Scan barcode
isitcake's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Gdamn this was really good. Binge read in one day. I loved the personalities and dialogue between these 2 characters so so much. Loved that we got to see Natalie, Aleks and Jess. Aleks and Natalie's book was so dark that I was worried this was going to be just as hard to read but instead it was fairly light, even with the dark subject matter, and was just perfect.
Lucia Martinez aka Cat Marin is a half Cuban woman on the run from a murderous ex-husband and con-man, Edward. Turns out he was scouting her in Jacksonville for weeks. His con is he'll seduce young wealthy woman, make himself the heir to everything and murder them to inherit. Lucia is his sixth wife, and the only survivor. He had murdered her mom and put framing evidence, a drug-filled syringe, in a safe deposit box that only Lucia had access too. She confronts Edward with a gun while he's fucking his lover and fellow con-woman Julia, but the gun goes off and Julia accidentally gets killed. So Lucia has been on the run for 3 years.
Now in Miami, she's trying to finish her economics degree while cleaning houses but money is tight and one of the woman's houses she cleans is an escort who asks Lucia to sub for her. This is how Lucia meets Maxim and it's history from there. He's immediately attracted to her, her humor and personality, that she doesn't want anything from him. But he only knows her as Cat Marin. After a drunken night, he accuses her of trying to get pregnant to entrap him, and he "takes her prisoner" for 2 weeks in his apartment. She's ok with that because right before she came there she thought she spotted Edward on the street. Instead she has 2 weeks of bliss, ordering tons of room service, clothes, and obviously having tons of sex with Maxim.
They go to Aleks and Natalie's Nebraska wedding and grow even closer. We finally learn Maxim's backstory. After Aleks left him and Dimitri, the man who took care of them repeatedly sexually assaulted Dimitri and locked Maxim in a basement for 6 months, starving and beating him, when he tried to stop him. Finally though Dimitri fought back and Maxim killed him. But that's why neither brother is trusting. After this revelation, Cat/Lucia is about to reveal her true backstory but on the way back to Miami she says Edward's name in her sleep and Maxim angrily confronts her. She leaves, finds she's been robbed at her apartment, plans to disappear after she goes to clean a client's home for a mere ~$360 and take her last econ exam. As she's cleaning the house, Maxim shows up to apologize. She keeps running, takes her exam, and is on the phone with Maxim when Edward shows up and shoots her. She nearly dies after bleeding out, she's unconscious for 4 days. But she survives, graduates, and plans to accept Maxim's marriage proposal in the epilogue.
Now in Miami, she's trying to finish her economics degree while cleaning houses but money is tight and one of the woman's houses she cleans is an escort who asks Lucia to sub for her. This is how Lucia meets Maxim and it's history from there. He's immediately attracted to her, her humor and personality, that she doesn't want anything from him. But he only knows her as Cat Marin. After a drunken night, he accuses her of trying to get pregnant to entrap him, and he "takes her prisoner" for 2 weeks in his apartment. She's ok with that because right before she came there she thought she spotted Edward on the street. Instead she has 2 weeks of bliss, ordering tons of room service, clothes, and obviously having tons of sex with Maxim.
They go to Aleks and Natalie's Nebraska wedding and grow even closer. We finally learn Maxim's backstory. After Aleks left him and Dimitri, the man who took care of them repeatedly sexually assaulted Dimitri and locked Maxim in a basement for 6 months, starving and beating him, when he tried to stop him. Finally though Dimitri fought back and Maxim killed him. But that's why neither brother is trusting. After this revelation, Cat/Lucia is about to reveal her true backstory but on the way back to Miami she says Edward's name in her sleep and Maxim angrily confronts her. She leaves, finds she's been robbed at her apartment, plans to disappear after she goes to clean a client's home for a mere ~$360 and take her last econ exam. As she's cleaning the house, Maxim shows up to apologize. She keeps running, takes her exam, and is on the phone with Maxim when Edward shows up and shoots her. She nearly dies after bleeding out, she's unconscious for 4 days. But she survives, graduates, and plans to accept Maxim's marriage proposal in the epilogue.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Sexual assault
More...