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Colin Carter was promised a fortune by his late boss, but instead the money was left to a daughter no one knew the old man had. Now he has to find the lost heiress before anyone else and claim his stake in the Farrell family fortune... even if that means claiming her.

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2016

297 people are currently reading
792 people want to read

About the author

Mallory Crowe

64 books340 followers
Mallory Crowe has lived in Michigan her whole life and has been in love with romance ever since she'd skip to the end of every novel, just to make sure the hero and heroine survived and ended up together. She lives with her husband and three dogs. When she's not writing, she's spending too much time in front of the TV, hiking, or working with various animal rescues.

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5 stars
324 (34%)
4 stars
303 (32%)
3 stars
235 (25%)
2 stars
53 (5%)
1 star
13 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
764 reviews2,111 followers
March 9, 2017
This was an enjoyable romance though not really suspenseful. I would have enjoyed it if the two love interests' romance hadn't felt rushed.

Some parts also felt really unrealistic .


Also, Dickie is a dick
Profile Image for SueBee★bring me an alpha!★.
2,417 reviews15.4k followers
Want to read
December 8, 2016
 photo Free Re xB by sb_zpsiu4dgdux.gif

FREE on Amazon US today (12/7/2016)

Stand-alone book 1.

BLURB:
Colin Carter was promised a fortune by his late boss, but instead the money was left to a daughter no one knew the old man had. Now he has to find the lost heiress before anyone else and claim his stake in the Farrell family fortune... even if that means claiming her.

FREE: https://www.amazon.com/Ruthless-Fract...


FREEBIES are often good for MORE than one day. I have gathered all my FREEBIES on a special shelf: Kindle-freebies (currently over 600 books)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Profile Image for Elena.
216 reviews44 followers
March 23, 2017
Хубаво изградени главни образи и на Джийн и на Колин, много добра идея за история, ОБАЧЕ ми липсваше емоцията в цялата книга. Липсваше ми емоция в историята, липсваше ми емоция между главните, липсваше ми емоция между Джийн и семейството ѝ / майка ѝ, братята ѝ в последствие/ изобщо ми липсваше всякаква емоция. Действието накрая се разви много бързо, да не кажа скорострелно /само в една глава/, въпреки че признавам си до последно не подозирах кой искаше да убие Джийн. Последната глава и обяснението в любов, изсмукано, изсмукано от пръстите, претупано, без грам чувство. В началото историята започна наистина добре /затова са ми и трите звезди :)/, но с този претупан край ме разочарова много. И ми липсваше епилог накрая, недовършена ми е някак си историята между главните.
Profile Image for Pamela(AllHoney).
2,716 reviews376 followers
January 27, 2018
The first book in the Fractured Farrells series by Mallory Crowe. Colin Carter, from Taming Rourke , seeks out Jean Hill, the illegitimate daughter of the late Walter Farrell, in order to con her out of her share of the inheritance. Jean doesn't believe she is the daughter and that's is fine with Colin. He'll just make sure the DNA test says she is. But suddenly someone is trying to kill Jean and Colin must protect her.

I was interested in how Colin's story was going to play out and I was pleased. Mallory Crowe writes in an easy style for me. She keeps things going throughout the book. She may not have made it to my most beloved authors list but I am enjoying her. I do have some issues regarding how fast the romances happen and some of the plotlines seem a tad weak for my personal taste but not enough to prevent me from reading them.
Profile Image for Hristina Tserovska.
369 reviews8 followers
August 8, 2017
Незапомняща се история, в която всичко беше доста повърхностно описано! Не усетих в кой момент се влюбват Джийн и Колин, края беше дори незавършен. Ще прочета и втората книга, но без да имам никакви очаквания.
Profile Image for Ashley.
379 reviews17 followers
February 6, 2017
Rating: 4/5
***Minor spoilers***

All her life, Jean thought her father was just some nameless nobody that got with her mom and ran off. Granted, that is what happened, but he's not exactly a nameless nobody. He's actually a billionaire who just died and left Jean a fortune in his will, but the problem is, none of his sons, the Farrell brothers, knew she even existed. Colin, the late billionaire's "henchman" if you will, plans to take advantage of the situation. He tracks down Jean and convinces her to come with him so that she can take DNA tests to prove she's the heiress. However, he doesn't inform her that she's the actual heiress. She thinks he's manipulating the DNA tests. The truth is, Colin is planning on proving her identity, getting her inheritance, and then taking half of it for himself. He doesn't plan on getting attached to Jean, though.

I loved this book way more than I ever expected to. I will admit that this book uses one of my favourite romantic tropes ever, enemies (of sorts) to lovers. When it's written well, you can bet that I'm all for it. Add the fact that the actual plot is pretty interesting and the characters are good and have good chemistry and you have the ingredients for a great book.

It's a bit hard to comment in things in this book considering I don't want to spoil too much, and its a pretty short book. Colin is an interesting character with a good backstory and I found him to be quite real. I didn't like that he viewed Jean as so helpless, but I'm really glad that Jean proved him wrong time and time again. She actually helped rather than being a sort of damsel in distress. The romantic/sexual tension between them was also done very well. It had me strung along and begging for them to get together already.

Overall, this was a really great read that had an interesting plot, great characters, and a believable romance. It was written really well and even though it was a short book, there was a fair amount of action to keep you excited. I would definitely recommend it to you if you're looking for a romantic suspense/action sort of book.
165 reviews13 followers
August 23, 2016
I was given an advanced reader copy in return for an honest review (my only kind). There was more sex than I like this book, but you can skip over most of it to get back to the storyline easily enough, and even the sex scenes were well handled so as to not be really untoward to me (I'm a 71-year old straight-laced broad). The story is multi-layered and the plot is well developed with twists here and there to keep your mind hopping with the storyline.

Colin Carter is about to pull a very lucrative scam on Jean Hill, the long-lost sister of four billionaire Farrell brothers and it will set him up for life. Only when he meets her she's nothing like what he expected. Gradually a fuller picture of Colin emerges and also his growing attraction to Jean. Then it turns out someone is trying to arrange Jean's death, and suddenly Colin is trying to ride herd on a recalcitrant Jean and keep her safe from assassins. And he still doesn't know who wants her dead. Looking closer to home might provide some answers. This book is a roller coaster ride all the way to the last sentence, is a stand-alone HEA, providing mystery down to the last sentence. And...it's the first book in a series, so there are others waiting to be read! I recommend this book to all fans of romance books.
Profile Image for Vanessa Ruiz.
Author 13 books37 followers
July 30, 2020
I read this book on Wattpad and was disappointed to find out that a chapter was missing, it repeated the previous chapter as well. But I kept on going and was not disappointed, Jean stayed with her soulmate and the love birds had a baby girl which is just plain adorable, I’m also happy to find out that her brothers weren’t the ones out to kill her and instead accepted her into their lives with no questions asked even though they didn’t know each other much.

Loved this book. 🤍
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Deanna Walker.
683 reviews9 followers
July 1, 2023
It was okayish but getting there in that book..

I really don’t know what to say to this book but, hopefully the second series will be a better one…

Looking forward to read more book series soon…
807 reviews
November 3, 2016
Plot: Former muscle for now-deceased billionaire seeks out billionaire's daughter born out of wedlock to gain part of her inheritance. They fall in love. For the most part, the plot line was predictable, though I did *not* predict who the ultimate bad guy was.

Characters: Sometimes the characters acted within their illustrated parameters, and other times they did not. The main female character was refreshingly NOT your typical damsel in distress, though she is originally portrayed as a naive country bumpkin. The brothers were surprising in their acceptance of their new sister, and honestly, I'm thinking of reading the next novel in the series just to see how the family relationships develop.

Romance: Cliche. The "I love you's" were too quick and not supported by context.

Pace: Steady

Technical: Decent. Some of the verb tense issues I noticed were in dialogue and could easily be explained as being the way people in Arkansas speak.

Overall: Meh. I've read worse, but overall, this novel wasn't that interesting.
Profile Image for Whit.
3,676 reviews52 followers
October 8, 2016
It's amazing how sane Jean is considering all the greedy, crazy, self-centered people coming out of the woodwork. And there are no words for that horrible mother of hers. I just hope that Colin puts his greed aside and does the right thing by Jean. Her "brothers" don't want her in their family and her mother just uses her. Will Jean ever get the life she deserves?
Profile Image for Dannah Leizl.
275 reviews8 followers
December 21, 2016
Ruthless by Mallory Crowe


This book is nice, not straight shot to my top favorite books, but it wasn't bad either.
I guess sometimes I just missed out some points on it, but overall, it's actually good.


Jean is as sunny as most heroines written. She was forced by an event to make a decision. What I like most about the character is that she's positive and strong-willed.

Colin – I had doubts with him. Granted, he is hot, but some of his actions need some explaining. Like what's the point of hiding from Jean the fact that she's the real heiress? And why lie with some not so important facts? I can't say I like his character.


The plot is weird though. I guess the reason why I keep on reading is because I want to know Jean’s reaction when she finds out the truth and who the real culprit is. Frankly, I don't see he point of lying to Jean about her true father.


The pace is slow to build up the tension but honestly, I don't see the sparks. Well, maybe just attraction and lust, but the deep connection? I'm finding it lacking. Yes, they have their moments, but sometimes it's missing.


The ending is also nice, it came with a bang, plus I love the epilogue.


Overall, it's a fairly good book; might read it again, might not. But I am interested with the other books in the series.

3.5 stars.
1,796 reviews2 followers
September 13, 2017
Great!

I chose this rating because this was a really good book. The characters were something serious. And I mean very serious. Well to start off I didn't like the way Jean's mom was I alcoholic and a gambler. But Jean loved her mom though she would do anything she could for her. Colin wow, he was very manipulative at first. Then he and Jean spend some time together and then everything fell into place. Jean found that she had three brothers they were some real gangsters I'll put it like that. I tell you this was a really great book. To me everything was in order the way it should have been. Everything fell into place like it should have. I really love the way the author did the characters of Jean and Colin. This is some really great stuff. Now to me it was, but I can't speak for others. Great read. I recommend this book to all romance readers. Great ending.
Profile Image for Paige Norman.
610 reviews3 followers
July 2, 2021
Read this as part of a four-part romance book by Mallory Crowe (Meet Cute: Four Heart Pounding Romances From Mallory Crowe)

I've read the 2nd book in this series, "Reckless" prior to this, and I generally like Mallory Crowe books.

Jean is working a low-paying job, barely getting by, and trying to avoid giving her mother more money to throw away on gambling. Enter Colin who's only in this for the payout he's going to get from her and from the family she didn't even know existed. There are a lot of really good parts in this book, some intrigue, some danger, and a couple of pretty hot scenes. But there's also A LOT missing, especially as the book winds down to the end. There's a huge jump from meeting her family, finding the people who are trying to kill her, and the HEA. Standalone, but there's probably more information and continuation in the other books in the series.

Profile Image for Barbara.
1,875 reviews6 followers
May 26, 2017
I liked this first book in the series. Colin is an enforcer for a man he expected to leave him money when he died. That didn't happen so he decided to trick this man's lost daughter into collecting a payoff and splitting it with him. He told her it was a scam so she'd share the money with him, but she was a real lost daughter. Jean is that daughter who has had a hard life and decides to help him because he helps her mother when she gets into trouble. Of course he's lying to her and she's mad when she figures it out.

When he does everything he can to protect her, Colin realizes he loves her. Now the question is if she'll forgive him and if she loves him. It is a romance so you can assume what happens, but I thought it was nicely done.
173 reviews
November 11, 2017
Callous But Handsome

Jean was back home in Arkansas after leaving right after graduation. She was working as a waitress when approached by Colin, the billionaire's bodyguard of Walter Farrell, who recently died,. He had a plan to scam the family and showed her photos. Does Jean work with Colin on this scam? Could she pose as Walter Farrell's daughter that no one knew?


This is an excellent story where Jean agrees to pose as Farrel'ls daughter, and shortly after has someone trying to kill her. It leads to a high powered and exciting story of Jean's need for a better life, and to learning to trust after an unhappy childhood with a drunken mother who left her as a child for her grandmother to take bring up, and dealing with a very good looking bodyguard.
Profile Image for Viper Spaulding.
3,149 reviews25 followers
June 1, 2020
Fascinating story about hidden motives!

Told in alternating third-person omniscient POV, the strength of this story lies in the insights we get into each character's motives. Colin certainly could come off as a dangerous fortune-hunter, but since we know his heart we understand how complex the situation really is. Jean is a wonderfully vibrant heroine, even when she doesn't quite understand everything going on around her. She has an inner strength that shines through from start to finish.

The emphasis on the entire family added a lot of depth to this story, and I really enjoyed the suspense and intrigue throughout. A fabulous read, one I highly recommend for contemporary romance readers.
Profile Image for Magwan.
680 reviews6 followers
September 2, 2021
Missing sister

Hard working waitress living in a trailer park, with an absent mum who cares more about gambling than a relationship with her daughter. Enter a mysterious stranger who claims she is the missing heiress.
A slow paced drama about reuniting siblings and claiming an inheritance.
Well written, ok characters and dialogue but I just couldn't get into it because the pace seemed to slow for me and the characters were very simple which needed more substance. It was very predictable too.
If you like a romance which is easy and has some drama then this is for you. My journey with this series stops here.
Profile Image for nina.
84 reviews1 follower
July 29, 2019
Eh, this was okay. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t “bad” either. I just didn’t really feel the chemistry between the two main characters and didn’t believe their “insta love” in the last chapter after beefing for basically the entirety of the book.

I was going to read the following books in the series but I think I’ll be moving on to something else.
Profile Image for Primero.
697 reviews12 followers
October 31, 2019
A short easy to read book. If you didn’t think much about it you could enjoy. I don’t understand why money went to her alone and how Colin going to steal half of it. I must zones out and missed that part where it was explained. The loving each other felt abrupt. Having daughter felt forced cause I haven’t connected to the characters.
Profile Image for Susa.
559 reviews1 follower
July 3, 2021
Bad boy Colin, who thinks he’s too far gone to be loved helps damsel in distress Jean get her rightful inheritance, for a little bonus - clear 😎
When her live is endangered he becomes her knight in shining armor and falls hard for the lovely and affectionate girl.
Excellent mix of romance and suspense, a impressive read!
Profile Image for Jennifer Campos.
145 reviews
January 21, 2019
Love this book. It's a great beginning to the series. Not knowing that you're part of a family and a RICH family at that! I can't wait to read more about her brothers. Starting off with her and Colin was the way to go!
Profile Image for Melissa Swafford.
748 reviews
April 17, 2019
I have been a fan of Mallory Crowe ever since April & Sam in Teaching the Boss. I eagerly waited for each one in that series and will be doing the same for the Farrell brothers. Could not put this book down.
306 reviews2 followers
November 13, 2021
A nice and interesting read. Colin Carter was promised a fortune by his late boss, but instead the money was left to a daughter no one knew the old man had. Now he has to find the lost heiress before anyone else and claim his stake in the Farrell family fortune... even if that means claiming her.
Profile Image for Debbie.
166 reviews
February 2, 2017
Refreshingly addictive, not my usual but really enjoyed it. Can't wait to read the rest of the series
Profile Image for Svetlana Kostova.
66 reviews1 follower
June 30, 2017
Определено ми хареса, защото имаше интрига, която аз чак накрая схванах. Но пък за жалост не усетих някаква изпепеляваща страст.
Profile Image for Valencia.
Author 5 books34 followers
July 2, 2017
Over protective bad boy with a guh? Say no more!

I enjoyed this read. The female lead was strong, independent and actually pretty reasonable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews

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