For me, the great things about Trade Me were as follows:

- I actually believed in the romance which, given how much I like romance novels, happens less often than you'd think
- Like the best contemporary fiction, it says something interesting about the times in which it is set, in this case about technology companies and promotion, immigration, modern families, etc.
- Billionaire romances were a bit of a trend at the time and Milan took that trope and made something that felt real, as well as having some interesting commentary on race and class. I remember a Goodreads review accused Milan of making the heroine a woman of Asian descent out of some terrible political agenda, which as far as I'm concerned is only points in Milan's favour, because I get thoroughly sick of how white romance novels are at times.

There's more I liked but I read it a year ago so can't remember the finer details now.