The Wrong Bride

The Windsors #1

by Catharina Maura

She’s his fiancée’s younger sister. He’s the man she’s always loved.

When her sister doesn’t show up on her wedding day, Raven has no choice but to take her place — but marriage to Ares Windsor is nothing short of torture.

The elusive billionaire media mogul is the man she’s always loved… yet he’s only ever had eyes for her sister.

Married to him at last, Raven is determined to win him over.

After all, everything is fair in love and war.

And this?

This is war.

Genres: Romance, Friends To Lovers, Marriage Of Convenience, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Billionaire Romance, Forced Proximity

382 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2022

About the author

Catharina Maura is a USA Today and Amazon #1 bestselling author. She writes angsty, fast-paced contemporary romance novels that break your heart before they lead you to a hard-won happily ever after.

Cat lives in Hong Kong with her husband and a dozen houseplants that all have names. When she isn't daydreaming about future characters, she's exploring the world and seeking out new adventures.

You can find Cat's socials and latest updates here: https://hi.catharinamaura.com/bio

Reviews

[chan ☆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

i'm not often compelled to immediately open my laptop to write a goodreads review for a book upon finishing it but good lord i had to for this one.

because what the fuck was this book. i like mess, i like angst, i like drama. but i don't like one dimensional characters, ridiculous family dynamics, and stupid stupid stupid nicknames/terms of endearment. i thought i was signing up for a romantic nuanced take on the "i love my sister's fiance" thing but instead i got the younger sister getting with the dude and then the older sister not leaving them alone. like ever. despite being told that her younger sister was going to marry the dude. big sis had her chance to marry the guy. she says no. and then is appalled that her lil sister marries him and lives happily ever after?

the plot lines on General Hospital are more rich than this. this makes me want to never try new to me authors lol.

[Larissa Cambusano · Rating 1 out of 5]

well.. that was certainly a book that I read.

[Оля (hiatus) *** · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's too much drama here. Events 5 years ago: the hero and heroine are best friends and almost engaged (their families decided so). Once drunk, the hero deprives the heroine of her virginity, but waking up in the morning finds her sister in bed and decides that he dreamed of the heroine and in fact he deprived her sister of her virginity, feels guilty and understands that he has to marry sister. Five years pass, the hero is engaged to sister all this time, of course they have sex all this time, while the heroine suffers from love for the hero all this time.. The hero is already in love with sister, tolerates her infidelities, she is an actress and has done many things to get a role, he knows about it. But he is still going to get married and love this idea and loves sister, but still secretly wants the heroine and is jealous of her for other men.👀🤣
When he had to marry the heroine, he suffered, because of her sister, that she left him, but then abruptly fell out of love with her and realized that he had loved the heroine all this time. I can't stand such a hero, for me it's worse than non-compliance with celibacy! 😡
Safe : it is known that the hero deprived the heroine of her virginity, but then contacted her sister and was with her for five years. Since I haven't read to the end, I can't say whether the heroine has been celibate for these five years or not.

[Marianna Moore · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not me switching this from 2 stars to 1 star like 5 times. Move along.

Holding space for the death of my last remaining brain cell. These characters are dead to me.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

SHE DESERVED BETTER.

What a weak “hero”. 🙄 we are told that he loves the sister so much that the thought of marrying his best friend (her sister) is insane to him. Yet this is the same girl that he can’t stand to go without talking to and has sexy dreams about. Then without much of a fight on his part, they go through with the wedding and then like a week later he is confessing how much he loves her? Gag me.

Each time the sister came into their lives and he apologizes to her for marrying his wife I wanted to stab him in the face. 🔪

Am I the only one who saw that the sister was a narcissist from like chapter 2? How did everyone else miss that? If she is really that great an actress why isn’t she winning more awards? 😂

Then that scene when they are at her parents house and her sister is in the next room and she tells him that she’s heartbroken from all years of listening to him have sex with his sister next door so he proceeds to have loud, rough sex to one-up that past history? JUST NO. Listen, I love a well-done kinky scene (LOVE THEM) but this was not it. It felt cheap and degrading.

Oh how I wish our FMC had another love interest that made the MMC fight a little hard for her. Our FMC was too available and focused on him. She needed another man to sweep her away to fancy dinners to make her feel special and show her how to be treated.

Again, SHE DESERVED BETTER.

[Yana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was MESSYYYY. In a good way (I think). I mean the fact that I didn’t know if it was a hea until literally 98% says it all. THIS BOOK MADE ME MAAAAD at some parts for sure (books were thrown, none were harmed) but I was here for the whole ride 🎢

[Heather Mclarry · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ ngl the first 30 % I thought this book was gonna be a five star, it started off so good. Started to get very repetitive however I still ate that shit up. And hannah can burn in hell. This made me realize I’m not a narcissist so I need to stop diagnosing of things myself after I have a bad day lmfao

[leanne ♡ (warner’s version) · Rating 1 out of 5]

if i can give this a 0⭐️ i would. this was, hands down, the worst book i have ever read in my entire life. i wouldn’t wish for my worst enemy to read this book. i don’t think this book could have been written in a worse way. there was no coordination, no proper story line. every chapter was the same exact thing not even written differently. i cant put to words how much this sucked tbh. wow.

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Weak wishy-washy hero and a “plot” that made no damn sense. 😬 RTC

[Helen Hoang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was SO ANGSTY and DEAR GOD THE DRAMA! I can see by the reviews that people are having mixed feelings about it and I did too, but I have to admit I WAS SO HERE FOR IT! I was obsessed as I read it. If you love hyper angsty romances like I do (this reminded me of The Unwanted Wife by Natasha Anders), this one’s for you.

[Salma]

dnf’ed

he was pissing me off too much

[annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

just like how Ares was torn apart choosing between Hannah & Raven, I'm also confused as f whether to rate this a 1 or a 3. I swear, this never got better, and at one point, the relationship went from dull to duller.

the sister’s fiancé trope was a joke here. a prop to show how jealous & insecure Raven can get because of her evil sister. there was enough drama, and it was all crap. atp i'm convinced that THE SWEETEST OBLIVION is the best book on this trope 🛐

⌞ Raven DuPont & Ares Windsor ⌝
ᯓ 26-36

Raven deserves better!! way better than what she actually had. but she should've moved on instead of pining over Ares and constantly getting hurt. she's freaking sensitive, and a mere visit from Hannah made her distant & insecure. I truly sympathized with her because FUCK HER MOTHER & HANNAH. also, a little bit the grandma, because of her role in the 80%. 😡

now, i didn’t really hate it THAT much. hate is a strong word reserved for things that actually make me feel something. it's just a random book for me with characters I didn’t connect with and a flat relationship. some things were okay but-

⌞ things that made their dull rs even more unbearable ⌝

- Ares has been dreaming about Raven for years because apparently, he had sex with her once but woke up to find himself with her sister, so obv , he broke the engagement with Raven. SHE EVEN MENTIONED that she came to talk to him about it once, but he turned her down. 👏🏻

- him being with her sister for 5 years and being IN LOVE, then just after falling out of love, he starts slandering and shaming what they both had? EXCUSE YOU? also, Ares kept on comparing his relationships. I get it, Raven can because she's never treated properly, but bro why are YOU comparing both of them? he does smth nice with Raven and he's like I NEVER DID THIS WITH HANNAH. ok?

- I hated Hannah towards the end when she pulled that poor drama of being pregnant with Ares's kid and slut-shaming Raven, but I didn’t hate her decision of choosing her career over Windsor’s 18th-century-style rules (AS IF THEY ARE ACTUAL WINDSORS?) 🤡

- it was funny how this book was a repeat of Raven crying because she's insecure, Ares bringing out his inner Shakespeare with a 5 page paragraph on her beauty & BOOM, she's happy again 😂 and this whole thing happens AGAIN. AND AGAIN. AND AGAIN.

- though I liked Ares after he realized Raven deserved better and did some nice things for her, I don’t really find much fault in him. he didn’t even do much wrong, but i wish he had just told hannah to fuck off sooner 🤷🏻‍♀️ HE'S NOT BAD, but oblivious, dumb, & oldest child, so i guess that explains some things (sorry first-borns 💀)

- by 70%, i was emotionally clocked out. their conversations were not meaningful. raven would cry, and ares would be like, “you’re so beautiful, so special,” and i was just sitting there thinking, BRO stay focused, this is not the time. it's literally like how a person is hurt because of something, and instead of talking about THAT TOPIC, you start throwing “cutie,” “gorgeous,” and “beautiful” around as if that’s the answer to everything. 🥹

raven: i can never be hannah, you can never love me.
ares: you're literally everything to me, i’d die for you.
raven: wow, thanks.
*next day*
raven: i’m still not hannah tho.
ares: you’re my world.
raven: okay, but—
ares: my sun, my stars.
raven: OH MY GOD

⌞ ratings ⌝

The Temporary Wife [LucaValentina]- 3.5 stars
The Unwanted Marriage [DionFaye] - 1 star
The Broken Vows [ZaneCeleste] - tbr
The Secret Fiancée [LexRaya] - tbr
The Devious Husband [XavierSierra]- tbr

[EmBibliophile · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Ares is such a man. Such an oblivious man.

This was such a dramatic mess. I don’t even know where to start.

[Serial Romance Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was absolutely ridiculous. I kept shaking my head while reading it. It was basically a bad soap opera in book form, but I couldn’t put it down. I love evil OW drama and this book had it in spades. A narcissist, sociopath, meddlesome older sister ex-fiancée? Check! Shitty mother who basically hates her youngest daughter? Check!

Ares (I almost named my son that!) was pretty spineless and overall, a beta. Rave (HATED that nickname) was a pathetic, insecure, desperate doormat. She did settle for her sister’s sloppy seconds even though she was a world famous supermodel! It was a train wreck I couldn’t look away from, exasperating and OTT as it was!

[Sonia]

This book… 🥴

SPOILERS AHEAD…

The H takes the h’s virginity 5 years before. The h sneaks off to… do something…
And the b sister of the h sneaks into the bed, so when the H wakes up, he thinks he slept with the ow/h’s sister.

They’re together and engaged blah blah blah

The h hears them have sex many many times through their thin AF walls 😐

Yeah, I don't wanna know what my sister sounds like when she's having sex with the "love of my life"

That's just me though so...

But don’t worry, he supposedly had feelings for the h the whole time 🤡 he just didn’t quite know it 🙄… he’s just so so romantic 🥴 besides, the ow kept cheating on him and he just laid around with her because “He DoEsNt LoVe HeR” 🫢🫢🫢

Anywaysssssss

The day of his wedding to the sister/ow, she doesn’t show up.

Cue the h stepping in and marrying him instead.

For over 70% of the book, we keep thinking he’s into the Ow still. SOOO MUUUUUCH ANGST!!!

The “twist” is he that he’s loved the h the whole time 🙄

With a love like this, who needs romance and fidelity 🤡

The thing that upset me a lot when this book came out was being lied to by the author. In an fb group, someone asked if there was owd and she said no… 😐

HOOOOW is this no owd when it’s ALL about the owd 🥴 we might not SEE the ow/H sex scenes, but we hear about them 😐.

Sigh.

Hummingbird has tons of spoilers
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And Raffaela does too
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Mia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Without a doubt, the worst marriage of convenience book.

[winotka.books · Rating 1 out of 5]

Szkoda, że nie da się dać mniej niż 1⭐️, bo było ŹLEEE.
Kurwa jak się szanujecie to weźcie tego nie czytajcie.
Typ był z jej siostrą, był ZAKOCHANY w jej siostrze, ona słyszała jak za ścianą uprawiają seks, ich związek trwał 5 lat, a teraz to ona musi go poślubić bo tamta mu uciekła prawie sprzed ołtarza. Wiecie ile zajmuje mu zakochanie się w siostrze jego byłej? Jakiś miesiąc.
Nawet nie próbujcie bronić tego, że on napewno był zakochany w niej wcześniej. Co za bullshit. To pod koniec wyszło bo akturat autorce pasowało pod fabułe.
Typ normalnie do ostatniej sekundy miał nadzieję że tamta siostra opamięta się i zobaczy ją przed ołtarzem, na samym początku zgodził się z tym że pewnie za 3 lata weźmie rozwód z nią i wróci do tej siostry. KURWA A POTEM AUTORKA PRÓBUJE NAM WMÓWIĆ ŻE ON WIEDZIAŁ O JAKIŚ ZDRADACH???? Co to za śmiech na sali. Latał za nią jak debil, nie potrafił ustalić żadnych granic, co chwilę ta bohaterka przez niego ryczała. Typ był dodatkowo toksyczny w chuj, dosłownie niszczył ludziom kariery bo się na nią spojrzeli, kupił agencję w której pracuje żeby zablokować jej kontrakty modelingowe z innymi mężczyznami, zabronił trenować z trenerem bo niektóre ćwiczenia są za bardzo SEKSUALNE. No ta normalnie mąż materiał 💀
Ta siostra i matka to w ogóle tak stereotypowe jak zła macocha i siostry z Kopciuszka, bardziej się nie dało.

Nie dość że ta fabuła okropna, telenowela z dupy okropna to dawajcie i zróbmy z tego coś jeszcze gorszego i spierdolmy tłumaczenie.
Rozumiecie, że ten Ares ma 30 parę lat i używa zwrotów typu „rany Julek”, „ożesz ty”, „ale odlot”, „o kuźwa”. A wiecie co jest najlepsze? ŻE TO WYMYSŁ TŁUMACZA XDDDDD Bo za każdym razem po angielsku jest po prostu „fuck”. ROZUMIECIE TO?? XDDDD A ktoś w polskim tłumaczeniu stwierdził że dorosły chłop będzie się odzywał jak jakiś 12 latek, któremu zabroniono przeklinać. POPŁACZĘ SIĘ.

Wiele razy czytając ten wytwór miałam ochotę wydłubać sobie oczy, po prostu oślepnąć.
Weźcie nawet nie próbujcie bronić że po angielsku jest lepsze. Tej fabuły nie uratuje żaden język. Ż A D E N.
To wina okropnych bohaterów, okropnej historii, okropnego wszystkiego.
Nie chcę widzieć nigdy więcej tej książki.

O jeszcze coś muszę dodać!
Co to kurwa było za skakanie z helikoptera na balkon kurwa XDDDDDDD co to za jebany Bond był grany?

[Kaila.Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came back to give this book one more star because I couldn’t put it down.

I still hate everyone. EVERYONE. If any of these characters existed in real life, they’d be blocked on every platform and I’d refuse eye contact in public.

[ziyuan ʚɞ Reads Dark Smut. · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are just chasing a kind of feeling, then you really don’t need to specifically fall in love with someone.

This hero was disgusting, he didn’t know what is responsibility, what is love, how is respect. He was nothing but bullshit.

He loved h and took heroine’s v card, but woke up with h’s sister in the bed, then he begin to engage with h’s sister and fall in love with h’s sister. But he still feel jealous about h talking with other man. And found he still in love with h. But he still feel miserable he loves h’s sister when she left him. 🤮🤮🤮

Who the heck does he really like?

The answer is himself, bcs he only love himself, he hurt others’ feelings. Bcs he only love himself, he was just chasing a long of feeling, this feeling can also be called: I thought I fall in love.

He thought it’s love, BUT NAH, he was just fall in love with a kind of feeling. 🙄🙄🙄

[Dilushani Jayalath · Rating 1 out of 5]

No. No. No. AND NO!!

She used to hear him f*ck his sister in the bedroom next to hers when they were younger and then she goes and f*cks him when his sister is in the other room years later???????

[maria (will I fully comeback?) · Rating 3 out of 5]

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 2.7 ✰

ᯓᡣ𐭩 plot:

Raven is in love with Ares, but Ares is supposed to get married to Hannah - Raven sister- (as an arranged marriage) when Hannah decides that she doesn’t want to get married anymore, Raven took Hannah place and finally got married to the man that she loves, but Ares is still in love with Hannah or so he thinks.

ᯓᡣ𐭩 my thoughts

Honestly when I read the first 35% I thought this would be a solid 4 star but it started to get too repetitive. I still enjoyed it nonetheless. I wanted drama and I got it, there’s drama from the start to the end.

Main problem with the book is that the plot itself revolves around Hannah (Raven sister) so that kind of annoyed me. Everything would be better if Raven’s family had died (except the dad), they were so infuriating, couldn’t stand how they treated Raven.

If you want to read a dramatic mess then I recommend you to read this book, the romantic scenes between Ares and Raven were kinda cute so that’s that but they would have the same conversation about how she’s insecure about his past relationship over and over again. Couldn’t care less about Ares, he’s just oblivious of everything.

___________________

ᝰ.ᐟ pre-read: ᯓ

I need to read something with angst and drama and apparently this one has lots of it🤞🏻

[Beeg Panda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Free 27 August 2023: 🤡Maybe not second best but definitely sloppy seconds
🤡 You double dipper, you.
Nts:
My fav 4 and 5 star similar-ish "other woman is heroine's sister" tropes:
The Evolution of Sin: The Complete Box Set 5 🌟
Hate to Love You 4🌟
Wrong Girl 4🌟
The Sweetest Oblivion 4🌟
Cruel King 4🌟
Bonus Kisses 4🌟
Still Beating 4🌟

[Phuong ✯ · Rating 1 out of 5]

– 1.25 stars

this book gave me the ick for so many reasons. on top of the list is the disgusting sister relationship between Raven and Hannah. Hannah is a disgrace to the older sister community.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE ANNGGSSTTTTT. I love Catharine's books and this might be my favorite. I'm not the biggest fan of vile and vindictive family members trying to ruin someone's life and the twist at the end was a bit predictable, but I was just obsessed with the romance between these two characters. Raven and Ares were actually supposed to have an arranged marriage, but Ares announces he's in love with her sister, so he's now engaged to her. Years pass and Raven's sister still refuses to actually marry Ares, so his grandmother says a wedding is happening and either Raven or her sister ARE walking down the aisle. It ends up being Raven. Now Raven finds herself marrying her best friend that she's been pining after for years, and he was engaged and in love with her sister. Talk about mess and angst! I loved how they were unraveling the past and finding their deep connection was actually a romantic love and not just a friend love. And it felt like they were meant to be the whole time. It was just so good and I highly recommend picking up the audio!

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone has a right to their feelings in a book. I read this book based on people’s negative reviews.

Read the blurb; the male protagonist had a relationship with the female protagonist's sister. Suppose it’s not for you. That is okay. However, if you decide to read it and trash the book because of that factor, that is a you problem. You were warned in the beginning.

I’m not too fond of black-and-white romance; I want a ton of grey and mess. That is just me. And there is a ton of it in this book. I do agree that there is a bit of over-the-top drama.

The sister is an awful person. At the same time, our female protagonist is treated like crap by her family.

Overall I enjoyed this book. A special thank you to the negative reviews for putting this book under my radar. Books are subjective to the reader.

[aeryn rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

♾️⭐️!!!!

If I could describe this book is one word, it would be:
Everything.

Words cannot even describe the undying love I have for this book...much like the undying love Ares and Raven have. I knew from the very beginning that this book was going to alter my brain chemistry and now that I finished? That is the biggest understatement I have ever thought. This book brought me on the biggest emotional rollercoaster that I know I won't recover from.

The love that Raven and Ares have is one of those in the movies. It's the kind of love that we can only dream about until it happens to us. It was poetic in the most complex ways. The devotion? The love proclamations? This is the kind of love that you picture your perfect person would have. The chemistry and love between Raven and Ares...God I can't think of anything better.

A huge reason I am putting this book up so high on a pedestal is because the main point of the book was proper, blunt, and straightforward communication. I hate miscommunication more than anything else so this was the biggest breath of fresh air. I knew just by reading the tropes and synopsis that I was going to love this book; I just didn't know I was going to love it as much as I actually do.

The spice in this book, while being a bit over the top at points, was some seriously good spice. The main plot of this book is romance. It's not a deep plot so it's best to go in knowing that romance and spice are literally the plot. Normally plots like this aren't for me, but this was a HUGE exception. It was done so well and I know I will never forget what I read.

This book goes down in my reading history as being one of my favorite books of all time. I cannot wait to read the rest of the series, as I have already fallen in love with the other characters the other books are about.

I, myself, dream to have this love one day. And until then? I keep reading perfect books like this that show me to never settle for less. ❤️

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This one is for everyone who's ever been made to feel like they don't measure up. You don't need to fit into the boxes others built for you.

Read the synopsis and knew I couldn't pass this one up 💜

[Bloomy Soul [ exam jam ] · Rating 4 out of 5]

౨ৎ ⋆｡ 4 stars ˚🪞𓍢ִ໋ The Wrong Bride 🌷͙֒♡

❝ If I could do it all over again, I’d still choose you. I will always choose you. ❞
The world had seen him to beg, but he was giving his wife what she deserves!!

I really enjoyed the plot and overall story. The writing is easy to follow, and the arranged marriage setup was done just right. My most hated character has to be Hannah, Raven’s sister- she was beyond frustrating. There were quite a few scenes I absolutely loved, but can we talk about that embarrassing drunk scene? 🤭 It was hilarious. And the massage chapter? One of my favorites 🔥

୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ Ares Windsor
He’s the kind of man who doesn’t just speak....he acts . And he yearns 😮‍💨. The way he prioritizes Raven, reassures her, and constantly makes her feel secure really stood out. He values marriage and family, but most importantly, his wife. He can be raw and intense at times, but his love for Raven is undeniable. She truly deserves him 🥹I love a man who yearns - and Ares Windsor is exactly that ✨

˚˖𓍢ִ໋🦢˚ Raven Du Pont ( The Perfect Bride )
My girl is strong ✨. She craves love from the person she chooses, yet she stays so quiet when it comes to demanding her own rights 😔. She always puts her family and others before herself. What she goes through is honestly unbearable—I couldn’t have handled it the way she did 💔. The strength she shows in maintaining her composure and emotions is incredible. She’s so understanding, always. Our cupcake 🧁🌻


ִֶָ. ..𓂃 ִֶָ🦋་༘࿐ Beautiful couple 💓
Ares and Raven together are just perfect for each other 💋💌. This husband-and-wife duo is exactly what I crave. 💍❤️ They just completed each other. I just love their cute shared moments, the fun, legpulking, Raven making her husband jealous, and my fav was the fake account comments. Those were the best. 🪻

Hannah Du Pont Bitch😤😡🤬😡😠😠😤😤😠🤬😠😠
I have never been so frustrated with a character. From the first chapter to the last, she was constantly annoying and disturbing 😡. How can someone be so cruel? So mean to her own little sister? Like HOW???
And her mother too-both of them made me so angry the entire time. Truly unbearable characters.
I just feel like rubbing chili powder in their eyes.🤬😤

⋆｡‧˚ʚ Quotes ɞ˚‧｡⋆

I wish I could reach inside my heart and show her that it's filled with nothing but her.

I wonder how long it'll take her to realize that the fictional men she adores so much are all written by women.

Fuck. I think I’m done for. I think I’m falling in love with my wife.

It reads 7 days. 168 hours. Tell me you’re still mine. ( One of the best moments )

You, Raven Windsor, are the single most unexpected yet best thing that has ever happened to me. I wasn’t truly living before you.

I’m not worthy of her, but for as long I live, I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure she never realizes it. I’m going to make her so happy that the future ahead of us always overshadows the past that haunts us. For the rest of our lives, I’ll show her what it’s like to truly be someone’s priority, because that’s what she is to me. She’s everything..

🧿𓏲 Windsor Family 🫶
The Windsor family was everything 🥹. They were so protective of Raven and loved her like their own. She truly deserves that kind of love. The Windsor siblings were supportive of her throughout, and I loved that so much ✨

And Sierra Windsor?? I need her book RIGHT NOW 😩I already know I’m going to love her story.
I am surely going to continue this series, of course arrange marriage is one of my favvvvvv tropes ! 💋༘⋆🌷🫧

🥹🥹🥹 I am yet to read the bonus scene, I am not getting it ???!!!

5/5/2026- I read both the bonus scenes today, 😍😍 and I liked it sooo much 💓💓

started on : 26 April, 2026.
finished on : 29 April, 2026.

༘⋆♡⸝⸝💌⊹。°˖➴༘⋆♡⸝⸝💌⊹。°˖➴༘⋆♡⸝⸝💌⊹。°˖➴༘⋆♡

🌻 Pre-read ˚˖𓍢ִ໋🍃˚

Rae's review sold me on this. One of my favorite trope!!
Buddy reading with my irl best friend 🌷💛

26 April, 2026.

[NMmomof4 · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 Stars

Opinion Breakdown
The Good: The premise with the idea of unrequited love/arranged marriage/sister's man and the potential for some yummy angst.

The Not-So-Good: The speeches the H would give. They were super long and repetitive and then the h would be the martyr (doormat) that we were supposed to feel bad for...🙄

The Bad: The drama was so OTT it was ridiculous. The h being a doormat and the H being so dang confusing.

Overall: This was a freaking mess! It started out alright but I honestly don't know how I finished it! It started going downhill and just kept on snowballing and getting so much worse! Cringey OTT drama and unlikeable characters = a 2 star read.

Brief Summary of the Storyline: This is Raven and Ares' story. They've known each other for years and Raven used to be set up to marry Ares because of an old family agreement and arranged marriage, only it all changed when Ares met Raven's sister and she became his love. Only her sister gets cold feet and calls off the wedding one too many times and Raven is forced to fill in for her. She has been loving Ares while being his little sister's best friend, his close friend, and his fiancé's little sister and she is unsure if she'll survive having to step in for her sister in a marriage to Ares. There is some family drama, some sexy times, and some secrets revealed...and they get a HEA ending.

Point Of View (POV): This alternated between Raven and Ares' POV.

Overall Pace of Story: Not the best. I skimmed a good bit for the last 1/4ish because it dragged and I no longer cared all that much.

Instalove: Kind of for the H. The h already lives him when this starts.

H (Hero) rating: 2 stars. Ares. He was confusing and all over the place.

h (heroine) rating: 2 stars. Raven. She was a doormat.

Sadness level: Low, no tissues needed

Push/Pull: Yes the h pushes away a good bit and I'd say the H is the main pursuer of the relationship

Heat level: Good. They have some good tension, chemistry, and scenes -- but not so much it takes away from the story.

Descriptive sex: Yes

OW (Other Woman)/OM (Other Man) drama: Yes the h's sister causes major drama throughout the book and the H is jealous of OM that the h is around

Sex scene with OW or OM: No

Cheating: Not between mcs

Separation: No

Possible Triggers: Yes The H was with the h's sister for years and the h heard them be intimate (off page), emotional abuse from parents/sister (on page), arranged marriage (on page), and unexpected pregnancy of the h's sister (on page it's not his)

Closure: This ends in a pretty good place and what I would call a HEA ending.

Safety: This one is probably Safe with exception for most safety gang readers depending on personal preferences

- Does Not have cheating by mcs
- Does Not have a descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
- Does have the h pushing the H away
- Does Not (technically) have a separation between the h and H
- Does Not have abuse
- Does have a HEA ending

[Van · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m really worried that almost 50.000 women’s souls gave this 4-5 stars, I don’t wanna disrespect anyone but find romance in the heroine heard the love of her life banging her sister through the walls for years is insane,
What is the world doing to us, women?
I’m shocked…

[Raffaella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Jesus. My eyes have been rolling all the time while I’ve read this book, and now I don’t know if they are in their place anymore. It’s a soap opera that reminds me of the late 80s, with evil families, deceptions, twist of fates like you’ve never seen.
Too much.
There’s so much I didn’t like.
The plot in a few words. The heroine has been in love with the hero for years, and they’ve been unofficially betrothed for family business. The heroine was born because her older sister needed a marrow transplant and her parents decided to have her. They’ve always loved and preferred her older sister.
Heroine has sex with the hero while he’s drunk and she’s only a teenager, then she leaves and her sister goes into bed with him naked so when he wakes up he thinks it’s her he’s been having sex. So, since he’s idiot and dumb, he breaks his engagement with the heroine and gets engaged to her sister.
Oh, it’s not a fake engagement, they have good sex and very often and he’s in love with the sister, while the heroine pines for him.
After five years they are getting married but sister doesn’t show up and the heroine offers to marry the hero at his grandmother’s suggestion for three years, just to save face.
The hero accepts and sister is back and breaks havoc for the rest of the book. The hero falls in love with the heroine at the speed of light, no, he’s always been in love with her but alas, he would have married her sister and he’s also sad because she jilted him so nothing makes sense.
Sister tries to ruin the heroine telling the media she is a home wrecker because she tells she’s pregnant with the hero’s child. Of course it’s not his.
Whatever.
I hated:
- the hero screwing heroine’s sister for years.
- the heroine being celibate for years
- the hero almost marrying her sister
- the hero telling even in the end that he regrets that things didn’t work with her to heroine’s sister (wtf?)
-the sister is the worst evil bitch in the world
- the hero staying with the sister even when he knew she was unfaithful. Why? Because he didn’t love her.
- the hero falling in love with the heroine in a couple of weeks after he has known her for years and then admitting he’s always love her
- the heroine trying to save her relationship with her sister. She should have stabbed her.
- what I hated most was the heroine’s family. They all hated the heroine, who was more beautiful, more talented and better in any other way than her sister.
- the heroine whining that she can’t be first for anyone. This made me angry, no, furious. This part was meant to be angsty, it made me mad. She pined for years for a worthless p***y of a man who preferred her spoiled, faithless, selfish bitch of a sister, she always accepted to be treated like shit by her parents. Ok, in the words there may be many shitty people, but there are also many other good, wonderful ones. If you decide to stay with the shitty ones that always treat you bad, it’s your fault if you are unhappy and unloved. Leave the toxic and choose the people who put you first!
- a thing I hate is when the heroine pines for a man who’s in love with another woman for years. I’ve never understood this fact, not after my 12th birthday anyway. A grown up, mature, adult person can’t spend their life loving someone who doesn’t reciprocate. It’s impossible. Maybe you can be attracted for someone like that for some time, weeks, months at most but to be in love with one who is in a relationship with another person and doesn’t even see you is beyond my understanding. It’s a waste of time. You only live once, so go and find someone for whom you’re the sun and the moon and the whole universe. Either you will be wasting your life, and your self worth and your dignity.
So I never felt any angst for her unrequited love for the hero.
While I felt the angst of her being ill treated by her family, until I didn’t because enough is enough and she should have cut her family out long before.
The whole merger, business, arranged marriage was a bit too much, especially in these days.
The hero, was there a hero? Because I honestly don’t remember any. He’s been with her sister for years, and not platonically, he’s been ready to marry her, then in a week he loves the heroine, and in another week he’s always loved her and never loved her sister. Well, and this would be the man she pined for years??? Really?
So, a big huge no, to all the effort. Maybe it would be better on a screen, with the whole thing of the Hollywood part, the fashion and all that stuff.
Of course the heroine has always been only with the hero while he screwed her sister for five years, in the bedroom near hers, where she could hear them. How romantic is this?