Sep 7, 20233 min read

Twisted Secrets by Katee Robert

Twisted Secrets

by Katee Robert

Published by Forever

Book 3 in The O'Malley's Series

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.

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 . . .

Genre:

#MafiaRomance

#ContemporaryRomance

Triggers:

Violence, trauma from death of brother, threats, kidnapping

Before I begin, I would like to thank Forever and Katee Robert for sending me an arc of Twisted Secrets via Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I am so happy I got an arc for the third book in this series. If you have read my previous reviews for this series, you know how much I enjoy it. I'm going to admit, I was a little worried I would like Cillian's story, because I just didn't connect to him in the last two books. I connected to him in Twisted Secrets, though.

I really liked this book!

Katee Robert's has done a good job making each couple's story stand out in this series. Whereas in Dark Succession, Teague and Callista were an arranged marriage to partner up their families, and in Heated Rivals, it was a forbidden love between enemy families, Cillian's book has an interesting plot device. Still a forbidden love story, because Cillian and Olivia are each a member of enemy families, but different because of the circumstances Olivia is in. Whereas in Heated Rivals, Carrigan and James know its forbidden, and the consequences of their relationship, Cillian doesn't know Olivia is technically the daughter of the Rashidi family; a prominent family in the Russian mob and located in New York, and a family that is not pleased with the O'Malley's (as Carrigan (Heated Rivals) was arranged to be married to Oliva's brother before she ran off to be with James). Another difference is Olivia doesn't want to be a Rashidi. In fact, she fled New York and was living with her daughter in hiding, because she doesn't want to obligations she would be forced to accept being a Rashidi.

It's an interesting dynamic, especially with the addition of an eighteen-month old child. I'm not usually a fan of children in romances.

I have kids. I don't need to read about them. haha.

But seriously, Katee managed to write the little girl into the story without it being overburdened with kids and family life. I appreciate that, because I won't lie, reading Cillian being so good with her was lovely to read. I do love it when a guy who isn't around children all that much is just naturally good with them.

Because of course our book hero is good with kids!

The overall story in Twisted Secrets is great. It's entertaining. I was hooked to the last page. Cillian and Olivia were likeable characters, and the chemistry between them was great. I can't wait to read the next book in the series - Beautiful Vengeance - which is expected to be published with its new name and cover March 2024. As for Twisted Secrets, expect it on shelves September 19th, 2023.