This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.
About The Book
Jewelry heiress Lucienne Peery needs a husband in order to take full control of her company and arranges for a mutually beneficial marriage. When she catches her fiancé in bed with her sister, she demands to marry his older brother instead. And his family agrees, in order to avoid handing over 30% of their own company for breaking the marriage contract.
She only plans to stay married until her control is firmly established. But she does the unthinkable and falls in love with her husband…
When the ruthless and iron-willed Sebastian Lasker is forced to marry a woman fully as scandalous as his embarrassing, disreputable father, he vows revenge. Nobody manipulates him and gets away with it. He’s going to strip her of what she wants from the marriage and get rid of her.
But pride and fortune aren’t the only things at stake as he realizes he can’t let her go…
Contractually Yours is full of a yummy arranged marriage, dislike-to-love, forced proximity, my wife moments, man-groveling and a happy ending.
My Review
First Impressions
Contractually Yours if the 4th installment in the “Lasker Brothers” series but this is my first book from this author. I was recommended this book by a friend on bookstagram as she knows how much I adore arranged marriage. So I quickly grabbed this one up even though its the middle of a series, but from what I could tell, this series can be read as standalones. I also found that the blurb to this story to be so fascinating and the title alone held my fascination. This is a story though that really worked and we also see that both our hero and heroine have so much in common especially in how their families treat them. Its a story that really brings together both characters that are also wealthy in their own rights and such great competense porn to satisfy any reader.
Summary
Sebastian and Lucianne first met when they were younger. Sebastian was in his early twenties and Lucianne when she is a teenager. The encounter is what emboldens Lucianne to battle the best against her family and not let their shenanigans win over her desire to claim what is hers and to hold her own against such betrayals living in a house of snakes that only want her money and nothing else. Now its been years later and Lucianne has never forgotten the man that gave her wise advice and when her fiancee is found cheating on her with her sister who has been her enemy since she was a teenager, there is one man that she would marry and makes a offer to his family. But what she doesn’t know is that Sebastian’s family forces him into a loveless marriage, and he vows for revenge against those that would force him into such a agreement. But as Sebastian and Lucianne come together in their marriage, there is an outside force working to undermine them but will they discover the culprit or will their marriage suffer the betrayals and secrets that are ahead for them?
What I Loved
I absolutely adored Contractually Yours. It was such a delight. There is something so fun about reading a arranged marriage. I really found this story so fascinating. What I really liked is that we got the story to start with these two characters meeting when they are young and just learning about themselves and their own strengths. We see them then as adults taking charge of their families companies and doing what is necessary to maintain control over their own lives. Both Sebastian and Lucianne come from families that are determined to control them but both of them have such passionate warrior hearts willing to do whatever it takes to be independent from their families desires for them and forge their own paths. They are much more alike than either of them realize.
I really found their chemistry just right, I loved how well they fit together even though their marriage is a bit rocky at first they also have such common ground with each other. And eventually they both see that for each other but it does take time. I also was endeared by the way in which they will protect each other from those that would undermine them. I really enjoyed their connection and what a great team they make together (tennis match is a prime example) and I loved the whole mystery behind the one trying to divide them and their business interests. It was quite a fun plot development. And the grovel at the end was just right and felt authentic in its moment although the heroine was a bit too hard on the hero, just sayin’.
What I Struggled With
The third act! LOL I really don’t understand authors using this so much but honestly you could see this breakup happening from the very beginning of the story and there were some plot holes that happen throughout this one here. I was so saddened by it if I am being honest because there were just some answers I wanted our characters to get that they didn’t receive. And I felt like the heroine should have forgiven the hero earlier than she did. She dragged it out way too much. The hero does bad sure, but he makes an effort to real show his love for her.
Overall View
Contractually Yours is a intellectually superb romance that delivered with so much heart, tenacity and compelling writing that left me yearning for more from this author!
Title: Contractually Yours
Author: Nadia Lee
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Length: 350 Pages
Book Links
Amazon| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club
Book Evaluation
Storytelling Quality: 4.5
Story Itself: 4
Character Development: 4.5
Writing Style: 4.25
World Building 4.25
Feels + The Romantic Heart 4.25
Pacing 5
Plot 4.5
Cover Art 4
Ending 4
Book Ratings
Overall Rating of the Book
Steam Level
Simmering—soft warm touches and light intimacy
Warm- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments.
Steamin’ up the room -the sexual content is more explicit in the language and tone, heavier amount of sexual scenes.
Blazing fire to the building-The prime focus is the sex scenes, scorching hot, and could burn one. Less focus on the emotional intimacy to the relationship.
Series Order
The Lasker Brothers
Baby for the Bosshole-Pub 2022 #1 in the Series
My Grumpy Billionaire-Pub 2022 #2 in the Series
The Ex I’d Love to Hate-Pub 2023 #3 in the Series
Contractually Yours-Pub 2023 #4 in the Series
About The Author
Bilingual former management consultant Nadia Lee has lived in four different countries and enjoyed many adventures and excellent food around the globe. In the last eight years, she has kissed stingrays, got bitten by a shark, and petted tigers.
She shares an apartment overlooking a river and palm trees in Japan with her husband, winter white hamsters and an ever-widening pile of books. When she’s not writing, she can be found digging through old Asian historical texts or planning another trip.
Visit Nadia on her website or her blog. You can also say hello on Facebook or Twitter.
Sounds like they both had pretty awful families who would sell each other out for money. Yikes. The third act break-ups… sigh So unnecessary and I’ve gotten to tired of them. It’s like, can’t we have a romance WITHOUT the breakup? But even so, I’m glad you enjoyed it so much otherwise, and that you’re wanting to read more from the author.
I really wish authors would stop with that plot device. That third act sounds like torture, but I’m so glad that overall, you loved this story. Excellent review xo
I’m glad to see your thoughts on this one. I’d not heard of it and it sounds good even with the dreaded third quarter break up.
I too have issues with the third act breakup. I guess its case of wanting to infuse drama into the story. Despite the inclusion of that plot device, Contractually Yours sounds like it delivered a delicious dose of romance. Adding it to my KU recommendations list.