TITLE: Coerced Queen
SERIES: New York Underworld #3
AUTHOR: Charmaine Pauls
GENRE: Dark Mafia Romance
TROPES: Enemies to Lovers/Touch Her and Die
Fake Relationship/Forced Proximity
RELEASE DATE: December 16, 2024
BLURB.
My husband will never love me, but I’m in this now until death do us part.
The man who threatened to carry me over his shoulder down the aisle and marry me at knifepoint is both my captor and my liberator. He makes me weak and strong at the same time.
Before, he didn’t give me an option. Now, there’s a choice. But he’s determined to push me away.
If I’m wise, I’ll take that freedom and run for my life. Because the heart of the man who captured and saved me will always belong to the woman who broke it. The man who calls himself my husband will never be mine.
Only, there is no choice for me any longer. It’s way too late to walk away.
I’m in this war now … until death do us part.
PURCHASE LINKS.
MY REVIEW.
5 Stars from Tiffany!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
An Excellent Finish!
In the final book of the New York Underworld series, Charmaine Paul delivers all the action we’ve been waiting for. It picks up right where the last one left off, so heads up, there might be spoilers for books one and two ahead!
Anya really steps up in this book and owns her role as Sav’s queen. Honestly, by the time we’re in a few chapters, you forget how young she is because she handles everything like a pro. Her tough past has prepared her for this life, and with Sav out of commission, she takes charge, making decisions for both the men and the business. She’s a little reckless at times, but it’s kind of awesome to see her come into her own.
Now, Sav... he did annoy me a bit at the start. His “woe is me” attitude went on for a little too long, and I was like, “Okay, you were blown up at your wedding. Move on!” But, of course, he did absolutely step up when he was needed. Same with Dante. He was more of a background player in the previous books, however he stepped up to help Anya with the day to day goings on.
The book is packed with action, and even though we all know how things are going to turn out, the fun part is seeing how it all unfolds. There’s a lot happening in each scene and Charmaine Pauls does an amazing job bringing all the details to life, maybe a little too much detail at times, but it was still necessary. Alongside Anya and Sav, characters like Dante, Livy, and Nicole help keep the story moving forward.
The Coerced Queen ties up all the loose ends nicely and even gives us a little epilogue to peek in on the future.
EXCERPT.
He turns, facing me squarely. “Everything I do and everything I’ve done are for selfish reasons. If I’m watching out for you or taking care of you, it’s because I like the way you make me feel. You have an effect on me no other woman has. You make my c&ck hard every f#cking time I look at you, even when I’ve just come the hardest in my life and it should be physically impossible. So when I tell you that I’m doing it for me, I’m not lying.”
His words hurt, slicing right through me like he almost did with the blade of his knife. Yet that’s not the truth I see when I look at his actions. That’s not the hope I hold on to when I close my eyes at night and shed lonely tears with him right beside me in bed.
Swallowing back those tears that burn at the back of my eyes, I lift my chin. “You’re wrong, Sav. A man who does everything with his own self-interest in mind won’t give his life to save me and my baby.”
The statement pierces him like a sword. I see it in the way he winces as he’s forced to face the simplest of truths when all his arguments are exhausted and only his considerate behavior is left to speak for itself.
We face each other like pieces on a chess table. It’s a checkmate move. It’s playing dirty. I admit that. Pushing him into a corner to confess something I desperately need to hear isn’t honorable. But I don’t know how else to open his eyes to something he won’t allow himself to believe. Maybe he thinks it will be a betrayal of his love for Rachele. But people can love more than one person. They can get hurt and trampled and find happiness again. He lost his first love, but he’s my first love. If he gives us a chance, we can be so much more than lust and s€x.
He turns away with that wounded look on his face, running away from the future we could’ve had. And I’m still thoroughly and utterly ruined, a silly, opportunistic woman who put her heart on the line in a gamble she lost.
ALSO AVAILABLE.
AUTHOR BIO.
Charmaine loves to write dark and edgy romance that will melt both your e-reader and your heart. She's a mom of two teenagers, an adorable dog, and a dominant cat. Her country of birth is South Africa where many of her stories play off. Her French husband kidnapped her to the south of France where she currently lives with her family. When she's not writing, you'll find her in the kitchen baking cakes or in the gym lifting weights (because ... all those cakes!).
AUTHOR LINKS.
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