Rating: 8 out of 10
Spice Level: 3 out of 5
Cover: A-
Audiobook Narration: Excellent delivery by Helen Farrell & William Macleod
In this dark-comedic romance thriller, Maggie Hamilton, 29, with zero kills to her name and the black sheep of a family of professional assassins, is given an ultimatum by her father: start killing or marry her dangerous ex by 30 to take over the family business. To buy herself time, she “forces” her very hot, strong, defined-abbed, broad-shouldered neighbor, Roman Ellis, to pose as her new boyfriend at her father’s Highland wedding, in exchange for keeping his secrets. Keeping their ruse intact means surviving a house full of people who kill for a living.
This one was a charming, feel-good, dark-hearted story, which is a hard balance to strike. It’s witty and dark-humored without ever losing that Enmeshment undercurrent. The emotions felt believable and relatable: the healing, the baggage, all of it—you know, murdering people aside. I flew through it. Roman and Maggie had effortless, smoldering chemistry, and the spice absolutely delivered. A perfect, delectably derailed HEA that left me excited for her sister’s book.
None, perfectly enjoyable.
Fake dating, not a favorite trope, but worked for this tale, full stop. Forced proximity is a favorite; he falls first- heck yes! Stalker, crazy, I mean desperate heroine, kidnapping- it has all my favorites, and I was worried the comedy was going to be hard to deal with, and it was lovely! I laughed out loud a few times and just loved Maggie. If my family were generational assassins, she is me for sure. (8/10)
🖤 Tropes
Fake Dating
Forced Proximity
Family of Assassins
"Black Sheep" Heroine
Grumpy x Sunshine (with a twist)
Secret Identities
Arranged Marriage/Stalker Ex
He Falls First/Protective Hero
⚠️ Trigger & Content Warnings
Graphic Violence & Murder
Abduction & Kidnapping
Forced Sedation
Blackmail & Coercion
Stalking
Emotional Abuse & Family Pressure
High Spice
Thank you to Effie Campbell, Boldwood Books, and Libro.fm. I received an advanced review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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Publisher: Boldwood Books
ISBN: 9781807437626 / 9781807437565
Narrator(s): Helen Farrell & William Macleod
288 pages / 7 hours 34 minutes
Fiction / New Adult / Romance / Humor
It’s going to be a killer of a good time…
Sweet Maggie Hamilton comes from a long line of people paid to professionally end lives.
Unfortunately, Maggie is a family failure.
Age? Twenty-nine. Kill count? A deeply embarrassing zero.
So when her father decides to marry her off to her psychotic ex at thirty to help her take over the family business, Maggie hatches a plan for the world’s worst fake relationship to buy some time.
Which is where broad-shouldered, bad-tempered, offensively attractive Roman Ellis comes in. Maggie’s neighbour, who is about as interested in her as he is in a slow, painful death.
But Maggie isn’t offering him a choice. With Roman tied to the passenger seat, she’s taking him as her plus one to her father’s second wedding in the Highlands.
All Maggie has to do is survive the week without dying, murdering anyone or letting anyone in a house of professional killers know that her serious long-term boyfriend is actually her hostage.
Unfortunately for her, Roman isn’t going to make it that easy.
Readers LOVE Effie Campbell:
‘Funny, sweet, bloody, and spicy. The most bizarrely perfect combo!!’ Reader Review
‘One of my favourite reads. The spice was incredible and Roman is SO hot!’ Reader Review
Author Bio:
Effie Campbell writes dark, spicy romance and romcoms with a generous helping of British banter. Her stories are packed with messy characters and humour amongst the dark and dangerous themes. She lives in Scotland with her husband and children. Outside of writing, she can be found baking, reading and watching thrillers
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