I came across this author on BookTok and so thankful I did because Shain sent me the ARC of this book (as well as Shattered Vows!) As much as I enjoyed Shattered Vows, this book was my favorite of the two! It was steamy and hot, while also giving you the super sweet moments of the brother's best friend/childhood crush tropes. Dante was a DREAM. I very much am manifesting him as my future husband because he was hot and somewhat morally-gray, while being the literally cutest human on the planet. Very big fan. We were supposed to be terrified of this man like he’s “in the mob” was in the military and like he’s killing a torturing people. Bruh he’s a glorified federal employee like should I be scared of my mailman. Like it just was so stupid it felt like the author wanted the guy to be “good” and scary which it didn’t work. Also the fmc sister was involved as well and that shit was so dumb. Laslty here are all the weird comment and things I just felt could’ve been cut from the story. The Author Resource Round Table on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/116489?group_id=26989 Here’s the thing: I hate books with twins. I didn’t know that there would be twins when I started reading this so I tried to push past it (I promise I really did). Like usual with twins in books, there’s secrets, competitive (ish) attitudes, good-twin/bad-twin complexes, and all around a lot of hurt on both sides. I could have moved on past all of this. What I couldn’t move past was the MMC’s relationship with the twin. Not to mention the fact that he was apparently in the military but is now working in a private contract with the government but is also the son of a major mob boss who no one knows he’s related to? Again… sure…

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What really sealed the deal for me was that he lied to the FMC about various things but when she finally admits to the pregnancy and loss of the baby that she has basically told no one about he gets pissy with her? And she’s sitting there sobbing about this super emotional thing that she’s kept bottled up and has been dealing with all by herself and he starts talking about how he’s “always thinking about how to get people to submit” to him? Yeah… that’s totally the correct way to handle a situation like that…

And living next to the guy I gave my innocence to a long time ago may actually end in my complete devastation. him. “Don’t you ever say that being in the military is killing. That’s being a patriot. A war hero.” Izzy had gotten herself straight and out of juvie and Dante had approached her to earn her degree while she worked for his company, going undercover. She was good at what she did until she got Delilah involved and they both goth caught. So it looked like Dante was going to Puerto Rico to save the woman he loved and find out why she had ghosted him all those years ago….Shain Rose is an author of Contemporary Romance and New Adult novels. She fights for love one word a time. Those happily ever afters can be difficult to get to sometimes! And as more conditions arise, it's clear there's a fine line between commitment and betrayal... and neither of us knows where that line falls. One of which is to move in across the hall from him so he can keep me safe. Like I need protection after a little felony mix-up. When she isn't writing, she's spending the days with Doc G, Liv and Gray Gray, and their wild golden retriever. She and Doc G drink way too much coffee, eat way too much candy, and fight like they've been married for hmm how long has it been now? Delilah had eventually ghosted Dante much to his disappointment. She’d finished her degree and was currently nursing in Puerto Rico.

Declan Hardy, All-American heartthrob and retired NFL billionaire, is my complete Between Commitment and Betrayal, An Arranged Marriage Romance, is live. Later in the book they finally sleep together again, but AGAIN instead of communicating their feelings, they both assumed that the other just wanted to be friends and that the sex meant nothing, even though that wasn't true for either of them, so that was also super frustrating. On top of all of this, there were so many random plot wrenches thrown in...Dante was former military, but is also a member of the mob, but also is being contracted by the government who is working in conjunction with the mob on an undercover operation that Lilah's twin sister Izzy, a former drug addict, is also a part of? Dante also went on a date with Izzy after they broke up, but says she kissed him and he wasn't into it. It was so random, and just sort of served as a way to provide more drama. We find out way later in the book that Izzy is ALSO in love with Dante, which makes Lilah want to pursue a relationship with him even less, not wanting to break her sister's heart.Dante was using his not so legal links to bring down drug dealers, but the ‘whales’ not just the ‘big fish’. Her twin sister was hooked on drugs and was currently in juvie at the time she left, leaving behind a much calmer atmosphere.

This book covers some heavy subjects that I feel are super relatable to a lot of people, especially women (i.e. miscarriages) as well as things like heartbreak, anxiety, and depression. But it overall helped the characters become more relatable and I loved how their broken pieces just fit each other so well. Their romance had all the tension and heat, while giving you some tiny swoonworthy moments between the couple. In the present day, a lot of the first 35% or so of the book was really sad because we get both POVs and can see that they are both clearly still in love with the other but not wanting to admit it since they are both hurt over the past. Instead of being honest with each other, they choose to try and prove how much they are over the other person by talking about the other people they’ve slept with, and in Lilah's case, the dates she was planning to go on. There was a lot of internal dialogue in Lilah's chapters about her miscarriage and subsequent depression, and about how she felt like she wasn't good enough for Dante, and about how her they couldn't make a baby together (essentially assuming that one miscarriage meant she'd never be able to have a healthy pregnancy with him), and honestly it all felt very over the top to me. I don't want to downplay the impact that a miscarriage can have on someone, but to be 18 years old and miscarry an unplanned pregnancy and then let it be still impacting your relationships with everyone around you more than 5 years later even though she's been in therapy all that time seemed unrealistic to me.