I somehow forcefully finished this.
If I could give this book a zero, I would.
Repeat after me, child marriage/engagement is NOT a romance plot, it's abuse.
Catharina Maura is just another author who upholds patriarchy in her books and nobody will convince me otherwise. The entire premise of her arranged marriage series is so patriarchal and fucked up. I wouldn't have picked up this book if my friends hadn't convinced me but NOW, I won't trust their recommendations. She needs to really get a grip and see how problematic her books are becoming and needs to do better. Enough of women being abused only for a man to be her saviour. Stop. And more often than not, the man himself is abusing the FMC. Sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. Weird as fuck.
Let's start with that loser ass grandma. Girl, when are you dying? I need you to die ASAP. You are nothing but a nosy little loser who upholds the patriarchy and I need you to stop ruining everyone's life. It's not a feminist move you think it is just because you're a woman.
Again, Faye's mother was another weirdo in this book. I don't care if she's dead, I'm actually not mad at all because what kinda weirdo talks about marrying her 2 year old daughter to her best friend's 12 year old son? In no world is this normal and acceptable. It's weird and it's clear she was a shitty mother. Nobody in Faye's life was good to her, ever.
Next, the plotline. It was absolutely GARBAGE. You want me to cheer for a book where a 2 year old was engaged to a 12 year old 😍 and she was abused throughout her life because of that? She has no identity, she doesn't know who she is or who she could have been because of that engagement and you want me to cheer for that? Hell nah.
Grandma said, "I knew the father would abuse her so I fixed her marriage with you so she won't get abused after 25 years" girl I know you're old but you ain't gotta be that dense? What about 25 years leading upto that marriage? And, if you really cared about Faye not being abused, just call social services? You're the 'richest family in the world' and yet you can't have some low life thrown into jail for abusing his daughter? You can't put your PI to check if she was getting abused? There's no way you didn't notice she was getting abused? When she missed all the dinners, why didn't you check on her? Loser ass excuses of a loser a woman.
Dion, I don't blame you for the child marriage thing but you're pathetic anyway. I could have liked you but you're also a misogynistic pig. Hannah ain't no saint but claiming she hurt your brother as if Ares was a saint is weird. You think abusing women makes you a badass? Your family's saviour? Nah. It doesn't. You think making her work as a maid to destroy her ego made you a hero? No. It didn't. You knew Raven wouldn't have wanted that and you couldn't respect that. It's never about family or saving people you love but always about dominance. Loser. And, you're very bad in bad, I can tell. Faye isn't experienced enough so she doesn't understand how pathetic you are but I do! Repeating same 4 lines and never shutting up oh my god STOP. It's icky and weird.
And, OH MY GOD, when he got mad at her for having another house of her own? Boy, you have NO idea what victims of abuse go through. It's not about you or trust, it's about FEAR. It's about having SOME freedom. It's about being able to do something for yourself. Dion is such a fucking manchild, ugh. Zero emotional intelligence and zero consideration or regard of his wife's post. A literal LOSER.
Faye, love, I have nothing but love for you. You deserve better than all of them combined.
Don't bother picking up this book<3