Heated Rivals by Katee Robert is a dark mafia romance novel and the second book in The O’Malleys series (4.25/5 stars)

Heated Rivals by Katee Robert is a dark mafia romance novel and the second book in The O’Malleys series. We follow multiple POV characters but have a deeper focus on two: Carrigan and James.

Carrigan O’Malley always knew she would have to marry for politics, not love. Now her father has only given her the month until her next birthday to choose a husband from a list. As a second son, James didn’t expect to run the Hallorans. And though there may be peace at present, war is always brewing between the families.

This book was previously published as The Wedding Pact. I’ve really been liking the designs on the new alternative covers from Forever.

Let me start out by saying that I love Katee’s books, I support her on Patreon. So I’m probably a little biased.

But y’all… this was great and I inhaled it within 24 hours. I liked it better than the first book, and I’m so excited to keep reading in this series!

I was already here for Carrigan and James from our interlude with them in the first book in the series, Dark Succession (previously published as The Marriage Contract). As in all of her books, consent is shown really well here, which I always appreciate.

We peek into the lives of a few of the other O’Malley siblings here. Sometimes their chapters dragged a bit for me, but I appreciate the conceit that this story is about a group of siblings and I do like checking in on them and watching their growth.

Tropes in this book include: enemies to lovers, forbidden love

CW: abusive father, sibling death (on page), guns, blood, assault, murder, torture (mentioned), firearms, sexual assault (brief), abduction (mentioned)

The O’Malleys series includes:

• Dark Succession (formerly The Marriage Contract)
• Heated Rivals (formerly The Wedding Pact)
• Twisted Secrets (formerly An Indecent Proposal)
• Beautiful Vengeance (formerly Forbidden Promises)
• Lovely Corruption (formerly Undercover Attraction)
• Ruthless Redemption (formerly The Bastard’s Bargain)

I received a copy of this book to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

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