Review: Arranged by RK Lilley

ARRANGED
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: RK Lilley
Release Date: April 22, 2019

There were rules in the cash-for-beauty game. The money held the power. The beauty followed the rules and jumped through the hoops.

THE BRIDE
I knew what everyone would think if they knew the truth about my marriage. They’d be shocked and appalled. And rightly so. I was a young, modern, independent woman, and I’d done the unthinkable. I’d sold my virginity to a spoiled, rich boy. To a stranger who didn’t love me.

And yes, I’d done it all for money.

THE GROOM
My bride was as gorgeous as she was unwelcome. As desirable as she was unwanted. I wanted nothing to do with her, but that didn’t seem to matter exactly the second she got close enough to touch. I wanted her to hate me more than she loved the millions she’d sold herself for.

I wanted to spurn her, but unfortunately, I wanted to fuck her more.

ARRANGED is a standalone erotic romance.

AMAZON

He hated me on principle, and he fascinated me in spite of myself.

I love RK Lilley’s brand of angst. So of course the second I saw she has a new book coming out, I jumped on it with a rabidness of a starving squirrel. That analogy made sense, right? No? Whatever. Just go with me here.

Arranged marriages are my jam and bullheaded, broody, and brokenly mean heroes are my crack. So of course the blurb to this book hooked me, line and sinker. The irony of my rating is that I DEVOURED this book. I’m talking straight up binge read here, people. But I also couldn’t help but feel that something was missing for me. I’m thinking this was likely the heroine’s balls up until the bitter end. Le sigh.

The set up is delicious. A bride that sells herself and her virginity to a cold and unwilling husband who only marries her to get his inheritance from his father. She agrees to be his perfect trophy wife and obedient doll. He makes it apparent she will never be anything more to him. Enter a game of push and pull the likes of which will make you want to rip your hair out. And this was the beginning of the end for me here. Because while the set up was my catnip, the heroine was my kryptonite.

Now look, I get it. She sold herself for millions of dollars and knew full well what she was walking into. She agrees to take it all in stride and be the perfect little wife. She HAS to take all of her husband’s vile and hot and cold behavior. But at the same time, I didn’t get her either. He treats her like trash, and yet she still trembles because of their sexual chemistry. She’s so up and down with this that I started to get dizzy. He rips her to shreds and she barely walks away without gaping wounds, but the second he gives her the sex eyes, she’s all over it, because…magic penis.

Now you may have seen a HUGE spoiler floating around in some reviews. And I want to make myself very clear that this didn’t bother me. In context, I got it. But I get how this may be a huge no for some people. I’m not one of them, though. For me, this was staying true to this character and I wouldn’t buy it if he was the perfect little husband if I’m being perfectly honest. Where it went wrong for me with Calder is his sudden 180. The man goes from bitter and cold to suddenly the exact opposite and I simply didn’t buy the total and complete turnaround.

Does he grovel at the end, absolutely. But I couldn’t help but feel I needed something a little more. The heroine also finally grows a pair and lets him have it, which was satisfying. But again, it didn’t take long for her to succumb to his sex voodoo.

I loved the premise of this book and as I already mentioned, I totally binged on it. But something in the execution just felt lacking for me. I will say that I’m thrilled to have RK Lilley back in action and can’t wait for more books from her. This one, while falling short in some of my personal preferences, was still an entertaining read. So if you’re looking for a sexy arranged marriage trope with a real alphahole of a hero, definitely give this a go!