Contractually Yours by Nadia Lee
Mixed Emotions and Complex Characters: A Review of “ Contractually Yours ”
I had some mixed feelings on this book.
It takes a while for the book to gain steam and move forward on the story line and the relationship between Luce and Deb. I will say the writing felt wooden. It felt very much laid out with out a lot of surprised or emotions. It was easy to read- but there wasn’t anything outstanding.
I really liked Luce, the main character. She had experienced so much sadness and neglect in her life. But at times it felt like she just continued to let life beat her down. I wanted her to stand up for herself. Take control of the situation. I don’t know why the author chose to let her be meek in her relationships. The character is written with this smart and savvy persona but lacks it in her relationships.
Sebastian, however, as a character is inconsistent. He exhibited a distinct duality within his persona. On one hand, he grappled with bouts of intense jealousy and occasional outbursts of violence. On the other hand, he displayed moments of genuine care and sensitivity, as well as a remarkable diligence and unwavering stability. Adding to the complexity, he also harbored a penchant for revenge and a cunning nature. His character was intriguingly peculiar, characterized by constant fluctuations in his personality.
There are a couple of major problems with the book, that may just be down to personal taste. I hate the trope where other women hate the FMC in a psychotic fashion. Both Luce’s sister and her best friend hate Luce in a totally insane way. It’s not that competition and jealousy don’t lead to sibling rivalry, but Luce’s sister basically dedicates her life to taking everything nice from Luce. Bianca hates Luce because Luce and her family have been financially supportive. She also dedicates her life to ruining Luce’s as vengeance for all that financial support.
The author tries to make up for it by having a few sane female character who are nice and friendly Luce, so there’s that. Otherwise, the ending left me cold. Luce had all these great ideas, like cleaning up the corruption in her company and the Korean project. But when she gets ousted, it’s Sebastian who ultimately claims those successes. Then he still has to do a major negotiation to convince shareholders to take her back. He “rescues” her from a problem he helped create by seeing through her own ideas and projects. It felt like a stolen victory to me.
The ending is what it is, but I would have liked to see Luce have ownership of that victory.
Book Stats:
Rating: 3/5
Series: The Lasker Brothers – Book 4
Tropes: Billionaire, Arranged marriage, co-workers, family series, redemption romance, alpha hole, slow burn, opposites attract, miscommunication
