The Wedding Pact (The O'Malley's #2) by Katee Robert

{I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.}

Review and Character Study Playlist, Releases April 26th

Are organized crime romances a thing? If not, I kinda hope they become a thing after reading The Wedding Pact by Katee Robert! This book almost felt like returning to a well-loved comfort read since the worldbuilding in the previous O’Malley book, The Marriage Contract, was so spot-on. The author certainly did enough explanation of the world for this book to be a stand-alone, but it didn’t seem overbearing or redundant for those of us who read Teague and Callie’s book. 

The Good

• Carrigan, everything about Carrigan. I loved how she took control of her own destiny and was so awesomely self-aware during the entire book. She knew when she was scared and/or overwhelmed and that the entire marriage situation put her in an extremely difficult position. Even so, she didn’t let her suitors see her weakness. This led to an interesting character contrast when she let James see her true self and her true feelings. She was such a “strong” female character, but she also had a “soft” side. Layers man, these characters had layers!
• More O’Malley time. It was awesome to learn more about Carrigan and revisit Teague, but we also got some pretty significant time with Aidan and Cillian. The scene with Aiden, Cillian and Carrigan after Teague's wedding was a great study of the different characters. Oh and Sloan too!

The Bad

• James certainly does a few things in the book in relation to the Halloran empire that I felt icky about. I get that he didn’t like doing what he was doing and I get that he is doing what he needs to do to keep the situation from getting even worse, however, this darker part of the book just didn’t work for me. It left me feeling bad for James as a person and bad for Carrigan since she didn’t seem to know exactly what James was up to.
• The ending wasn’t terribly satisfying. Sure we got a HEA, but I kept thinking...that’s it? Why didn’t Carrigan make this grand move halfway through the book?

The Unique

• James had this way of surprising me throughout the book. In some ways James is a total alpha male. However, there were spots throughout the book where his responses to Carrigan’s anger or emotions were totally unexpected. For example, instead of searching out one of Carrigan’s suitors when he upset her or throwing out threats, James asked if she took care of things. James’ ability to trust Carrigan and her ability to get things done on her terms was very, very refreshing for such a dominate male character.

The Playlist

• This character study playlist loosely follows the plot. From the Carrigan and James' rocky start, to them learning to trust each other to the acknowledgement of their love, this playlist is all about their relationship and feelings for one another.

About Katee Robert

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Katee Robert learned to tell her stories at her grandpa’s knee. She found romance novels at age twelve and it changed her life. When not writing sexy contemporary and speculative fiction romance novels, she spends her time playing imaginary games with her wee ones, driving her husband batty with what-if questions, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. 

I rate this book:

What did you think of The Wedding Pact?
Are there any songs that remind you of James, Carrigan and their HEA?

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