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Review

3.5 messed up stars

I was so excited when I saw that R.K. Lilley was coming out with a new book. And a standalone! Like a lot of other readers, I’m a big fan of R.K. Lilley’s early work. I loved the Up in the Air series, and Tristan and Danika’s angst-filled mess of a relationship (Tristan & Danika) is still a favourite and holds a very special place in my heart. Lilley doesn’t shy away from unconventional relationships, and she’s given us a doozy with this one!

Just a warning – before diving into this book throw away your judgements, your common sense, and your dreams for a heart-pounding and emotional romance. Instead, embrace the hot sex, the enemies-to-lovers/arranged marriage trope and the soap opera-worthy drama, and try not to judge.

Noura is an 18 year old model who has sold her virginity and herself into marriage. Doing it for no other reason than just to set herself up financially and securely after a difficult and painful childhood. Good for her. Banks is her groom, who has agreed to the marriage at the insistence of his father, so that he can get his hands on his family’s billions. It’s not sunshine and roses, he doesn’t treat her well, there is even true hatred there. But there is also a sizzling sexual chemistry. Banks does his best to ignore his new bride, but when his father forces him to at least have some sort of contact with her, that chemistry ignites, and they soon find themselves unable to keep their hands off each other.

It’s a messy situation because there’s no actual feelings between them, and they don’t really like each other that much, but physically, they can’t get enough. The sex is hot and steamy as always, and as Banks becomes increasingly possessive and protective over Noura, rocking her world with each and every encounter, she begins to fall for him.

I really like Noura. She’s been through a lot, and she’s very mature for her age. She understands how things are and she goes with the flow, and she deals with it all sensibly. She’s agreed to the terms of her marriage but she’s not afraid to live her own life, and I really like the way she balanced Banks’ expectations with her own needs.

It’s a really twisted dynamic between them. You can see that Banks has a lot going on in his tormented mind, and I really appreciated the chapters from his POV that gave us glimpses into that, because he really is unlikable. He has his moments of protectiveness which were fun to see, as was his blatant (initially unwanted, eventually embraced), lust for his wife, but on the whole he treats Noura appallingly! She takes it because it’s what she signed up for, and also presumably because he gives her earth shattering orgasms that leave her a shuddering puddle of goo on the bed. She does fall in love with him, though honestly, I don’t know why. Outside of his epic bedrooms skills, and his alpha possessiveness that could be interpreted into some sort of feeling of attraction, the guy is an asshole. A sexy, growly, broody asshole, yes, but still an asshole.

And still, I was hooked! I wanted to see the shift as their relationship went from arranged to something more, and it was happening, but then comes the drama. Of course there is drama! And while it was frustrating, it did serve to push the story forward, and I was caught up as it all unfolded.

And then the warning… There’s a pretty big trigger which will turn a lot of people off, but I do have some thoughts on that…

Bottom line – the whole relationship is whacked. I wasn’t taking anything too seriously by the time it all went down, so it didn’t really impact me that deeply.

There is a satisfying amount of grovelling that accompanies Banks’ behaviour, which I was glad to see. But overall, I think there was too much time of Banks being a dick. He sort of redeemed himself, but we didn’t see enough of that to really embrace the change.

So the romance… it was there… but it also wasn’t. It took a while for Noura and Banks to get their shit together, their early relationship is a hot mess, and they have a lot of drama to overcome. And they don’t really spend much time together when they’re not having hot, sweaty animal sex, so I didn’t feel the build-up or their emotions towards each other. But they were feeling it, and I was happy that they finally got there.

In love there’s no free will. That’s how I know it’s real. I couldn’t stop it and I can’t deny it. This is it for me.

I did enjoy this one. Very different from what I was expecting, and yeah, it’s a bit messed up, but Lilley writes it well.

3.5 stars.