Ashes

The Vendetta #2

by SeRaya

Twenty years ago, a fire stole the people I loved the most from me.

I’d always thought it was an accident until I discovered that the person who’d saved me kept the truth hidden.

Life as I once knew it burned and I was back to rise from the ashes.
And it all started with her.

It was supposed to be the best day of her life, but I was there to ruin it.

Everything was going according to plan…

Until I fell for her.

Genres: Dark Romance, Romance, Mafia Romance, Enemies To Lovers, Forced Proximity, Dark, Romantic

420 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 23, 2024

About the author

SeRaya is a hopeless romantic twenty-something living in one of her favorite places in the world. She loves writing swoony and steamy love stories about fierce and imperfect characters who find their happily ever afters. Her stories may be emotional rollercoasters and she does have a weakness for slowburns, but that never tempers the heat that comes when it ignites.

She's always had a love for writing and is so happy that she gets to share her characters with you!

When she's not frantically trying to make her deadline, she loves being cozied up with a good romance book, rewatching her favorite shows, and discovering new food places.

To stay up to date on SeRaya’s upcoming projects, connect with her on social media, sign up for her newsletter, or go to her website authorseraya.com.

Reviews

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rtc
Check TW

Both celibate after meeting. h a virgin, never has done anything with anyone.
H celibate for years but had flings when he was in college. No one comes close to his h for him. h better in everything.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

ABSOLUTE PERFECTION

[seher · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS WAS SO GOOD — I’M LITERALLY SWOONING.

[kaleigh]

*sigh*

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2024 because the first one was amazing!! However, I had to Dnf this because it has one trope I just don’t like😭 the h is a virgin and the H is not which I always prefer it to be the other way around of dual v. I might try reading again at a later day but the virgin h/ non virgin H trope is just unappealing at the moment🙃

*for safety readers, I dnf’d pretty early on but I wouldn’t assume there is any OW drama or others after meeting. From what I could find, he’s never been in love, just do causal hookups.*

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ashes by SeRaya is a suprise forced marriage romance that centers on Doctor Sienna Bruni and co-owner of a cyber security company, Jamal Aguerd. 

You know the kind of love that is so pure and wholesome? This book is the literal definition of that type of love. I know that you’re probably wondering, “Oh, isn’t this a dark romance?” Well, yes, but the dark part of the book was primarily brought about by Jama’s current profession and the characters’ past.

Don't get me wrong, though. Yes, the love between Jamal and Sienna was everything, but they also had some great smut and dirty talk. There was the right amount of cute and dirty present throughout the whole book. 

To be honest, I was skeptical of Jamal at first because I thought he would be a dick, but what I didn’t expected was for him to be such a secret softie. This man's actions for Sienna were so heart-melting. Among his many actions were him giving her a shower after learning that she suffered from back pain and teaching himself how to bake a cake for her birthday.

I really liked Jamal and Sienna, but there were so many side characters that I hope get a story of their own in the near future since SeRaya’s tension-building and teasing was just so good. 

*Thank you to Good Girl’s PR and to the author, SeRaya, for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.*

[Sarah♡books · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 ⭐️

🤍 Forced marriage
🤍 Enemies to lovers
🤍 Mafia
🤍 hates everyone but her
🤍 Celibate hero
🤍 Virgin heroine
🚩no cheating or sharing, no OW/OM


This was such a cute and interesting story 🦋✨️
To be honest I loveddddd Sienna and Jamal and their chemistry was really 💥🔥🧎🏻‍♀️

𝙎𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙖 - 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙚 🩷

She is such a sweet heroine !! I love that she is a doc and she works so hard but still loves it 🫶
Plus I love that she is a big sis and needs to take care of her siblings.
It broke my heart to read about her birthday but thankfully Jamal made it unique 🤭👀🤍✨️🦋

𝙅𝙖𝙢𝙖𝙡 - 𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙤 🩵

He is so strong 🥹💔
The things that happend to him are awful and I had tears in my eyes when I read about his scars ( how he was afraid that Sienna would see him as 'less ' ).
He can cook sooo good and feeds everyone ??? What do you want more 😍😅
My absolute favourite was him BLUSHING OVER HIS CAKE 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🧎🏻‍♀️✨️🧎🏻‍♀️🔥🔥💥💥💥🫂🫂🫂🫂🤭🤭😍😍🫶🫶🫶


all in all I would recommend it 100000000% & I'm sooooo excited to read the next book which I HOPEEE will be about Kai and Valentina 🙊😻🤞🤞🤞

[Sour Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ✨️
First things first, I read this book because the mc is moroccan 🇲🇦✨️ en plus de ça his last name is AGURED ( ehem if u know u know👀) 
So It was a quick read , I enjoyed it, but
I don't think  we can consider it as a dark rom book  .
Secondly jamal ✨️ jamal ya jamaaaaaal a zin dyali 🌚😂,  he's a walkin green flag  and the " I'm here to collect what is mine " aka " jit nakhud rez9i"  got me from the first
For Sienna ✨️ , I love her, especially when she put him in his place. My guuuuuuuurl and her love confess was better than his 😐, so yeaaaah hada makayen ✨️

[Emily Tudor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I AM FERAL!!!!

nothin gets me going more than an arranged marriage and my god these two were so fun!!

sienna is so epiphany by tswift and jamal is sooooo kiss land by the weeknd UGH!!!!

seraya you never miss girl.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gets an additional star for the “my wife” trope bc listen I go feral every time. And while this one of probably my least favorite in the series due to many elements in the actual plot I didn’t *love*, Seraya writes a fucking stellar romance no matter what. 🙂‍↕️😮‍💨

[wolfydragon1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

thank you good girls pr and seraya, for sending me an early reader copy!!!!


first read, and ARC, of the year.

okay, where do I start?
this is my first read by seraya, and the vendetta world. I didn’t read the first book and I don’t know anything about it or how it correlates to ashes. but let’s talk about ashes!!!

ashes is everything I didn’t expect it to be, in a weird but best way.

The one and most important thing, besides loving the author’s way of writing, is the ethnic diversity representation of the (main) characters.

Jamal is Moroccan/Belgian, and he speaks French too. I don’t think i have ever heard and read about a romance book featuring a Moroccan and/or Belgian male main character.
Sienna is Dominican/Italian, which I also thought was very interesting.

The story follows Jamal as he goes through life, before the book/ present timeline starts, vengeful, and looking for those he seeks to avenge. As a few things happen, Jamal chooses to force Sienna to marry him. Which makes a start to their (love) story.

Sienna knew her father had betrayed their family and practically sold her off to marry in order to save his own affairs. But while she was trying to mentally prepare herself for weeks to marry Mateo, it turns out she will not. She will marry Jamal.

Personally, I don’t think it’s much of a dark romance, maybe it’s a light dark romance? It definitely didn’t have too much mafia and other dark themes. I feel like despite the unexpected forced marriage, it was a pretty flourishing relationship they had, even from the beginning on out when we think they don’t like each other and how they weren’t admittedly romantic towards each other. While I did love how Kai, Jamal and Valentina had their “the arrow og” sort of meetings trying to gather information on the people Jamal felt the need to avenge, and just because I loved those so much, I only hoped I got a bit more of it. At the end of the story we are getting some action scenes, but that’s about it.

I liked how we got more of sienna’s friends!! But I think I’m most excited to see what happens between Kai and Valentina!!!!!!! I’m reeeeeaaaallly curious.

I think a few things are left unsaid about Jamal’s parents and his uncle? But I might have looked over the piece of the puzzle.

[clicktojointhemafia · Rating 2 out of 5]

・❥・another arrange marriage book where they fall for each other instantly. ✋😀 that and other random, trope-ish scenes that basically made up the entire book :(

this book follows a girl, sienna bruni, who is forced into a marriage with jamal (insert surname oop-). i honestly don't know what he does because i feel like it's unclear. i thought he was in the mafia at first but he can't just have a 3/4 person mafia now can he? that and apparently he's doing some vigilante shit idk. anyways, he makes sienna marry him by gate crashing her wedding to another man (that one was also arranged/forced, poor girly). however one thing about jamal is that gasp, his parents were killed in a fire! and he's been dedicated to capturing who killed them.


・❥・ thoughts and ideas about the plot & characters~

Sienna Bruni was not a greatly formed character. Frankly, it felt like the sort of character she was changed each chapter or page. she went from being fiery and mouthing off jamal to being like "are you ok boo?" in a too short time. as a character she is weakly built and if she was constructed properly it would have given more depth to the story, because i honestly can not figure her out. it's like the author just molded her to fit whatever trope she was writing every chapter. no. pls don't do that.

Jamal (insert surname here) was perhaps better crafted, but still weak. the primary thing about his character that is even mentioned in the blurb/authors teasers is that he's avenging his parents. if someone is avenging a dead person, you expect immense bitterness, anger and coldness from them right? jamal is none of that, lemme tell ya. if he IS, then it did not last long at all bc his thoughts constantly consumed sienna. (was that good? not really, I'll tell you later.) he was softcore and gave UwU vibes to the max; which didn;t match his vengeful motives.

sometimes romance authors make the mistake of giving their characters personalities that literally only consist of their s.o. and it honestly does not go well. and that made it really hard for me to connect.

anyways... onto the plot and book overall

when i saw the map i gasped, because omg, i got so excited!!! i was so excited because i was so interested in this new island that the author created and i was so excited to learn about the whole environment and culture and all. but nope. we got none of that. and it actually really saddens me because the potential it HAD was astronomical. i was prepared for a tropical island vibes sorta mafia story. i know sienna already lived there but she could have just been too poor to explore it whatever and both of them could have explored it etc.

the romance between the characters overall felt... forced. their relationship was rushed, and we didn't get to see the beautiful development of it, and instead it was choppy and lacked chemistry. it felt as thought they became comfortable with each other too fast and not in a way that made sense. and because of this we missed milestones i love to see in forced/marriage of convenience trope books. the moment jamal saw sienna we didn't get much thought on his plans for revenge which ok, he's a simp, but it simply was not it. normally what happens is that the bitter mmc starts off with his thoughts consumed by vengeance but as the book goes on he SLOWLY starts getting distracted and he knows it and fights against it. my man jamal didn't quite give a shit, leading me to not care about his vengeance plans. they seemed like an add on tbh. also. the characters kept addressing the other as "my husband" or "my wife" in their pov, which is okay but it was from the START and was so overused. the phrase itself suggests acceptance, and did not belong in sienna's pov from the start if we;re gonna make this girl make sense. the phrase also is kind of endearing so it really depleted the angst. their whole romance didn't have MUCH angst to be frank; what would have improved it is if sienna was part of the enemy or something (ik it's cliche or whatever but it never NOT works).

i also highly believe sienna should have trust issues with men because of how her father was. her familial issues could have been more explored and given her a deeper background. however, we didn't get that but still knew about what a pos her father was. so it baffles me how she trusted/began caring for jamal so quickly especially since he also forced her to marry him. how quick they fucked was beyond me, considering she was a virgin.

it's not like she was a doormat either. but everytime she fought back it turned flirty and sexual like her arguments served the purpose of sexual tension (which to some extent it does, but at the start there is usually nothing of the sort because you are creating the whole beginning etc)

we were told too much and showed too little. the book was very short and i believe it could have been made longer with more chapters that would have thoroughly helped the book in terms of pacing and getting to know the characters more. things we missed were- jamal telling sienna they should share a bed (which is ABSOLUTELY BARBARIC.) and how the nature of their car rides evolved from being cold/distant to warm and full of talking.

in essence, i think the author rushed this book and published it fairly incomplete. HOWEVER, her debut was amazing and wasn't like this.

upon research i have come to the realisation that the french word "putain" alone means whore, which the author used like once and i was so confused. then it was used againbut in a sentence and in that context it meant 'damn' which really puzzled me and made me laugh.

next. the kidnapping of sienna was INCREDIBLY random. i know to some extent it might have been relevant but we just had to infer it because it seemed like the most plausible explanation. but overall there was no clear logical explanation other than mateo was jealous and didn't want anyone to have her if he couldn't. although he could have tried to have her and not resorted immediately to killing her instead. overall i think it was stupid.

the book was choppy, had off pacing and under written/developed.

what i DID like was the concept of the island and the amazing diversity. and omg i absolutely LOVED when jamal gate crashed, goddamn that iconic villain line really made me giggle.

I'm really sad this book didn't slay because i had been anticipating it but i still will be supporting this author cause she slays and it's only her 2nd book :)


・❥・official rating: 2.5 stars

if i read another character call their s.o. 'husband' or 'wife' i will off myself

[Kimberlyyyreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was honestly super cute!

Jamal was literally 🦋✨

The way this man doted on his women was rightfully deserved.

OH! And the way he speaks different languages but talks dirty in French? Yeah, a fucking win! 🤭

This would’ve been a four star but there were a couple plot holes that were left in the book that I wasn’t a fan of :/

Shout out to Sienna for being a Dominican baddy 😌👏

Dr. Sienna Bruni, would literally trust her as my ER doctor any day!

The way that Seraya writes these boy obsessed mc’s is such a win, I need MORE 🙏

Also crossing fingers that Isaiah gets his own book cause there is POTENTIAL there 👀

[Basbosaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but not worth all the hype

[deeja❦. · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was so cute omg such a quick read too i loved it!!

[Savanii💋 · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶🌶🌶/5

Ashes
Sienna Bruni and Jamal Aguerd

Where do I start? I was not expecting this to be good if I'm being honest. Nemesis was a bad read for me and I didn't expect much from this but I kid you not It swept me off my feet and boy am I glad it did because I really needed that book.

HEROINE -☆☆☆☆¾
I love Sienna. I really really love Sienna she was like wow. Perfect for Jamal if you ask me. I could see her changes throughout the book and man that was a big improvement from the first book. I love how she was written how her mind works all her flaws and everything. I just love her man I'd talk everyday how I love her and not get tired. She took a place in my heart and man I didn't know I had that space in my heart.

HERO -☆☆☆☆¾
Jamal man you were kind of a hard shell to crack but I still loved you and everything and I don't know but you are the perfect red flag for Sienna I would sell her to another soul- I mean pair her with another soul. hehehehehehe. I saw your developments to be honest love but that divorce I'm doing this because I love you made me wanted to slap you in the head with a stone. Cause after everything you want a divorce? Boy if you don't stop playing with me I will fight you. But I love you a lot and want you to marry me too and taste me-. have a good one my lovelies.

PLOT -☆☆☆☆☆
The plot was plotting man not a soul in this book let me down even the villains somewhat played there part well man I went through so much emotions in that book I'm at work giggling and laughing (I work in a don't use your phone environment). I really enjoyed the improvements from chapter 1-end. Some slight grammar errors but nothing to stop the book from being great. If you can get past the forced proximity and Virgin h and non-virgin H then you're good to go as well. They didn't make Sienna being a virgin a big deal so it doesn't affect the story at all (my opinion) Definitely recommend.

RANTING
I want more. the extended epilogue? marvelous. the kids? marvelous I'm just wowing right now, nothing but wow moments. I want to be Sienna for a day or even the chair in a house atp.. Somebody need to either make a movie of this and give me the lead or put me in the book. What are you all waiting on to read this master piece?
(my opinion).

FAVORITE LINES
●Listen, when someone says no, it means no. It doesn’t mean maybe or later, it means no . I made a vow to save people, but I won’t hesitate to break your radius because you don’t know how to respect boundaries and want to impress your buddies .” - Chapter 1

●but the constant responsibility of taking care of everything they needed on top of raising kids I didn’t give birth to, might I add, because they didn’t care enough to do it themselves was becoming too much. - Chapter 1

●And sometimes the people you love most are the ones keeping the most secrets from you. - Chapter 2

●You’ll always rise from the ashes. - Chapter 11

●Sometimes the people we love don’t realize the pain they’re causing us - Chapter 14

●I’d spent my whole life living for others, making sure everyone else was happy, but it was time for me to think of myself and make sure I was happy. - Chapter 26

●I hated when people assumed that women couldn’t like motorsports. That and when men started drilling you with technical questions when they learned you did. - Chapter 28

TROPES
●Surprise forced marriage
●Multicultural
●Moroccan mafia
●Doctor FMC
●Dirty talking MMC
●Dislike to love
●Forced Proximity

[JanelleBooktok · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I tell you, I ate this book up. I could not put this book down. I read this within like two days. I just really loved the characters. I loved sienna and Jamal‘s character they were so captivating, the way Jamal talk to sienna and just have giggly kicking my feet the way he told her “I’ll teach you later”. I was like okayyyyyy 🤭🥵 I just could not get enough of these two characters and their chemistry with each other and the tension and I just loved every bit of it.
I’m not gonna hold you her parents were literal trash like they had this girl basically do everything for the family and she had to like give up her happiness to help them out and I’m happy that she was finally able to make a decision for herself and be happy And put herself first before others. I also low-key wish that we had a little bit more cameo between Kai and Valentina because I was catching the vibe of there being something between those two but like it was never discussed so I hope in the next book that’ll be about them I don’t know. Let’s hope so. Also I loved the epilogue and the extended epilogue. It was so good. I wish there was more to their story, but I can’t wait for the next one to come out so this was a five out of five stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[mumu · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a cute quick read and although the first one was written better, surprisingly, and had more tension and angst, i still enjoyed it.

jamal and sienna were cute and i loved the diversity in all the characters. it felt a little forced at times (coming from a poc lol) but it was nothing serious. i liked the relationship but it did feel a bit rushed - like they hated each other and then after a few cute scenes they were immediately happier.

plot was quite limited, it was more of a focus on them but that was okay. i have a feeling either kai and valentina are next or esra and her boss. jamal did act like a scary guy but apart from the sections in his own pov he didn't really mention any of that to sienna.

also i feel like the plot was based around the acts of service that he did for her which was nice to read but it didn't really feel like a narrative at times, just cute scenes with a bit of inner monologue and then the next scene. and the dialogue between them was SO STILTED which is why my rating is slightly lower - they didn't seem to have much chemistry in the way they spoke to each other and when they did it was a few lines and then bam moving on. i feel like they literally had nothing to talk about, they didn't talk about work (jamal literally brushed her question about what he did off and then never explained it lol) or anything else it was just their feelings.

plot twist at the end i saw coming from the start and it was really rushed, like the author just needed this big scene to finish it off.

all the french and arabic (idk the dialect) was sweet but there was so much of it and although the french is easily translated, the arabic transliteration was harder. like someone who didn't know it would struggle to find the meaning of 3 as ع lol. i thought there would be a language guide but there wasn't so it would be nice to have that. i'm convinced the author is poc from this alone so bonus points for that xx

also what was that noah pov? i literally didn't get whether he was stressed for jamal or for himself because he did something?? so odd.

all in all not a bad read, i finished it in one sitting in a couple hours. pretty basic but cute story, but it would have been incredible with book one level angst.

3 stars!

[Mery · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC REVIEW:
First thing first i read Nemesis and it was damn good but Ashes!! This book holds special place in my heart and was a winner for me because it made me feel so many things, I laughed, I cried, I giggled, and kicked my feet in the air.
Jamal and sienna have my heart. I literally love them so much. they were absolutely perfect.Their chemistry is mind fu*cking blowing ,I loved the banter and the tension between them .
I loved Jamal in every single scene, I really was smiling when he was happy. He's the husband we all wish for( iykyk) .
My sweetheart sienna , she's perfectly amazing I loved her right from the start،
she's so thoughtful and caring, her dedication to her job and dynamic with Jamal are pure magic . Also i loved the way they care about each other it melted my heart, and side characters were beautiful (I hope Kai gets a book !)
Jamal calling sienna "mon amour" , took my heart . There's too many scene in this book were ADORABLE .The characters of both Jamal and Sienna are written so beautifully, i was so invested in thier story ,couldn't get to bed until I finished THIS .
SeRaya writing is just easily understandable and wonderful.This is one of the few books that's going to stay with me forever.
Thank you SeRaya for writing this masterpiece ✨

[Brianna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

This was a cute and quick read but I definitely preferred the first book! I wish this one was a bit more slow burn considering it was a forced marriage, their relationship just seemed to move really fast. There could’ve been a bit more plot too, but it was a cute read

[zayns wife · Rating 1 out of 5]

he baked a cake and blushed.

[Sohini · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS WAS SO GOOD OMG 😭

[Shigon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahh this book is so captivating it’s literally 5:37am I couldn’t sleep until I finished reading it

[Misao · Rating 4 out of 5]

A huge thank you to Good Girls PR and the author, SeRaya, for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"the idea of how often this happened to him and who took care of him when it did crowded my thoughts."

"Ashes," the second installment in The Vendetta Series by SeRaya, unfolds a compelling narrative centered around Doctor Sienna Bruni. Known for her selfless dedication to her family and her profession, Sienna's life takes an unexpected turn when she discovers her father's misguided choices have led to her future being gambled away. Forced into an unwanted marriage with a stranger. But things takes an unexpected turn when Jamal Brown, a cybersecurity co-owner driven by a singular goal of avenging his parents' death, enters the scene and steals her away from her arrange marriage and takes her husband-to-be's place.

〰 the plot:
I did not expect this book to be so wholesome when I began reading it since it's supposed to be a dark romance book. The backstories to each character, their dedication to their professions, found family, and I can't leave out the tension, dirty talk, and smut is what kept me so engaged. I could have read this book in one sitting if it wasn't for other priorities lol

〰 the characters:
I wanted to start the book hating Jamal Brown but having his past be introduced to us from the beginning made it hard to do so. Being the only one in charge of the cooking in the house made me get so soft because what's better than a man who's out for revenge being domestic. The way he fights with himself every time he's with Sienna made my heart so warm. Struggling with pushing her away or letting her see all of him made it clear that from the beginning, she was going to be the person to change him. He may be the tough guy with scars but he is also a big baby!

And I love how Sienna was with him. Although she's not experienced, it seems like she has always imagine what a life she wanted with a partner. Even though she was forced into this marriage with Jamal, I loved how she wanted to give it a shot even though she hated him at the beginning. She was willingly to know more about him and I think it just how much of a big heart she has.

"although i wouldn't admit it to myself, i was enjoying being able to look at him─soaking in this moment─without him knowing. There wasn't a single wrinkle on his face as he slept.

a shocking fact especially with the amount of frowning he did. i'd expected at least a few frown lines."

honorable mentions:
〰 There's something going on with Kai and Valentina and I want to know more so badly. What are their lives like outside of working with Jamal? Valentina especially because she seems so tough and secretive but she also gives me big sister vibes. And the way Kai just knows everything about Jamal is so cute. It's even cuter because Jamal knows that Kai knows so he can't even lie to him or act like he doesn't know what Jamal is talking about.
〰 I love Sienna's relationship with her friends, Kenna and Esra. They're so understanding of each other. I like how they say that they don't do things like hug but there's so many times in the book where they're hugging each other and it's so cute. The ending so cute when they're all together because that's something Sienna has always wanted, happiness.

overall and additional comments
I give this a 4 out of 5 stars.
〰 I wished this story was a bit darker. I feel like Jamal had so much potential to make the people who hurt him suffer and I really wanted to see it. But I'm not going to lie, I was also LIVING for his softness too.
〰 And with that being mentioned, I wished we got to see the other side (the enemies) torturing them more. Not that I wanted to see Jamal or Sienna go through things but I feel like it would have made them be forced to rely on each other more.
〰 I give the smut a solid 5 out of 5 stars. Tell me why I was blushing so hard. The way Jamal is talking and guiding Sienna through everything was steamyyyyyyyyy. He had a way with words. Especially the tension the town hard before the lead up.

"lie down," he said hoarsely, lifting his head. "and keep your heels on."

[Annalise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid 4.5 read for me and I’m only docking it the .5 because I wish we had a few more scenes about the criminal side to Jamal’s business. BESIDES THAT THOUGH? OBSESSEDDDD. I am down absolutely bad for this Jamal and Sienna, like I don’t think you understand😭 They’re both complex in their own, yet still similar, ways that just makes you root for them to be together because they just make sense. I absolutely love the way they take care of each other both emotionally and physically because they’re so considerate and patient with each other, but still sassy which is adorable. Respectfully, nothing is sluttier than a man who cooks EXCEPT a man who can cook and pay attention to the little details, which is exactly the kind of partner Jamal is🥲🫶 I love them so freaking much and THE EXTENDED EPILOGUE? My heart🥹 I will in fact be reading everything else SeRaya puts out.

[jazzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jamal is seriously amazing! Not only did he learn how to bake a cake for her birthday, but he also took her to her favorite F1 shows – he's like a walking green flag! Their chemistry from the beginning is just too cute. They're absolutely adorable together. The only thing that bugs me is her father not getting karma for everything he did. Ugh, I can't stand him, but thankfully, he mostly stayed out of the storyline.

I totally loved the book, and I'm so excited to read the previous one in this series because, why not, right? Crossing my fingers this series gets all the attention it truly deserves!

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️
Love that the mc is moroccan. He is such a Green flag. Love the forced marriage and forced proximity trope.
However I wouldn‘t classify this book as dark romance.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was just ok, too much pushing away from the H and when he finally stop pushing her away she get kidnapped and hurt, he blame himself and send his lawyer to her work with divorce papers, it annoyed me so much, he was just too beta for me, giving 3 stars because it was safe with a no manwhore hero, but he was so meh and never chased her so its more like a 2 star for me

virgin h
no manwhore H
no ow drama
safe for me

[beatrix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you so much to good.girls.pr and seraya for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!* ੈ♡‧₊˚

am i a fan of arranged marriage? no
am i a fan of seraya? YES

you can feel their tension and chemistry right from the start and i love a good "make me" scene 🤭

the first book still owns my heart but pls open yours for sienna & jamal too because it’s vulnerable, dark & absolutely beautiful

alsooo kai & valentina 👀👀
ARE U GUYS BLIND OR WHAT HAHA

next question NOAHS CHAPTER?!??
seraya i need the third book like air

also we support authors who support palestine🍉

still giving 3.75-4 stars because of my time schedule CRIES

[Edilovesreading · Rating 5 out of 5]

the only bad thing about this book was that it ended... and I was craving more!

I already read Nemesis last year and really loved that one, but Miss SeRaya outdone herself with this one!
As always a super fast paced plot (I was flying through the pages), I had such a good time that I barely realized that the book was done (and I wanted more!)

Also where do I find a man like Jamal? (asking for an F1 obsessed friend of mine 😏)
He gave me big "I'm the devil and I'm here to collect" vibes (#daddymaterial right there). AND HE COOKS? AAAAANNNDDD HE LEARNED HOW TO BAKE FOR HER!?!?!?!!? (I...🥲🤯😛😩)... so unfair that he's ink of paper (smh)

I loved Sienna (F1 girlies >>>), she's a baddie and the way she put Jamal in his place (big slay).

In general I'm a big fan of any type of marriage in books (marriage of convenience, arranged marriage...) but I've never had a surprise forced marriage... and I LOOOVEED it!!!!

The tension between Jamal&Sienna (=chefskiss) so cute but also so hot 🤌🏻

[Rey! · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very good!! The way it morphed from dislike to love was beautiful