend’s girlfriend for years) >> Best Enemies Forever (title says it all, enemies to lovers, done fairly well) >>>>>>>> The Perfect Mistake (this is your standard age gap nanny romance and it just felt like they had the least connection and also, the fact that he’s older and feels older and doesn’t think they can be serious because he’s... wait for it... older... just really dragged on).

For all the other series, because of the similarities, I don’t get the normal payoff when characters revisit the scene. Like if you’re watching the Bridgertons and you’re like Anthony and Kate are back woo-hoo! You’re excited because they were memorably different than say Colin and Penelope. In the longer series, other characters from previous books would show up and I’d be like... wait, which billionaire is this one again? Which wife is this? Even though I just finished the previous one.

Are there any that aren’t worthwhile?

I really struggled with How to Honeymoon Alone. I think a lot of this was the setup: Because our two main leads are both coming out of serious relationships (minor/not really spoilers ahead), because the FMC caught her soon-to-be-husband cheating on her with one of her best friends and because the MMC is also newly out of a relationship (why gets revealed later) neither really is interested in something more serious. It makes sense that two people who had planned this exotic trip initially as their honeymoons would be a) unhappy to see all the other honeymooners out there and b) drawn to each other because they’re one another’s shields against all the wedded bliss they’re surrounded by.

The only problem with this kind of rebound romance is that then we spend a LOT of time getting the two leads together. Technically things are happening, they’re on a tropical island and so there is touring rum factories and snorkeling, there are private boats and watching turtles hatch, but emotionally we’re just STUCK for a really, really long time. To the point that I almost DNF this one.

Final Thoughts?

Look, I read romance because it’s a scary world and we all need to escape sometimes. Olivia Hayle can always be depended on to give you decent spice and a lot of escapism (these are women who, once they get with their men, will never worry about trivial things like bills, ever again). For me, she’s not a must-get-immediately author, but when I’m out of book recommendations and I see she’s got another one? I’ll pick it up, knowing it’ll be solid and soothing for as long as the book lasts. That might sound like faint praise, but it’s not: Olivia Hayle consistently delivers well above average escapism with no need for things like trigger warnings and no fear of too much emotional angst.