Welcome to Katee Robert’s O’Malley Series!
The O’Malley Series begins in The Marriage Contract with Teague O’Malley the third heir to the O’Malley Clan. The O’Malley’s are a big, there are seven children, Irish Mob family in Boston and one of three controlling families in the city. The Marriage Contract starts with Callista Sheridan, the heir to the Sheridan Family, another mob family, in a situation she can’t control as she tries to meet the man her father arranged for her to marry, Brenton Holleran, the third mob family. Brenton is a nasty piece of work and to save her life Callie kills him. This leaves an opening for the O’Malley’s to step in and make an alliance, which they take offering Teague as the sacrifice.
Needless to say all hell begins to break lose in Boston as the three families go to war over an accident that turns into disrespect or at least that’s how Victor and Ricky take the marriage announcement of Teague and Callie. With war on the horizon Teague is in a race against time to find Brenton’s murderer in the hopes James Holleran the second heir to the Holleran family can convince his father not to go to war. Little does he know the killer is his soon to be wife.
I love this series, its one of Katee’s dark romances and she can do dark. Coming from an Irish/Italian family myself I’m always been fascinated with the mobs and wondered if my family had been a part of one. That’s a topic for another day. The Marriage Contract, is dark because there is a lot of violence discussed within the pages. Not just shooting, but torture both sexual and non-sexual. Mob families have never been portrayed as loving or law-biding and this series is no exception. There is however light at the end of the dark tunnel and that’s the affection, love and friendship we start to see between Teague and Callie. With their arranged marriage as away to gain power and an alliance you wouldn’t think they’d drop their guard and actually become close, but they do. Though it’s not easy and it does take a lot of trust especially in this time of war.
Which brings us to book two in the O’Malley Series, The Wedding Pact, which is Carrigan O’Malley and James Holeran’s story. Carrigan and Jame’s story actually starts in The Marriage Contract we just get the continuation of it in their very own book. Carrigan is the oldest daughter of Seamus and Aileen O’Malley. She is their second child and older sister to Teague.
Whereas The Marriage Contract delves into the son’s duty to the family, The Wedding Pact digs into the daughters. Here we really see how Seamus uses his family and not always in away that’s best for his children. With only six children remaining Seamus has become more of a cold hearted ass and turns his focus on what Carrigan can give him. An arranged marriage to one of his choosing either Carrigan wants or likes the man or not. This is a business deal and she’s the payment.
In The Marriage Contract James kidnaps Carrigan after they have sex in a closet at a club, the same night his baby brother, Ricky, goes and makes matters worse as the three families walk a fine line on all out war. The Wedding Pact picks up a few months after the war as the families sit down to peace talks, with James as the head of the Holleran’s now that his father is in prison. Even though James and Carrigan, for that matter, know they should stay away from each other they can’t. But you can’t help who you fall in love with even if he is the enemy.
To prevent war James and Carrigan try to hide their budding relationship, that is until an outsider brings it to light as he’s the man who’s going to be Carrigan’s future husband, or is he. As Carrigan fights for her freedom and the whats best for her, James has to face the fact that he doesn’t know who he can trust. And being the head of a mob family, family and those under you should be trust worthy. In the dark underbelly of Boston’s criminal families, you never know who you can trust.
While The Wedding Pact, doesn’t have the same darkness The Marriage Contract has, there is still the darker element within the pages. She discusses human trafficking, and the slave trade along with murder. There is some violence as well. However, Carrigan and James’s relationship adds a brightness to the dark. And their relationship isn’t as easy as Teague and Callie’s, mainly because their is more of a fine line of what could spark war after The Marriage Contract.
An Indecent Proposal, is the third book within the series and its Cillian’s story. He’s the four child of Seamus and Aileen and the third son. In The Marriage Contract he’s full of himself and on top of the world. He’s the pretty boy that hasn’t a care in the world, that is until one drunken night out with his brothers when his youngest brother Devlin is gun down by a Holleran. Since that night his guilt has been eating at him. Cillian has changed his ways between The Wedding Pact and An Indecent Proposal but none of his family is willing to see it. Their all to pissed at Carrigan for finding love in the enemy and disregarding their fathers wishes. Cilliian, however doesn’t hate his older sister for her actions. In fact while he may not like her choice of lovers, he’s glad she found love and wasn’t just a business arrangement.
After getting shot helping Carrigan and James in The Wedding Pact, he’s finally back on his feet and taking over the books for the family. Yet that hasn’t changed his families mind about who or what he is, because every night he returns to the bar, where he last saw his brother Devlin smiling. Now in An Indecent Proposal, however he’s there to see Olivia and not relive the past. There’s only one issue Olivia knows his time, and his family name and she’s not willing to be back under the thumb of a mob family. She escaped her family barely or at least she thought she’d escaped.
Since the day Cillian met Dmitri Romanov, Olivia’s half brother, he hasn’t trusted him. In fact when they met in The Wedding Pact, Dmitri said somethings that made Cillian feel uncomfortable in regards to Carrigan. After the assassination attempt on James’s life he’s not feeling very charitable when it comes to the Romanov’s. Not to mention the fact that the business that pay the O’Malley’s for protect aren’t paying what they had been. Now with Cillian taking over the accounting he’s well aware someone is pouching on the families territories. Yet even with his spidey senses on high alert he still wants Olivia. That said there are things even she says that make Cillian wonder what her past is.
As for Olivia, all she wants to do is protect her daughter from Dmitri. She torn between family and the way she feels for Cillian. Now they just need to figure out if they can trust each other enough to let their feeling have a chance.
Forbidden Promises is book four in the O’Malley Series and Sloan’s story. Sloan is Seamus and Aileen’s fifth child in the clan and their second daughter in line to be married off. Out of the seven children Sloan is the quite one, and the one all the siblings seem to worry about wasting away. In The Marriage Contract one of the issues Teague wants to fix is to get his siblings out from under his fathers roof. After Devlin’s death has pushed Sloan into herself even more. To and insult to Sloan’s heartache, when Carrigan chooses James in The Wedding Pact, and Seamus announces Carrigan’s “death” to the family Sloan cuts off all ties to her older sister and considers her a traitor.
In An Indecent Proposal, Teague is finally able to talk Sloan into getting out of town and away from the family. She still hasn’t forgiven Carrigan and would rather not attend any function her traitorous sister is attending. In fact she’s gotten to the point that even seeing her sibling happy makes her upset, as if he they leaving her behind or not mourning their brother. The fact Teague and Cillian aren’t holding a grudge against Carrigan for choosing James also makes her feel uncomfortable. So when Teague helps her escape she’s ready to be free on the family bonds and free to do what she wants with her life.
When we get into Forbidden Promises, Teague has gotten Sloan out of the city and she is now staying at a property owned by Callie’s aunt. Being out of Boston and hidden from her family should keep her safe. However, an old enemy is watching from across the street.
Jude MacNamara, is the last of the MacNamara family, a family Colm Sheridan, Callie’s father, slaughtered years ago. He’s become a hitman and has his eye on the prize – revenge. Take out the whole Sheridan family is his only goal in life. He’s found Colm’s sister’s house and is casing the join waiting for the woman to return, when a innocent Sloan moves in.
Sloan is intrigued by her mysterious neighbor, and wants to learn more about him. Although she can tell him anything about her past she’s willing to create new memories and tell the story she and Teague came up with. Little does she realize she’s already in trouble, because Jude knows she’s somehow connected to Boston and the families she ran away from.
As Jude gets closer to his revenge he has to befriend the sweet innocent girl who can connect the dots back to Colm. However, sometimes finding out information creates more problems as Jude soon finds out. He must decide if revenge is more important then love. And which devil is better to have at your side. While Sloan finally learns you can’t control who you love even if its an enemy.
As we go from sibling to sibling within the O’Malley family we start to see not only the internal struggles each faces but also the external forces working against the Family as a whole. As they all go their separate ways will they be able to protect the family they love even as their father ignores signs. Can the three families put their issues aside to save a city they’ve called home for years?
Find out what happens next in Katee’s latest release Undercover Attraction book five in the O’Malley’s Series. See what Aiden, the heir apparent, does to help his family and how he falls for Charlie, an ex-cop. This looks like a one time only blessing in disguise, but who’s the blessing for?
Be on the lookout for the final book in the O’Malley Series, The Bastard’s Bargain due out Feb. 6, 2018. The sixth book in the series is Keira O’Malley’s book the youngest of the clan and you’ll never believe who she’s willing to tease. Are you ready to see how much power one family can obtain?
