Not my favorite in this series but still good 3.75 stars
This is book #6 in Henry's Wicked Vows series. This is the story of the last and youngest Romanov brother, Ollie, and Renata. It takes place in the same world, and deals with some of the same characters, as in Lev and Isabela's story (Shackled); ..i.e., members of the Los Sangre Dorada (LSD) Columbian cartel. Renata, was Isabella's best friend in Shackled.
I love Jane Henry books, but have to admit this one was my least favorite in this series. Doesn't mean I didn't like it, just that there were a few things I didn't like. Such as: 1. This story not only doesn't pick up where the previous book left off, but more importantly events actually differ with no explanation provided and 2. The story outline is too similar to the previous book. So specifics...
1. Someone killed in the previous book is now suddenly alive again in this one. Wouldn't have been an issue if they had left it in the previous book where his supposedly dead body is left on the floor only to later be discovered missing..but no...they also conduct a search and discover him, severly injured, in the woods trying to crawl away. He's recaptured, dealt with, and his body taken, along with others, to their warehouse to be disposed of. No explanation provided of how this grievously injured, dead man managed to not only survive death, but escape the guards at the warehouse. Additional at the end of the previous book, Renata is being held captive by Ollie at the family compound under suspicion of being a traitor. But this book opens with her gone (escaped or taken?). Again no explanation of how she either escaped or was taken from a secure compound with guards all over the place.
2. Book one has Isabella's brother, head of The LSD cartel, wanting to take his sister and her allies, the Romanov's, down. He's hiding and waiting for the opportune time to strike while they try to find him. Isabella finally uses herself as bait to draw him out. In this book, Renata's brother, Carlos, who was ally to Isabella's brother, is after the Romonov's and his sister. He's been hiding out waiting for the opportune time to strike. Renata uses herself to draw him out. Sound familiar?
There are a couple of other things not thought out or explained well enough and therefore are totally unbelievable...like how Carlos managed to hide inside the secured Romanov home, inside a secured compond with cameras all round, completely undetected...especially when they have heat sensor scanning equipment they used all over the house.
Aside from that, I loved the developing relationship between Renata and Ollie. Renata's difficulties with Ollie come from her severe dislike of violence stemming from her history. She finds it hard to reconcile the hard, violent, Ollie who kills and beats men without remorse with the Ollie who is sweet and caring to her. It's hard for her to trust his soft side because her brother was once soft with her, her protector, until he turned on her, became, uncaring, cruel, and violent towards her. How can she be sure Ollie won't turn on her too. Ollie, on the other hand struggles with wanting to keep his hard violent side from Renata so she's not scared of him, yet still wants her to accept all of him for who he is, the man who will do what's necessary to protect her and his family. I loved how in the end, when she walks in while he's "interrogating" a man and she's sees his hard violent side, but the minute he looks her that hardness softens and she finally realizes he will never hurt her and always protect her.
In truth, had I not read the previous book in this series, most of the issues I had wouldn't have been issues at all; so ultimately, I gave this 3.75 stars. (Next book (and likely last) will be the sole sister, Polina's story.