Genre: contemporary romance
Age: adult
Series/Standalone: series
Tropes: rich, boss/employee
Content: Language ( )

This was an enjoyable but superficial book. I was expecting it to go more into what was going on with the past of the characters and so on, but it never left the surface.

I hated that Declan was so overbearing all the time and tbh I really didn't like the dynamic of two workaholics together. Give me a romance with one of them being like: I don't dream of labour!

They were still nice people at their core and I had a lot of fun reading most of this, the banter was very well done and they had a lot of chemistry. Surprisingly it had very little miscommunication, when I was reading the summary I was expecting way more.

Finally, and this is a me issue, first person POV always distracts me a lot. Specially this unnatural way of narrating while trying to describe someone, like in the first page when Iris says something along the lines of “yeah, this is my bestie with his sandy blond hair” (paraphrasing here).

PS: I also learned that Alatorre is an actual person, which, fun. But in my mind it was funnier when I thought it was fake and it was a reference to Alonso. ( )

Really enjoyed book 1 in this series. Could not get into this one. Storyline was boring, like a million other books. Male voice narrator sounded almost computer generated. So stiff. Realize he was the Grumpy but if his inflection and tone were deliberate, it was way overkill. Even speeding up to 1.4 speed couldn't get me invested. Wanted to have fun with this, but gave up at 68%.

Declan is the oldest brother with more emotional problems than Rowan & Cal. The clause in his inheritance (mentioned in book #1 The Fine Print) is keeping him from being CEO of the family corporation. His loyal assistant Iris has been tasked with finding him a wife. Disaster happens and she has to step in and step up to marry him. He's an as*hole of epic proportions but she knows him the best. Breaking through his cruel and mean exterior takes half the book and fighting with his sh*tastic father for company control takes more. She's black he's white so interracial romance and overcoming learning obstacles and letting go of the past. A little repetitive and same old same old enemies to lovers and the extended epilogue adds a little more. Two brothers down, one to go. ( )

I LOVED THIS BOOK! I did my first buddy read for it, and loved (almost) every minute. Iris is strong and independent, and knows how to take care of herself. Since fake dating is one of my top three favorite tropes, I went nuts for this one, as it’s fake marriage. Declan has his demons and can definitely be a jerk, but Iris isn’t afraid to put him in his place, and neither is Cal. I especially loved the cameos by Rowan and Zahra, and enjoyed getting to know Cal better, especially since he’s so different from his grumpy (Rowan) and icy (Declan) brothers.

I loved Iris’s relationship with her family, and appreciated how Cal stood up for her, even to his own brother. I loved how Declan had a soft spot for Iris, even if the ways he showed it were sometimes questionable. The third act made him lose some points in my book, but he earned one or two back lol, humanizing himself with his compassion for animals at the end. There were definitely some funny moments, and I loved the dyslexia rep and Declan’s caring handling of it. I don’t know how I’m gonna wait for Cal’s book! ( )