Broken

Manhattan Ruthless #1

by Sadie Kincaid

You want to know the secret to everlasting happiness?

Never fall in love.

That was the wisdom my father imparted to us James boys after our mom died, and it’s a piece of advice that’s served me well.

Until dear old Dad asks me for a favor over Sunday brunch. No big deal, right? I love making my old man happy. Except this “favor” is a lot more complicated than picking up his dry cleaning. Dad wants me to marry and provide a few heirs for the James empire, and he’s even done me the courtesy of handpicking my bride-to-be. Lucky me.

But if I’m being honest, I’ve grown tired of the endless cycle of dating, the constant small talk, and the ever-shrinking pool of women I haven’t already invited for a sleepover.

I’m a lawyer, so contracts are kind of my thing. And that’s all marriage really is—a contract negotiated between two parties. What could possibly go wrong?

Enter Melanie Edison, the five-foot-four brunette with curves in ALL the right places. A veterinary nurse with the smartest mouth I’ve ever heard. And I have more fun not dating her than I did dating any woman before, even with Melanie’s absurd no-sex-before-marriage rule.

But when our business arrangement becomes so much more, I end up breaking my most important rule. And that’s when it all goes to hell.

I have no idea how we can ever repair the damage that’s been done. I’m not even sure I want to. And maybe going back to my old life won’t be so hard.

Except it’s too late. I broke my rule.

And she broke me.

Genres: Romance, Dark Romance, Marriage Of Convenience, Billionaire Romance, Contemporary Romance, Dark, Contemporary

400 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 16, 2024

About the author

I'm a bestselling author of dark mafia, billionaire, and paranormal romance. I love to read and write about hot, filthy talking alphas that would burn the world down for the women they love.

I love chatting to readers about my books, or books in general, so please get in touch! You can follow me on Facebook and instagram as well as on here as Sadie Kincaid Author.

Amazon: author.to/SadieKincaid
Facebook Reader group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/16et...

Reviews

[Irina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much sex is not healthy. It causes brain damage. (At least you can come to this conclusion after this book.)

⚠️ Attention! Rant ahead! ⚠️

It starts out just fine and as expected. Mega handsome manwhore billionaire needs heirs, so he sets up a marriage of convenience to produce a couple of them. His wife is beautiful, very nice and down-to-earth, and willing. Of course, she’s immediately in love with him and he falls hard and fast for her too, even though he’s known for being cold as ice. (These types of billionaires are always an easy catch in these billionaire/arranged marriage books, right?) His family loves her too and all is well, even without having sex in the first third of the book.

But then, after six weeks of tension (at 35%), they finally have their first sexual encounter and the billionaire shows what he’s capable of in the sack. He offers to make her come with no-strings attached, and after having established that he doesn’t mind her unshowered and unwaxed state, he goes to work and eats her out on the kitchen island. The woman who usually doesn’t climax easily, squirts all over him and the fancy kitchen in no time. No surprise there, since he has the experience (thanks to an “endless stream“ of the “most beautiful women“). After her orgasm, he’s gone without many words to jerk off because of the no-strings-promise, leaving her alone to clean up the mess. (Needless to say, she’s not too delighted with his behavior.)

Once the dam is broken, it’s mostly sex. In every single scene. They ram like rabbits everywhere and in every position imaginable. The author leaves no stone unturned, so you see all of the sex practices: edging, crawling, spanking, anal, deep throating, you name it. At one point Nathan even has a restaurant cleared so he can watch her strip and spank her for being jealous, then edge her but finally generously allow her to ride his leg. Just billionaire antics, huh? Melanie happily experiences many firsts with him, but it bothers her that he doesn’t have any firsts with her because he’s seen it all. (That’s not true, though. He also has firsts with her, she’s for example the first woman “I’ve allowed to sleep in my bed more than twice“. LOL. Please note: TWICE! She’s not the first woman ever to sleep in his bed, or at least the first woman to sleep in his bed for more than one night only. No, it’s more than twice. It’s so bizarre, I don’t know what to say at all.)

Add some dirty talk to the mix, like Nathan raving about her greedy, tight, juicy, dripping, hot “cunt“ (a word she usually hates but of course from Nathan’s lips “it sounds wicked and sinful and so hot“) or about fucking her “like my little whore“. After mansplaining the (not so) fine line between “You’re a whore“ and “I’m going to fuck you like my perfect little whore“ (“that’s an entirely different thing“), they get a little bit off-topic to clarify if he ever had sex with a paid whore (“no“ – and why would he since there’s this impressing stream of beautiful women?). As you can imagine, this little argument ends in another round of sex, so the topic is forgotten for the moment. However, it’s very clear that she doesn’t like the name (and I’m right there with her), but he doesn’t stop calling her that. Not even when she tells him the perfectly understandable reason for her dislike of the word (“Given how we started, I think it feels a little too close to the truth”). He just knows better.

But suddenly, everything goes downhill in speed of light.

Nathan leaves for a business trip to Chicago and it’s time for Melanie’s disgusting brother Bryce (the most one-dimensional villain of all time) to set up a “honey trap“. It was always his plan to have Nathan cheat on Melanie, because according to the pre-nup, the billionaire has to pay 50 million dollars to Melanie’s family as a compensation and Melanie is free in that case. (Not that she wants to be free but no one is interested in what she wants or not). The problem for Bryce is, Nathan is deeply in love with Melanie, and even if he wasn’t, he’s just not a cheater.

He still wakes up naked next to bartender Ariana in his hotel bed with no idea what happened. She says they only “fooled around“ (whatever that means, he doesn’t elaborate, most likely for dramatic reasons) because he was “too drunk to do anything else”, but he’s in full panic mode and his guilty conscience kills him. He goes straight to his brother, who, with a detective’s flair, realizes that Nathan has been spiked. Practically, he also has a drug test on hand, and it comes back positive for opioids and Rohypnol. Equipped with this knowledge, Nathan is off to Melanie to confess the whole incident and beg for absolution, only to find out she knew about her brother’s plans all along and never said anything. Understandably, he is pissed.

Given, she really behaved exceptionally stupid regarding the honey trap thing, as she makes her reckless, untrustworthy brother promise to not realize his plans instead of just telling Nathan what her brother intends to do. But Nathan blows it up to a whole new level. He doubts everything that happened between them, doesn’t believe a word she says anymore, throws her out and demands a divorce. Then (after throwing everything to the wind) he flies straight back to Chicago in his private jet (he certainly doesn’t have the best carbon footprint!) to grill the bartender.

He finds out that nothing happened, not even a kiss, and that she was only in contact with Bryce and never heard of Melanie. Since Nathan is a self-proclaimed master at “reading body language and facial expressions as well as inflections in speech, not to mention every other little tick that betrays a person when they’re lying“, he believes the barkeeper’s story and leaves her to his brutal Chicago Mafia friends. Unfortunately, Ariana’s testimony doesn’t help Melanie. Nathan still thinks she was involved in Bryce’s plan – obviously his own wife is the only person the body language expert can’t read.

Back in NY, he tracks down Melanie’s brother who, after some back and forth, also admits that Melanie was not involved in Bryce’s plans. Later her mother confirms it as well, and when even his world-class hackers can’t find anything compromising, he has no choice but to believe it at some point. You’d think he would be happy and calm down finally, but that’s not how self-opinionated Nathan is built.

No, he’d rather construct a new hair-raising problem. He accuses her of lying to him about her motives for marrying him – that she married him for his money. Seriously, this is so crazy I had to read it twice to believe it. I mean, dude, you married her for breeding purposes, namely to produce two heirs. Why do you think she signed a contract and married you if not for the money and life you have to offer? For love??? She never said so and her reasons were always crystal clear. When he asked her at their first meeting why she’s doing this, she even said: “I just want some peace, Nathan. I want to go to work and do the job that I love, then come home and not have to worry about my little sister’s college tuition or whether my mother is going to lose our family home because my brother is an idiot“. A professional at reading people should be able to filter that out of her words effortlessly. Especially when he knows that her brother is “a weekend in Vegas away from losing what little is left of your family fortune.” At no point do I see any lies, but yeah, if there is nothing, you can just make something up, right?

His family who allegedly fell in love with the girl right next to Nathan, isn’t very helpful either. You wish someone would just tell him how stupid and pigheaded he is and smack him on the head to bring him back to his senses. But no, they even add fuel to the fire and so Nathan goes out to hand her the divorce papers. Not without having a goodbye-fuck first (she obviously doesn’t realize that). And why not squeeze in another sex scene? After 12 chapters of ridiculous drama without any screwing it was really time again. Furthermore, the final act of the drama had to be set.

Because, of course, the goodbye-sex has consequences. And of course, when Melanie tells Nathans about her pregnancy, he doubts he is the father. Okay, she wasn’t exactly sexually active and experienced before him, but he supposedly assumes that this changed after she had some kind of awakening through him. However, she’s annoyed and doesn’t talk to him after that blow, so he has once again to hire a first-class hacker (who’s married to several of his Irish mob friends or something) to find out her first doctor’s appointment and join her there. (It’s really convenient to have so many illustrious contacts!)

Anyway, it’s the first step on the road to happiness but we’re only at 75% – way to go! So apparently we can watch more drama, more insane agreements and an old crime case to be solved along the way (thanks to Nathan’s hackers), but not much more sex!!! Can you believe that? Well, probably that’s why the last quarter is so boring – sex scenes are Kincaid’s forte.

I’m also very impressed how this author covers her absurdities with more absurdities. Things like: Something happens because you can’t get a message through in time. In a normal world, the cell was in the car, lost, stolen or the battery was dead. Here? The guys involved were “raised by militia, massive conspiracy theorists, and refused to carry cell phones.” Come on!

Despite this rant, I have to say that I would still be really interested in Nathan’s brothers’ stories. I’m going to be sensible and stay away from this author, though. After looking up the Chicago Mafia series, I’m absolutely sure that I won’t like any book by her any better. Kincaid is not for me. You might enjoy her books if you read them for the smut.

[TheAshlz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only 2 🌟

Perhaps this will be an unpopular opinion, but a miscarriage and the aftermath is not enough for me to forget how much of a raging asshole Nathan was to Melanie. And since he did NOTHING to make up for his behavior, this book fell way short for me.

His initial reaction to her knowing that Bryce was behind the Chicago incident? Understandable. But after that? Nah. He is repeatedly shown and reminded that Melanie is obviously not a gold digger waiting to scam him, and clearly wasn't involved; he has plenty of evidence that she was coerced into going along with Bryce's schemes (especially after it should've been really apparent that the abuse wasn't a one-time thing), was never actually dishonest with him and believed that nothing would come of the clause because she believed in Nathan as someone that wouldn't cheat.

Also, how Nathan serves her the divorce papers? Absolutely the fuck not. His reaction to her pregnancy? Nope. She should've just cut ties and vanished.

Nathan's treatment of Melanie throughout their relationship (and separation) was full of red flags, and not the fun kind. The derogatory language that she was clearly, repeatedly uncomfortable with (plus, she goes from being a called "my whore" as his wife to a "lying bitch" as his ex... I think Nathan might be a tad misogynistic), his quick temper/knee-jerk reactions always being to verbally and emotionally hurt her any time he was upset, his disregard for her if it didn't immediately serve him (forgetting plans, not caring about their wedding, etc.), and that he mostly just seemed interested in sex.

He wavers on whether he wants to be with her until, like, the 94% mark. It takes her BFF reaming him out for him to make a decision (outside of him just wanting sex), after Nathan again snaps at her, emotionally hurting her. Then they kiss and make up, suddenly everything is okay? I don't believe it. He's in lust, not love and Melanie deserves way fucking better than an asshole who won't get out of his own way.

This read was disappointing as hell by the time I got through it. I held out until the end hoping that the resolution was going to show some character growth on Nathan's behalf, but that never happened.

[Wobilba · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy reading this. Marriage of convenience is a favourite trope of mine and I liked the writing and both main characters.
But usually i don't mind excessive smut scenes as long as there's a plot balance and this was lacking.

3.5 ⭐️
4.5 🌶️

[Allie MacDonald · Rating 1 out of 5]

My mom told me if I don’t have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all. So here’s my review

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nathan annoyed me

I really hated Nathan for 35% of the novel, at the end. He was so awful to her. She did nothing wrong except for listen to her brother about his schemes way before she even was married. And after the marriage she told him, begged him actually not to do it, but of course he did because he was a douchebag. Nathan's anger at her, the way he served the papers to her, just totally put me off. The way he thought and talked about her was just awful, and even when she got pregnant, he was still talking smack. Yes at the end he came to his senses but by that time, I just had a problem forgiving him. The ending was sweet but I just totally was disappointed in him. I would like to read the others. As long as there is no cheating. :)

[My Pink Fairytales · Rating 5 out of 5]

The lawyers from Lorenzo’s book. Can’t wait to meet them 🤩

[Paige Willerick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love their instant connection and flirty vibes. Their zoo date conversations had me laughing until I cried. 🤣 a certain fan favorite made an appearance so OF COURSE I squealed at that surprise. 😍 the FMC is a sassy little thing and I love hers and Nathan's dynamic. The mashed potato debate was a hilarious scene and I literally laughed out loud. The drama that unfolded was beautifully and painfully drawn out all at the same time. I love the way their HEA panned out.
This isn't a dark romance, as is Sadie's typical genre, but it's still so incredibly good! I devoured this in just a few hours.

[addictedtodarkromance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nathan's father wanted an heir to the billionaire James family and Melanie's family wanted her to marry as their money was drying up (her brother did not manage it well) so the two agreed to a marriage of convenience. The one rule they set was that they were to never fall in love, however, they soon found this to be a losing battle as they felt pulled towards each other from the first time they met.

Melanie's family was horrible towards her and caused a lot of problems, stringing her along like a puppet. She felt she needed to go along with their plans because she felt it was the only way to protect her little sister from them. Nathan assumed she would be like all the other women he was with but he found out he was wrong in many ways. They faced a lot of challenges together and some of them were heartbreaking (grab a box or two of tissues!!!). The way Sadie wrote this story was perfect and I loved not only the main characters but all of them, you could really feel everything they felt. I was angry, sad, devastated, shocked and so much more!!!

Nathan was dominant, confident, charming and in control & Melanie was strong, loyal, witty and giving. They were meant for each other and complimented each other really well. Sadie def knows how to write steamy scenes and dirty talkers and Broken is no exception, the smexy times were off the charts. I loved that there was never any unnecessary drama between the two of them!

If you haven't read any of Sadie's book I highly recommend you read them ALL and if you've already read her books then you NEED to pick this one up as it's just as amazing as the rest of them!!!

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
Spice/Heat Intensity: 3.5 out of 5 🌶️🌶️🌶️.5
Main Characters: Nathan & Melanie
Nickname: Corazon
Darkness Level: Not Dark but there is a major TW/CW so please check it out
Type of book: MF, Duel 1st Person POV
Reading Order: Standalone with Interconnected Characters throughout the series
Title: Manhatten Rule Series- Broken: Book 1
Epilogue: Yes
Ending Type: HEA


*OTT Possessive, dominant, loyal and protective MMC
*Eyes only for her
*Arranged Marriage
*Lawyer/Veterinary Nurse
*TW/CW - Miscarriage
*No cheating or sharing


⚠️ This book may be triggering to some - Please check the TW/CW before reading! 18+

*I was graciously offered an early copy of this book & am voluntarily leaving this review

[Delaena · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is exactly what I sent to my discord 😭🤣.

I just got out of a slump 😀 but this book made me annoyed ⭐️⭐️/5-⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. ⚠️Spoilers ⚠️Don’t get me wrong I love me a good billionaire romance with a marriage of convenience and she’s struggling and he’s actually a loving guy. AND THEN WHEN THE PLOT TWIST HAPPENS HE BLAMES HIS WIFE FOR EVERYTHING AND KICKS HER OUT WITHOUT LETTING HER EXPLAIN EVERYTHING (HER BROTHER IS SHITTY AND ONE DIMENSIONAL. SHE TOLD HIM NOT TO DO IT BUT HES GREEDY AND WANTS MONEY). LATER HE GOES TO HER HOUSE AND FUCKS HER AND SERVES HER DIVORCE PAPERS. ARE YOU KIDDING ME😭😭😭. THAT WOULD SEND ME INTO ORBIT. AND THEN SHE GETS PREGNANT AND SHES ALREADY LOST 2 BABIES PREVIOUSLY AND SHE WAS TALKIJG TO HIM ON THE OHONE (AFTER SHE ALREADY TOLD HIM ABOUT THE BABY) AND SHE HEARS A GIRL IN THE BACKGROUND AND HE SAYS THEYRE JUST GOING TO AN EVENT TOGETHER AND SHE HANGS UP THE PHONE AND THEN SHE MISSCARRIED😭😭 AND THEN AT THE END AFTER HE TAKES CARE OF HER HELPING HER THROUGH THAT TOUGH TIME HE TELLS HER TO STAY FOREVER AND THAT HE MISSES HER AND HE FOUND OUT SHE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT HER BROTHER DID AND YK WHAT SHE SAYS!!!?? DO YALL KNOW WHAT SHE SAYS?! “OKAY YES IVE MISS YOU TOO” AND THEN THEY HAVE SEX. EXCUSE MEEEEEE THE DICK MAY BE GREAT BUT HE DID ABSOLUTELY NO GROVELING🙄🙄🙄

okay im so sorry. I had to rant. It was killing me 😭😭

[Mia S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mafia, loved Nathan and Melanie was funny but her brother continually stepped all over her and of course forced into marriage. The tension between the two did not last too long but still would’ve wanted sooner, but after turmoil I thought Nathan took too far and was kind of a d!ck. But loved the story, the epilogues were amaze duck, loved the entire book!

[Paloma FC (in my reading era) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐
4.5 / 5 🌶️
Spicy Chapters: 23, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 37, 49, 66

Nathan (MMC) and Melanie (FMC)

This book was overall entertaining and had me hooked, I finished it entirely in under 24h.

This book has the "marriage of convenience" trope, wich I don't particularly love or hate, but it takes ages for the two MC's to finally seal the deal in both marriage, and getting physical 🔥.
However, once we get to the hot and spicy parts, there are A LOT of well written, delicious spicy scenes 🌶. Nathan has a VERY dirty mouth, which I'm sure most of us don't mind at all 😳🤭🥵

I must say that the relationship between Nathan and Melanie feels almost entirely physical, with not a lot of depth in conversation or emotion, imo.

Things that bothered me:
I found it pretty dumb how Melanie, who is supposed to be an intelligent, modern, hard-working woman, wouldn't even want to go over the prenuptial contract with Nathan. When Nathan points out that there's info about their future kids' custody agreement, etc. She just says that she "trusts her lawyer," 🤦🏼‍♀️🙄😤😩🤨 Unbelievable. Not only is this irresponsible, but also naive and ridiculous. I understand that the author is trying to make a point about Melanie not caring about money to prove that she's not a gold digger, but not even caring about the future of her unborn kids is taking it a step too far 🧐😩😤😠.

I also didn't like how Melanie just goes along with anything and everything that her idiot & mean brother wants, including making decisions about her future as if it was nothing. He coerced her by making her believe that she had their dad killed, but it's like: C'mon, grow up and stand up for yourself. You're not a kid anymore 😠😩😖...

Nathan seems like an honest and straightforward guy who tells Melanie what he expects from her from the first day they meet. However, she keeps imagining the fairytale treatment and becoming disappointed when he doesn't act in the way she wants.

Anyhow, a good read for a lazy Sunday or for a time when you are looking for a spicy novel without an intricate plot or emotional depth.


Happy reading! 📚

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Such a great start to this new series. I couldn’t put it down. I loved the instant connection between Nathan and Melanie, they had crazy chemistry right from the start. I love all the side characters, and can’t wait for the other brothers to have their own stories!

[ReviewWithPhil · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is AWFUL. You have a whole story where relationships are being built but you as the reader don’t see them. You get to see maybe one or two moments of communication and then nothing and then all of a sudden they have a really strong friendship. Basically the author wanted to hurry up and finish this book and it was awful. Just awful. Please don’t read this dumpster fire just because you happen to see a quote on tiktok like I did. It was garbage

[Ghada · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐
_ Tropes _
Billionaire
Marriage of convenience
We must conceive an heir
Found family
Touch her and you ☠️

_ Kinks _
Dirty talk, Spanking, Edging, squirting, humping.

_ TW _
Miscarriages, abuse from family members, grief.

Why this is so angsty!! 😭
I thought it would be a billionaire marriage of convenience and a low angst story to heal my heart after finishing long shot but guess out it didn't but I ate it up.
The chemistry between these two was on fire i loved them together. The hero had a filthy mouth that made me blush while I was listening to the audiobook. The restaurant scene was 🔥
I listened to the audiobook it was duet and perfect. Elena wolfe and Aaron Shedlock did a great job I highly recommend listening to it.

[Kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 ⭐️
3.5/5 🌶️

OKAY WAIT WAIT WAIT. This was so spicy & so good! I love Sadie’s writing. I have been SLEEPING on this author so bad!

[Casey Friedman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Guys I’m just trying to reach my reading goal okay???

[Ella 💐 · Rating 1 out of 5]

what the fuck
i would burn this book if it wasn’t on my kindle
and who tf calls there cousin “baby girl” 😵‍💫😵‍💫
i only finished this book so i could talk about how much i hated it

[Shushi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating - ⭐⭐⭐.5
Spice - 🌶🌶🌶🌶 (it's spicing)

Trope - fake dating, marriage of convenience, age gap, arranged marriage, grumpy × sunshine, she falls first he falls harder, lawyer × veterinary nurse, family drama, misunderstanding, grey theme, HEA
TW- death of a family member, miscarriage, physical abuse

Bonus chapter - 1

This book caught my attention from the moment I read the prologue. It had drama, emotions, love, misunderstanding, issues, and lots of spice.

When I first started I expected a lot of bickering and drama, but surprisingly these two mutually decided to be friends before becoming spouses/parents which is different from the usual marriage of convenience books and it's good to have something new in hand. Everything goes fine until one of them(mostly him)reminds the other that this marriage isn't real and they shouldn't get attached. I hated those moments where these two would pull back after sharing so meaningful and beautiful moments - the post-marriage scenario was way more complicated where they would usually fight and have arguments over the tiniest bit of detail which I think is how marriages are irl but I didn't wanna see these characters fight over literally anything.

Pre-marriage Nathan was a good, flirty man. The moment he showed affection to those shelter animals was the moment I was putty. He not only tried to love them as equally as her but he also took care of them just to make her happy. That one chapter where he brought treats and snacks for all the animals in the shelter, omfg. However, the post-marriage Nathan took a 360 turn, he was a douchebag, an arrogant jerk - though he usually instantly corrected himself and his mistakes, those apologies meant/felt nothing to me as a reader.

The couple had great chemistry, but I just hoped everything didn't just rely on their physical relationship, and after a point, it was just too much. They just needed a reason to have sex - angry let's have sex, sad let's have sex, pissed let's have sex. Like bruh, share some real moments, love isn't all about sex.

The drama here was probably the most I've seen in a while. They are initially forced to marry, then they mutually decide to be friends before it, fake date for a while, then have a marriage of convenience, have lots of sex and arguments, misunderstanding, an almost separation, divorce drama, baby drama, brother drama, like omg how many more hurdles do they have before they have a good normal relationship?

The second half was so much more emotional than I expected. The whole pregnancy fiasco especially after the spoiler the author gave us in the trigger warning was pure torture. Throughout this part, I was sitting with an awkward/sad face because everything bad in the world seemed to happen with the H and h. The idea of Nate fucking her before serving the divorce paper and then having the audacity to ask her about the father of their unborn child made my blood boil, like ik you're hurt man but don't be cruel  Ugh, I wanted to hit him.

I fucking hated Bryce, he wasn't just a bad brother and man but he also ruined Mel and Nathan's life. He deserved everything he got. Nevertheless, the other characters like Nathan's family are sweet, funny, and nice but Damn Tyler stood out to me - if I want a guy friend I want him to be like Tyler, supportive, loving, caring, and fuckass protective.

If it wasn't for the misunderstanding and drama, this would clearly have been a 4-star read. Regardless, the last 20% was so much better and sweeter - the couple was in love, and happy, and they had beautiful family moments. Both the epilogues were just perfect. I was happy to see them grow and expand their family after so many obstacles and issues.

Overall 3.5, definitely enjoyed it.

[Chelsie Lucas · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not that I HATED it but like.
Ok.
She and him have magic together. The spice is great and the grumpy sunshine is good.
But then he looses his shit.
And yes. 100% deserved but then 0% deserved when he KEEPS GOING with blaming her and dude. EVERYONE has said it wasn’t her. She CLEARLY acts like it wasn’t her.
He STILL isn’t great to her and then something REALLY shit happens and she proceeds to blame herself. For like a HOT minute and it’s so unsatisfying.
Like. He needed to grovel a little at least and she needed some Backbone. Like. Fing ANY backbone.

It wasn’t BAD. The book was ok. But I wish this author made the MMC work for it. At all. And the FMC love herself enough to be angry at him.
He’s saying and thinking THE WORST of you and you’re just nodding sadly
Like
Woman.
🙄 come on.

[Kailynn (slump 😔)]

If you put a gun to my head and told me to read this book… the gun would go off.

[Jen Herting · Rating 1 out of 5]

a “top recommended book” about a woman who marries the billionaire lawyer for the mob …. time for me to put my kindle down and touch grass for a sec ✋🏼😭

[Sabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get it here:
Amazon US * Amazon UK

[Brianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️
When hot shot lawyer Nathan gets told by his Dad that he needs to settle down and get a wife like yesterday to preserve the family legacy, he wasn’t expecting his Dad to set him up with someone he could actually like. Mel agrees to the arrangement to help out her family who is hemorrhaging massive amounts of money from the family business, but what she didn’t bargain for was that she would fall for her husband.

Nathan and Mel had such good banter with each other. I actually liked the fact that these two actually liked each other and had great chemistry before they got married. It felt more authentic when the conflict finally hit and that much more heart breaking.

This book had all the spice that I have come to love from a Sadie Kincaid book plus some complex family dynamics that made for an entertaining read.

[*CJ* · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Broken” is the story of Melissa and Nathan.

TW abuse of power, recurrent miscarriages, physical abuse

Marriage of convenience story. Had many issues with this one
-turned my brain off in first half due to the constant mentions of sex with their exes with each other
-the hero was emotionally manipulative
-the trauma in last half was brushed under rug into a shiny hea
-the heroine never got comeuppance
-heroine needed therapy and further investigations

Didn’t enjoy this one at all
Safe
2/5

[Megan Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

sighhhhhhh. Another billionaire romance where the FMC “doesn’t love him for his money” aight bitch whatever you gotta tell yoself.

[Beyza · Rating 2 out of 5]

yine beni asla memnun etmeyen bir kitapla geldim ağlayacağım artık hepsi beni buluyor

Melanie/Nathan
30/38

Neyse kitabın konusu aslında güzeldi anlaşmalı evlilik falan filan çok severim
Bir şekilde başladık kızın ailesi çok iğrenç annesi ve abisi. Babası o 13 yaşındayken vefat etmiş. kız 30 yaşında. Adamla tanisiyorlar falan hemen flört oluyor çok çabuk adapte oldular bana geçmedi zaten
ama bunu çok sorun etmedim.
Adam da babası yüzünden evliliğe tamam diyor o kadar kizgindi ama kızı görünce niyeyse baba olası tuttu aile olası tuttu
adamın kitabın çoğunda iş anlaşması dedi tutturdu gıcık oldum

Komple spoiler içerir
neyse %55 60 a kadar normal anlaşmalı evlilik okuduk tatlılardi minnoşlardi.
Ama sonra kızın abisi mmc ye tuzak kurdu. Ve adam da bizi yani kadını suçladı servet avcısı dedi ağza alınmayacak şeyler dedi şahsen beni çok yaraladı. Gözümde haklıyken haksız duruma düştü. Kız basbayağı salak mmc ye en başta söylemeliydi durumu yine de bu kadar hakareti bence haketmedi.
Neyse bunlar boşanma aşamasına kadar geliyorlar ama sonra ne oluyor bir klişe oluyor kızımız hamile aaaaa çok şaşırdık

Neyse bunlar ortak ebeveyn olmaya karar veriyorlar . Bu arada kızımız 19 yaşındayken 2 bebek düşürmüş. Bir sürü travması acı bir geçmişi var ama yazar bunları asla doğru düzgün yazmamış nefret ediyorum ya.
Sonra mmc ve fmc bir tartışma yaşıyor adam yine karnında çocuğunu taşıyan kadını üzüyor ve bebek düşüyor.
Buradan yazara sorarım madem bebek düştü bu hamilelik neye hizmet etti ya amacı neydi yazar hanım?
Adam kadının geçmişini öğrendi sadece bunu daha güzel anlatamaz miydin?

Sonra çocuk düştükten sonra tepki sifir yası paylaşma beni tatmin etmedi güzel sahneler okuyabilirdik yine yok

Sonra adam bir iki güzel davranınca kız hemen sen çok iyisin mükemmelsin diyor kızım azcık gurur ya gurur sende hiç yok mu dedim. Adam sana servet avcısı dedi küfür etti inanmadı ne biçim davrandı.
Kız bu konuda haksızdı ama bu davranışları haketmedi bence.

Neyse sonra baristilar son kısımlarda
epilog da 10 ay sonra hamileydi
2 sene sonra tekrar hamileydi.

Seriye devam eder miyim bilmiyorum en küçük kardeşin hikayesini merak ediyorum şubatta çıkacakmış

[Olivia ❦ · Rating 3 out of 5]

★3.5/5! Marriage of Convenience mhm SIGN ME UPP! My first Sadie Kincaid book and it did not disappoint, I really enjoyed Melanie and Nathan. Meanie ugh i’m so happy she got her happy ending! SPOILERS? i wish we could’ve seen her pregnant a little bit longer or a chapter with her just giving birth, just imagining the joy on her face (.づ◡﹏◡)づ.

i’m so excited for the Chicago Ruthless series, ESPECIALLY KERES

PLEASE PLEASER CAN WE HAVE TYLERS BOOK I NEED IT SO BAD

[Olga 🌺 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Since I am reading Book 3 now I am mighty glad that I didn't read this series in order.
Because I freaking hate Nathan's guts in book 3. He's such an a**hole! I don't have the words to describe how much I hate this piece of 💩. Not to mention his wife Melanie, the hypocrite.

That's all I am going to say....

[Vintage · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started out promising where the hero and heroine are totally besotted in their little MOC. The heroine doesn't tell the hero something she really should have. It was stupid not to, but hardly deserves the scorched earth temper tantrum from the H. He lets off the abusive, possibly homicidal brother and despicable mother off with less of a tell off than the heroine.

Jerk.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me just say, this book was enjoyable overall, especially with the nods to past characters from other series, which I appreciated. Just be mindful of potential triggers as you read. I absolutely loved Tyler—he was there for Mel when no one else was. Ashley is such a sweetheart, but as for Bryce… I wished the Ryan brothers would’ve stepped in 😤

My rating is based purely on my personal opinion.

If you’re into a book where the male main character (MMC) lacks communication skills, refuses to listen, and doesn’t know how to apologize, this might be for you. But I personally hated the MMC for how he treats the female main character (FMC), and I was frustrated with the FMC for being so desperate for love that she puts up with borderline abuse.

There’s ZERO groveling. Not even a hint. He has one last go with her giving Mel false hope, gets dressed, immediately says he wants a divorce, and just walks out on her.

Then, after finding out she’s pregnant, he decides to be a semi-decent guy, still without apologizing, still refusing to believe she wasn’t involved in setting him up. Spoiler: she wasn’t! Honestly, I wouldn’t have even told him about the pregnancy because he clearly isn’t worth it.

I know the dinner “date” wasn’t anything personal, BUT he is giving her whiplash at this point. Nate has the audacity to be irritated with Mel for being upset hearing another female voice in the back ground. She is pregnant, vulnerable, and all around a damaged person. Of course she is upset! Nate causes Mel so much pain with his lashing out and refusal to listen. So just when things seem to be looking up, he’s out with the above woman (a “family friend and colleague”) while Mel miscarried—completely alone, taking a cab to the hospital. Despite everything, Mel is so broken and desperate for love that she lets him come back, playing the hero when he doesn’t deserve it.