Not my thing. ( )

Hello again my lovely.... James and carrigan ( )

If the goal was to build anticipation, Katee Robert succeeded. The Wedding Pact is a risk filled, emotional whirlwind that will take the reader out of their normal comfort zone. I received an ARC of The Wedding Pact in exchange for an honest review. There were times I found it so fast paced that it was hard to follow but for the most part I loved the no holds barred action and the against the odds romance. The internal battle of right and wrong was a great theme for this read. Now I have to read the first book. ( )

I liked it; I didn't love it like I did book 1. But, I am kind of in a book funk... ( )

The Wedding Pact by Katee Robert
Book #2: The O’Malleys Series
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 4½/5 stars
My Review:
**REVIEW IS SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH**
If ever there was a series of books that deserved the word “saga” in the title, The O’Malleys series would be the series. The Wedding Pact picks up where The Marriage Contract left off. There is a tentative peace between the three major mob families and if peace is going to continue, another alliance needs to made and made quickly. This time, the lucky bargaining chip is Carrigan O’Malley, eldest of the O’Malley daughters and least likely to be happy with anything her parents want.

Carrigan is 29 years old and according to her parents she is dangerously close to being too old to produce an adequate number of O’Malley heirs. Being the respectable mob family that they are, the O’Malley’s must have a marriage before there can be talk of heirs. With this in mind, Carrigan is instructed by her father to choose a husband from the list he has compiled so she can be officially engaged within the month. Unfortunately, none of the men on the parent approved list are anywhere near as desirable as James Halloran, current head of the Halloran mob family. Yeah, that would be the same Halloran family responsible for the death of Carrigan’s youngest brother and Carrigan’s kidnapping several months prior.

James Halloran never intended to be the head of his family but after the death of the heir and the arrest of his bat-shit crazy father, the onerous task has fallen on James broad shoulders. Oh sure, James could chuck it all and walk away but that would leave his youngest brother, Ricky in charge and if recent events are any indication, Ricky would cause an all-out war just for funsies. As if running a mob family weren’t hard enough James is also hiding a huge secret, Carrigan O’Malley. After a blazing hot one-night stand, James hasn’t been able to get the ballsy broad out of his head and he wants her no matter the consequences.

Contact between Carrigan and James is limited at best but with each encounter the two grow dangerously closer. James is unlike any man Carrigan has ever been with and is most certainly the first she has ever considered offering more than her body. For James, Carrigan is everything. She is classy and elegant while at the same time sexy and brash. With James, Carrigan is as close to her true self as she ever is and that freedom is worth every risk. If James and Carrigan lived in a perfect world, their families wouldn’t hate one another and they would be free to openly pursue their relationship. Unfortunately, their worlds are far, far from perfect and being caught together would be seen of nothing short of betrayal and likely cost at least one of them their lives. Yeah, mob bosses get awfully pissy where their enemies are concerned.

The Bottom Line: I generally enjoyed The Marriage Contract but I was all up in The Wedding Pact. Katee Robert outdid herself this time around with Carrigan and James’s story. From the very beginning, Carrigan is desperate to escape her pathetic life and the stranglehold her father has on her. For the majority of her life, Carrigan has known she was nothing more than a pawn and until James, she mostly accepted her fate. James, with his deliciously foul mouth, his crass ways, and his insistence of going straight is the exact opposite of what Carrigan is used which makes him the perfect partner for her. In so many ways, Carrigan and James are a perfect balance for one another and it takes a hell of a lot to get to their HEA. The danger, the drama, the naughty bits, and the family entanglements are taken to the next level in this read and I was all kinds of wrapped in it all. Furthermore, there are loads of little nuggets of information about the remaining O’Malley siblings and what’s to come in the final installment of the series, An Indecent Proposal. ( )