britneysreads00 's review for:

4.0

Firstly I wanted to thank NetGalley, the publishers and Tijan for the opportunity to read and review this story.

I have heard a bit about this author; their books have been sitting on my TBR for a while, so I was excited to read this book. This book was the second book in this world, and I will preface by saying I have not read the first book (which is based on a different couple in the same world), and I managed fine with reading it. There were a few things I assume would have made understanding a little easier if I had read the first one beforehand, especially since the first book ended on a cliffhanger which is followed in this second book.

I was hooked and interested by the title "A Cruel Arrangement". Then you read the blurb "... I won't let my livelihood be threatened." and "...a man I remember from when we were kids. Even back then, I could tell how dangerous he would be one day."

Do I need to continue, or are you already in love with the story? Because same.

Dark protective alpha male Ashton
Cute sunshine-loving Molly
They grew up together
MAFIA ROMANCE
Dual perspective

I was utterly immersed in the story, there were a few questionable moments where I wanted to yell at certain characters for being stupid, BUT that's just part of the experience. I love being emotionally invested in a storyline and its characters, and this book utterly sucked me in. There was beautiful growth within the characters across the story, with Ashton wanting to use Molly in the beginning and the enemies or angst-to-lovers vibes coming through. And then, the spice within the story did not disappoint!

Now my final thoughts are this. It was a great book that I believe would have been even better if I had read the first book beforehand. Now it was doable, and it didn't take me long to pick up what happened in the story before. But I have come to find out that the first book ends on a cliffhanger which is answered and followed on in this book, even though they follow two separate couples. So if you can I could recommend picking up "A Dirty Business" before "A Cruel Arrangement".