by Katee Robert
Series: The O'Malleys #3
Genres: Contemporary
Publisher: Forever
Publication Date: August 30th 2016
Source: ARC received for review
Rating: ★★★★
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Greed. Ambition. Violence. Those are the "values" Olivia Rashidi learned from her Russian mob family-and the values she must leave behind for the sake of her daughter. When she meets Cillian O'Malley, she recognizes the red flag of his family name . . . yet she still can't stop herself from seeing the smoldering, tortured man. To save her family, Olivia sets out to discover Cillian's own secrets, but the real revelation is how fast-and how hard-she's falling for him.I'm so in love with Katee Robert's O'Malley series. Katee Robert is at her best here and with every book, I keep acquiring more book boyfriends and more romances to swoon over. As much as I loved the first two books, I think An Indecent Proposal is my favorite in the series so far.
Plagued by a violent past, Cillian is more vulnerable than anyone realizes. Anyone except Olivia, whose beauty, compassion, and pride have him at "hello," even if she's more inclined to say good-bye to an O'Malley. While his proposal of sex with no strings seems simple, what he feels for her isn't, especially after he learns that she belongs to a rival crime family. Cillian knows that there is no escape from the life, but Olivia may be worth trying-and dying-for . . .
The main reason why this is my favorite is Cillian. I didn't think I could love him more than Teague from the first book, but he totally swept me away. I fell hard for this guy and he gave me all kinds of butterflies. Cillian is suffering through the guilt of his beloved brother's death. Katee Robert did such a fantastic job with making his emotions jump off the pages. You feel for this guy and you want to do everything in your power to help him get through the grief and regret that he feels for the indirect part he played in his brother's death. The sadness, the nightmares broke my heart for this big guy. The fact that no one in his family wanted to address the elephant in the room wasn't helping him heal either. The only bright spot in his life? The spunky bartender, Olivia.
Olivia was a fantastic heroine too. I loved her as much as I loved Callie and Carrigan, from the previous books. She was running away from her own issues, together with her 14 months daughter. Olivia was a strong character. To outsiders, she gave off this tough, invulnerable and impenetrable exterior, but she was a very caring and hardworking woman, who wanted to shower her daughter with love and allow her to grow up far from her Russian mob half-brother. Unfortunately for her, her ex and her half-brother are keeping an eye on her and are forcing her to join the family. I was so happy that Olivia had Cillian and vice versa, because these two definitely needed each other.
The romance between these two was sooooo good. I loved it so much. They have a lot of attraction between them and as much as Olivia tries to push Cillian away in the beginning, he refuses to give up on her (in a non-creepy way). I loved that he was so determined to gain her affections, but only at her own pace. I loved that their romance was slow-burn and they became so emotionally acquainted with each other. The chemistry between them was fantastic and I got feel the heat the two shared - all the sexy scenes were very well-written! But I loved the scenes of them connecting together emotionally even better. What a wonderfully swoony and deliciously romantic story these two had!
There's a plot here involving Olivia's ex and her half-brother, Dmitri. It wasn't as suspenseful as the first book, in my opinion, but the stakes were still high, given how ruthless and violent Olivia and Cillian's families were. Speaking of Dmitri, I'm so intrigued by his character. He definitely has villainous shades to him, but he also surprised me in a good way with his behavior from time to time. He needs a spunky girl to calm him down! ;) We also get to see snippets of chapters told in Sloane's POV. Her book is next and I'm ridiculously excited to get to it.
Katee Robert is truly at her best here with this series. With every installment of the series, I seem to fall harder in love with her books. If you like your books with lots of romance and a dash of suspense, I highly recommend this series!
Have you read any book by Katee Robert? What are some of your favorite mob family romances?
Let me know in the comments below!
