The Marriage Contract surprised me. I expected cute & sizzling. Instead this was way more gansta & action. This is by no means a bad thing. Just rather surprising. Retrospectively I am not sure what formed my expectations. I can tell you, I looked at the cover and well, we all know I can be a total coverslut.. the pretty coupled with the title is what made me read the blurb. Which surprised me, because honestly I thought this would be one of those millionaire CEO romances. But the blurb promised different and different I got.

I never read anything by Roberts before The Marriage Contact. The Marriage Contract being the first in the O’Malleys series was another incentive for me to read this.

I like Robert's writing style. It’s to the point and modern. The smut is sizzling and the action scenes really well written. She has a good balance between being explicit enough to make an impact but not too explicit where I would just switch off. The writing is so well done, that I have a picture of each character in my head, of each scene. Would I be a film maker this would be one book I would definitely make into one!

The story line is interesting. The whole thing is fast paced and lots happens. Lots of action, lots of intrigue and politics. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one, even if I could predict most of the plot way before it happened.There was one exception actually: I really can’t mention what it was, because it would be a major spoiler. But let’s just say I am still shocked Robert went that way- not to mention heartbroken I had hopes in that direction. The romance is quite tender but also take a back seat to all the mob stuff that’s going down - which in my opinion worked mostly in the favour of the story. Except that some of the romance felt rather insta. Well, it’s definitely insta-lust all over. But it’s not instal-love really, just felt a bit fast. Still Robert managed to establish a rather sweet love story between Teague and Callista.

Robert did an amazing job at establishing the gritty and dangerous backdrop of the Boston mob scene. To be honest I know very little about the reality of it. But frankly I don’t really care if it is any where near to reality. It was so well done, I got it and I believe it. That’s good enough of me.

The character building was intriguing. I am looking forward to see where Robert is taking this large and interesting cast in the next book.
While this is Teague and Callista’s book- We get an insight into most of the players. The book is written from multiple POV, in third person.
I love Teague, despite that his martyr act kinda went on my nerves at time. Callista while I felt sympathetic to her situation, was actually rather spoilt. They both did however evolve and change. I hope that we still will get to see them as the story goes on. Because while their story is kinda done, it is definitely not over.

There is one last thing I wanna mention. Someone make this one into a film, please! It’s the kind of movie I would love.

A gritty, action packed beginning to a interesting series. I am looking forward to reading James and Carrigan's book.
Which leads me to the big question: When can I?!

There are many quick and dirty scenes (it takes a while for this couple to make it to a bedroom but visits to an alley brick wall and school closet will tide you over) that make this novella heavy on the steamy side. Marcy and Aaron's characters aren't deeply delved into, this is a novella after all, but they are both likable characters. Their scenes are sexy but not too erotic that you would feel awkward reading them in public. The author's writing and tone make this a flirty, fun, and spicy read with an epilogue full of sappy goodness to tic all the boxes of a romance reader looking for a swift read.

Full review is posted at:  Reading Between the Wines book club